Restoring servers on a different Veeam server

[eriklalande]

I have a quick question regarding what we should do in case of a DR scenario. Someone told me that restoring my backup files from a different Veeam server than the one that backed them up is impossible, so I am wondering how I would go about restoring my files in case complete disaster to all my servers. I do backup the Veeam backup files to tape and send those to Iron Mountain, but replication to another site is not possible at this time.

If there was complete disaster to my servers, is it possible to get those backup tapes back from Iron Mountain, take them physically to a separate VMware host, restore the files, and then restore the servers from the files from a completely separate Veeam installation? Or is the only way to solve this to actually do replication between the two sites?

Thanks

[foggy]

Erik, that someone was not telling you truth actually. You can import your backup files into any new Veeam B&R installation and successfully restore the VMs. Moreover, we have a standalone utility (extract.exe) that allows to restore VMs from any VBK file created by Veeam B&R, in case you do not have our product installed. Thanks.

[eriklalande]

That is exactly what I needed to hear. It appears we were misinformed or just misunderstood. Thank you much!

[galiral]

is there any way of starting an incremental backup off the imported vbk file on a second veeam?

[Vitaliy S.]

No, this is not possible. Imported backup files cannot be re-used in the new backup chain.

[Gostev]

Not until v6...

[galiral]

Not until v6...

awesome!

is there any specific release date apart of Q4 2011?

[Gostev]

No specific date.

[foggy]

Flavio, I would note that only v6-created backups can be used for such mapping. There will be no opportunity in v6 to map backup job to the existing old v5 backup file. Thanks.

[dgiguere59]

Hi Foggy, where can we get the extract.exe file you were talking about?. I would like to test it ahead of time before a real disaster happens. Thanks

[tsightler]

It should be in the directory where your Veeam installation lives. One caveat about this tool, it can only extract from full VBK files so if you have a full VBK, and then many incrementals, you can only extract data from the full backup with this tool.