File level restore from old vbk file

[cby]

We're running Veeam Backup 3.1 on our RHEL5 VMs, keeping 2 rollbacks (vrb) + current vbk on the storage array (FATA). The vrb and vbk files are backed up to tape every day. We've been asked to restore a file from 5 days ago so we need to load a vbk from tape and run a Veeam FLR on that. However, as far as I can see we can only restore from the current vbk. I'm sure there is no such restriction but having searched the forum and rtfm I can't locate how this is done. Am I missing something obvious?!

Thanks for any help.

[Gostev]

Before importing backup file into Veeam Backup, ensure that you have all required rollback files available in the same folder.

For example, if you want to restore file from "previous Monday (Jan 1st)" VM state using Saturday's VBK (Jan 6th), you will need Veeam Backup to be able to "go back" 5 steps from the Saturday's full backup file:

Saturday (Jan 6th) VBK
Friday (Jan 5th) VRB
Thursday (Jan 4th) VRB
Wednesday (Jan 3rd) VRB
Tuesday (Jan 2nd) VRB
Monday (Jan 1st) VRB

In other words, you need to have complete VRB chain available in order for restore process to be able to "playback" the changes from Saturday back to Monday.

In this example case, files in red must be located next to VBK file before you iniate "Import Backup" operation from Veeam Backup UI.

Here's the good explanation of Veeam synthetic backup:
Veeam Synthetic Backup Explained

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello,

Actually the VBK file is the most current state of your backups, and your previous runs are stored in VRB files, so if you want to do a FLR operation for a file that was backup 5 days ago (on one of your 2 runs), you should copy VBK + VRB files to any storage, then import those files to Veeam Backup and Replication server and start the file level restore operation, as soon as it is started you'll have the ability to choose the particular point in time (in your case 5 days ago) to restore from.

Hope I've got you right.

Thank you.

[Gostev]

I beat you by 2 mins Vitaly

[cby]

Many thanks guys -- fast response as ever. I knew I hadn't imagined it and importing is the answer.

[AJ83]

Is it possible to just use the VBK of that particular day? Since that contains a full.

I copy only the vbk to tape every day, in the understanding that i would need to restore it from tape to get data as it was that day.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello,

Yes, you can do that, if you copy a VBK file every day to a tape, you can easily import any of those VBK files to Veeam Backup console and perform a FLR operation

Thank you.

[ITRWS]

Sorry guys, but I haven't understood this scheme yet.
What could I do in the case? I take the .vbk full backup on tape every week and incrementals .vrb daily. Now in the scenario where something unexpected happen to my server during the week, how could I restore it to the day before of the event? notice that my "recent" full backup .vbk is from the last week.
If I can't do anything besides of restore using the last week files, it would mean that I should backup the .vbk and vrb files every day, and that's not the idea because we try to save space in the data storage.

Could someone explain to me a possible alternative to sort this problem out.

Thanks.

[Gostev]

Fabian, what you are doing now is not going to work if you need to restore. You cannot do anything with daily VRB, you need to copy VMDK daily, as it is VBK which has most recent data for specific day, and VRBs allow to step backup from VBK day to previous days.

Usually people do weekly copies of VBK + 7 VRBs to tape. During the week, if they need to restore, they just restore from Veeam backups currently on disk (so called "operational" restores, they happen very often so having to deal with tape each time would slow everything down).

If you really need daily backup copies to tape, today you need to copy the VBK file each day.

[Arnold]

Does Veeam have a best practice with relation to NetBackup?

I know that at the end of the day it will come down to the companies’ requirements and needs, but I am just looking for a generic best practice...

We have a requirement to be able to restore to any point in time within a one month time frame. Currently all VBK and VRB files are stored on a SATABeast unit attached to the server by fibre, in turn these then get backed up to tape. The SATABeast is not currently being replicated but the plan is to do so daily once that option is available. We would then still be pushing to tape as well for off-site requirements.

If I have my head around this correctly, I have the below options (I think most of which have already been mentioned within this forum)

Daily backup to tape of VBK files, this will make sure we always have the latest data available on tape.

Weekly backup to tape of VBK file and then leave VRB files on disk for quick restore to point in time.

Weekly backup to tape of VBK and previous weeks VRB files.

I guess without the ability to replicate data at present then the best option would be daily backup to tape of the VBK. The other 2 options could potentially have us losing data should the storage fail .

As always, any assistance is most appreciated

[Gostev]

Arnold, your options look correct to me.

The only drawback is having to copy the large full backup file (VBK) from disk to tape every day (not just small file containing incremental changes), because this is the full recovery file containing the latest state. Depending on size of VBK, such copy may take a while to complete, and this will require more tapes too. This is because reversed incremental backup is the only option today.

We are well aware about this issue with tape integration, and we have already implemented forward incremental synthetic backup option in v5. With this option, you will be able to copy large full backup (VBK) to tape only once per week during the weekend, while during business days you will only need to copy small incremental changes file (VIB).

[Arnold]

Gostev, many thank for the fast reply , I think it's time to get all those involved around a table and see if we can't come up with a solution that works for all