Backup Directly to Tape

[rreed]

Good points, gladly taken. All the same, maybe when all the big features are settled in Veeam will come back and take a closer look some day. Or at the very least if the B2D2T job would go behind and delete the disk file after tape is confirmed that'd be awesome. Many thanks, guys.

[tsightler]

Or at the very least if the B2D2T job would go behind and delete the disk file after tape is confirmed that'd be awesome.

A post-job Powershell script would be able to do this today with just a few lines of code if you have a case where you need this. Of course the next backup job run to disk would always be a full but perhaps that's what you want. However, I feel like most people that want backup directly to tape are trying to avoid the space required for the disk backup, so this use case seems a little more limited since you would still have to have enough space to hold the backup at least for a short while.

[oxepoweruk]

I'm really confused about tape backup of Veeam v9.

Does Tape backup always require Backup Repository?
If it is required, how much space is needed for backup repository?

If I take the backup tape to a remote site (DR environment), do I need to create the backup repository to restore the data?

I keep reading the document but I am really confused about it.
Please assist me

Regards,
Oxep

[Shestakov]

Hello Oxep and welocme to the community!
Indeed to restore VMs from tape to production, you need to restore the backups on disk first. Required space depends on the size of backups you want to restore.
However in upcoming release will be a feature of direct restore from tapes to production.
Thanks!

[oxepoweruk]

Helo Shestakov,

Thank you for reply.

Let me clarify what I understood.
At the moment, Veems' Tape backup image is as below.

1) Backup to Tape
VM image (in HyperV) --copy--> Backup Repository (compacted actual size of VM image) --copy--> Backup Tape

2) Restore image from tape in remote site (e.g. DR site)
Backup tape --copy--> Backup Repository (compacted actual size of VM image) --copy--> VM image (in HyperV)

In the new upcoming release you mentioned, you said that it will feature "Direct restore" from tapes to production.
Is it the same for backup too? Will it be like the image below? Please let us know.

1) Backup to Tape
VM image (in HyperV) --copy--> Backup Tape

2) Restore image from tape in remote site (e.g. DR site)
Backup tape --copy--> VM imag (in HyperV)

We didn't expect that we require Backup Repository space, so we are facing to add a new disk to the Backup Server (to increase space) or purchasing NAS.
When will the new release coming? I'd love to know when it will be released.

Regards,
Oxep

[Shestakov]

No, there will be no direct backup to tape, not because it`s impossible technically, but because it`s against the best practices. We recommend to have 2 copies of backup, one on fast disk, another offsite(tape, NAS, Cloud).
But as I said, direct restore from tape which was not technically possible before, will be one of the features of VBR v9.5 release which is going to be generally available in the middle of November.

[eee777]

Sorry for bumping 1 year old thread, but i want to give my big +1 to that feature request. At the moment we are wasting 3x v3700 (used as temporary storage while waiting for B2T jobs to move the backup data to our tapes...). At least give a choice to your customers to follow or not to follow your best practices. Wasting 72TB and 6 Rack units does not look as a best practice for us.

Thank you for your attention!

[Dima P.]

Hi eee777,

Thank you for your post and sorry for delay in responding. May I ask how you frequently your backup to tape and what you disk retention is? Changing the tape job schedule and setting shorter retention may help to use your storage more efficiently.

[eee777]

Hello Dima,

Thank you for your response! We would like to keep ~31-36 restore points for each VM (we need to restore them up to 4 weeks back if needed). We do daily incremental backups with synthetic full on Saturday. Tape retention policy is "Protect data for 5 weeks". I guess we have set 1 day retention for the disk storage if we want to minimize the data stored on it - all incremental backups will be removed once the full is done and then the full backup will be removed on the next day?

[foggy]

Entire chain of previous backups (full + increments) will be deleted once new full is created. This is, however, not typically recommended, since one day you might find yourself without any valid restore point at all.

[FIISHxMAN]

Hello Veeam community

Im pretty new to Veeam and have to configure our backup server.
Is it possible to backup the vm's directly to tape? I have read, that it might be neseccary to back them up on a HD. Is this true?
Do I have to configure a backup repository for the tape libary or is it enough to add the tape server?
(Somehow the Tapes are not recognized, but it might be backup Exec which runns in background)

Unfortunately the Veeam did not help a lot.
Thank yor for your help
Kind regards

[foggy]

Hi Manuel, right, you cannot backup directly to tape, you need to backup to disk first and then use either backup to tape or file to tape jobs. Please review the corresponding user guide section for a better idea of how Veeam B&R works with tapes. Third-party drivers indeed might be the culprit of issues.

