Backup Copy to Tape Job

[jim_jam]

Hi All,

I have a question about how to best to achieve a monthly full backup to tape from a repository used by a backup copy job that has a restore point setting of 35 with daily backups.

From reading other threads and the Veeam documentation the only way to achieve what I want appears to be using a file to tape job and specifying a file extension filter for the .vbk file. Am I correct however that due to the way the Backup Copy job transform works - i.e. merging the oldest .vib into the original .vbk file each day, this means that the .vbk will always be the oldest backup in the chain? So in a situation with 35 daily restore points, then the .vbk will be the backup from 35 days ago?

Also, even using the GFS settings I understand that the extra .vbk files that are generated e.g. weekly or monthly backups are actually copies of the original .vbk file on the day the weekly or monthly backup occurs (the oldest backup in the chain). So again in a situation with 35 daily restore points, then the new weekly or monthly .vbk will still be the backup from 35 days ago. Is this correct?

Below is a summary my architecture:

Site 1 (Datacentre)
VBR Server 1
Daily Backup Jobs to local repository from SAN
Daily Backup Copy jobs to VBR server 2

Site 2 (remote site)
VBR Server 2:
Backup repository containing Backup Copies from Server 1
Monthly File to Tape Job from Backup Copy Repository (with .vbk filter).

Ideally what I would like is to complete a full backup to tape on VBR Server 2 on a given day of the month that is effectively a copy of the most recent full from the Backup Copy Job repository. Is this possible? The only option I can think of is to create an additional Backup Copy job with a separate repository and a retention of only 1 day to ensure that a recent .vbk is kept on disk ready for archiving to tape however this means that the WAN traffic and backup data will be duplicated.

Thanks in advance for you help.

James

[veremin]

Am I correct however that due to the way the Backup Copy job transform works - i.e. merging the oldest .vib into the original .vbk file each day, this means that the .vbk will always be the oldest backup in the chain? So in a situation with 35 daily restore points, then the .vbk will be the backup from 35 days ago?

Correct.

Also, even using the GFS settings I understand that the extra .vbk files that are generated e.g. weekly or monthly backups are actually copies of the original .vbk file on the day the weekly or monthly backup occurs (the oldest backup in the chain). So again in a situation with 35 daily restore points, then the new weekly or monthly .vbk will still be the backup from 35 days ago. Is this correct?

Correct.

Ideally what I would like is to complete a full backup to tape on VBR Server 2 on a given day of the month that is effectively a copy of the most recent full from the Backup Copy Job repository. Is this possible?

You can:

- Stick to your plan of creating additional backup copy job.
- Create additional backup job pointed to backup server and select it later as a source for a tape job.
- Once a month copy increments along with full backup by file to tape job, so that, mediaset contains backup copy data of the latest state.

Each approach has its own pros and cons. It's up to you to decide which one suites your needs best.

Thanks.

[jim_jam]

Thanks for the reply v.Eremin.

Can you please expand on the suggestion below. I'm not 100% sure what you mean, do you mean you mean create an additional file backup job on VBR Server 2 which would backup the backup copy files again to disk and then use this as a source for the backup to tape job?

- Create additional backup job pointed to backup server and select it later as a source for a tape job.

Another alternative that I am considering is relocating the tape drive to VBR Server 1 in the data centre site and running a backup to tape job thee with the initial backup job as the source. Do you think this would work? The only downside of this is that the original design called for the tape drive to be in site two to allow for easier access for tape rotation by the customer.

[veremin]

Can you please expand on the suggestion below. I'm not 100% sure what you mean, do you mean you mean create an additional file backup job on VBR Server 2 which would backup the backup copy files again to disk and then use this as a source for the backup to tape job?

I've meant the following - You should create an additional backup to disk job, specify it in reversed incremental mode, and select remote repository as a target for it. Then, you can select it as a source for a file to tape job. This way, the latest restore point will be always full backup that can be then archived to tape mediums.

Do you think this would work?

Yep, it should do the trick.

The only downside of this is that the original design called for the tape drive to be in site two to allow for easier access for tape rotation by the customer.

Most likely, the original design will work fine when version 8 is released, as there will be no need for using workarounds.

Thanks.