Old reg keys for rotated media can be dangerous in v8!

[Team-oh]

Hi everybody,

just wanted to inform you that the old registry keys for rotated media can lead to deletion of the primary backup repository! I just discovered that error on one of our customer's backup server. Backup space was getting low and maybe someone deleted the vbk of some unimportant VM. When it came to next backup of this VM, the job realized that it was missing the most recent vbk. But obviously Veeam B&R was assuming that the primary backup repository was the rotated media! In the job actions I see the entry "Rotated drive content has changed from the previous job run." When this entry appears Veeam erases all data in the primary backup repository since the registry keys "ForceCreateMissingVBK"=1 and "ForceDeleteBackupFiles"=5 are still set. Customer is using Veeam B&R v8.0.0.917. If I delete these keys and restart the Veeam Backup Service the program reacts normally again (it just reports that the vbk-file is missing instead of wiping any repository). If I add the keys again then the incorrect behavior appears again.

So I suggest everybody who upgraded from v7 to v8 and is using backup copy jobs to delete these registry keys!

http://www.veeam.com/kb1154
Here Veeam informs that "Note: In Veeam Backup & Replication v8+ this function is now built in to the software and these registry keys are invalid". I read this message like "In Veeam B&R v8 the program just ignores these keys". No idea that it means these keys can harm your primary backup repository.

Maybe this program behavior only happens in this special customer environment, I don't know. But I wanted to inform about this, maybe it can help to prevent future events like this.

Regards
Timo

[Gostev]

Hi, Timo

That is correct, old support keys are still supported.

This is mentioned in the What's New in v8 document:

Rotated drives functionality can now be enabled with a checkbox in the advanced backup repository
settings, as opposed to being controlled by registry settings (which are still supported for upgrade
compatibility reasons).

Thanks!

[Team-oh]

Hi Gostev,

mmh, maybe I expressed myself a bit unclear. I was trying to explain that the main backup repository was deleted and not the repository on the mobile HD (which would still be correct). So the keys lead to an abnormal behavior: Backup Jobs which are linked with a Backup Copy Job are now able to erase the main backup repository instead of just deleting the content of the Backup Copy Job target (e.g. mobile HD). This of course only happens if the Job doesn't find its latest vbk.

I strongly believe that the program behavior I described is not intended by Veeam.

Best regards
Timo

[Gostev]

Hi, Timo. This behavior is in fact intended. The registry keys in question were initially designed for primary backup jobs. They were extended to Backup Copy jobs later. Many users with rotated hard drives don't even use the Backup Copy jobs - they just use a primary backup job, and rotate disks in its target repository. Thanks!

[foggy]

Timo, the issue here is that the new functionality introduced in v8 - is a per repository setting. While old registry keys worked (and continue to work) globally, for the entire Veeam B&R server (all its repositories). When the backup job detected missed VBK, rotated drives scenario was expectedly applied and repository was cleaned according to the set registry values.