Backup Copy logic

[Thernlund]

I'm finding it difficult to get my mind around some key aspects of this. Doesn't seem like I'm alone. So some questions...

My jobs are set up like this...

• Primary Incremental job every weekday at 9pm w/ Active Full backup first Friday of every month.
• Backup Copy Job w/ interval set to begin at 8:45pm every night so that it starts immediately after the 9pm job finishes (as per the "Common Use" advice in this document).

Right now that Backup Copy Job take about 9 hours, which bleeds just a little bit into production hours every morning. Not terrible, but not ideal.

What I want to do is set the Backup Copy Job to begin its interval at 8:45pm on Friday night and have it ship the backup copy offsite only once a week immediately after the Friday job ends. I'm not understanding a clear cut path to do this, nor am I understanding the logic of how it might work. It seems like...

1. If I set the interval to 7 days and manually sync right now to reset it (Tuesday), then the interval will eventually start beginning every Wednesday at 8:45pm, which would subsequently begin the transfer right then. It doesn't begin Friday night like I want it to, so as to begin the transfer immediately after the primary backup.
2. If I schedule a transfer window, I'm not sure what happens.
   1. Does it just stay idle until the window opens up? Does it do something else?
   2. Is the very most recent restore point copied when the window does open up? A different one?
   3. What happens if newer restore points are available, but the newest is in progress? Does it wait for that one? Or does it just run with what its got and then fail when the newest one pops up in the middle of the transfer?

Sooo... what? Do I just have to wait for Friday night and do a manual interval reset just before I want it to start?

At the end of the day, I just want nightly backups with a weekend transfer offsite of the most recent. The Backup Copy logic as presented in the interface doesn't seem particularly friendly in making this happen. Or maybe I'm missing some setting someplace.

Any advice on the above would be appreciated.

[PTide]

Hi,

Backup Copy Job w/ interval set to begin at 8:45pm every night so that it starts immediately after the 9pm job finishes (as per the "Common Use" advice in this document).

Why not to schedule it to start a few minutes after the backup job? 9:10 for example.

If I set the interval to 7 days and manually sync right now to reset it (Tuesday), then the interval will eventually start beginning every Wednesday at 8:45pm, which would subsequently begin the transfer right then. It doesn't begin Friday night like I want it to, so as to begin the transfer immediately after the primary backup.

Do you mean that even if you set sync interval to 7 days and perform a manual sync on Friday 9pm then it won't start next Friday at 9pm?

Does it just stay idle until the window opens up? Does it do something else?

The window restricts the job from data transfer. In other words, yes, it should stay idle waiting for showing "Waiting for permitted network usage period" message.

Is the very most recent restore point copied when the window does open up?

All data that is required to restore to the most recent state available is copied.

What happens if newer restore points are available, but the newest is in progress? Does it wait for that one? Or does it just run with what its got and then fail when the newest one pops up in the middle of the transfer?

Copying of a newer restore point will be postponed until the next copy interval.

The easiest and way to do that would be to specify backup copy window + setup a post-job script in the source backup job settings so that it starts the backup copy job after the source job is finished.

Thanks

[Thernlund]

Why not to schedule it to start a few minutes after the backup job? 9:10 for example.

I dunno. The document I linked to gave a best practice of starting it just before the primary job. So I did. *shrug*

Do you mean that even if you set sync interval to 7 days and perform a manual sync on Friday 9pm then it won't start next Friday at 9pm?

No. I mean that when I set the interval to 7 days, that interval starts every 7 days at the time I set on the day I started it. For example, today is Thursday. If I set the interval for 7 days right now, then that interval starts every Thursday from then on. But what if I want the interval to start every Friday? Currently it seems my only recourse is to wait until Friday to set the interval.

This isn't a big deal I guess, but I do wonder to myself why I can set the interval start time, but not the start day as well (when applicable).

The window restricts the job from data transfer. In other words, yes, it should stay idle waiting for showing "Waiting for permitted network usage period" message.

Alright. I assume then that while its showing "Waiting for permitted network usage period", if more restore points appear during the wait then when the wait is over the newest restore points are taken into consideration when it does begin transferring data. Yes?

All data that is required to restore to the most recent state available is copied.

I think this answers the above?

Copying of a newer restore point will be postponed until the next copy interval.

I'm not entirely sure what this means. If a job is in progress when the window opens it'll wait until the next interval and not copy anything in the current interval? That would be a problem.

...

I think I'm not being clear. Let's start over. Here is an example of what I'm concerned about...

• Primary job begins every night at 9pm and takes ~4 hours.
• Backup Copy interval is 7 days beginning on midnight on Thursday morning (only because I set it up on a Thursday).
• The allowable transfer window doesn't start until midnight Saturday morning and runs through midnight Monday morning.

So I have my restore points being created every night at 9pm. Thursday rolls around and the copy interval begins, except that it's not within the transfer window so nothing happens (?). Days pass, primary backups continue every night at 9pm while the copy job waits for the window.

When the transfer window finally opens up Saturday morning, two additional restore points have been created since the interval began; Thursday night and Friday night. In addition, one of those restore points, the 9pm Friday backup, is in progress (for ~1 more hour) when the transfer window opens at midnight.

What does Veeam do? Does it...

1. Simply begin the transfer with Thursday night data because that's the most recent that's not locked?
2. Hold until the Friday night backup finishes around 1am (an hour after the window opened) and then begin the transfer?
3. Give up the interval entirely and wait until the next interval?

If it's C, which is how I read your last reply, I can imagine a scenario where your backups are never sent off-site at all.

I think this has gotten way more complicated than I intended.

[PTide]

Currently it seems my only recourse is to wait until Friday to set the interval.

Correct. Also you can setup everything, set the job disabled, and wait for Friday to enable the job so it start its interval on Friday.

<...>why I can set the interval start time, but not the start day as well (when applicable).

Because there are not that many use cases for such option. In fact it looks like a delayed start for a copy job and in 99% of cases it would be used only once, that cannot justify the costs frp development and implementation. However you might want to backup the request with more use cases.

then when the wait is over the newest restore points are taken into consideration when it does begin transferring data. Yes?

Yes, the most recent restore point will be copied.

I think this answers the above?

Yes

<...>If a job is in progress when the window opens it'll wait until the next interval and not copy anything in the current interval?<...>

Only one restore point is created by backup copy job during the interval. If another restore point (B) appears on the source while backup copy job is copying the first restore point (A) then backup copy job will copy point during the next interval.

<...>so nothing happens (?).

Correct, nothing happens.

Hold until the Friday night backup finishes around 1am (an hour after the window opened) and then begin the transfer?

This.

Thanks

[Thernlund]

Because there are not that many use cases for such option. In fact it looks like a delayed start for a copy job and in 99% of cases it would be used only once, that cannot justify the costs for development and implementation. However you might want to backup the request with more use cases.

Nah. You're right. It'd get used once or twice at most. No big deal I guess.

Thanks for the answers.