What is the tape.file table in Veeam database (Postgre) used for? Can I delete the data from this table?

[jransis]

I backed up a large amount of data (about 140TB) to a tape library using Veeam B&R V12. After that, I noticed that the Veeam database grew to around 440GB in size.
my question：
1.Is this data size normal, and can I clean up this table? If so, how do I do it?
2.Can I optimize to reduce the database size when creating a tape job?

[Mildur]

Hello Jianwei

What's the amount of files you are protecting by the File to Tape job?
The database size can get rather large if you protect billions of files.

Best,
Fabian

[david.domask]

Hi @jransis, the [Tape.files*] tables store information for File to Tape jobs. Deleting/truncating from these tables is very bad and will result in problems with recovery from tape. We can technically recover from it with a "fresh" database and cataloging the needed tapes, but this can be a long process.

Do not delete/truncate from the [Tape.files*] tables ever. It will not be reparable. Manual edits to the Veeam Configuration Database are not supported without guidance from Veeam Support.

File to Tape is fairly heavy on the database as noted here: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... les-in-job

1. It's very likely normal with File to Tape
2. No, you cannot reduce it, size your infrastructure as per the User Guide link.

[jransis]

Best regards,
Fabian
I estimate there are approximately a few hundred million files and several million folders in my assessment. Then, I found that the 'tape.file' table contains close to 600 million rows of data.

[jransis]

Hi @jransis, the [Tape.files*] tables store information for File to Tape jobs. Deleting/truncating from these tables is very bad and will result in problems with recovery from tape. We can technically recover from it with a "fresh" database and cataloging the needed tapes, but this can be a long process.

Do not delete/truncate from the [Tape.files*] tables ever. It will not be reparable. Manual edits to the Veeam Configuration Database are not supported without guidance from Veeam Support.

File to Tape is fairly heavy on the database as noted here: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... les-in-job

1. It's very likely normal with File to Tape
2. No, you cannot reduce it, size your infrastructure as per the User Guide link.

Thank you for your excellent response, David.Domask!

[Mildur]

Hi Jianwei

a few hundred million files and several million folders

For that source environment a large database is expected. How many files and folders you backup has a direct impact on the database. And each scheduled full backup will add up to the database size.

Update:
You can estimate the database size with the following formula:

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850 MByte = 1 million files/folder per version

An example with 500 Mil files/folders:

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500 Mil Files/Folders * 850 MByte, Change Rate of 0.5%= 480GB database

We recommend to schedule at least one full backup per month. Each full backup adds another 480GB to the database:

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500 Mil Files/Folders * 850 MByte, Change Rate of 0.5%, 2 monthly full backups with 60 days of retention = 960GB database

Best,
Fabian