Q: Is a daily Backup Tape ALWAYS a stand-alone Backup, even if forward incremental is used

[Poweruser]

according to the thread
veeam-backup-replication-f2/anti-featur ... 93350.html
it is unclear, how and when a tape includes a full-backup instead of deltas only.

if a daily job backups n Hyper-V VMs to local disk repo as forward incremental, we have Base + Delta1 + Delta 2 ... + Delta n (where n = max. retention -1)
What will the postbackup tape job backup? will it just copy the delta 2? or will it copy base+delta 1-n to ONE tape only?

the goal is, that i always have only ONE tape which includes a full (complete) latest backup, which can be restored if everything is lost except the tape from the day.

will this work? and yes, what needs to be enabled and what must not be enabled to be sure that its fine?

is there an easy solution to check if the tape includes FULL (no delta only) backup files? how can we check if our tape is as described above?

[david.domask]

Hi Poweruser,

> is there an easy solution to check if the tape includes FULL (no delta only) backup files? how can we check if our tape is as described above?

You can disable backing up increments to tape on this step of the Backup to Tape job wizard. You can check on a tape's contents by right-clicking the Tape and going to Properties, but without the checkbox on the previously mentioned link, the tape job will not move incremental backups to tape.

Just to make sure I get your idea right, you want to have a tape for every day which has a full point from each of your Primary Jobs? I'm just not quite getting if you want Full backups written to tape every day or if your goal is to have a weekly Tape job that grabs all the full backups.

[Poweruser]

Okay here is my actual and simple use-case:
Mo-Friday every night Hyper-V and Host Agent make a backup to repo on Host. (same machine as agent, repo, etc, one physical machine only).
Each night after Hyper-V and Agent job is done, it should be written to ONE taped named e.g. Monday.
This tape should always include the whole state of monday all inclusive.

currently i use reverse incremental, so i always have a full file.
now veeam says, i should use forward incremental in future.
what to obey?
i dont want to have 5 full files on small host HDD repo but every day a full backup on tape.

[david.domask]

Hi Poweruser,

I get the predicament you're in, and like above, there are two options:

1. Switch to Forever Forward Incremental (simply disable the periodic fulls) and use Virtual Full; this will avoid having to keep multiple full backups on disk as the Virtual Full is placed directly on tape without needing to stage full backups.
2. If your repository supports Fast Clone (XFS or ReFS), then you can schedule daily Synthetic Fulls, and with Fast Clone space savings, the fulls will be "space-less" and pretty petite, and suitable for backup.

[Poweruser]

its just win2016 host with hyper-v and classic NTFS. no NAS etc. only one host, one tape drive. simple setup.

the instruction is a bit short. i should enable forward incremental and not enable regular full backups.
there are less screenshots, especially about tape config.
also there is no info, how i could validate if on my tape is everything to restore. there needs to be a test or info if its full on one tape only.
also i overwrite the tapes every day. will veeam know this?
its very unclear

[david.domask]

Hi Poweruser,

1. For having full backups to tape every day, you can do it as noted above by:
1a. Disable periodic full backups (uncheck both Create Synthetic Full backups periodically and Create Active Full backups periodically). This will make the backup retention mode Forever Forward Incremental. From there, you can configure a Virtual Full backup schedule for each day of the week.
1b. If your backup repository supports Fast Clone, then for the primary backup jobs, you can configure a Synthetic Full every day and it will be "space-less"; the tape job will copy the fulls each day.

2. Within the tape job settings there is a page to enable backup of incremental backup files (.VIB files) -- disable this to ensure only full backup files are taken. To confirm as you mention full on one tape only, you want to ensure that the backup file isn't being split or that only full backups are on tape?

3. If the erase/overwriting is configured and managed by Veeam, Veeam will know about the state of the tape.

[Poweruser]

Thats confusing, i use win16 ntfs as repo same as host, so i dont know if it supports this.
I was told to enable backup of incremental, so make sure these data are also preserved.

i suggest, you must add an option, that i can see whats on the tape after its backuped and if its incremental or full.
like a symbol or sth else in the backup list. and an info whats needed else instead of this tape.

btw: I sometimes delete local repo files and do a refresh to save space for the second job.

[david.domask]

Hi Poweruser, from the Fast Clone link above, NTFS does not support it, so that option would require a reformatting of the repository volume; I understand that may not be feasible immediately, but consider it as an option moving forward, as all synthetic operations (Synthetic Full, Merge, etc), will benefit from Fast Clone.

As for seeing what is on the tape, you can always right-click the tape in the Tape section of the UI and select Properties, and as noted, if you only want full backups, you simply need to disable the incremental backup and then you will have only full backups; by setting the Virtual Full schedule (see the links above), you will have a full backup generated on tape every day.

[Poweruser]

NTFS is the system which is mainly supported.
all other systems have restrictions or problems (even if they can be better), so keeping standard NTFS is mostly the best on small windows servers.
also the business software forbids any other software, so inside vms it is forbidden (which is not relevant here).
speed of backup is no problem to me, we have plenty of time and the systems are gigantic fast for the usage. so time and speed is absolutely dont care..
its all about having ALL data on one tape only - means if i have the latest (1) tape in my hands, i got everything i need.

about the tape job:
i enabled "Incremental Backup" > "Archive incremental backups to tape"
in my understanding this means, i will backup everything like full AND all deltas, means everything from repo to one tape.
currently i use reverse incremental, so i think everything is also inside. with the option above all deltas before will also be stored.
tape has plenty of free space, so lets write it full with historic backups... 5 periods or sth.

also the virtual full backup schedule in the media pool is enabled for years. just to make sure i have everything.
maybe i should switch from reverse inc. to forward incremental. in this case, the schedule will make sure, the tape always includes a full backup?

[david.domask]

Hi Poweruser,

Understood regarding NTFS; our recommendation for some time has been use of XFS or ReFS for the primary repository, and with Windows Server installations, you should have access for ReFS. I would advise if you have a storage refresh soon or some additional disk to test with, test with ReFS.

For the tape job:

Correct, with Archive Incrementals option checked, you will also archive the incremental backups. Note that with Reverse Incremental only the Full Backup is backed up, the VRB files are not.

If your goal is one tape with everything (Full and Increment), then you should be good to go, just create the tape job as you're proposing, add the desired source jobs, and it will take the Full plus Incremental backups

[Poweruser]

ReFS is maybe good for a veeam repo, but for all other usages is has bugs, no quota, etc etc.
So i would have to make an own partition which is a veeam repo only.
so i consider to have a NAS someday which will do this..
but there is no good recommendation which NAS has an nearly endless lifetime by hardware&security updates.. i dont plan to change a device after 5 years as industry likes ;)