Help for best pratices in a simple scenario

[PoorMe]

Hi all,

I'm testing veeam backup and replication comunity features, I created this scenario on my test server:

- test machine, windows server essential 2019 only, no sw, clean install
- loaded veeam backup & replication
- made a total backup of the machine on a folder on the NAS
- started a new automatic backup where I had modified only one file just for testing

I tried to restore the backup: failed. Veeam shut down the virtual machine, did nothing and when I tried to turn it back on and log in, it no longer gives me any valid credentials (I only had administrator and a test user).

Now I've tried to install a new virtual machine, load veeam backup & replication again, and I'm trying to put the image back on the old test machine. For now it's going well when i'm typing.

I ask you: if in production I have a single machine that I want to fully backup, is it better if I make a second machine intended for veeam? I don't want when I have to set up a backup in case of disaster, it causes me the same problem I had in the tests.

Can you give me some advice on this?

[PTide]

Hi,

Please clarify these things first:

- did you back up the machine as a VM, or you installed a backup agent on it first?

- what do you mean by "a total"? Please describe your backup job settings (what has been chosen as a backup source, if there were any exclusions, and so on)

- "started a new automatic backup" - did you create a new backup job, or modified the existing one? what exactly did you modify?

I tried to restore the backup: failed. Veeam shut down the virtual machine, did nothing and when I tried to turn it back on and log in,

What kind of restore did you try, exactly?

I ask you: if in production I have a single machine that I want to fully backup, is it better if I make a second machine intended for veeam? I don't want when I have to set up a backup in case of disaster, it causes me the same problem I had in the tests.

No it's not required to have a second machine. Your answers to the questions above might make it possible to understand what exactly has gone wrong during restore.

Thanks

[PoorMe]

Hi PTide,

did you back up the machine as a VM, or you installed a backup agent on it first?

VM

- what do you mean by "a total"? Please describe your backup job settings (what has been chosen as a backup source, if there were any exclusions, and so on)

a VM backup, for total i intend the entire VM

"started a new automatic backup" - did you create a new backup job, or modified the existing one? what exactly did you modify?

I created a new backup job and scheduled at night 2.00. Before that time, i manually started the job several hours before and did the first complete VM backup. The job ended, i added manually a file on the desktop of the VM and wait for the automatic job at night.

What kind of restore did you try, exactly?

I opened backup and replication on the VM, Restore - VMware sphere - Restore form backup - Entire VM restore - Entire VM restore
I selected my test VM to the starting point (the first job created) - Restore to the original location.

I saw the task in VMware esxi poweroff the VM, then nothing for hours. Tried to power on the VM, and windows starts but can't login at all (does not recognize the passwords of the 2 users, administrator and test user).

What could i have done wrong?

[PTide]

It seems that you've done everything correctly.

And a few more questions...

Were there any messages in the restore session log?
Have you tried restoring the VM to another location (e.g. alongside the original VM), did it fail too?
Any pending operations in the vSphere console?

If answers to all of the above are "No", then please open a support case and let me know a case number (you can post it right here).

Thank you!

[PoorMe]

I have done a new try:

- Created a new VM with only Veeam backup & replication, and created a full backup
- Created some test users and placed some random txt files as KPI
- Waited for the scheduled incremental backup, all done without errors.

After that i tried the same as above: on the VM, started the full restore from the inital backup with quick rollback, veeam turn off the VM then nothing. Nothing appears in the pending operations in vSphere and when i manually turn on the VM, all untouched.

Then i tried the restore from a client with win10 and veeam backup & replication installed: worked.

Although I'm new to veeam, it seems that It can't schedule the operations to be performed for recovery on vSphere. The backup, instead, is good and consistent


Edit: on the starting VM, after the fail, log said only Job has falied unexpectedly

[PTide]

Ok, so you tried to back up and restore a Windows Server 2019 VM using VBR installed on some other machine (which operating system?), and the restore operation never succeeded.
Then you tried to do the same but this time you used VBR installed on Windows 10 machine and the restore of another machine was successful.

Is that correct?