FastClone Not Working

[sarapinho]

Hi people,

I have a repository attached to veeam formatted in REFS with 64K blocks, but I see that during the merge the fastclone seems to be ignored.

22/02/2022 02:01:34 :: Full backup file merge completed successfully

Repository DL 360 Gen10 Windows 2019 Build 1809.
REFS Volume Serial Number : 0x8a98cefe98cee7b1
REFS Version : 3.4
Number Sectors : 0x0000000394800000
Total Clusters : 0x0000000007290000
Free Clusters : 0x0000000000df2171
Total Reserved : 0x000000000007626e
Bytes Per Sector: 512
Bytes Per Physical Sector : 4096
Bytes Per Cluster : 65536
Checksum Type: CHECKSUM_TYPE_NONE

Could it be a hardware incompatibility?

Thanks

[rennerstefan]

Hi

did it ever work before?
Did you copy the backup files from an old NTFS to a new ReFS?

There are some things to consider but in general it just works out of the box.

Let me know.

[sarapinho]

Hi,

I was analyzing this week because the backup was low performance

No copy was made from NTFS to REFS is a new repository.

Thanks.

[rennerstefan]

ok thanks.
Can you please go to the ReFS repo and check if the checkbox is greyed out?
That tells you if Veeam has recognized the repo as a ReFS one.

[sarapinho]

Yes, it is identical to this image.

I'll open a ticket for analysis and then post the result.

Thank you for your help.

[rennerstefan]

ok.
yes opening a ticket is always the best so our team has a look as well.
As mentioned above there are some things to know.
Please have a look at this page at the very end: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110
I have seen such issues often if the filesystem was changed by doing a copy from NTFS to ReFS where the chain was obviously created without ReFS usage.
Feel free to share the ticket ID and findings here.
Thanks

[sarapinho]

Hey

OK, no problem.

The case is open (05303260), the backups were not migrated from an NTFS file system, they were saved directly to NTFS. A doubt! Shouldn't fastclone also be used in the merge process without synthetic?

In backup jobs: merge of backup files, creation of synthetic full backups (including GFS backups), transformation of reverse incremental backups and compact of full backup files.

[zacharylee]

I am experiencing the same issue. We are getting low on space on one of our backup servers which led to our investigation. Fast Clone is not working though it should be saving us valuable space. We are actually seeing this on two different backup servers.

C:\Windows\system32>fsutil fsinfo ReFSinfo E:
REFS Volume Serial Number : 0x0a64a33864a32603
REFS Version : 3.4
Number Sectors : 0x0000000e8e000000
Total Clusters : 0x000000001d1c0000
Free Clusters : 0x0000000002143e3b
Total Reserved : 0x00000000001dd735
Bytes Per Sector : 512
Bytes Per Physical Sector : 4096
Bytes Per Cluster : 65536
Checksum Type: CHECKSUM_TYPE_NONE

C:\Windows\system32>fsutil fsinfo ReFSinfo D:
REFS Volume Serial Number : 0xd23a54da3a54bd63
REFS Version : 3.1
Number Sectors : 0x0000001b3db80000
Total Clusters : 0x00000000367b7000
Free Clusters : 0x000000000a9770f7
Total Reserved : 0x000000000037d281
Bytes Per Sector : 512
Bytes Per Physical Sector : 4096
Bytes Per Cluster : 65536
Checksum Type: CHECKSUM_TYPE_NONE

Case ID 05320884

[sarapinho]

From what I understand from my case, it could be some hardware limitation.

My repository is a DL360Gen 10 Controller HPE Smart Array S100i SR Gen10 in RAID1 with two hard disks the 8Tb.

And the backup method is through SAN with FC.

[zacharylee]

Interesting. I might be in the same boat as you. One repo is using an HPE Smart Array P816i-a SR Gen10 array. The other one I know is an HPE device but is from a cloud provider and I am not sure the exact specifications of the drive array.

Did support provide you with any recommendations thus far? I am waiting to hear back on my case currently.

[sarapinho]

It's really weird!!!

I have a LAB server much lower than the DL 360 Gen10 and the fast clone works.

Server model DL20 Gen9 controller Smart Array B140i

support replied:

ReFS is a Microsoft technology and there are limitations as described in KB2792 and USER GUIDE:
https://www.veeam.com/kb2792
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110

Normally when Veeam recognizes that the volume is ReFS, in the repository by the Wizard, option REPOSITORY and by the ADVANCED button the option "Align backup files data blocks " is grayed out (unavailable).

Another list of limitations and requirements is in the link below.
Microsoft Windows Backup Repository = All ReFS supported configurations must use Windows Server Catalog certified hardware. For other requirements, limitations and known issues, see this Veeam KB article.

Shared Folder Backup Repository = To use Fast Clone, Veeam Backup & Replication requires that SMB backup repositories support FSCTL_DUPLICATE_EXTENTS_TO_FILE and FSCTL_SET_INTEGRITY_INFORMATION. SMB shares configured on Microsoft Windows machines must also support the SMB 3.1.1 protocol and the ReFS 3.1 (or later) file system.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110

[zacharylee]

"Normally when Veeam recognizes that the volume is ReFS, in the repository by the Wizard, option REPOSITORY and by the ADVANCED button the option "Align backup files data blocks " is grayed out (unavailable)."
In my case, I see that as explained.

Support's first reply to me after analyzing logs is that they confirmed that "Fast Clone" is working, however, it still does not appear that it's working in the sense of saving space on the repository.

I validated in the Windows Server Catalog that the HP ProLiant DL380 Gen10 (server that is for sure in one of the two locations where I'm having a problem) is certified.

[sarapinho]

Yes, it should be gray when REFS is enabled.

Through Windows Server Catalog the DL 360 Gen10 is also certified for Windows 2019.

Unlike my Proliant DL 20 Gen9 LAB server which is not certified and works.

[zacharylee]

Have you tried using the tool blockstat yet? It's available here: http://dewin.me/refs/ and detailed here: https://www.virtualtothecore.com/how-mu ... lockclone/

In my case, even though "Fast Clone" is shown as expected within the job's logs, I am seeing Total Savings 0 on every test that I do with that tool, even tests suggested directly from Veeam support comparing the most recent 3 .vbk files in a chain. Curious on if in your case you are at least seeing some of the ReFS space savings advantage.

Currently waiting to see if a brand new test job has the same thing happen, but need to wait for the synthetic fulls to be created automatically over the next few days. Aside from this, I am waiting on Veeam support to weigh in on why Fast Clone appears to be working but not saving me any space.