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robert
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Automatic deletion of old backup files

Post by robert »

I used reverse incremental backup with 10 retention points.

Question: Should the system automatically delete all VBR files older than 10 days? I believe yes, but I frequently have an issue where my backup repository runs out of disk space. So I had to implement my own script to delete the old backup files. Is this configurable?
foggy
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Re: Automatic deletion of old backup files

Post by foggy »

Robert, yes, with reverse incremental mode, Veeam B&R should always maintain the specified number of restore points on disk. Please review the corresponding user guide section for better understanding of how retention works.

Do you probably perform periodic active fulls in between?
nefes
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Re: Automatic deletion of old backup files

Post by nefes »

Please also note, that retention is specified in number of restore points, not days.
robert
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Re: Automatic deletion of old backup files

Post by robert »

Active fulls are performed if the backup fails. What could be the reason that there are more VBR files on the disk then specified in the backup settings?
foggy
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Re: Automatic deletion of old backup files

Post by foggy »

Do you see the same number of restore points in Veeam B&R console, if you right-click that backup under Backups node and select Properties?
robert
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Re: Automatic deletion of old backup files

Post by robert »

There are more restore points than specified in the backup job. I assume this is due to the fact, that the restore points are calculated against the initial VBK. If an out-of-schedule full backup has to be run then there would be additional files. Consider the following scenario: Monday - Full Backup / Tuesday VBR, Wednesday VBR etc.

So far all is well, you have only as many VBR's as you have restore points. However, what if for some reason you have to run an Active Full on Thursday. I don't believe that any existing VBK files would be cleaned up. Is this the reason that the backup cartridges are running out of space?
foggy
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Re: Automatic deletion of old backup files

Post by foggy »

robert wrote:There are more restore points than specified in the backup job. I assume this is due to the fact, that the restore points are calculated against the initial VBK. If an out-of-schedule full backup has to be run then there would be additional files. Consider the following scenario: Monday - Full Backup / Tuesday VBR, Wednesday VBR etc.
If you have more restore points on disk than are displayed in the backup properties window (it's still not clear whether you have checked that), then obsolete files can be safely deleted, as they are not registered in the database and hence not subjected to retention (not sure why they are still there, though,if this is the case).
robert wrote:So far all is well, you have only as many VBR's as you have restore points. However, what if for some reason you have to run an Active Full on Thursday. I don't believe that any existing VBK files would be cleaned up. Is this the reason that the backup cartridges are running out of space?
In case you create an off-schedule active full, the backup chain starts from scratch, however all the previous restore points are still subjected to job retention (so older VRB file should be deleted right after that, etc.). Unlike forward incremental mode, with reverse incremental mode you always should have the specified number of restore points on disk.
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