Backup Copy Seeding from reverse incremental full backup

[hyvokar]

Hi!

I need to seed the backup copy job from reverse incremental full backup file. Can this be done? This is a semi-large file server (> 2TB) and I cannot make auxialiry backup job, since I dont have enoght disk space for another copy.

[Shestakov]

To make a seeding you need to copy the .vbk file to the target repository and map it to the backup copy job.
Thanks

[hyvokar]

Hi!

Not sure how to do that.



Limitations for backup copy job mapping


1. The backup copy job can be mapped to a backup file if the backup chain is created with the incremental backup method. You cannot map to a backup file if the backup chain is created with the reverse incremental backup method or contains both incremental and reverse incremental restore points (for example, if the backup chain was transformed).

[Shestakov]

You are right, reverse incremental job can`t be used for seeding. As a workaround, you need to create a temporary local backup copy job from the backup job and then use its new backup chain for seeding. Because backup copy jobs themselves cannot be reverse incremental.
If you don`t have a space for an additional VBK, I would suggest to switch from Reverse incremental to forever forward incremental.
Sorry for the confusion in my previous post.

[hyvokar]

No probs. Seems like I have to pay a visit to hardware store.

Btw, I think I found a bug (bug as miss-use )

I copied the smaller vbk and vbm to a usb drive and sent it to offsite. The backup job had 30 restore points. Didnt copy the .vrb files, since I really dont need so many restore points off site.
When I copied the vbk and vbm to offsite repository and rescanned the repo, it showed 30 restore points. Ofcourse I cannot use these, so I decided to delete them all from GUI (delete from disk). Now VBR has been stuck with the message "deleting VM data from backup file..." for a good hour.

[Shestakov]

Seems like I have to pay a visit to hardware store.

Have you considered switching the backup job to Forever Forward Incremental Backup? You can have a single .vbk on the primary site and leverage seeding for backup copy jobs.

Regarding the bug, it can appear since metadata keeps the info about deleted incrementals. We will try to confirm it with QA team. What version of VBR are you at by the way?
Thanks for the feedback!

[hyvokar]

We like to keep backup as reverse incremental for the fastest possible recovery.
I'm running 8.0 with latest patch (2b I believe).

E: had to reboot the get vbr back in responsive state. the build number is: 8.0.0.2030

[Shestakov]

Got it.
Regarding the bug a.k.a miss-use, the behavior is confirmed. You should choose "delete from backup" instead of "delete from disk". Because delete from disk = delete files, while delete from backup = delete from VBR database(hide in UI).
We will think how to make the behavior more intuitive.
Thanks for the feedback once again!