Can I use the Repository as source for replication?

[Dsmelser]

In my main location I have 2 VM servers and a stand alone server as my repository.
In a remote location I have a single VM server that I want to replicate to.
Nightly incrementals are about 100 GB in size (out of 3.4 TB total data).

I'm estimating 40+ hours to transmit this data across the WAN. (Backups arcoss the LAN are under 2 hours).
I'd rather not hold a snap shot on my production server for this length of time.

Is there any way of using the replica as a source for replications?

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello David,

Can you please clarify if you want to replicate VMs from one site to another or you want to copy your backup files to the offsite location?

Thank you!

[foggy]

David, if you are talking about replicating your VMs to the target host across slow link, then you would want to use replica seeding functionality to seed your replication jobs using locally created backup files.

[Dsmelser]

Let me restate the situation.
At the corporate office I have:
2 VM hosts
Nimble storage array
Stand alone windows 2008 R2 server with local storage configured as a repository.
The VM consist of:

Code: Select all

VM                     full backup size    incremental size
2008 file server  2300 GB                50-100 GB
Exchange server 250 GB                 10-40 GB
SQL Express#1     25 GB                  1-2 GB
SQL Express#1     10 GB                  0.5-1 GB
Accounting         30 GB                  1-2 GB

We have a 1000 Mb LAN connection.

At the remote office, I will have
1 VM host using local storage.
I have a 4 Mbs MPLS circuit from the corporate office to the remote office.
The remote office VM is currently at the corporate office, so I can seed it before shipping it to the offsite location.

What I want to accomplish is local backups and an offsite DR.

I've configured backups. A complete full backup took 15 hours and incrementals take between 1 and 2 hours. Looking at my MPLS connection speed, I estimate that each 10 GB of data is going to take 5 hours. Since the total incremental size varies from 60 GB to 140 GB, I'm looking at total transmission times of 30 to 70 hours.
[In three months the MPLS speed will be increased to 10 Mbs, this will cut the transmission times in half].

With the limits of this infrastructure, what is my best option for offsite DR?

One initial concern is that daily incremental backups will be queued during a backup/replication to the offsite location. That is why I asked about using the backups as a source for replications.

[veremin]

Hi, David.

So, am I right in assuming that your main goal is to have two copies of corporate VMs backup – one backup will be stored at production site (Windows 2008 r2 with local storage) and one in remote office?

In this case the best option you have is to wait till Veeam Backup and Replication with new backup copy job is released to general public. With Backup Copy job it will be possible to copy VMs directly from backups to the offsite location/secondary repository. Generally speaking, corresponding data will be gotten from the backup files, so there will be no negative effect related to keeping snapshot for long period of time, etc.

Moreover, Enterprise Plus Edition will boast with ground breaking technology called Wan Accelerator, that might be particularly interesting for those who are willing to copy backup data to external location and ,meanwhile, deprived of decent WAN connection.

Thanks.

[Vitaliy S.]

With the limits of this infrastructure, what is my best option for offsite DR?

One initial concern is that daily incremental backups will be queued during a backup/replication to the offsite location. That is why I asked about using the backups as a source for replications.

Ok, so you do NOT want to use replication jobs, you want to have another copy of your backups.

Answering your initial question - yes, you can use existing backups as a source for the offsite backup job. Use backup mapping feature to achieve that. Here is the procedure you should follow: Seeding a backup (not replication)