GFS to Tape

[dimitar.stoyanov]

Hi all,

I have a two weeks retention policy for the Backup jobs, and Backup Copy Jobs with GFS – YQMW...
Now my space for the archives is going to end and I will have to use Tape. OK – this was the idea from the very beginning.
So I recorded the archives. I wanted to keep the jobs topology and just to “cut the chain” and remove the oldest GFS files from all jobs at the same time (in one job) and put them on the tape. I was not able to choose which backup files (from jobs perspective) to go to the tapes but I used Repository location. So I have all my archives to tapes. It was not perfect, but still good way! But now it’s time to delete them from the repository. And this is the funy part. I tried to delete them manually (move them just in case) and rescan the Repo – Nothing. Tried to remove them from the gui, delete them manually, and add only last one (Full) – Nothing. Always shows me the full chain.
I assume that these records are in the DB, and I will have to change the retention policy (to clear the fake restore points)…and then to return it back again (the retention policy)…and this I should to for all my Backup Copy Jobs… or I missed something?

P.S. The version is 7…looking for time for update, hope to be soon

Thank you

[foggy]

Dimitar, if you've removed backup files manually, corresponding records will still be displayed in Veeam B&R console until being wiped out according to retention settings. You can ask support to clean them up from the database though.

[dimitar.stoyanov]

Thanks Alexander,

So is there a right way to remove the oldest backup files from the GFS chain without changing the retention policy?

[foggy]

Disabling GFS or lowering the number of corresponding GFS restore points to keep should help.

[dimitar.stoyanov]

OK, I get it. This is the workaround... so count me in for feature request to implement some simple option, to be able to delete the oldest backup files from the chain without efforts and workarounds.

Thanks,
Dimitar

[foggy]

It will be deleted automatically according to retention settings. So you just want to delete it prior retention comes into play but right after copying it to tape, right?

[dimitar.stoyanov]

That’s right! Because of low disk space…
For example, the retention policy is set to 4 years, but now there are backups from the last 2 years and the space is gone. So I put them on tape, except the last 2 full backups, and now I have space for another ~2 years. Just that part with deletion was not as I was thinking …and if I have to change or disable the retention, I have to do that to all my jobs, and after that I will have to put it back / enable again.

[foggy]

Seems you do not need to set yearly backups retention to 4 in this case. You just need to maintain one or two yearly backups, which you can offload to tape at some point in time during a year.

[dimitar.stoyanov]

Yes, it is correct!
And probably I will reconfigure that.
But still... even if I set the retention to some shorter period, I will want to be able to delete the backups just after the backup to tape process. If I set too short period, there will be a possibility autorotation to delete backups before to offload them to tape (lose data). Setting up too long retention policy is the situation that I am now - low disk space. So in both cases I think that it will be useful to be able to manually delete some backups from the chain.

Thank you

[foggy]

For me it is just a matter of setting proper retention and scheduling the jobs properly, but anyway, thank you for the feedback.

[Dima P.]

Dimitar,
You can always use a short retention for backup to disk job and long retention for tape media rotation. I would recommend you to upgrade, as backup copy as a source for backup to tape job is supported only in v8. Otherwise, you have to use file to tape job in v7. Thanks.

[dimitar.stoyanov]

Dimitry,
The tapes will not be rotated. The archives on them will be probably used as “forever “ archives. However, my goal is achieved and everyone is happy (I disabled the gfs to all my jobs, then waited until next run - the old backups was delleted, and after that enabled it again).
I will upgrade asap …
Thanks!

[Steen]

Is there any support for GFS (grandfather-father-son)?

[Shestakov]

Hi Steen,
GFS-to-tape native support in our plans, for now it`s recommended to for a workaround:
Create a media pool called “Weekly” with retention period equal to X weeks.
Create a backup to tape job called “Weekly” and point to the “Weekly” media pool and schedule it to run on weekly basis.
Create a media pool called “Monthly” with retention period equal to X months.
Create a backup to tape job called “Monthly” and point to the “Monthly” media pool and schedule it to run on monthly basis.
Thanks!

[Steen]

Hi Steen,
GFS-to-tape native support in our plans, for now it`s recommended to for a workaround:
Create a media pool called “Weekly” with retention period equal to X weeks.
Create a backup to tape job called “Weekly” and point to the “Weekly” media pool and schedule it to run on weekly basis.
Create a media pool called “Monthly” with retention period equal to X months.
Create a backup to tape job called “Monthly” and point to the “Monthly” media pool and schedule it to run on monthly basis.
Thanks!

