[Feature Request] File To Tape Backup : exclude Folder

[mdufosse]

Wishing to backup our NAS (Netapp AFF220) with Veeam , I will need to exclude some folders from fileToTape backups.
(With update 4a we can excluded files but not folders.)
The snapshot operation of the Netapp array is to store them in the share, under the name .snapshot.

We have a large volume of small files, the backup takes several hours, or days.
In the sharing, we have the ".snapshot" folder with hourly, daily and weekly snapshot.

So between the backup start and the end of copying the files, the oldest "hourly" folders are deleted.
And displays errors in the log files and generates too much processing time, as well as a volume multiplied by the number of hourly, daily ... snapshots
With 6 snpashots Hourly, 5 daily and 2 weekly, veeam saves 14 times the actual folder size, impossible with a share of 1 TB

When granular restore of files from a backup on an NDMP server, we can do without tape backup

[Dima P.]

Hello and welcome to the community Michael,

Can you please clarify how the list of source objects is configured (are you backing up via NDMP or via file level backup from shared folder). Thank you!

[mdufosse]

At this moment, I'm doing file backup (FiletoTape with networkshare) because, with a NDMP server, it is not possible to restore only one file. (and veeam not support NAS in cluster mode)

On Veeam B&R server , i installed NFS Client and now i can save NFS and CIFS Share of my NAS.

[Dima P.]

Michael,

Thanks for the clarification. Is it possible to drop extra folders from the list of source objects (i.e. instead of setting up root folder as a source, you select a child folder)?

[ithelp345]

I would like to request this as well. While I could select child folders, I have lots of folder that would make it very inconvenient to have to do it that way.
My structure is as follows:

server -> database - > archive
-> logs

server2 -> database - > archive
-> logs

server3 -> database - > archive
-> logs

etc.

So in my case I need to backup all folders under the server folder but exclude the root database folder but include the archive folder. Having a "tree" interface where I could use a checkbox instead would make settings this job up a whole lot easier.

[Dima P.]

Hello and welcome ithelp345!

Thanks for sharing your use case, I'll share your use case with RnD folks and add you vote to this feature request. Cheers!

[Eoin]

I too would really benefit from being able to exclude directories in a file to tape backup job. Our storage supports Offload Data Exchange (ODX) and as such has a .copy_offload directory which shouldn't be backed up.

I cannot simply specify top level folders for backup as there's no guarantee additional top level folders won't be added on an ad-hoc basis.

I've opened a case about this Case # 03582500, but the response was:

"I hope it will be developed soon. You are definitely not the only one requesting this possibility.
Unfortunately now addition of folder is the only possibility here."

[ChrisB1]

Hello everybody!

Is there any news here?

We have a large archive storage which should not end up in the normal NAS backup (not enough HDD space). It is enough for us if it is backed up to tape from time to time. But underneath the share there are still the folders for "snapshot" and "recycle" and of course these should not be backed up as well.
Selecting the other folders at this level individually is not possible because users can create new folders there or delete existing folders.

Thank you very much and best regards,
Chris

[Dima P.]

Hello Chris,

This functionality is planned for later versions, but, unfortunately, wont be included in the upcoming v11. Cheers!

[ChrisB1]

Hi, Dima!

Thanks for your fast repsonse!

Just so I don't miss an opportunity. So I currently only have these options to backup the archive data to tape:
1.) Select the folders one by one and omit "snapshot" and "recycle" + check the folders before each tape job (in case a user creates a new folder, or has deleted a folder)
2.) Make sure we have enough HDD space, make a NAS backup (here I can exclude "snapshot" and "recycle") and then write this backup to tape (this option is out of proportion to the amount of data)
3.) Disable the "snapshot" and "recycle" folders on the NAS (is not an option for us)

One more question about 1) what happens if a user deletes a folder and I don't adjust the tape job before the backup - is there an error message and the tape job fails, or is the tape job running anyway and the folder is omitted?

Are these all possibilities, or can Veeam do something else I am not thinking about right now?

Thanks in advance and best regards,
Chris

[Dima P.]

Hi Chris,

Select the folders one by one and omit "snapshot" and "recycle" + check the folders before each tape job (in case a user creates a new folder, or has deleted a folder)

When possible select the root folder for file to tape jobs. That would automatically populate tape job with newly added folders.

make a NAS backup (here I can exclude "snapshot" and "recycle") and then write this backup to tape (this option is out of proportion to the amount of data)

Honestly, I'd rather backup directly from the file share to tape. NAS backup files are transformed during retention (i.e. we delete the file versions from the backup according to retention), so the backup files are modified every nas job run. With set up file to tape will write every changed backup file and you will end up with extra tape space consumed.

One more question about 1) what happens if a user deletes a folder and I don't adjust the tape job before the backup - is there an error message and the tape job fails, or is the tape job running anyway and the folder is omitted?

File to tape job fails only in case such folder was specified in the job source list. If it's a folder or a file underneath the set folder, tape job will continue in success state. Cheers!

[ChrisB1]

Hi, Dima!

Of course I'd like to select the root folder directly, but unfortunately I can't (because of the "snapshot" and "recycle" folders), so I asked for alternatives.

But, if the job fails when a user deletes a folder, then this is rather unfavorable. But currently I don't see any other possibility until Veeam offers the possibility to exclude folders at File to Tape Jobs. I also can't understand why this feature doesn't exist here - there are other places in Veeam where it does exist

Thanks and greetings,
Chris

[Dima P.]

Hello Chris,

Completely agree and we will implement this functionality as soon as we got resources for it. Thanks for the feedback!

[ValerioM]

Hello!
Are there any news about it? we have Veeam 11 build 11.0.1.1261
It seems not available the option to exclude a folder rather than files patterns

Thank you

[aheath]

Seems such a basic feature to implement, why is this still not available as an option in 2022?
Can anyone confirm if this has been implemented in V12?