making a tape archive of unused VM before deleting it

[Lyle]

Just getting started with Backup & Replication, V6. We're planning to use NetBackup for off-site storage on tape, and I understand that we should use forward incrementals and trigger NetBackup as a post-job activity in Veeam. I'll group VM's into scheduled backup jobs by their vSphere cluster or sla, and get one directory per job.

But how about the case where I want to make a Veeam backup of an unused VM, then a NetBackup archive to tape, and finally delete the VM from the VMFS and it's backup from the Veeam repository to reclaim space? This is just an attempt to reclaim disk space, but still get the VM back in the unforseen case that we need to restore it someday.

I guess what's confusing is that Veeam is backing up into files on a per-job basis, and not a per-VM basis. I guess I could run a job with the name of the VM, then archive that result and delete. But is there a better way? Some other Veeam backup format more tailored to just a one-time copy of one VM?

Thanks in advance...Lyle

[Jfmoots]

I think you have a solid plan there. You could create a job just for that VM and name it as such. The directory the VM is placed in your repository will be named for the job and should be easily identifiable in your tape backup.

[Vitaliy S.]

But how about the case where I want to make a Veeam backup of an unused VM, then a NetBackup archive to tape, and finally delete the VM from the VMFS and it's backup from the Veeam repository to reclaim space?

We have a "Deleted VMs" retention policy setting to handle situations like that.

Should more information be required, please have a look at this thread: Deleted VMs Retention Period

[Lyle]

jfmoots: thanks for the encouragement

Vitaliy: I'll read into that, but since the intention is to remove the backup from the repository once it's on tape, I'll probably just track it with NetBackup.

Two questions though:

NetBackup seems to only differentiate a backup from an archive in that it deletes the source files once the archive is made. I'd think to make an "archive" useful, I'd probably want to specify a longer retention policy and keep it in a different pool than if it were a backup, but whatever.

If I let NetBackup delete the Veeam backup from the Repository after archiving, I figure I'd have to manually delete the entry from the Veeam interface. Any problem that might develop (as long as I remember the manual task)?

Should I ever need to recover the VM, and use NetBackup to replace the folder in the Repository, will Veeam automatically recognize it? Would I have to rescan the Repository somehow? Or will I have a problem?

Thanks again....Lyle

[Vitaliy S.]

If I let NetBackup delete the Veeam backup from the Repository after archiving, I figure I'd have to manually delete the entry from the Veeam interface. Any problem that might develop (as long as I remember the manual task)?

It should be ok.

Should I ever need to recover the VM, and use NetBackup to replace the folder in the Repository, will Veeam automatically recognize it? Would I have to rescan the Repository somehow? Or will I have a problem?

For VM recovery you just need to import all files into Veeam B&R console. Btw, this process is fully described in our User Guide (page 205).