Does VEB benefit from REFS?

[yasuda]

I've been reading about how Server 2016 and REFS repositories increase the speed of incremental merges. Is Veeam Endpoint able to take advantage of REFS?

Scenario 1: Backup target is an SMB share on Server 2016 with REFS
Scenario 2: Backup target is a VBR 9.5 repository on Server 2016 with REFS

We have multiple VEB backups going to a Server 2008 SMB share, which is a DROBO, and the merge operations are getting very slow. My last one took over 4 hours to merge a 4 GB incremental.

[jmmarton]

Since VEB is a forever forward incremental backup, no, it can't really take advantage of ReFS--yet. With the upcoming Veeam Agent for Windows 2.0 release, there will be options to configure backup methods (including in the free version). Once you configure synthetic fulls then they should take advantage of ReFS when going to a VBR 9.5 repository (may require 9.5 update 1).

Joe

[dellock6]

Just a clarification, there are two advantages from refs integration: one is spaceless GFS as Joe noted, but also during transform there is a heavy reduction of I/O since now it's more metadata updates, and I believe this is what Peter was referring to. Forever incremental doesn't give any space reduction when using refs, but surely can benefit from I/O-less transform operations, the same used to run VEB backups. This said, final list of features is not available yet so I'll let to our product management to comment on refs compatibility.

[Dima P.]

It should be possible to use VEB 1.5 with ReFS now but it won’t provide any additional functionality.

Joe is right regarding the upcoming v2.0. In order to get all the benefits from ReFS repository VAW 2.0 must use Veeam Backup and Replication as a backup destination with ReFS as a VBR repository.

[Gostev]

And what about local ReFS - why it would not be supported there, considering it is the same exact data mover used in both cases?

[yasuda]

Thank you everyone for the info. Luca is correct; the I/O-less transforms is the main thing I was looking for. We have enough raw storage capacity; it's the duration of merges that is the problem. It makes VEB useless for our engineers because they are only in the office a couple hours at a time. I already made a feature request to have the merge process handled offline by the backup server, so the VEB agent only needs to be connected long enough to complete the incremental backup.

[jmmarton]

And what about local ReFS - why it would not be supported there, considering it is the same exact data mover used in both cases?

That would require VAW 2.0 as well, wouldn't it? Since VEB 1.5 isn't supported on Server 2016?

Joe

[Dima P.]

Joe,

True. We are dicussing this option with the dev team.

[Eamonn Deering]

I'm testing Veeam Agent Beta 2.0.0.595 Free Edition and backing up a local volume to a Veeam B@R ReFS Repo. Only option I see is "Active Full Backup". No Synthetic Backup option. I have it set to do a full every day.

Each backup looks to be taking up the full space. No zero byte backup.

Is there ReFS support for any version of the Agent?

Thanks
Eamonn

[Dima P.]

No Synthetic Backup option. I have it set to do a full every day.

Free edition does not have synthetic full option. Workstation or Server edition is required.

Is there ReFS support for any version of the Agent?

BETA supports fast merge when ReFS is added as VBR repo. GA will support fast merge for direct backup to ReFS location.

[Keyser]

I have some Veeam Endpoint clients pointed to a 9.5 B&R Repository using ReFS om server 2016 for use of the fastclone technology.

My B&R backup jobs uses the FastClone tech just fine, but my Endpoint backup jobs still uses a very long time to merge the oldest incremental into the full file. And I see no reference to fastclone being used.
Is Fastclone not supported with Endpoint backup jobs?

-Keyser

[Dima P.]

Hi Keyser,

VEB knows nothing about ReFS, so no additional functionality is supported in the existing versions. Regarding upcoming functionality of VAW 2.0, kindly, check this thread.

[AlexLeadingEdge]

Does Veeam EP 2.0 work with ReFS on Windows Server 2016?

(I see that your competitor Storage Craft's latest product Shadow Protect SPX doesn't support ReFS!!!)

[Dima P.]

Hi AlexLeadingEdge,

VEB supports ReFS without any benefits. Upcoming VAW 2.0 will have advanced functionality while ReFS is used as a target.

[AlexLeadingEdge]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply! I mixed up my terms when I said VEB 2.0, I was meaning the new Veeam Agent for Windows (VAW) 2.0 Beta.

[Dima P.]

That’s ok. Our dev guys are sill using Endpoint name internally