How do you back up Linux Clients File based?

[Cifs]

Hello,

We are using veeam backup and replication 12 on a Windows server.

For some time now, I have also been backing up Linux clients using the veeam Agent.
However, I have not yet developed a proper strategy on how best to do this.

How do you do it?

Our case:
I have a job in which I add the clients via individual computers. For example, /etc/ and other folders are backed up on all systems.
But now I also have systems where I don't want to back up /etc/ but other folders. I would have to create a new job for each structure because I cannot configure exclusions or specify folders for each server in a job.

Do you have any ideas on how I can implement this?

[david.domask]

Hi Cifs, welcome to the forums.

Just to confirm, the Linux clients are physical machines or virtual machines?

If they're virtual machines, you might consider just doing normal VM backups as you can set this per machine rather than on the job level.

If they are physical machines, separate jobs likely will be the way to go. Question though, are the file types you're needing to exclude under /etc common enough that a wild-card exclusion for that file type could work? Or similar naming scheme perhaps that could be wildcarded?

[Cifs]

Hey david, thx for Response!

The Linux clients are virtual machines von VMware esxi.
Reason for Filebackup is space. If we backup the whole machine we need more disk space. Sometimes we just need the config files ort volumes (e.g. docker volumes)
And if i backup it i did not need */*cache*/* and tmp* etc.
Sometimes i want exlude some sub dicts from dictionary e.g.
/var/lib/docker but not /var/lib/docker/temp (just as example)

Currently i play with "Volume level backup" but LVM and Mount Points looks faulty
24.09.2024 16:18:57 :: Failed to create volume snapshot
24.09.2024 16:18:57 :: Failed to take volume snapshot
24.09.2024 16:18:57 :: Failed to perform managed backup
24.09.2024 16:18:57 :: Failed to load module [veeamblksnap].
24.09.2024 16:21:05 :: Processing finished with errors at 24.09.2024 16:21:05

so i play with some different options.

One Option i had in my mid was protection groups but it didnt helps.

[david.domask]

Thanks for the clarifications Cifs; in this case, VM backup would still work, as you can set per-machine inclusions/exclusions.

Similarly, since it's only specific directories you need it seems, have you considered Unstructured Data backup? This would give you more granular control like you're hoping and keep the backups pretty lithe.