Restore from VBK file

[rntguy]

Hello,

If you only have the VBK files from an old job and no VBM file, can you import that file and restore data from it (guest files or application files for example)?

We have a really old set that doesn't have a job or VBM file for some reason and we'd like to delete the vib files from it and just retain the fulls (vbk). We'd have to scan that folder for future use of course.

Thanks

[foggy]

Yes, you will be able to perform all types of restores from this file after importing it to Veeam B&R.

[rntguy]

thank you. what is the effect of losing the VBK file.

does it matter that these VIB files are in the veeam cloud and not local VB&R repository?

[BartP]

since a VIB (or VRB for that matter) is only partial data (changed blocks, not changed files) it won't work without VBK file

[rntguy]

Hi BartP,

Sorry, I mistyped. What I meant is, what is the effect of not having the VBM file to go along with the VBK. Say for example the VBM file gets corrupted somehow and all I can restore is the VBK file (no VIB or VRB files either). Can Veeam scan that VBK file and do a restore? Does it take longer and regenerate a VBM file or something? If I have 5 VBK files and no VBM file will it simply not have a chain and does that matter if there's no VIB or VRB files anyway?

THanks

[foggy]

VBM file is not required for restore, you can import the VBK file itself.

[rntguy]

Thanks foggy. what is the VBM file used for then? If you had VIB files you wanted to restore from would it need it?

[foggy]

It stores backup metadata for fast access. For example, if you select VBM during import, the process will go significantly faster.

[rntguy]

Awesome, thanks. So only impacts the speed of the import. Good to know.

One last question - Is there any reason any of this would change if the VBK file were in the Veeam Cloud Connect site instead of onprem in VB&R? Here's the background info:

Our backup job chains got corrupted so the job cannot purge old VIB and VBK files per retention. We have to start a new chain. We're running low on space and I'd like to remove the job from Veeam, delete all files but the VBKs we want to keep, including the VBM file, and then rescan and have it be able to do restore from the remaining VBK files. One cloud engineer seems to think this would not be safe. I can't figure out why since the VBM file isn't critical to have as long as you have the time for a longer import scan. this has happened on multiple jobs now and we can't afford to keep around VIB data we don't need anymore.

[rntguy]

see case 02165465

[foggy]

If you delete VIB files, VBM will be useless, since you wouldn't be able to rescan (VBM still contains data about the entire chain while you have only a part of on disk). Just keep the VBK to be able to import it manually once the need arises (provided VBK itself is not corrupt). This is the same for cloud repository.

[rntguy]

Thanks foggy. Much appreciated. I'll go ahead and purge some more.

[chattingh]

Just keep the VBK to be able to import it manually once the need arises (provided VBK itself is not corrupt). This is the same for cloud repository.

I beg to differ. To my knowledge its not possible to import a VBK that is located in a cloud repository. You will need to either copy the file back locally or ask the cloud provider to import to a separate Veeam instance and regenerate the VBM for you.

Unless this is new functionality provided by 9.5 update 2?

[foggy]

Thanks, Carl, you're right. Tenant is not able to import a backup located in cloud repository without .vbm file. My bad.