Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
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smartsys
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Skip Synthetic full

Post by smartsys »

I am faced with the problem that a solution was sold to a client including a NAS for remote backups without proper consulting from an engineer who actually works with the software and know some of the pros and cons from experience.

Unfortunately the NAS is the only piece of hardware on the remote location. This means all data handling is performed by the Veeam server on the primary location.
The full backup is near 3TB and there are multiple SQL and an Exchange 2010 server that must be backed up.

I configured two schedules. One for the internal backup using Reversed Incremental and the other for the external backup using forward incremental.

I want to know if there are any negative side effects if I don't configure any Synthetic Full backups to take place?
Basically a one time full and an incremental forever? Doing so allows me to only transfer the daily incrementals without having to worry about huge amounts of data being transfered during the synthetic full process?
The reason for all of this is that the remote site is connected using a slow VPN WAN connection that isn't realy suited for transfering huge amounts of data.
tsightler
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Re: Skip Synthetic full

Post by tsightler »

There's huge implications to this and I wouldn't suggest it. Basically, if you only run incremental backups, you will never be able to delete old backups since all further incrementals will depend on the full backup.

The best option is to figure out some way to place some piece of hardware on the remote side that can be used as a gateway to the NAS. Note that this doesn't have to be a high end machine, just a low-end workstation (or possibly even an old laptop) running Windows XP/7 that can access the local NAS and be configured as a remote gateway. Then you can simply switch the "external" job to reverse incremental as well, and everything should be fine.

If the NAS happens to run Linux, it MIGHT be possible to add it as a Linux repository which would effectively address the issue as well.
smartsys
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Re: Skip Synthetic full

Post by smartsys »

Thanks for the update.

The NAS is a Synologi that RUN's Linux. I might give it a try.
I was thinking about some low-end agent on the remote site, but at this moment I don't have enough information.
foggy
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Re: Skip Synthetic full

Post by foggy »

Make sure it has SSH and Perl installed. Veeam B&R run-time agent is installed through SSH login and has a Perl-based wrapper script.
tsightler
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Re: Skip Synthetic full

Post by tsightler »

Also, make sure it has an x86 32/64-bit class processor. Many of the lower end Synology boxes have ARM or PPC processors. Here's a decent list:

http://forum.synology.com/wiki/index.ph ... y_NAS_have
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