Question re: Synthetic full backups

[dojit]

Hi Everyone,

I am testing the physical backup of E:\Data on one of our DC/File/Print servers (2012 R2 fully patched, Veeam 9.5 update3 Enterprise Plus EVAL)

Backup Mode File level backup (slower)
E:\Data (60GB)
Dest Veeam backup repository
Advanced: backup mode/create synthetic full backups periodically
Storage: compression (optiminal) WAN target
Application Aware processing and File Indexing enabled

Backup stats as follows:
Tue 4/9/18 Agent backup Policy for DC E:\Data 8:00PM 11:35PM 246Gb 62.1Gb 52.1GB 3:34 min
Wed 5/9/18 Agent backup Policy for DC E:\Data 8:00PM 8:20PM 243.8GB 423.9k 423.9 00:19

The VEEAM Backup repository has two files:
Agent Backup Policy for DC 2018-09-04T200045, 58GB
Agent Backup Policy for DC 2018-09-05T200439, 58GB

QUESTIONS:
Why is the second backup 58GB when the actual size is 423MB ???
Why are there no 'live' status on screen while the backup is going?
How do I backup ADDS/DNS/DHCP on the DC?

Synthetic full backup:
Eliminate the need for periodic full backups by creating forever-incremental backups that save time and storage.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

[Dima P.]

Hello Steve.

Why is the second backup 58GB when the actual size is 423MB ???

Synthetic full backup creates full backup on disk with the hand of existing restore points (unlike regular active full backup it does not load the production server). In terms of backup size - it's the same as regular full backup.

Why are there no 'live' status on screen while the backup is going?

Stats are updated only after backup job completion.

How do I backup ADDS/DNS/DHCP on the DC?

No magic here - just install backup agent and initiate backup job run.

[dojit]

Hi Dima, thanks for the reply.

The documentation states "Synthetic full backup: Eliminate the need for periodic full backups by creating forever-incremental backups that save time and storage."

The following KBs state synthetic backups create a .VBK file (e.g. 60GB), then incremental .VIB files
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agent ... tml?ver=21
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agent ... tml?ver=21

Is the backup method I'm choosing incorrect to achieve .VBK then .VIBs (I only want to backup E:\DATA as E: also contains a Hyper-V VM which I backup using a second Hyper-V Deduplication job).

Steve