Touch date and file size stops changing after about one week

[rowdy]

Hello all,

This is a problem I've been having for quite some time now, but I wanted to make absolutely sure that what I'm going to post was 100% correct so I tested it for several weeks.
I have one VMWare machine with 4 VMs running on it. I have two Veeam backup jobs running against that host. Each job backs up 2 VMs. I do it this way to keep file sizes (relatively) small.
The jobs are both setup to never perform a full backup and use synthetic backup forever. The jobs never give an error or anything else that is odd (yes, I posted earlier last week about this same job failing on one VM, but that issue had been resolved. The issue I'm describing now was present before and after).
So, on day 1 the first full backup is created, it is named 'Daffy en Exchange' (the names of the 2 VMs) and is has a file date of (for example): Aug 1 and a size of 1.000.000 MB.
On day two, an additional VRB file is created. The file size of the main VBK file changes to 1.200.000 MB and a file date of Aug 2.
And so it goes on every day, until around day 7.
Then, VRB files keep being created but the size and modified date of the main VBK file stops changing.
So, on day 7 the VBK file had a date of Aug 7 and a size of 1.700.000 MB.
On day 8 the VBK file has a date of Aug 8 and a size of 1.700.000 MB.
On day 9, the same.
Additional VRBs keep being created, but it appears the main archive doesn't change anymore.
When I order Veeam to perform a full backup, everything is fine again for another week.
The other job that's running against the same machine keeps updating the VBK just fine.
Below screenshot indicates my problem. This screenshot was taken on day 7. I can post another one tomorrow and it will show the same VBK date and size. You can trust me on this, I have verified this for at least 6 weeks to make absolutely sure this happens every time. You can see, that normally the VRB and VBK have the same modified date, as the other job shows. The job that's going wrong also has the dates in sync until day 7.



Is there any way to look inside the VBK file to see what's actually really in there?

If this is not the correct way to ask this, then Veeam should feel free to copy my text to a supportticket and delete my post from the forum. I just thought perhaps more people are seeing this and a solution can benefit them as well.

Thanks.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello,

Actually, you could try to do file-level restore to see what is inside the VBK file, I'm pretty sure you'll see the proper data that relates to the last backup job run. Besides, could you tell me what dates do you see for your VRB/VBK restore points when you open a restore wizard on the "Select Restore Point" step? Does it also show wrong dates?

Thank you!

[rowdy]

The dates there all appear to be correct.
However, what worries me, is the fact that if I ship the VBK file off-site and want to recover from that, what will be in it?

I do find it strange that every day the filesize and datestamp change, but after 7 days it stops.
And it also only stops for this particular backup job.

Anyway, I will copy the VBK to my local pc now and then calculate a CRC on it.
I will then do the same again tomorrow on the 'new' VBK. If the CRCs match, the files are identical and there's something wrong then, I guess.

[Vitaliy S.]

If you ship the VBK file off-site and want to recover from that, it should be restoring the correct state.

It's weird that it only happens for a particular job only, if there is a bug it should have affected all of the jobs. I will consult with our Q&A team for possible reasons for incorrect date stamping.

[Vitaliy S.]

I can post another one tomorrow and it will show the same VBK date and size..

And the second screenshot would be useful for better understanding the issue.

[rowdy]

I have another screenshot, not taken one day later but even two. I keep forgetting I don't work on Thursdays

Anyway, the backup jobs (both) have run 2 again. I highlighted both lines from both jobs. As you can see, the size & touch date on the Daffy en Exchange VBK haven't changed.

I also did a CRC check on both files (the old and new) and although from the outside date & size are the same, the CRC's do not match. So that's good news, the files are in fact different. In that case I would kindly request that Veeam look into this, how it is possible that the touch date stops changing after a week. That the file size remains the size is possible I guess (is it really possible/common for this to happen after one week?), but the file has been modified and the date hasn't changed so that's strange.
Anyway, from the outside it looks like there's something wrong with the backup process if you look at the files everyday so I would be nice if at least the date keeps changing.

When I perform a full backup again (manually) the date and size will keep changing for another week and then stop. The other job(s) doesn't have this issue.

[Vitaliy S.]

It's really strange that only one job is affected by this issue, have you tried re-creating this job for investigation purposes to see if this solves the issue or not? Anyway,I would suggest you to contact our technical support team directly, so we could look deeper into the issue.

[rowdy]

I'm sorry for replying so late, I hadn't noticed your last response.
I will contact technical support. It might be nothing, we might be onto a some bug, you never know.