Agent AIX - best way to backup

[GianlucaCroci]

Hello,
we've some IBM LPAR AIX Servers that we backup with Veeam, or better with the AIX Veeam Agent installed.
On each server we've installed the Agent, and configured to backup a local folder on a mounted Storage.
All well but we've to manage the retention manually (batch script that change the name of the backup file, where we add at the end of the name the date).
The only problem is that everything gets copied every day.
We'd like, for example, to be able to save only the files generated in the last 24 H.
Possible? Is there a better method?

Thanks in advance.

[GianlucaCroci]

sorry.... We'use the "UBAX --BACKUP" command.

[PTide]

Hi Gianluca,

I think you should update the agent - v2.0 with an automatic retention and tons of improvements is available since September.

Thanks!

[GianlucaCroci]

Hello,
thanks.
We've installed the Veeam Agent AIX 2.0.0.256. I know that if we use the "Veeam Agent for IBM AIX" we can have an Incremental Backup and Retention too, but we want to use the UBAX.
If not possibile, we'll try something else.
This request in the forum was to understand if it's feasible with UBAX or not. Because maybe we're not using the command correctly.

Thanks again.

[PTide]

May I ask you what's the reason to use the legacy and outdated tool (ubax)? Because ubax does not have any automation of retention, and I don't think it will ever get one.

Thanks!

[GianlucaCroci]

It wasn't our choice but of the person who was there before.
Now, not wanting to upset everything, we wanted to understand if we could improve with little effort.
We're also trying to think the other way around, or rather this would be the opposite for Veeam. I'll explain.
Instead of the AIX servers sending their Backup to the Veeam Storage, which was mounted previously, on a single AIX server we've enabled the NFS protocol, and configured in the "File Share". Then we created a File Backup Job which fetches the files. This allows us to manage everything from the Veeam console. Which until now for what was AIX, we couldn't.
The only problem is the opening of the NFS Share to the anonymous user, because we've not found how to pass them credentials.

Thanks

[PTide]

Well, it seems that you need at least give it a try. Veeam Agent moved from ubax to a new backup engine for a reason - it is more flexible and technically can coexist with ubax.

Thanks!

[GianlucaCroci]

Thanks.
We're starting to use Veeam Agent (VEEAMCONFIG).
For the moment we're struggling with the introduction/preparation method and the backup, but we're confident.

[GianlucaCroci]

Another question.
Every month we put the Backups on Tape, and we'd like to put these done with AIX Veeam Agent too.
It's possible and how?

Thanks again.

[PTide]

If you send backups to VBR repositories you can use Backup To Tape functionality to send AIX backup to tapes.

Thanks!

[GianlucaCroci]

Just a problem. On Veeam I see the backup, but on the "Disk (Imported)" only. Probable my mistake somewhere...

Thanks

[GianlucaCroci]

Good morning,
we were able to configure Agent 2.0 and it works fine.
However, we note a slowness.
We've chosen the maximum compression on the job, I don't know if this can affect the speed of the save.
However in 13H he saved 57 GB on the Repository. With the old UBAX system, without compression, it saved around 480GB in 9 H.
On AIX we've mounted a repository via NFS.

Any tips to speed up the backup?

Thanks in advance

[PTide]

We've chosen the maximum compression on the job, I don't know if this can affect the speed of the save.

Yes, it can. Please select a lower compression level and see if the result is satisfactory and let us know what's the outcome.

Regarding NFS repo - did you mount it directly to AIX, or you used VBR repo which is mounted to some gateway server? In general, using a VBR-backed repo results in a better transfer rate (unless the bottleneck is a source disk or source agent)

Thanks!

[GianlucaCroci]

Thanks.

We used a 2 compression (--compressionlevel) and the 10H job copied 200 GB.
Via NFS (FileCopy) we were able to copy 150GB to 3H. This info is only for comparison. Clearly in the case of VEEAMCONFIG it must create a backup file, and therefore more complex.

We mount the NFS path and we created a Repository (veeamconfig repository create --name "Repo_Name" --location / path / repository) and in the backup job we use this Repository.
But the mount is done every time before the backup, and at the end the dismount is done.
Can this be a problem?

Thanks again.

[PTide]

v2.0 perfroms incremental backups (i.e. it checks which files have been modified since the last backup session), this might be the reason for longer backup sessions. Have you compared performance on backup chains longer that 1 restore point?

As for NFS repo - keep in mind that in order to send backup into VBR repo you need to first add VBR server via veeamconfig vbrserver add.

Thanks!

[GianlucaCroci]

We've executed the command "veeamconfig vbrserver add" before (first command executed). Second one the creation of the Repository (veeamconfig repository create).

This was our first run (completed), that's why it's big. The previous one was canceled because it was too slow, since we had used the compression "4".
However first we executed "RMAN" which saves Oracle, and then with Veeam we take away this file. For this reason, even an "Incremental" will always be large.
But surely it will be better than "UBAX" because it happened that the penultimate backup was not deleted, and it copied 2 days, doubling the size of the save file, as well as lengthening the file transfer times.

Thanks

[PTide]

Second one the creation of the Repository (veeamconfig repository create).

By doing so you created a non-VBR repo. The agent cannot create VBR-based repos - it can only select from the list of the existing repos. You should use veeamconfig repository list command in order to get the list of the repos that are available.

Thanks!

[GianlucaCroci]

OK, thanks.
we will try as you said

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello @GianlucaCroci ,

I wonder what is your latest experience with Veeam Agent for AIX.

Thanks,
Rovshan

[GianlucaCroci]

Hello
We're still using version 2, except in the test environment, but it works.
We'd like to switch to the new version, but we always have other priorities that prevent us from trying.
Still positive experience

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hi,

Have you had the opportunity to test the latest version in a non-production environment?

Rovshan.

[GianlucaCroci]

Yes, but the problem's the time... mine and of my collegue that manage the AIX Server
We'll certainly switch to the new version, but more in the coming months than in the coming weeks, because at the moment we've other priorities

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hi,

Absolutely, we're eager to hear your thoughts in the future. Thank you in advance for sharing.

Rovshan.