settings for absolute minimal storage

[Lyle]

As I roll-out B&R, I realize how undersized we are on repository storage. I totally maxed out our one lun, though more storage will be available in a month. So I'm wondering how to keep storage to an absolute minimum for a while. I realize there's no free lunch, and am ready for more I/O etc.

I'm thinking one full per VM, do reversed-incrementals once a week, and keep no vbr files. Any other suggestions?

If I did my idea, would I set restore points to 1?
How about compression to Extreme?
Does Storage Optimization make a difference (Veeam server is an ESX VM with FC-attached SAN storage)?
Maybe doing backups once a day or once a week with this config doesn't matter to space savings, just I/O?
I've got my Windows VMs grouped together, Centos together, etc for best de-duplication.

Thanks....Lyle

[foggy]

If I did my idea, would I set restore points to 1?

Single restore point retention is not generally recommended as it could potentially result in situations, where you find yourself with no valid restore point available. I recommend to have at least a couple of increments, just to be on the safe side.

How about compression to Extreme?

Extreme compression will allow to save only about 2%-3% of space at the expense of double CPU load on the server responsible for compression (backup proxy). Unless you're ready for that, I recommend going with High compression level.

Does Storage Optimization make a difference (Veeam server is an ESX VM with FC-attached SAN storage)?

Storage optimization setting affects the size of incremental backups. If you set it to WAN target, incremental backup size should be reduced at least twice, since 4 times smaller block will be used (as opposed to the default Local target).

Maybe doing backups once a day or once a week with this config doesn't matter to space savings, just I/O?

Since this does not affect the number of restore points you have on disk at any given moment in time, this doesn't have much effect in terms of space savings.