Veeam Backup to NAS then Google Cloud

[jc_gmk]

Hi,

I have just virtualised our environment using Hyper-V and have installed a trial version of Veeam Backup and Veeam Cloud. We have an 8TB NAS for local backups and plan on using Google cloud for offsite.
I wanted to know what the best practice is for this kind of setup, should i use incremental or reverse incremantal.

In an ideal scenario id like to do daily backups restorable for 30 days then monthly after that restorable up to 6 months - 1 year.

I have run a reverse incremental back up and the main file is about 600GB and each increment is about 30GB so i am consious of the space my plan could take up.

Any suggestions would be appriciated.

Thanks.

[veremin]

I wanted to know what the best practice is for this kind of setup, should i use incremental or reverse incremantal.

In case of utilizing Veeam Cloud Edition for taking your backup data to a cloud, it’s always preferable to set forward incremental mode - VB&R CE isn’t capable of catching changes on the block level; therefore, if it’s reversed incremental mode that is being leveraged, each time the whole .vbk file will be transferred to a cloud.

Thanks.

[jc_gmk]

I thought that might be the case, thanks.

So what do you think the best schedule would be for what i'm trying to achieve?
Should i create multiple backup jobs i.e 'Daily Backup' for incrementals, 'weekly backups' for week ends and 'monthly backups'? Or can one job be configure to do all of this?

Thanks

[veremin]

Unfortunately, there is no GFS functionality present in the current version of Veeam Backup and Replication. You can either utilize this PS script or wait till the version 7 with backup copy job will be released to general public.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[jc_gmk]

Ok, given that there is no out the box functionalitly for this, what is considered 'best practice' to get an efficiant backup of our virtual environment.
Bearing in mind we have a NAS locally and then Google cloud for offsite.

Thanks.

[veremin]

There is a general 3-2-1 rule in regards with successful backup strategy:

3 Copies -> 2 Different Media -> 1 different location -> 0 errors at recovery verification.

The very concept is that everything possible should be done in order to ensure redundancy of backup data in case any potential failure takes place.

You should be okay with a backup plan, as long as, you follow the abovementioned rule, though certain implementations of it may vary, depending solely on infrastructure and available resources.

As far as I can see, so far you’ve followed this rule only partially, so, it might be worth utilizing an additional media as backup repository (or as a place to which backup data is going to be copied), so that, "3 Copies" sub rule will be guaranteed.

Thanks.

[jc_gmk]

Ok great, thank you.

Could you give an example of this 3-2-1 system please?

i.e. where the 3 copies would be stored, what to use for the 2 different media devices (2 DAS drives?) and i pressume the 1 is the cloud?

Thanks

[veremin]

Could you give an example of this 3-2-1 system please?

Yep. Two different backup repositories + Tape

The virtual infrastructure is backed up to different repositories, and after that it is taken away to tape.
3 copies (2 Repositories; Tape) -> 2 Different media (Hard drive; Tape) -> 1 (Offsite copy – Tape)

However, please be aware that it is nothing but one example and there are numerous ways how aforesaid rule can be implemented - for instance, the role of offsite copy can be played by cloud, etc.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[jc_gmk]

Ok thank you.

So now i have that do you have any best practices for the retension of data.

I have a daily backup policy for a month which goes like this:
W1
I - I - I - I - F
W2
I - I - I - I - F
W3
I - I - I - I - F
W4
I - I - I - I - F

F being full synthetic backup.
These run M-F. is it best to have a monthly policy as well that runs say every first saturday of the month? and can i schedule just a full active back up on it's own or does it have to be incremental as well?

[veremin]

In fact, there are a couple of ways how you can get what you’re after:

1) One job scenario. Leave the existing retention scheme unchanged, however, schedule via Windows Schedule a custom PS script (that is responsible for copying last .vbk file to different location) to run once a month, say, on last Sunday. Having such scenario guarantees that you will have 30 daily-worth chain of backup files (.vbks + .vibs), as well, 12 monthly-worth chain of .vbks.

2) Two job scenario. Create additional backup job with the same settings, though, change location to which you’re going to backup VMs. Additionally, kindly leave schedule settings unchecked and specify ,instead, the following PS script via Windows Scheduler to run once a month:

Code: Select all

Get-VBRJob -name "Name of your Backup Job" | Start-VBRJob -FullBackup 

You should think about this PS command as an analogue of manual action, when you right-click a given job and select “Active Full”. Once executed it will start a corresponding backup job and perform full backup; thus, the required goal will be achieved.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.