Full backup after migrating VM

[VladSr]

Hi there,

just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the below scenario please.

- VM "Server1" is running on "host1", using local RAID10 storage on "host1"
- "Server1" is backed up using "Forward Incremental" backups, with active full backup on the first day of the month.
- On the 15th day of a month, a problem occurs on "host1" which requires "Server1" to be migrated onto "host2"
- A "quick migration"* is done through Veeam to migrate "Server1" onto "host2", using local RAID10 storage on "host2"
- The existing backup job is reconfigured to backup "Server1" from "host2".

The problem: The first backup which is done from "host2" is a full backup, not an incremental backup.

With VMs which are 2TB+ in size, this can get problematic if a VM needs to be moved a few times between servers.

Is there any way to configure the backups so that it just creates another incremental, rather than having to create a new full backup every time the VM is moved between hosts?

* = The VM can be migrated using either vCenter or Quick Migration, but the result is the same: the first backup from the new host will be a full backup, not an incremental.

Thank you.

[Mildur]

Hi Vlad

Unfortunately not.
When you migrated the vm to another host, a new vm with a new MoRef-ID (unique ID used for vms by esxi hosts and vcenter) was generated. When veeam starts the backup, it looks like a new vm for veeam.

There are some unsupported methods in this forum, which you could use, but I recommend against them. Our support will not be able to help if something goes wrong.

[VladSr]

Hi Mildur,

thank you for your response.

Ok so if that's the case, any idea what is the "veeam recommended" solution to this scenario?

Is the storage supposed to be on a SAN or something?

I just am surprised that moving a VM to another host creates such an issue, when this is something that I assume would occur reasonably regularly.

Is there any development in progress to make it possible to move a VM without having to restart the backup chain?

Thank you.

[Regnor]

If you manage your hosts/VMs via vCenter and connect Veeam to this instead of directly to the ESXi hosts, then MoRef ID will stay the same.
Above you've said that it doesn't matter of you migrate via vCenter. Do you have one in place?

[Mildur]

Thanks Regnor.

@VladSr
Regnor is correct. If you have a vCenter in place, you should connect to the vCenter directly with veeam and not to the single esxi hosts.
If MoRefID still changes with a directly connected vCenter, please open a case with Veeam support or VmWare. It should not change within the same vCenter.

[VladSr]

Hi Regnor and Mildur,

Thanks again for your responses.

What you've said is exactly what I was looking for.

There is a vCenter in place, however the VMs are indeed directly connected to Veeam.

The backup jobs are linked to the VMs through the host and not vCenter, so hopefully "relinking" the VMs in the backup jobs to go "through" vCenter should not restart the chain, since the MoRefID is still the same?

Also, I'm assuming it would be fine to continue to do the backups directly connected to the host, and simply do any migrations by selecting the VMs / hosts "through" vCenter.

Thank you for your assistance.

[Mildur]

The backup jobs are linked to the VMs through the host and not vCenter, so hopefully "relinking" the VMs in the backup jobs to go "through" vCenter should not restart the chain, since the MoRefID is still the same?

vCenter uses not the same MoRefIDs as the ESXI Host. There are different databases. A new Chain will be started.
You can try this UNSUPPORTED workaround to update the MoRefID if you want to change from ESXI to vCenter.
Our support cannot help you, if something goes wrong using this workaround. Make sure, that you have a configuration backup if you want to try it.

Also, I'm assuming it would be fine to continue to do the backups directly connected to the host, and simply do any migrations by selecting the VMs / hosts "through" vCenter.

You can. But each time you move the VM, a new MoRefID will be generated on the ESXI Host, but not on the vCenter.