Backup Copy Jobs - GFS - Simple - Compacting

[mmonroe]

I have been using Veeam for some time - 3-4 years I guess. I have read the version 7 doc on the backup copy jobs more times than I care to admit. From the doc, I think I have a pretty good understanding of how both the Simple and GFS processes work with regards to the full file, the incrementals and so forth. I am still watcthing Veeam and the files files as I work through time, but not enough weeks have passed for me to fully see things in production yet.

As best I can tell from the doc, the GFS scheme is the same as the Simple - except - the "full backup" basically gets left - not deleted - behind on the appropriate week/month/year/quarter. If you were doing the pure Simple process the full just keeps moving/rebuilt each night to include the new increment based upon the number of retention days.

Here is my question.. With the backup copy job - simple or GFS - It appears that the "full backup vbk" never actually gets rebuild via an active backup. It is regenerated each night with the next days incremental added into it.

1) I am concerned about never being able to do an active full on the backup copy job VBK. Does the health check verify it back against the main backup files? With all of the other VBK routines, it is generally accepted that an active full should be done occasionally if only 2-3 times a year. Why not with backup copy jobs?

2) With the Simple process - you have the ability to do a scheduled "compact" on the file. However, with the GFS, there is no option to do a compact. The option is disabled. Since the GFS seems to be essentially the same as the Simple with regards to the base restore points I would think that it would need to be compacted as well. I cannot tell from the doc that the VBK in the base restore points is handled any differently with GFS versus Simple. So why doesnt it need to be compacted?

Thanks guys. Your thoughts and ideas are appreciated...

[Gostev]

1) I am concerned about never being able to do an active full on the backup copy job VBK. Does the health check verify it back against the main backup files?

Yes, this is what the health check is all about. With that, you can be sure that what is stored in backup copy is bit identical to what is stored in the source backup.

With all of the other VBK routines, it is generally accepted that an active full should be done occasionally if only 2-3 times a year. Why not with backup copy jobs?

Because far too often, Backup Copy job needs to go over WAN - so it was clear for us that we need a design that does not require an Active Full.

2) With the Simple process - you have the ability to do a scheduled "compact" on the file. However, with the GFS, there is no option to do a compact. The option is disabled. Since the GFS seems to be essentially the same as the Simple with regards to the base restore points I would think that it would need to be compacted as well. I cannot tell from the doc that the VBK in the base restore points is handled any differently with GFS versus Simple. So why doesnt it need to be compacted?

Since GFS involves periodically creating the new full backup files, no single VBK should end up large enough amount of unused blocks to justify compacting.