Do VBK files continue to grow

[jlbrsmith]

We have been usig VEEAM back for about 2 months. We have some systems where we save 14 version and get a daily backup, the remained get backed up weekly and save 5 versions.

What we are experiencing is that the VBK files keep growing and growing depending on the activity of the system.. We backup the vEEAM backups on a daily basis and we are seeing out enterprise backup systems being bogged down because of VEEAM

is there a better way for us to do out backups or can the vbk file be compressed somehow?

[Gostev]

Jeff,

Here is what typically causes VBK file to grow:
1. Deleted VMs are not getting removed from VBK (this is by current design).
2. Abnormal job termination can increase backup size depending on when it happens.

We will be adding an option in the next release to perform full backup on demand, and doing that would also exclude all missing VMs and abandoned data blocks from the VBK. With the current version however, best workaround is to simply start the job over every few months.

Hope this helps!

[jlbrsmith]

I think it is more of deleting the files in the directory correct?

[Gostev]

Jeff, could you please clarify your question - I am not sure if I understand it.

[jlbrsmith]

backups are working fine. however, with each incremental, the vbk file gets larger. For example, when we started to backup one server, the size of the vbk file was 7.5gb, after 3 weeks, with not change other than log files changes, the vbk file has grown to 11.5 gb I deleted all files and redid the backup, and the size went back down to 7.5 gb.

[Gostev]

Sorry for confusion, I was asking to clarify your latest question about "deleting the files in the directory"?

As for your explanation, I understand this and I've explained why it typically happens in my initial post (terminating jobs). There is also a minor issue around how space in VBK is allocated during incremental sync, but it should not really contribute to the picture significantly if you are using backup compression. This specific issue will be fixed in the upcoming minor update.

[jlbrsmith]

Any time frame on the update? We currently are backing up about 70 VMs and the vbk growth is getting significant.

btw thank you for your dialog on this issue.

[Gostev]

Update is scheduled within couple of weeks (unless current plans change). But note that it only fixes issue that is causing minor grow I described above. Major release with full backup/VBK cleanup on demand functionality is planned for Q3 2009. Meanwhile - again, my recommendation is to re-create the job once every few months, avoid stopping the running jobs unless it is really required, and try minimize the amount of actions causing jobs to terminate unexpectedly.