Mix Backup and replication ?

[jp34]

Hi,

A VM is backed up every day (backup job).
We have to move it (in another host and datastore).
I could restore last backup to the new host and datastore, then stop the source VM and launch a replication job from source VM to restored VM.
But would the replication job be incremental (based on the existing restored VM) ? or the whole VM will be sent ?

Thanks in advance.
JP.

[Vitaliy S.]

I would recommend migrating this VM to the new host/datastore, that will keep its moref ID intact and will allow you to continue running incremental passes.

Here is an existing topic with a similar question, please look it through: Moving VMs to a new virtual center. (nevermind the title)

[jp34]

Ok, but if I migrate/move my 700GB-VM, I would have to send 700GB to my remote site whereas I already have a previous full backup there.
Why can't I restore this remote backup and just launch an incremental backup/replication/move ?
In other words, can Veeam do an differential replication between 2 existing VMs (as RSync does between 2 existings files) ?

[Vitaliy S.]

Oh, I didn't know that you're going to relocate this VM offsite. In this case, If you manually map new source VM into existing replica, then only changed blocks will be transferred over the WAN link.

[jp34]

- An existing job backups my VM1 to a remote repository (daily incremental + weekly full synthetic with rollback chain)
- On the remote site, I restore my backup to a new VM called VM2 (or VM1_replica?)
- I create a new replication job: source VM1, destination VM2
- Only modified blocks will be sent
Please could you confirm ?

[Vitaliy S.]

Yes, actually what you've just described is called initial VM seeding.

Please have a look at this existing topic for more info: v6 Offsite Replication : Seeding How To

[jp34]

Perfect link. Thanks.