Point in time backup to tape

[TheR]

We are small, MS stack mostly shop with about 1T of data. My job is, besides all other jobs, to check that backups are running smoothly and from time to time restore some old version of files or database. And of course waiting and hoping never to happen disaster occasion. I did some disaster recovery tests. Hat down to Veeam for restoring MS SQL server from server machine into KVM without a glitch. I even had to set back DNS record which was updated too

Our files are kept in repository for 3 months what makes restoring of not so long time back changed files a breeze. But I am still used to have a monthly backup on tapes in the case I need to restore older versions. If I understand monthly backup to tape, can only be done, after full backup to repository. My problem is that I didn't find how to add data to existing tape, so I have to mark media as free every time I make monthly backups. Which makes restoring far back files impossible.

My first question (or wish) is. Is it possible to order Veeam to save last state of files in repository to tape? And then of course, what is the process to restore them.

My second question is for the case of disaster when Veeam main server is down. Is it enough that I "rsync" repository directory to remote linux machine, and then after main Veeam server is reinstalled, copy files from backup machine and insert them as valid repository? Is there any other solution available?

Thank you
TheR

[david.domask]

Hi Damjan, welcome to the forums.

A few comments/corrections on your statements first, then to your questions:

> If I understand monthly backup to tape, can only be done, after full backup to repository.

Not quite correct. With Tape GFS media pools, the elder media sets (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly) are always full backups. Please review the Tape GFS How It Works section as it explains how a full is produced; if your goal is to have monthly tape archival backups, configure a GFS Media Pool with the Monthly media set and schedule the Tape GFS job, it will ensure there is a monthly full backup on tape regardless of what the source job produced as the most recent backup (full vs incremental backup)

> My problem is that I didn't find how to add data to existing tape, so I have to mark media as free every time I make monthly backups. Which makes restoring far back files impossible.

I would ask if you could give our Tape FAQ a read; what you're encountering is related to Media Sets most likely; can you check the media pool settings and confirm which option is currently chosen?

Once a media set is closed, it cannot be re-opened until the tape is marked as free, erased, or the tape retention expires.

Questions:

1. My first question (or wish) is. Is it possible to order Veeam to save last state of files in repository to tape? And then of course, what is the process to restore them.

To ensure I'm understanding correctly, your goal would be that each run of the tape job, the entire backup chain should be copied to tape regardless of whether or not they've been written to tape previously?

File to Tape backups will be a best bet here -- schedule only Full backup runs (no incremental), and it will always copy the current state of the backups on the repository. Simply add the backup path from the repository to the job.

You can also consider multiple tape jobs with different schedules backing up the same source jobs -- consider each running each job perhaps monthly or weekly depending on the cycle that works for you, and each job will capture all new backups since the last tape backup, effectively capturing the current "state" of the repository.

2. My second question is for the case of disaster when Veeam main server is down. Is it enough that I "rsync" repository directory to remote linux machine, and then after main Veeam server is reinstalled, copy files from backup machine and insert them as valid repository? Is there any other solution available?

Not sure I fully understand this question correctly -- in the event that Veeam server is inoperable, you would:

- Bring the server back up/redeploy, reinstall Veeam Backup and Replication, and then Restore from the Configuration Backup to resume operations on Veeam. Please note that this operation will force a tape cataloging, so please plan accordingly for your DR plan

- Bring the server back up/redeploy, reinstall Veeam Backup and Replication, add the necessary infrastructure components (Tape Server, Repositories, Virtualization Hosts), and then proceed to catalog the tapes and initiate restores.

I'm not quite getting your idea on rsync coming into play or why it would be required, but I may be misunderstanding, could you elaborate a bit more?

[TheR]

Thank you for fast response.

Maybe asking this question in the Tape forum is not the best option because it has nothing to do with the tapes.

Scenario is for disaster disaster. Like in the case of fire and I have to restore or recreate other systems too. But following monthly tape backup scenario I would end up in best case with one day and in worst with 31 days old data. Normally I should change tape each day and keep it in distant location.

So I was wondering if syncing repository directory to secondary computer and after reinstalling Veeam Server and restoring configuration, I could copy data back from secondary computer and that data would be recognized as valid repository and so I loose only a day.

[david.domask]

Hi Damjan,

Ideally, you would already have Backup Copies creating a secondary copy on the additional storage in advance, so you would always have secondary copies ready to go that Veeam is aware of.

The configuration restore will return Veeam Backup and Replication to the state it was at when the configuration backup was taken; this means that your Backup Infrastructure (proxy servers, repositories, virtualization hosts) will already be available in Veeam, and you can begin with recovery operations once the configuration backup is restored. There is no need to copy backups around, but perhaps I misunderstand your question at this point since the initial post was about Tape backup behaviors.

In the event that everything but tape backups were lost, you would:

1. Bring up a new Veeam Backup and Replication Server
2. Restore from configuration if possible
3. Perform a restore from tape, either directly to Production or to a Staging Repository -- either works, but typically restoring the backups to a staging repository first can give better results

If you have further questions on what you would do in a disaster recovery scenario unrelated to the tape questions, let's start a new topic so we can keep this one focused on the initial tape questions.

Thanks!

[TheR]

You wrote:

.. you would already have Backup Copies creating a secondary copy on the additional storage in advance ...

Is this functionality of default Veeam server or do I need additional Veeam licence and what kind of secondary device is supported (SMB, NAS, NFS). Can you please point me to documentation.

Thank you
Damjan Rems

[david.domask]

Hi Damjam,

Please see this part of the User Guide: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120

Backup Copies do not require additional licenses, and they can target any Backup Repository.