Datastore as backup source

[tedsteenvoorden]

I am currently trying to optimize our Veeam backup jobs and i am considering organizing the backup jobs by datastore. Each backup job backups a complete datastore and in the job we select the datastore as backup object.

One thing is unclear to me: what happens if a VM spans multiple datastores and the backup job included only one datastore. Does this mean that a VM is split over two backup jobs or does Backup & Replicator automatically include all virtual disks on other datastores?

[Gostev]

Indeed, this is a good approach to organizing your jobs. Don't worry, we would never backup incomplete VM no matter which approach you chose to select VMs to backup with the job. In case of using the datastore object as your VM selection container, all VMs with VMX residing on the datastore selected for backup will be backed up by the job (even if some disks are on other datastores). Thanks!

[tedsteenvoorden]

Gostev, are you sure about this behaviour? I just tested a backup job which has one datastore selected as a backup object. This datastore contains vmdk files of a virtual machine which has his VMX residing on another datastore. The backup job also processes the datastore on which the VMX resides. I expected the backup job to backup nothing, because no VMX file resides on the datastore.

With this behaviour, backupping all datastores will result in duplicate virtual machine backups for virtual machines that have multiple vdisks on different datastores. Can you clarify this behaviour, because I am a bit lost

[Gostev]

Well, considering I was answering quite different question (whether backup will be incomplete) - yes, I am quite sure in my answer however, for this specific scenario you are talking about now, I am not ready to answer from the top of my head - will need to have devs lookup the code and see how it is designed to work.

[RGlintmeijer]

Hi, i also expected it to work like Gostev said; only backup a VM if a VMX file exists on the specified datastore. Unfortunately it processes all the VM's which has VMDK's on the datastore. I my case i had multiple jobs (one for each datastore). It resulted in multiple backups of the same VM. Or two jobs try to process the same VM at the same time, which results in a Failed status.

You can see that Veeam B&R follows the behaviour as seen in the vSphere Client. If you take a look at Home > Inventory > Datastores, select a datastore and click the "Virtual Machines" tab, you will see the list of VM's Veeam will process if you select that datastore in the Job.

As a workaround I've exported all the VMX paths of the VM's to determine the datastore and changed the jobs to include the VM's instead of the datastore. It would be very nice to make it possible to let it check for the VMX file instead of the VMDK. When selecting a datastore as source, any newly created VM will be automatically backup up.

[tedsteenvoorden]

Hi RGlintmeijer, thanks for you feedback. Indeed it would be nice to make it possible to let it check for the VMX file instead of the VMDK, so that newly created VM's would be backupped automatically. This would simplify the backup management.

Gostev, maybe a suggestion for a new feature? For example through a registry key which can alter the behavior of VM selection in a datastore by checking for the VMX files.

[maverick964_uk]

Veeam 6.5 update 3 patch installed.

Our backups are via datastore however, if a VM has a CD/ISO mounted in another datastore then the VM gets backed up twice.
Once via backup of primary datastoreA then again via backup of datastoreB.

Veeam has exclusions but it would seem that we cannot exclude CD's/ISO's from backup.

Can this be done??

[foggy]

Mike, seems that there's no way to avoid that. In case of backing up by datastore and having VM disks or mounts located on two different datastores, VM will be backed up twice. When backing up by datastores, Veeam B&R asks VMware for the set of VMs residing on a given datastore and gets the VM for each datastore where its disks reside. So the only way to back it up once is to unmount ISO prior to running backup.

[chrisdearden]

foggy was this a change ? I'm sure this used to be different , ie we would only backup a VM if the VMX resided on the selected datastore?

[maverick964_uk]

yes this seems to be the behaviour.

it would be nice to see a feature where you can exclude CD's/ISO's....

hi Chris, hope all is well!....Mike

[foggy]

foggy was this a change ? I'm sure this used to be different , ie we would only backup a VM if the VMX resided on the selected datastore?

No changes regarding that, according to our QC. Seems to be the case with previous versions as well.

it would be nice to see a feature where you can exclude CD's/ISO's....

Mike, you could exclude the entire VM from the job that backs up the datastore where ISO resides. Kind of a manual workaround.

[maverick964_uk]

Chris, yes this is a workaround but it could be many vm's. Doesnt help with automation really.
For the moment we will have to document some procedures for VM owners so they make sure cd's/iso's are unmounted before backups commence.

again, I see this as a good feature to add as part of the exclusions....

[foggy]

again, I see this as a good feature to add as part of the exclusions....

Sure, thanks for the feedback!

[lobo519]

I am bringing this back form the dead.

I would love the option to backup by datastore and only backup what is on that datastore.

We have started using luns to determine the protection of a VM. This is primarily used with storage snap shots but I would LOVE to see veeam respect this also. Atleast have the option to do either.

in our case, we have a lot of SQL servers and the DBAs want a SQL backup on local disk. My team wants to exclude that from our Veeam backup. Ideally we would have those backup disks on different LUNS and Veeam would not backup them up.

[veremin]

Not sure whether I follow you on that - you can select datastore as backup source and then configure VM exclusions to skip unneeded VMs. Thanks!

[lobo519]

I get that but I want to exclude disks - which is really not that smooth and kind of a pain.

I would rather when choosing a datastore is actually only backup whats on the datastore.

[veremin]

OK, thank you for the request - we will keep an eye on it and prioritize it with other pending features. Thanks!