Looking for Clarification on a couple settings...

[jcofin13]

I have SOBR with 4 refs repos added to it set for data locality. The individual repos are not set to have "per machine backup files" but this is set on the SOBR itself. It appears to be working and i get seperate vbk files for each vbk so i assume this is correct and at the repo level this setting only matters if you target a job at a specific repo (not using the sobr)?


Next

I use the forever forward incremental model and keep ~40 backups per job. WE never run any kind of Health checks (JOB -->Storage--> Advanced Settings --> Maintenance) WE were told we wont need to do this.

WE also do not perform any maintenance such as the "Defragment and Compact" settings on the maintenance tab but it would seem like we should based on the documentation for veeam 11? This setting makes sense i guess. It creates a new vbk and copies all the good data out of it into a few file and eliminates the white space saving you space. What does it do or how does it behave if you are on a SOBR and IF you have per machine backup turned on? Will it create a new vbk for each server and copy the data from each into the same extent and therefore we only need to worry about the largest vms size as it pertains to free space on the SOBR extent or does the overall job size still matter? They seem to suggest that however big your backup file is....you will need double the free storage to allow for the operation. SO ....if you are using per machine backup settings and you have a X: drive extent on your SOBR with a 12tb file server vbk on it, do you need to make sure you have at least 12tb free on this same extent? This seems to make the most sense. IF you dont have that free space, is it smart enough to build the new defragmented/compacted vbk on a different extent that does have the free space being that its a SOBR? This seems like it could create a real mess having a VBK on one drive extent yet having all the vibs on another but i guess maybe that isnt a big deal.

[HannesK]

Hello,
"defragment & compact" makes sense with forever forward incremental, yes (that has always been a good idea, not sure which new documentation for V11 you mean).

Yes, you need at least that amount of space free. Except you use REFS / XFS with block cloning, then it's just pointer operations. Having VBKs and VIBs on different extents is fine with non-block-cloning file system (NTFS etc.). We call it "performance mode" in the SOBR settings.

Best regards,
Hannes