Veeam B&R 10 - Archive Option

[Jimmy9008]

Hi folks,

I have backups set to a local NAS, with Scale Out to Azure. I am interested in enabling the archive option for file server backups through Veeam B&R 10. I have a few questions though on how this works.
Hopefully somebody can help as I cant seem to find the specifics in documentation.

1) My file server backups currently go to NAS and Scale Out to Azure after 1 week. If I enable say a monthly archive copy for 12 months, will this stay on the NAS or go to and stay on Azure?

2) Lets say I select to archive: Weekly, for 5 weeks, Monthly for 12 months: Yearly for 7 years... how does this change if I change the policy mid way through. For example, if we are on year 6 and I modify the policy to only keep 4 years of yearly archive, will Veeam automatically delete the existing archive for year 6 and 5? Or do I manually need to do this?

3) As above, say I decide to change mid way through the year to only keep weekly for 3 weeks, will Veeam automatically clear those archives no longer meeting the plan from the NAS/Azure?

Best,
Jim

[Dima P.]

Hello Jim,

file server backups currently go to NAS and Scale Out to Azure after 1 week.

To clarify: Azure is configured as a capacity tier or you've added a secondary object repository just for nas backup job? With nas jobs capacity tier of the Scale-out backup repository is being ignored; you must setup a dedicated object storage for nas jobs and then set it as archive repository in the job properties.

say I select to archive: Weekly, for 5 weeks, Monthly for 12 months: Yearly for 7 years... how does this change if I change the policy mid way through. For example, if we are on year 6 and I modify the policy to only keep 4 years of yearly archive, will Veeam automatically delete the existing archive for year 6 and 5? Or do I manually need to do this?

There is no way to setup GFS with archive repository in nas job. All you can do - define the needed retention for the archive. However, it's possible to configure filters for archived files to make sure that only the needed data is stored in the archive.

Once the retention is modified in the nas job the retired data will be deleted during the next job run and remaining data will respect the new retention. Check this article to learn more about retention in nas backup - . Cheers!

[Jimmy9008]

Hi there,

So Azure is configured under 'Scale-out Repositories'. Performance tier is the local NAS. Capacity tier is the Azure cloud storage.

The backup repository used in the backup job is the scale-out repository. Initially, the backup goes to the performance tier, then will scale out to the capacity tier. Thats working perfectly.

What I am looking for is information covering what happens when i select 'Keep certain full backups longer for archival purposes'.

Say I set 'Keep weekly full backups for 12 weeks'. Do the 12 weeks or archive copies stay on the performance tier or go to the capacity tier?

If after 20 weeks, I go to the backup and set 'Keep weekly fill backups for 5 weeks', will Veeam clear week 6 - 12 automatically? Or, do I need to clean them myself?

Same for yearly backups? Say, I keep 7 years of yearly backups. On year 7, if I change this to 3 years, will veeam auto remove years 4 - 7, or do I manually need to?

Best,
Jim

[Dima P.]

Jimmy,

As I've mentioned in my previous post capacity tier does not support backup files produced by nas backup jobs. If you want to archive file versions you need to set a dedicated archive repository in the nas job properties. Kindly, check this Help Center article - File Share Backup Jobs Define Target Backup Storage Settings. Cheers!

[Jimmy9008]

I am confused. What do you mean by NAS backup jobs? I am not acking up a NAS. I have a share on a NAS which backups go to as performance tier. Then, these scale out to capacity tier in Azure.
I do not understand "capacity tier does not support backup files produced by nas backup jobs"... Which NAS backup jobs?
What do you mean by file version too? I am backing up Virtual Machines...

[Jimmy9008]

I think you understand me incorrectly. I am not backing up a NAS. I do not have a NAS backup job.

What I have is a NAS which is used as the performance tier. Backup jobs (not NAS backup) use this as the performance tier repository. Then, the capacity tier is Azure. Like said, that works perfectly.

Following on from this, I am asking where the data goes if I select the archive option in the existing (working!) backup jobs...

[Gostev]

Well, you have created this topic in the subforum that is dedicated to NAS backup jobs, which clearly sets the context and explains the answers you have been receiving. Our NAS backup jobs do have an "archive" option. But apparently you're not backing up NAS at all, and are talking about something totally different.

Can you share a screenshot of the "archive" option you're asking about? This will help us to understand what are you talking about. And please also clarify your question "where the data goes" too.

Thanks!

[Jimmy9008]

When I created this post, it was under the Veeam Backup & replication section. No idea how its under NAS section. Can it be moved?

The archive option is within the backup job, on the storage section and is called 'Keep certain full backups longer for archival purposes'.

The backup data goes to the performance tier (NAS), then scales out to the capacity tier (Azure) for backup jobs. When the archive option above is selected, where does the archive data go? To the performance tier, or the capacity tier?

[Gostev]

Ah, very sorry about this then. This means a mistake by one of the moderators.

It's now clear what setting and process you're referring to, so we will move this topic back to the main forum later.

Answering your question, the backup data always goes to the Performance Tier first. And after that, it depends on your Capacity Tier policy setting. Assuming you're looking at leveraging the Move policy, all data will be automatically moved from the Performance Tier (NAS) to the Capacity Tier (Azure) as it ages out of the operational restore window specified in the Capacity Tier setting. The goal here is to keep the most recent backups on prem for fastest restores. However, note that you will retain the ability to restore even from offloaded data transparently, except it will be slower than from the local NAS of course.

[Jimmy9008]

Ok, so, the archive goes to the performance tier first (NAS) then will scale out to the capacity tier (Azure), right? Ok, that is great.

So, the other part of the question was what happens when I edit the archive settings mid way/after the archive schedule. These were the two examples:

Say I set weekly archive to 20 weeks, and after 20 weeks, I edit the archive settings keep only 5 weeks, will Veeam clear week 6 - 20 automatically? Or, do I need to clean them myself?

Same for yearly backups? Say, I keep 7 years of yearly backups. On year 7, if I change this to 3 years, will veeam auto remove years 4 - 7, or do I manually need to?

[Gostev]

Yes, Veeam clears backups outside of the current retention policy automatically. It does not matter where the specific backup resides.