Start-VBRZip in Veeam Backup Free Edition

[nolant]

Indeed, mentioned changes have been made on purpose and they affect both GUI and PowerShell. Thanks.

If backup server has a paid license assigned, VeeamZIPping VM consumes a license slot. Previously that has not been the case.

It is ridiculous that this change was made, and especially that no mention of the change is included in the release notes. Any change that results in breaking existing functionality should come with advance warning.

Veeam restrictions on mixing free and paid functionality are becoming more and more onerous (like not being able to have both paid and free agents backup to the same server). It seems clear that their goal is to make it such that if you pay for any part of VBR, attempting to make use of any free functionality will require you to set up a completely separate infrastructure for it, raising the frustration level (and cost - for things like Windows licenses) so much that you will just shell out the money for Veeam licenses for any and everything. Veeam is becoming a less attractive option for small businesses in the process.

[r.suberviola]

t is ridiculous that this change was made, and especially that no mention of the change is included in the release notes. Any change that results in breaking existing functionality should come with advance warning.

Veeam restrictions on mixing free and paid functionality are becoming more and more onerous (like not being able to have both paid and free agents backup to the same server). It seems clear that their goal is to make it such that if you pay for any part of VBR, attempting to make use of any free functionality will require you to set up a completely separate infrastructure for it, raising the frustration level (and cost - for things like Windows licenses) so much that you will just shell out the money for Veeam licenses for any and everything. Veeam is becoming a less attractive option for small businesses in the process.

I agree with you on everything

[erpomik]

Don't understand, you mean now VeeamZip is changed intentionally and it's no anymore free to use?

I opened support case #02438609 and got the same reply as you did: "This change in behavior was intentional". And the suggestion I got was to buy another license for MS Windows and run VBR in free mode.

I must say I'm amazed by this decision from Veeam, as in my point of view, there's no difference in using VeeamZIP in free mode vs. licensed mode.

As I manage VBR Essential Bundle for a number of small business customers (small being less than 10 employees), I hope someone at Veeam reads this thread and suggests re-enabling the "free" VeeamZIP feature in VBR running in licensed mode.

[erpomik]

I totally agree - This is making it very hard for me to convince our small customers to buy VBR Essentials.

[Vimmer]

After applying the update, are the retention dates for previous made backups "repaired" so they are pruned at the correct date?

[veremin]

Nope, as the information regarding retention gets written into database at the time of backup. Thanks.

[mpcamp]

Hi,

When running Veeam B&R Free to backup 2 VM's on a hyper V server I can backup fine if I run the job from the console manually, however if I use a script and a scheduled task I get the following output message:

PM Error: Access is denied. Failed to process [isFileExists].

This seems to be happening because some process changes the name of my storage (NAS) from what I have specified in the script to 'freebackuprepository' which clearly doesn't exist.

I have been through Veeam support and they directed me to these forums

Any ideas?

[veremin]

Most likely, backup service account does not have required permissions, as the result the script fails. Either grant missing permissions to that account or specify -NetworkCredentials parameter. Thanks.

[mpcamp]

The service account I am using is a domain administrator and is the same account that is used when manually starting the job so I would say this is not the case unless you have a deeper insight?

[Vimmer]

Nope, as the information regarding retention gets written into database at the time of backup. Thanks.

Ok, no problem.

But i do have another "issue" that the backups are not actually deleted.

Svc.VeeamBackup.log:

Code: Select all

[05.01.2018 00:00:16] <41> Info     [VeeamZIPRetention] Deleting file [\\nas\Software\20180103-TomorrowNight\Ubuntu.16.04.LTS.01_restoredD2018-01-03T112720.vbk] on repository [Local filesystem] because it's due is 5/01/2018 0:00:00 
[05.01.2018 00:00:16] <41> Info         [Local] Check existing '\\nas\Software\20180103-TomorrowNight\Ubuntu.16.04.LTS.01_restoredD2018-01-03T112720.vbk'
[05.01.2018 00:00:17] <41> Warning  [VeeamZIPRetention] Cannot delete the file [\\nas\Software\20180103-TomorrowNight\Ubuntu.16.04.LTS.01_restoredD2018-01-03T112720.vbk] on the repository [Local filesystem] because it does not exist or you have no permissions to access to this location.
[05.01.2018 00:00:17] <41> Info     [VeeamZIPRetention] Delete, id '09bc6aa7-7ac5-43c2-9a12-0eff4a669f62'

