Daily Fulls

[brad126]

We've recently moved from backup to tape to backup to disk using a dedupe device.

We have accounting data that we currently backup fully every day, because of its high transactional nature and the need to go back to a particular day if need be.

I'd like to leverage our new backup to disk using Veeam and VMware, but I'm trying to wrap my head around how Veeam can accomplish this for us using as less space as possible. Maybe there is a better way of doing this while leveraging Veeams technology?

Any suggestions?

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Brad,

I would suggest using Reversed Incremental backup mode, in this case your latest backup file (VBK) will always be full, changes from the previous days will be offloaded to VRB files.

On the other hand, If your backup window allows running full backups every day, then you may want to select "Perform active full backups periodically" (advanced job settings) and choose all days of the week in the popup dialog window of the weekly backup schedule option.

Thank you!

[travis.vanholland]

Reversed Incrementals would be the way to go, like Vitaliy S. suggested. Keep in mind that if you plan on replicating this file offsite you will need something smart enough to recognize the changed blocks in that file.

[chrisdearden]

Reverse incrementals and dedupe devices dont play well together from a performance point of view. Which deduping device are you planning on using?

[brad126]

Reverse incrementals and dedupe devices dont play well together from a performance point of view. Which deduping device are you planning on using?

Yes, this is why I am hesitant in using reverse because this is what I'm reading.

We are using the ExaGrid 5000.

[tsightler]

It's important to note that, unlike traditional "incremental" tools, when Veeam runs an "incremental" backup you still get all of the functionality of a full backup. You can recover every file up to the entire VM to the point of the "incremental". If I pick an incremental restore point, Veeam build the equivalent "full" image of that system only the fly. In other words, performing incremental backup will still allow you to go back to any specific day and fully recover all data. Really, from a restore perspective, you can't even tell the difference between a full and incremental backup, you just pick a restore point and Veeam presents the VM (or the files) as they existed at that point.

Certainly if you simply feel the most comfortable with full backups, and want to run one each day, and that fits in your backup window, there's nothing wrong with that approach, and Vitaliy gave you the method of running a full backup each day. It will certainly make your dedupe numbers look great!

[chrisdearden]

Yes, this is why I am hesitant in using reverse because this is what I'm reading.

We are using the ExaGrid 5000.

Actually the exception to that rule is an Exagrid

because of the way they do their dedupe , there is a "landing Zone" which is regular disk. As long as this is bigger than the full backup file then you will be fine.