Replace Tape job with removable HDD job?

[Dave-Departed]

Hi All,

Currently, we backup locally to a Drobo repository initially, and then after that, certain VM backups are processed to tape, also via Veeam. One of our VM backups has now outgrown 2 x 400GB tapes per day, and we just don't have the tape capacity or time window to add more. So I was thinking, we have an external HDD lying around doing nothing that we could use to replace the 2-tape job.

However, having looked at the options, I can't see how I can do this in the same manner? The reasons being:

- Our main VBR server can't have the USB HDD attached to it, due to it living on a HP BladeSystem chassis, which does not support USB Passthrough
- The initial VM backup runs in Reverse Incremental mode, and then the Tape job on our secondary VBR server takes *.vbm and *.vbk files from the folder in which the initial backup resides
- When creating a File Copy job on the secondary VBR server, I can't see an option to select a folder and then specify wildcards such as *.vbm and *.vbk - I can only select the files individually, which I assume is pointless, as the filename of a .vbk running in Reverse Incremental mode will change on a daily basis?

I know people commonly do backup to USB disks, but I don't want to backup the VM directly from Veeam to the HDD, I simply want to transfer the backup files. Of course, I could script this and create a scheduled task, but I'd really like to keep it within Veeam if possible, for reporting/traceability purposes.

Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

Dave

[foggy]

Dave, have you considered using backup copy jobs to achieve that? You can connect the HDD to the second server, add it as a repository on the first one, and specify as target for the backup copy job created on the first Veeam B&R instance.

[Dave-Departed]

Hi foggy,

I did consider that yes, but I only want to keep one single full backup on the HDD... Can BCJ's achieve this?

[foggy]

If you set the number of restore points to keep to the minimum value of 2, you will have just a single full and one subsequent increment.

[Dave-Departed]

Ok, thanks foggy, I will try this.

BTW, it might be a cool feature request for future versions, to be able to allow File Copy jobs to include wildcard filters? Where could I submit that, please?

[foggy]

You've already done that as these forums is the right place for feature requests. Thanks for the feedback!

Btw, this was requested several times before, however file copy job still cannot be considered a suitable tool for this kind of task, since it's not incremental.

[Dave-Departed]

Oh, absolutely agree it's not suitable when the job needs to be incremental... But what about, as in my scenario, when you have a main backup which is running in Reverse Incremental mode, and simply want to take the .vbm file and the most recent, full .vbk file to another location (in this case, the removable HDD) in an automated manner (this is all we are doing with our Tape jobs right now too)? It would be nice to be able to specify the wildcard filter in a File Copy Job and not just in a Tape job.

[foggy]

Yep, i this case file copy job would be fine. However, to my mind, backup copy still serves better.

[Dave-Departed]

I just read through the merged thread you linked, and we have Cloud Edition - So could probably just use that instead!

[foggy]

Yes, this is another option you have.