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Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Hello,
we are currently moving to a new backup server and I'd like to review and improve the backup configuration.
Today we are running a forever incremental backup without active full or synthetic full as a source job and a GFS tape job with daily and weekly as a secondary job, this works fine.
Now, with the new backup server and ReFS file system for the repository, we'd like to extend the amount of restore points and want to schedule a weekly synthetic full on disk as this doesn't consume more space on disk with ReFS. How does this interact with our tape job?
As I understood I should schedule the synthetic full on the source job on the same day as the weekly backup to avoid that the daily backup stores the synthetic full on tape? Is this correct?
Thanks!
we are currently moving to a new backup server and I'd like to review and improve the backup configuration.
Today we are running a forever incremental backup without active full or synthetic full as a source job and a GFS tape job with daily and weekly as a secondary job, this works fine.
Now, with the new backup server and ReFS file system for the repository, we'd like to extend the amount of restore points and want to schedule a weekly synthetic full on disk as this doesn't consume more space on disk with ReFS. How does this interact with our tape job?
As I understood I should schedule the synthetic full on the source job on the same day as the weekly backup to avoid that the daily backup stores the synthetic full on tape? Is this correct?
Thanks!
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Re: Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Hi redhorse,
By enabling a periodic full on the Source Job, you'll have the following effects on the tape job:
- The Tape job will no longer need to make Virtual Fulls, as these are only required if the source backup chain is Forever Forward Incremental
Outside of that, nothing changes; you will still get a full backup + increments to tape like you were previously with Backup to Tape, except instead of the tape job creating the full "live" during the job, it will simply backup the Synthetic fulls.
By enabling a periodic full on the Source Job, you'll have the following effects on the tape job:
- The Tape job will no longer need to make Virtual Fulls, as these are only required if the source backup chain is Forever Forward Incremental
Outside of that, nothing changes; you will still get a full backup + increments to tape like you were previously with Backup to Tape, except instead of the tape job creating the full "live" during the job, it will simply backup the Synthetic fulls.
Not quite correct. There won't be a way to avoid backing up the Synthetic Fulls, but as the Tape Job is currently making Virtual Full Backups periodically as is right now, effectively nothing changes, only "how" the full is made.As I understood I should schedule the synthetic full on the source job on the same day as the weekly backup to avoid that the daily backup stores the synthetic full on tape?
David Domask | Product Management: Principal Analyst
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Re: Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Hi David,
hm, I am confused now.
So, we don't want to schedule a full backup on the source job but a synthetic full instead. So, forever incremental with periodic synthetic full.
If I have a GFS tape job with daily incremental and full on Saturday, how does this interact with my source job?
If I schedule a synthetic full on Monday on the source job and a weekly full on the GFS on tape, what happens to the tape job? It couldn't find an increment on monday (but a synthetic full) for the daily job, what happens then?
hm, I am confused now.
So, we don't want to schedule a full backup on the source job but a synthetic full instead. So, forever incremental with periodic synthetic full.
If I have a GFS tape job with daily incremental and full on Saturday, how does this interact with my source job?
If I schedule a synthetic full on Monday on the source job and a weekly full on the GFS on tape, what happens to the tape job? It couldn't find an increment on monday (but a synthetic full) for the daily job, what happens then?
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Re: Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Don't worry, it can be a bit to untangle 
First, just for clarity, let's make sure we're not confusing terms:
Full Backup can be either Active Full or Synthetic Full, they're exactly the same, just how the Full is made is different. With Synthetic Fulls, the processing is done on the repository and a Full backup is made from the increment the backup job makes + the existing backups for the machine on the repository already.
What I described was for Simple Media pools and looks like I incorrectly assumed that you weren't using GFS. But this is fine because it's even more simple
With Tape GFS, on the day the GFS job runs, for the elder media sets (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly), it will look for an appropriate restore point on the repository that fits the current GFS Period.
If the backup file is a full backup, the Tape GFS job simply copies that Full restore point to tape for that media set.
If the backup file is an incremental, then a Virtual Full will be created from that restore point on tape for that media set.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120
So if I get you right, your Tape Job targeting GFS Media Pool is set for Saturday, correct? If so, on Saturday, the GFS Tape Job will look on the repository for a restore point that meets the GFS period and follow the logic above. Is it a bit more clear?

First, just for clarity, let's make sure we're not confusing terms:
Full Backup can be either Active Full or Synthetic Full, they're exactly the same, just how the Full is made is different. With Synthetic Fulls, the processing is done on the repository and a Full backup is made from the increment the backup job makes + the existing backups for the machine on the repository already.
