Backup Strategy

[itworx]

Client has a VMware 5.1 box with a 2.18 TB datastore and 3 VMs. One is a legacy Server 2003R2 (472 GB) running a specialized application, one Server 2008 (683GB) running their SQL LOB application and data and one Server 2012 domain controller (606GB). They are not allowed by corporate policy to have any cloud storage or connection. I have set up a VEEAM 8.0 backup box with 1.8 TB of internal storage. The idea is to perform daily incremental backups of each VM, then do a backup copy to attached USB 3.0 drive. On a separate USB 3.0 drive, a weekly VM backup takes place. The USB drives are rotated off site, giving them a path for disaster recovery. I welcome suggestions to the soundness of this strategy as well as any ideas that could improve upon it. Thanks in advance.

[PTide]

Hi,

On a separate USB 3.0 drive, a weekly VM backup takes place

It'd better to use either a Backup Copy Job or synthetic Full for that so your Weekly Full is "constructed" of your previous incrementals instead of taking a snapshot again. However, you should keep in mind, that transaction logs are not copied by Backup Copy Job - please see this thread for possible workaround.

Thank you.