Backup are made fine on a separate NAS with separate credentials.
But when the retention time is evaluated it complains that it can't delete the backups because of permissions.
Doesn't it reuse the same credentials it used to create the backups in the first place?

The entry is deleted from the database though. So if and when the possible permissions issue is solved it won't be picked up again.

[veremin]

Just for the purpose of testing can you grant missing permissions to service account temporarily and see whether it solves the issue? Thanks.

[Vimmer]

Just to clarify, the credentials on the nas (synology) are not linked to the AD user that runs the backup script.

[wardak]

I completely agree this was a shady way to change the licensing model for Veeam and Veeam ZIP. I use Veem ZIp to backup or dev cluster and it was a nice feature. After the update, I am left scrambling on how to get backups of the dev environment, and purchasing a bunch more licenses on the fly is not going to happen. Disappointed in Veeam today and update 3, they might have priced themselves out of our environment.

[r.suberviola]

i agree
My solution, I will stay in update 2 and I will not renew my three licenses. A pity, but what are we going to do?. Veeam is becoming a less attractive option for small businesses

[veremin]

I think it'd be better if you express your concerns regarding the said licensing change in the corresponding topic, so that, the discussion regarding VeeamZIP PS script doesn't get overfilled with side issues. Thanks.

[Luca]

Hi,
my name is Luca and I'm new with Veeam and powershell.

My environment consist of:
- backup PC : Windows 7 Ent PC with only the Veeam B&R 9.5.0.1038 free edition installed on it.
- backup repository : WD NAS
- Hypervisor : Windows Hyper-V 2016 (no GUI) installed on DELL Server with two VMs installed on it
- sysadmin PC : windows 8.1 pro with Hyper-V role and remote manageme console (I use this PC to manage the VMs)
- three PCs with Windows Server OS (2008R2 and 2012R2)

I want to regularly backup the three windows server pcs and the two VMs and store backups on the NAS.

Firstly, I need to know if my "veeam infrastructure" is correct. I mean, do I need the backup PC or can I install the Veema B&R free edition on the hypervisor?

I think I have to install the Veeam Agent on the three windows server PCs. Right?


How should I have to setup each PC\server to run the script (https://www.veeam.com/blog/veeam-backup ... shell.html) ?
The script must be placed on the hypervisor or on the backup pc?
Which services I have to configure on the PCs?

Please, give me step-by-step instruction.
Thanks.

[veremin]

I mean, do I need the backup PC or can I install the Veema B&R free edition on the hypervisor?

In your case it should be backup PC, as you have "naked" hypervisor.

I think I have to install the Veeam Agent on the three windows server PCs. Right?

Those are physical machines, right? If so, your assumption is correct.

How should I have to setup each PC\server to run the script (https://www.veeam.com/blog/veeam-backup ... shell.html) ?

You cannot run this script on physical machines, it's only for Virtual Machine protection.

The script must be placed on the hypervisor or on the backup pc?

Backup PC.

Which services I have to configure on the PCs?

No services need to be configured on Virtual Machines, as to physical machine protection check my answer above.

Thanks.

[Luca]

Thank you very much Eremin

[dairuin]

Hi to All,
after update 3 i have this error:

Code: Select all

Start-VBRZip : Cannot validate argument on parameter 'Entity'. The argument is 
null. Provide a valid value for the argument, and then try running the command 
again.
At C:\Script\VeeamZIP_restored.ps1:86 char:40
+     $ZIPSession = Start-VBRZip -Entity $VM -Folder $Directory -Compression 
$Comp ...
+                                        ~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Start-VBRZip], ParameterBindin 
   gValidationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationError,Veeam.Backup.Po 
   werShell.Cmdlets.StartVBRZip

have you idea for resolve ?

thanks a Lot

[Mike Resseler]

Davide,

This normally means that your variable VM is empty. Check if this is the case. Run the script, when it fails, do $VM in the PowerShell command line to check what the value is.

