Backup Strategy + Speed

[gr33ny]

Hello

We're migrating to Veeam B&R v11 from Microsoft Data Protection Manager 2012R2.

I've read the admin guides but have a question about how to best to backup the following scenario and can't quite work it out.

We have 5 SQL Servers with up to 8 databases on each, 1 Exchange Server and 2 File Servers. All of them are Virtual Machines running Windows Server (2012R2 or newer) running across 6 Standalone Hyper-V Hosts.

Would it be best to have separate backup jobs for the VMs and applications/files, or combine them into one job?

E.G. for the SQLs, backup the VM every 30 minutes and enable Application Aware Processing so that transaction logs are cleared down, and for the file servers enable indexing of guest files?

Or backup the VMs once every X days and volume/file level backups every X minutes?

I've also found in testing that backing up SQLs at the Volume level significantly slower than DPM. DPM could backup the databases across all of our SQL servers in around 90 seconds so we ran the job every 15 minutes, whereas it takes Veeam 15 - 25 minutes depending on the server.

Many thanks

[Mildur]

Hi Paul

Would it be best to have separate backup jobs for the VMs and applications/files, or combine them into one job?

For 8 Servers, a single backup job will work. Our best practice guide mentions you can use until 300 VMs per Job. Even more should be possible with the right hardware resources. If you have different retention and RPO requirements for VMs, a second backup job makes sense.

E.G. for the SQLs, backup the VM every 30 minutes and enable Application Aware Processing so that transaction logs are cleared down, and for the file servers enable indexing of guest files?

Instead of doing an image level backup every 30 minutes, you could use MSSQL transaction log backup: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110
You can create an image level backup every 24 hours and backup the transaction log files every 30 minutes.
No VM snapshot required. And logs will be truncated once per day when the image level backup happens.

Best,
Fabian

[gr33ny]

Thank you for your reply

If I change to backup the transaction logs every 15 minutes, does this ignore the schedule of the volume-level backup (which at the moment is set to every 30 minutes)?

If so I will change the volume backup to daily.

Many thanks

[Mildur]

Hi Paul

You're welcome.
A volume level backup has higher priority than transaction log backup.
You don't have to backup the MSSQL server every 30 minutes. With 15min transaction log backup it should be ok with a daily volume backup.
When you do the restore of the MSSQL backup, you can choose point in time:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110

In a volume level backup of a database server, doing the application aware snapshot and removing it may take the most time of the backup job duration. I would use the log level backup.

Best,
Fabian

[gr33ny]

Hello

Thank you for your reply.

Just to confirm, if I create a backup job that:

> Backs up the virtual machines once per day
> Set Application Processing/SQL settings to backup the logs every 15 minutes

The logs will be backed up every 15 minutes, even though the virtual machine backup is set to run once per day?

Many thanks

[Mildur]

Hello Paul

Yes, correct.

Best,
Fabian

[gr33ny]

Hello

Thanks for your reply.

I have created a job with those parameters, for the past several hours the job has been in the "Running" state. When I look at Statistics for the job, there are no stats and in the action list the current tasks says "Waiting for backups of VMs2 with SQL Server to appear". There is no indication of success in the Logs in the Veeam Console.

Are there any other logs I can use to further troubleshoot the issue?

Many thanks

[Mildur]

Hi Paul

Please try F5. Maybe the console view wasn't updated with the most recent state of the job.
The running SQL Log Session should show you a list of all MSSQL servers in your backup job.
A previous image Level backup in this job is required to be able to use log backup.

If your VM "VMs2" wasn't backed up yet by the daily image level job yet, log backup won't be able to start. I suggest you start the image level job manually or wait until the regurlar schedule does it for you this evening. Check again afterwards if the log backup have started successfully.
If not, please open a support case and let our support team analyze the log files.

Best,
Fabian

[gr33ny]

Hi Fabian

That's worked, I will build the backup jobs according to this method.

Thanks very much for your help.

[gr33ny]

Hello again!

I have a question regarding Exchange - there is no Exchange specific tab in the Processing Settings under Application Aware Processing.

How would I achieve the same with Exchange as I am with SQL Server? Should I have separate jobs for the VM and for the mailbox store/logs?

Many thanks

[Mildur]

Hi Paul

Unfortunately we don't provide built-in transaction log backup for Exchange server like we do for MSSQL and Oracle.
If you want a restore point every 15 minutes of your Exchange Server, you must create a volume backup every 15 minutes. A second Job would be required. But it will use VSS and VM Snapshots for protecting your Exchange VM. It depends on your hardware and the load on the exchange server if a restore point can be taken every 15 minutes.

Best,
Fabian

[lampshade]

With regards to his exchange question.. If your running a IP-LESS DAG do we just need to add both of the exchange servers to the same job? Is there any caveats with an IP-LESS dag?

[Mildur]

Yes, please see our user guide:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110

Best,
Fabian