Correct setup for backup to NAS then to tape drive

[mduffin]

Hi,
OK so I've been using VEEAM for a good few months now mainly to backup Windows Servers but also file data... I've been running tests and for these tests I've just been using one RDX drive to hold the backups until this week when one of the jobs looks like its not removing the out dated vib files... after reading a few post it sounds like the job could be corrupt so I decided to bit the bullet and remove all the backup data for this server to see if it continues to backup OK...

But now I've done this I've been thinking is my backup strategy the best it can be with the kit i have.... I doubt it is....

So could i ask your recommendations on how you'd do it please... below are the servers and also the hardware i have to backup to... will be looking at 'cloud' backups at some point but for now just want to do the best with what I've got...

so I have a total of 6 Windows server... including a DC, a payroll server, 2 ERP servers ( running oracle ), barcode server etc...
I also have 1 files server that is a windows server also.

The hardware I have is an RDX drive with enough tapes to give us a monthly cycle and a NAS box ( QNAP ) with enough space to store well over a months worth of full backups..

What i am thinking is just run full backups each night to the NAS then copy the data onto tapes.. or maybe the other way around? any thoughts on this?

If I do use a different tape each night for the backups how would I configure VEEAM to use each tape to just perform a full backup.. i think i tried this when i first started with VEEAM but it started getting messy as when I replaced the tape I was getting backup folders were named <server_name> then <server_name>_1 etc... i more than likely set this up wrong to start with... has anyone got a step by step guide for setting this up ( if i do go down this route )?

Any help would be appreciated...

Regards,
Mick.

[HannesK]

Hello,
just to clarify... do you want to use RDX or tape? Because RDX are removeable disks (like USB disks). Where are the RDX drives connected to?

Do you have a central backup server somewhere, or are you using six standalone Veeam Agent for Windows?

Best regards,
Hannes

[mduffin]

Hi Hannes,
Thanks for the reply... my apologies... please replace tapes with RDX i can never get that right...

Yes so my setup is...
1 VEEAM Backup server ( PC ) currently installed on Windows 10... not sure this is the best idea but this is how I have it at the moment... then i have a RDX drive attached to the VEEAM PC. this is setup as a repository... I also have another repository for our NAS this is iScsi that I've been playing around with.

Regards,
Mick.

[chris.childerhose]

Hi Mick,

You could set it up using a Backup Job to the NAS device using Incremental backups with either Synthetic Fulls or Periodic Fulls (depends on the performance for Synthetic Fulls). Then you could set up a Backup Copy job that runs after the primary job completes to the RDX unit using GFS retention for Weekly backups.

There are many ways to set this up but using the NAS as the primary backup would be easier for restoring data (faster) than finding the RDX cartridge to load, scan, etc.

HTH

[mduffin]

Chris,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes I was thinking about this option, but to be honest until i just looked I didn't know about the GFS settings on the copy job so I'll have a bit of a play with this and see how it goes...
Just to clarify though... so i'll set up a synthetic full to the NAS.. then a copy job the the RDX.. the RDX will only copy that days backup to the media.. then when it comes around to using that RDX drive again ( the following month ) then the copy job will just overwrite with that days backup?
Regards,
Mick.

[chris.childerhose]

Hi Mick,

If setting up GFS to the RDX I believe that the previous backup used the previous month would not be overwritten and a new one would be appended to the next RDX device.

[Dima P.]

Hi Mick,

For RDX systems you need to enable rotated drives option in the repository settings to let the job track restore points for all connected media. The retention logic is similar for all removable media. With such option enabled: restore points are calculated across all the drives, so whenever you swap the drive and backup job kicks in the entire chain can be removed if total amount of restore points across all the drives is exceeded. Then backup job will start a new backup chain with a full backup.

[chris.childerhose]

Yes I forgot about the rotated drives option and you will want to enable as noted by Dima.