[FIISHxMAN]

Thank you for the response. Helped me a lot!

Kind regards

[garylum]

Dear Sir,

Does Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 can direct backup to tape? How to perform this task?

Thank you!

Gary Lum

[veremin]

Nope, you cannot backup VM directly to tape. Usage of backup repository as intermediate is required. Thanks.

[Novae]

Hi,

first of all the Infrastructure:
- vCenter 6.5
- NetApp Storage
- Backups over NetApp Storage SnapShots
- Windows 2012 R2 Server with attached HBA -> TapeLibrary (fully recognized by Veeam)

So now we want to backup our VMs additional to Tape.
After searching the Forum, i understood that the SnapShot to vm is not recommned because the snapshot would only work on the system.
So, how can I backup the VMs direct to tape? without backing them up to an Repository first?

Best Regards

[Novae]

Can't edit anymore

After searching the Forum, i understood that the SnapShot to vm is not recommned

"i understood that the SnapShot to *tape is not recommned"

[skrause]

The only type of direct to tape available with Veeam is File to Tape jobs which have a lot of limitations.

Veeam does not support image level backups being sent direct to tape, it is a Disk to Disk to Tape implementation.

[veremin]

Steve is spot on. VM has to be backed up to repository first before being archived to tapes. Thanks.

[Poweruser]

If Repository is running on the same machine as the Hyper-V Host, it is useless.
So if you want to go the "classic" way, you need direct VM to Tape Backup.
Also you should be able to select wether to write full or incremental to Tape.

Quick Hack for Dev's:
1. Make normal Full Backup Job running daily.
2. Make follow Tape Job which runs after 1. and writes it to Tape
3. (Veeam Developers Job) Add option to remove Backup of 1. because it's already on Tape. (Metadata should be preserved) (Tape should include full day backup + metadatas for repo)

[Dima P.]

Poweruser,

We follow traditional disk to disk to tape approach, so vm backup on disk is required for tape job as a source. I've added your vote to this feature request, thanks!

[Poweruser]

Yes, thats my problem too!
Backup to disk is awful if forced to...

[Novae]

3. (Veeam Developers Job) Add option to remove Backup of 1. because it's already on Tape. (Metadata should be preserved) (Tape should include full day backup + metadatas for repo)

that would be awesome.

For now we created a iSCSI Volume on another NetApp Server, mounted it to the TapeServer (Physical) and use it as an repository.
So all Backups will be written to this repository and then the Tapeserver will copy it to the Tapes.

for now we have enough space to have an copy of all machines in the repository, but a "deletion after copied to tape" would be really nice for the future.

Or even better in one Job -> TapeJob -> Copy VM(s) to Repo -> Copy to Tape -> Delete from Repo
That would be near my dream solution

[Poweruser]

If we talk about dreams:

Backup VM direct to Tape... thats the Dream :-)

[nitro1]

Hello,

Does VEEAM supporting backup VM'S directly to tape library?
Or it required a B2D first?

Thanks.

[skrause]

For image level backups of VMs you need to go to disk first.

[Gandalf]

I know Veeam has not the intention to enable VM-backups directly to tape.
I just wanted to let you know that this would be a very nice feature among your "best practice scenarios".
Would save us a lot of money since we have to backup large VM's (4-8TB) and dont have the need to backup also to disk.

Cheers.

[Shestakov]

Hello Paul and welcome to the community!
Indeed the feature is not delivered yet, neither will be in the upcoming release.
However, your request is taken into account for later versions.

[Poweruser]

I know Veeam has not the intention to enable VM-backups directly to tape.
I just wanted to let you know that this would be a very nice feature among your "best practice scenarios".
Would save us a lot of money since we have to backup large VM's (4-8TB) and dont have the need to backup also to disk.
Cheers.

Gandalf is right, its a big waste of space if you double backup.
at least veam should do the following:
first remove old backup, then write new one. so retention images are 1 to zero. means it will drop freespace before backing up. so we dont need to keep double space for backup.

[Shestakov]

It's a second copy of backup. not "waste of space". Restore from tape takes longer than from disk, so it's good to have a copy of backup on disk.
Removing a backup prior to creation of new one doesn't seem like a good idea either. Imagine if backup process fails.