What I described was for Simple Media pools and looks like I incorrectly assumed that you weren't using GFS. But this is fine because it's even more simple

With Tape GFS, on the day the GFS job runs, for the elder media sets (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly), it will look for an appropriate restore point on the repository that fits the current GFS Period.
If the backup file is a full backup, the Tape GFS job simply copies that Full restore point to tape for that media set.
If the backup file is an incremental, then a Virtual Full will be created from that restore point on tape for that media set.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120
So if I get you right, your Tape Job targeting GFS Media Pool is set for Saturday, correct? If so, on Saturday, the GFS Tape Job will look on the repository for a restore point that meets the GFS period and follow the logic above. Is it a bit more clear?
David Domask | Product Management: Principal Analyst
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Re: Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Thanks a lot for clarification and for me it's now totally clear how the full backup to tape works.
Now, when it comes to the daily backup set, I have some problems to understand how it works if a periodic full backup is activated on the source job.
Exampe:
- Source job is configured to create a full backup each Sunday
- Tape Job is configured for daily and weekly backup where the weekly backup is configured for Monday
As I undestood the tape job creates a virtual full on Monday for the weekly backup, that's fine. On Tuesday to Saturday the increments are stored to tape for the daily backup, but what happens with the daily tape backup on Sunday? There is no increment on the source backup but just the new full backup.
Now, when it comes to the daily backup set, I have some problems to understand how it works if a periodic full backup is activated on the source job.
Exampe:
- Source job is configured to create a full backup each Sunday
- Tape Job is configured for daily and weekly backup where the weekly backup is configured for Monday
As I undestood the tape job creates a virtual full on Monday for the weekly backup, that's fine. On Tuesday to Saturday the increments are stored to tape for the daily backup, but what happens with the daily tape backup on Sunday? There is no increment on the source backup but just the new full backup.
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Re: Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Hi redhorse,
Glad I could clear some of that up for you.
With the daily backup set, by default it wants to put full backups into elder media sets (Weekly, Monthly, etc); so it follows the process from this page (step 3): https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120
The increments from the daily media set must link to a full, and by default, Tape GFS wants that full to be in the Weekly; if there is not a full in the weekly, then a full will be put into the Daily media set. So the last bullet point on Step 3 applies for you, if it's only the Daily media set, it would pull everything including the full backup which would go to Daily.
So in your case, I think the easiest change is just set the weekly schedule for Tape GFS to be same as the full schedule for your source job(s).
Glad I could clear some of that up for you.
With the daily backup set, by default it wants to put full backups into elder media sets (Weekly, Monthly, etc); so it follows the process from this page (step 3): https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120
The increments from the daily media set must link to a full, and by default, Tape GFS wants that full to be in the Weekly; if there is not a full in the weekly, then a full will be put into the Daily media set. So the last bullet point on Step 3 applies for you, if it's only the Daily media set, it would pull everything including the full backup which would go to Daily.
So in your case, I think the easiest change is just set the weekly schedule for Tape GFS to be same as the full schedule for your source job(s).
David Domask | Product Management: Principal Analyst
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Re: Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Alright, thank you for the explanation! That's what I expected but I wanted to be sure that it works like this.
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Re: Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Sorry, I‘ve just another question…
Let‘s say I schedule the full backup and the weekly for Saturday and the tape backup is configured to start at 11 pm. What happens if the source backup starts on Saturday and finishes on Sunday Morning? Then the tape job waits until the source job is finished, is it still considered as Saturday?
Let‘s say I schedule the full backup and the weekly for Saturday and the tape backup is configured to start at 11 pm. What happens if the source backup starts on Saturday and finishes on Sunday Morning? Then the tape job waits until the source job is finished, is it still considered as Saturday?
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Re: Tape GFS with Synthetic Full Backup in Source Job
Hi redhorse,
In this case, the tape job will detect the source job is still running and queue that task for later retry on the tape job, and once the full backup file is no longer locked, the tape job will take the full backup to the appropriate media set. The restore points represent a specific point in time for the production machine, so Veeam knows which day the restore point reflects and best meets the GFS interval.
In this case, the tape job will detect the source job is still running and queue that task for later retry on the tape job, and once the full backup file is no longer locked, the tape job will take the full backup to the appropriate media set. The restore points represent a specific point in time for the production machine, so Veeam knows which day the restore point reflects and best meets the GFS interval.
David Domask | Product Management: Principal Analyst
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