But how do You do when Weekly and Monthly job will execute same day?

[Dima P.]

Steen,
In the described solution you will have one spare backup in the weekly media pool, but since it will be overwritten, I guess, that should not cause a huge tape overrun.

[EBoucq]

Hi,

I'm asked to backup (full) to tape a repository with this backup policy:


- weekly backup has to be kept one month
- monthly backup has to be kept 2 years
- the January and June backups have to be kept indefinitely

I don't know where to start.
Will I have to create multiple media pools, different jobs ?
How to deal with "retention"/externalization especially for the January and June backups ?
How to proceed if I'm asked to restore the backup of January 2017 for instance ?

Thanks !!!
Eric

[Shestakov]

Hi Eric,

I would recommended to create 3 media pools and 3 backup to tape jobs writing backups there as described above in the topic:
Create a media pool called “Weekly” with retention period equal to 4 or 5 weeks.
Create a backup to tape job called “Weekly” and point to the “Weekly” media pool and schedule it to run on weekly basis.

Create a media pool called “Monthly” with retention period equal to 24 months.
Create a backup to tape job called “Monthly” and point to the “Monthly” media pool and schedule it to run on monthly basis.

Create a media pool called “Infinite” with retention period with "Never overwrite data" option.
Create a backup to tape job called “Infinite” and point to the “Infinite” media pool and schedule it to run only in January and June.

How to proceed if I'm asked to restore the backup of January 2017 for instance ?

Depending what kind of restore you need. In general just follow the tape restore wizard.

Thanks!

[EBoucq]

Hi Nikita,

Thanks A LOT for your answer !


Eric

[Shestakov]

You are very welcome Eric.
Once you have a question don`t hesitate asking!

[EBoucq]

Hi Nikita,

Since you nicely offered your help if I had another question...

I'm trying to setup my first backup to tape job.
I just want to run it once a month (first monday for instance) with a 24 months retention.
I'm confused because I feel like there's 2 schedules to set in the job wizard: the full backup schedule and the job schedule itself.

What am I supposed to do ?
Thank you.

Regards,
Eric.

[Shestakov]

Hi Eric,

If you want the job to make only fulls once a month, choose not to process incremental backups and schedule the job to run when desired in the "Schedule" step.

"Retention" for tapes is a tapes` protection period. Set it equal to 24 months to protect tapes from overwriting. Thanks!

[EBoucq]

So the "full backup schedule" option doesn't count ?
Ok !

Thanks again for your quick answer Nikita !

[Shestakov]

It counts if you need a virtual full backup on exact day. If you schedule the source job to run on the same days, you don`t need that tape schedule, however, if source and tape jobs schedules are different and you need a full backup on tape on that exact day, you can set virtual full the option to get the full backup.

Saying it in 20 words: in "Full" schedule you choose full of what day you need, on the "schedule" step you choose when to run the job.

[EBoucq]

Thanks !!

[Shestakov]

You are welcome once again, Eric
Keep in mind that you need to plan backup job and back-to-tape jobs` scheduling properly to avoid excessive backups on the tapes.
If you need help, let me know

[Dima P.]

Hi guys,
Native GFS is coming in v9. Stay tuned and check the blogpost for more details Enterprise Enhancements in v9: ROBO and Tape

[EBoucq]

Hi guys,

Me again
I'm trying to set up a backup to tape monthly job with a 24 month retention policy. Of course, I won't have enough tapes in my library for that so I'm wondering how Veeam will deal with that when I'll be running out of free tapes before the 24 months since it won't be able to overwrite the tapes.
Do I have to eject the tapes manually and put new free ones or Veeam will tell me what to do ? I'm lost...
Thanks.
Eric

[Shestakov]

Hi Eric,
If all tapes will be protected from overwriting when backup-to-tape job starts, it will give you an alert that no tapes are available for writing. So you need to load more tapes.
What is your main concern on it?
Thanks!

[EBoucq]

Nikita,

I realize this was some kind of dumb question
My concerns are:

1°) When and how will I know to insert back the tapes after the 24th month since they won't be protected anymore ?
2°) If I need to restore a backup to disk and I need one of the tapes that I had to take out of the tape robot, will Veeam tell him what tapes to insert ?

Thanks.