Restoring an offsite backup

[mwolfe87]

I am using the free Windows agent and I need to restore a backup from several months ago. I keep 30 days of incremental backups with a full backup taken the first Saturday of the Month. I copy the full backup to a separate drive once a month and store offsite. What I'm finding is that if I copy that VBK back onto my server, either where other backups are hosted or locally, the agent cannot see the backup file. My backups are hosted on a linux samba server, and I do not use the Veeam repository server.

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I wasn't sure what I needed to search for as it seemed too vague/niche of a question. Has anyone done this before? Have I unintentionally screwed myself?

[Vitaliy S.]

Michael, do you copy old VBK file to the repository where an existing backup chain is located or you're trying to rescan a brand new folder (hosted on that share) with the old file?

[mwolfe87]

I have copied the old VBK back into the file share the server stores it's backups, as well as on the server to try and get the agent to see the backup file. Neither of which force it to see the backup.

[Vitaliy S.]

Have you tried opening the directory manually and simply double-click on the file like it is described over here?

[mwolfe87]

I have tried and I get "Unsupported VBM format". I have 3.0.2.1170 installed of the Free Windows agent. Does this only work with the repository server?

[Dima P.]

Michael,

There is a known issue with 'double-click on vbk' functionality (agent cannot resolve the changed file share path to the vbk on the new location after backup file is copied). Try to open the backup via regular restore wizard in the Agent UI and let us know if that works. Cheers!

[mwolfe87]

@Dima P, that is how I tried accessing the backup file initially and the agent never sees the backup, just the last 30 days of backups when I open the share my server stores the backups or if I try to access the copy I moved over to the server.

[Dima P.]

Michael,

Let me sum up, to make sure that we are on the same page:

1. You copy the backup to another server
2. Start file level recovery wizard via Start menu
3. Browse for the shared folder where this backup is stored in the restore wizard
4. Once you click finish to open the backup browser you get "Unsupported VBM format" error

Is that correct?

[mwolfe87]

Mostly:

1. Copy offsite backup from March back to the backup server.
2. Attempt file restore from Veeam agent by pointing it to the server that stores the backups.
3. March backup is not displayed, only the recent backups.

I have repeated this process by copying the March backup to a folder locally, then attempting the file restore through the Veeam agent, but when I direct it to the local folder, it does not display any backups.

[mwolfe87]

Here are screen shots of what I see:

Attempting from the local machine:


Attempting from the backup server:

[Dima P.]

Understood, thanks for the details! Can you try to copy the .vbm (metadata which describes the backup) file together with .vbk and then repeat the restore via wizard on the agent side?

[mwolfe87]

It looks like the VBM only has the backup data for the last month and a half. I guess I have discovered a flaw in my offsite backups in that I need to also copy the VBM along with the latest VBK.

Is there any other method I can use to obtain data from that backup?

[Egor Yakovlev]

Hi Michael.
Veeam Agent will not understand VBK\VIB backup content without corresponding VBM metadata alongside. However, it won't be of trouble for Veeam Backup and Replication(you can install free Community Edition). Use Import Backup option in VBR UI and let those data recoveries begin!
/Cheers!

[ssm_spb]

Hi Michael,

On the first screenshot, I see you have a drop-down menu with 'extension' next to the empty text field for the file name.
Could you please check if you have there 'Veeam backup file' too?

[mwolfe87]

@Egot Yakoviev
When I attempt to import the VBK into Veeam Backup and Replication I get "Object reference not set to an instance of an object"



@ssm_spg

I only see the option to select the VBM. The VBM in the screen shot does not contain a reference to the backup I need access to from March of this year.

[mwolfe87]

The step I was missing when it came to importing the backup file into Veeam Backup and Recovery was that I first needed to add the server prior to importing the backup file. Once I did this, I was able to get the file I needed to restore from the backup file and copy it back to the server.

Thank you everyone for your assistance. I have already modified my backup scripts to also copy the VBM so I don't run into this problem again.

[Egor Yakovlev]

Thanks for update and glad it sorted out!
/Cheers!

[Dima P.]

Michael,

Mind me asking the last question. Can you please clarify VAW and VBR versions you are using? Thanks you in advance!