how to reuse 1 tape

[frigomiam]

Hi all,

I already successfully backuped to tape my vbk to 2 tapes A and B, and my 3 vibs to 1 tape C.
I would like to reuse tape C for the next 4th vib.
How can I do that ?

If I mark the tape as free, it will retry to backup all the vibs, not the last one right ?

thanks

[Shestakov]

Hi Francois,
To let the data be rewritten, set the according retention settings for the media pools.
If you choose "Do not protect data", tapes allocated to the pool will be overwritten, starting with the tape that stores the oldest archive.
Thanks.

[frigomiam]

thanks nikita

[Shestakov]

You are welcome Francois, once you have a question, don`t hesitate asking!

[frigomiam]

I want to follow up on the same question, my goal is to reuse the same tapes.
I followed the advise but that fails :

I just had a new tape drive, so I had to catch up with existing backups
On Thursday I backed up old vbk with tapes KZ0016L4, KZ8589L4
And vibs with KZ0006L4,

Then I I followed the advise : used same tapes to backup the next full backup during the WE
I backed up new vbk with KZ0016L4, KZ8589L4

Then Monday, I want to continue to backup the next vib, but it asks to backup to tape the old vbk.

1/ Not the first I have this problem. How do I solve this problem when I face this problem in general and want to reuse tapes to catch up ? I want to be able to catch up, reuse a tape with retention policy on media pools set to overwrite.

2/ In my case right now, how do I tell veeam to mark the old vbk as backed up already and move on with the next vib ?
Is the only way to set retention policy in the backup job to a minimum so that it deletes the old vbk ?

[Shestakov]

Hi again Francois,

I followed the advise but that fails :

Could you precise the type of failure you get?

So your goal is to store Full backups(.vbk) on 2 tapes KZ0016L4, KZ8589L4 using rotation and Increments(.vib) only on KZ0016L4? Is that correct?

2/ In my case right now, how do I tell veeam to mark the old vbk as backed up already and move on with the next vib ?
Is the only way to set retention policy in the backup job to a minimum so that it deletes the old vbk ?

Backup to tape job does not create any backups: it uses already existing backups produced by regular backup/backup copy jobs as source and copies them to tape. It copies missing files in accordance to preset schedule.
Did you make only one backup to tape job?
You can schedule a single backup to tape job to copy full backups to one tape and increments to another and let it run as often as you wish(daily, weekly etc.). And if you specify retention settings as we discussed above, new files will rewrite older ones.

Thanks.

[frigomiam]

"failure" ( there is no technical failure ) is that the job asks to backup to tape the old vbk.
Well only solution found is to reduce retention policy on backup job to delete old vbk.

[Shestakov]

Francois,

So your goal is to store Full backups(.vbk) on 2 tapes KZ0016L4, KZ8589L4 using rotation and Increments(.vib) only on KZ0016L4? Is that correct?
Did you make only one backup to tape job?

Could you reply to other questions form my previous post, so I will be able to give you a relevant advice? Thanks!

[frigomiam]

No easy way to reuse 1 tape for the next backup file. If veeam finds that you delete the tape, or mark as free, it will try to backup to tape the same file again.

there is no way to flag a backup file as "this file is backed up to tape already, don't try to backup this file on the next job". would be a great feature. Only workaround found is to change retention policy so it deletes the file.

Is it clear ?

[Shestakov]

Francois, once again, file to tape and backup to tape jobs have different behavior in terms of copying.

File to tape copies predefined file(s) or folder(s). If folder was changed, next run of file-to-tape job will copy all the folder to tape by design. It looks like the behavior you are experiencing. But of you use backup to tape job, it will copy only new restore points, not copying those which are already on the tape.

That`s why I asked you what type of job you are using. Thanks!

[frigomiam]

sorry Shestakov, I'm talking about backup to tape !
example I backup 1 vib to tape ( I just run the backup to tape job ),
then 1 day after if want to reuse the same tape to backup for the new vib ( and the old vib file is there ) : I mark the tape as free, it will try to backup again the old vib. It happened several times that I had to do that, I would have liked to have a feature to say don't backup this old vib again. Everytime I had to change retention policy on the backup job so it deletes the old vib and I can move one with the backup to tape.

[Shestakov]

Thanks for the reply, Francois.
To achieve your goal I would configure your backup to tape job to backup fulls and increments to the different media pools. Set desired retention settings on those media pools. This way already existing restore points(.vib .vbk files) should not be copied several times.
Does it look like what you are looking for?