Stupid question....

[cloggy]

I have a full backup every week and delete the old backup chains/restore points manually but when I start the restore function, the old restore points are still visible. How can I delete the old (and non-exiting) restore points from the database?

Thanks...Dick

[nielsengelen]

You mean you can still see the previous sessions? Regardless of the files being there or not? This is normal behaviour in the interface.

[cloggy]

Yes, I can still see the previous backup points but they do not exist anymore as I deleted the backup chain(s) from disk. Isn't it a bit strange this is normal behaviour and those old backup points cannot be deleted from the Veeam Backup database?

[nielsengelen]

The database is very small so the impact isn't huge. The restore buttons are greyed out as well. In all our products we keep the history of jobs.

[Mike Resseler]

Hi Dick,
Is there a reason why you delete those manually? Wouldn't it be better to change your retention range so that they are deleted automatically?

Mike

[cloggy]

Hello Mike,

Here comes the next stupid question.. ....where can I set the retention range providing I want to start a new active Full backup every Friday? After starting a new Full Active Backup, the old backup chains are not deleted. I cannot find any option to specify how many Full Backup chains I want to keep.

Note that I'm using Veeam Agent fro Windows...

Regards...Dick

[nielsengelen]

The idea of the agent is that we create a full and then incrementals which are merged into the full backup upon reaching the retention. However under the 'advanced' options under your storage settings you can enable "Create active full backuyp periodically" where you can set it up to every week.

[cloggy]

That is what I did and the Active Full Backup did not start yesterday and only an incremental was carried out while I expected a Full Backup. So, I had the same problem as already mentioned by user tang: veeam-agent-for-windows-f33/synthetic-f ... 42086.html
Unfortunately I cannot see if he has opened a ticket.

Now, providing the periodical Full Backup mechanism would work properly (which in my case it did not), how can I set the number of full backup chains to be kept as in other disk backup programs (like Macrium Reflect and Acronis True Image..). As far as I can see, this option does not exist as the program is based upon a full backup and then only incrementals.

[nielsengelen]

If the active full didn't run please open a support case for investigation why it didn't run. Which is your backup target?

[cloggy]

The backup target is a second HDD in my PC. After a backup has finished, the just created files will be copied automatically to my NAS (using BVCKUP2) to have a second backup set.

[cloggy]

No need to reply anymore as I have deleted VAW for the moment. I'll come back when:
1) It is out of Beta and
2) Has the option to set how many backup sets you want to keep and
3) You can also make backups when booting from the recovery media (more users have requested for this option).

With regards to #2: maybe it is there but I haven't been able to find it.

[Mike Resseler]

For #2: When you configure the backup job, you will see at the step that you choose the backup storage (local storage/ NAS/ ...) Restore points to keep on disk. This is the amount of backups restore points that you want to keep. By default this is 14 if I am not mistaken

[cloggy]

Hello Mike, correct me if I'm wrong but that parameter indicates the number of incremental backup points before the oldest incremental is going to be merged with the full backup. Where can I find the parameter to specify how many complete periodic backup sets I want to keep? Example: I want to start a new Full Periodic Backup set every Friday and I want to keep 2 Full backup sets, i.e, 2 weeks of backup, how can I specify this......or is this something that is going to be introduced in the final 2.0 release version?

[Mike Resseler]

If you are using the workstation or server edition (not the free one) of VAW 2.0 beta you can set that in the advanced backup settings. If I am not mistaken it is at the same tab of the amount of restore points. So in that case you choose 14 as the # of restore points you want, and then click on advanced and choose to create active full (or synthetic full) on Friday

[cloggy]

So, if I set the restore points to 7 and make a full active backup every Friday, does that mean that I end up with 7 sets of full backup sets? Note that in the Advanced Backup settings, you can only specify when new Full Active Backup is started, nothing about the number of sets you want to keep.

To be honest, I think this is either very confusing or there is no way you can specify the number of Backup Sets I want to keep, for now I give up...

Note that one very important function is still missing: to be able to make a backup using the Boot Media. Let's take this example: daily backups are scheduled at 16:00 hrs....but 5 minutes before the daily backup is supposed to run, something happened to Windows (either a virus or windows failure) and the system cannot be started again in the Windows Environment.... The only solution is to restore from the last backup (of yesterday) but all the changed/updated files since the last backup (in this case yesterday) will be lost then simply because you cannot make a backup from the Boot Media.... All other products I have been tested so far (Macrium, Veritas System Recovery, Acronis True Image), all have the option to make a backup using the Boot Media.

[Mike Resseler]

No, it means you will have 1 full backup and 6 incrementals. So maybe indeed we need to check to make it less confusing

Understood and noted about the missing backup through the boot media. Your vote is counted for this feature request

[nielsengelen]

If you define 7 points you will have 1 full backup and 6 incrementals and on the specific day we will create an active full followed by incrementals till the day is reached again.

Have a look at the userguide for more information (this also applies to the agent): https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95
And the info on Synthetic full can be found here: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95

[cloggy]

I read both articles but what I have not found is where to specify how many backup sets (one full + n incrementals) you want to keep...

As nobody has been able to answer this question, I assume that there is no option for it and VAW Free keeps creating these backup sets until the disk is full...unless old backup sets are deleted manually....

[nielsengelen]

The amount of points you keep is set per job. If you set it to 14 you have 1 full + 13 incr, set it to 100 and you get 1 full + 99 incr.

We won't keep making backups until the disk is full (unless you define too many restore points) . We automatically merge the oldest incremental in the full file when reaching the defined number (if it is 7 we will do a merge on day 8 and merge the incremental of day 2 in to the full backup).

If you use synthetic full & active full the same applies in regards of the total points configured in your job.

[cloggy]

Hello Niels, thanks for your reply but either I don't understand your answer or my original question has still not been answered: where can I define how many backup sets I want keep? Again, I want to perform a new backup set every Friday, where can I specify how many of these backup sets need to be kept?

In Acronis, and many other backup programs, you can specify you want to keep f.i. 3 complete backup sets (one full and a number of incrementals or differentials). After the fourth backup cycle has been completed , the oldest backup set will automatically be deleted. Does this mechanism also exist in VAW?

IMHO, my question is simple but for one reason or the other (maybe I haven't explained it very well) I cannot get a clear answer to it. Maybe it's time for me to forget about VAW and keep using Macrium Reflect Free.

[nielsengelen]

By default we won't work with "sets" as you compare with other solutions. We work with restore points and based on the setup you can get those "sets" you are talking about.

In the agent you could put the amount of restore points to 28 and a synthethic full every week. This would result in 4 full backups with 6 incrementals per full (24 in total).

Also if you send backups to a Veeam Backup & Replication repository you could use backup copy job with GFS.

[cloggy]

Thanks Niels, that answer makes more sense to me.. Let me give it a try..