[Luca]

Hi,
I have some problem to run the script.
I have already changed the permission of the registry key HKLM\Software\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication, granting the domain admins group full control (the account I'm using for test is the domain admininstrator).

If I run the backup within a powershell windows opened as Administrator, everything it's ok.

If I right click on the script and run it with "Open with Powershell" , it doesn't work and i get this "Access denied" error :

Code: Select all

Start-VBRZip : Access denied.
In C:\NOScript\VeeamZIP-HV.ps1:96 car:19
+ ... IPSession = Start-VBRZip -Entity $VM -Folder $Directory -Compression  ...
+                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Start-VBRZip], SecurityException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Security.SecurityException,Veeam.Backup.PowerShell.Cmdlets.StartVBRZip

How can I solve this?
Thanks.
Luca

[Luca]

Problem solved.
When I run the script with Windows task scheduler it works.

[Luca]

I have another issue.

The script and windows task scheduler works great locally.

Now i want to backup on a WD NAS.

The NAS cannot be joined to our active directory domain (due to its limitations), so i have :
- a NAS on a WORKGROUP
- a NAS folder with public access
- a NAS local user (bakuser)
- no idea on how to backup on the shared folder.

Any idea?

[veremin]

Not sure whether I follow you on that. Could you elaborate:

- whether machine is reachable from backup console
- whether everything works, if you specify required credentials in -NetworkCredentials parameter.

Thanks.

[alecnaylor]

Hi,

I am still having some problems with the removal of old backup files when using VeeamZip in Veeam Backup & Replication software. I have created a script which should delete backups older than a week.

$ZIPSession = Start-VBRZip -Entity $vmentity -Folder $Destination -Compression 5 -AutoDelete In1Week

I have installed Update 3 which claimed to have fixed a bug with the retention date but no change. Whilst reviewing the log files I see that the date is still in US Format so since my Server is setup for UK Format that it might not recognise that its a week old so doesn't delete it.

Veeam Update 3 KB: https://www.veeam.com/kb2353

[16.02.2018 21:00:30] <25> Info [VeeamZIPRetention] Create, id '84e8b016-0be5-40a4-9da1-9a7ab301e008', retain days '2/23/2018 12:00:00 AM', repository id '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000', target file 'E:\MantisBackup\BlackMixen1D2018-02-16T210013.vbk'

Can anyone shed some light on why this is happening and how to fix it?

[veremin]

Can anyone shed some light on why this is happening and how to fix it?

Have you already encountered this issue or you're talking more retention that might not be applied in one week due to time format differences? I'm wondering because the log snippet refers to upcoming Friday. Thanks.

[alecnaylor]

I installed Update 3 in an attempt to fix a bug with retention function. My issue is that my script should remove backups that are older than 1 week but if the backup is still logging the date as retain days '2/23/2018 12:00:00 AM' that it will not delete it when it reaches the 23/2/2018.

I think that it should read as retain days '23/2/2018 12:00:00 AM'

[veremin]

With the Update 3 installed, retention should work without any issues, so let's wait and check whether it's the case. Thanks.

[avijitd]

Hello All.
My Scenario is Veeam Backup & Replication installed in Windows 2016 STD. Server. Shared Storage is Samba/CIFS path.

When I am running jobs from the console, this is not an issue as the job will use the credentials specified – this is only an issue when we creating jobs from the command line. The fix for this is to set the "Veeam Data Mover" service to run as an account that does have permissions to write to the target.

It works for me and i am now able to take the backup via Powershell script.

[veremin]

Have you specified -NetworkCredentials parameter within script - credentials needed for backup server to connect to the corresponding share? Thanks.