Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
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ithark
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Queries on GFS backups

Post by ithark »

Dear Team,
This is our current setup.
* Backing up our VMware environment directly to s3 using Veeam 12.
* We are currently running forever incremental only with no full backups with a retention of 30 days.
Requirement.
* To run monthly full backups.
* We have around 10 jobs and we would like to run these monthly backups on different dates so that none are overlapping with each other.
* To retain this monthly full backup for 8 months.

I had a look into GFS but was confused about how it can be implemented to achieve our requirements.

For example, for Job A to Job E, if we schedule monthly full backups from Day 1 to Day 5, on the GFS settings, if I choose the option, Monthly GFS cycle, since we don't do weekly backups, it says that the monthly backups are created on the first day of each month.
so essentially, it would ignore the already existing monthly full and it would create a new monthly full job?

Can you please help me on how to achieve this effectively?

Regards,
Karthik
Regards,
Karthik
david.domask
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Re: Queries on GFS backups

Post by david.domask »

Hi Karthik,

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=120

I know this is a bit of a ready, but basically with just Monthly set, you will pick the week from which a Full backup should be made, and once the GFS period arrives, Veeam will begin looking for a Full backup to mark as weekly.

So in your case, just set which week the full backup will appear for your jobs, and once the full is made during that week, it will be marked with the GFS monthly flag.
David Domask | Product Management: Principal Analyst
ithark
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Re: Queries on GFS backups

Post by ithark »

Hi David,
Thanks for your reply.
So, for a particular job, Let's say I select "First Friday of the month" for the full schedule, and we select "first week" on the monthly GFS, this full backup will have the monthly tag set and will be retained for X number of months.
Sorry to ask this but I just wanted to confirm my doubts.
Regards,
Karthik
david.domask
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Re: Queries on GFS backups

Post by david.domask »

Correct, that is how it will go for the workflow. The job will be "waiting' for a full point to appear during that time when it's waiting for a GFS point. So your strategy should work here.
David Domask | Product Management: Principal Analyst
BackItUp2020
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Re: Queries on GFS backups

Post by BackItUp2020 »

What would happen if you have multiple full backups available in that week? Does it take the earliest? latest?
david.domask
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Re: Queries on GFS backups

Post by david.domask »

Hi BackItUp2020,

Tape GFS works by checking each day at the scan time for:

- What GFS period needs to be met on this day (if any)
- What backups on repository are best candidate to meet the GFS period

The best candidate is copied to tape as part of the run. So if there are multiple, the candidate which best meets the GFS period is used. (e.g., If we have Weekly GFS period set to Tuesday, and a full backup from the previous Sunday and Tuesday, the Tuesday backup will be placed in the Weekly Media Set. With the Daily media set configured, the Tape GFS job will move other points to the Daily media set)
David Domask | Product Management: Principal Analyst
BackItUp2020
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Re: Queries on GFS backups

Post by BackItUp2020 »

Sounds like it may be the case for non-Tape GFS as well. Thank you!
david.domask
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Re: Queries on GFS backups

Post by david.domask »

Happy to share information.

For Tape jobs using Simple Media pools, the logic is a bit different and depends on the job settings. In general, Backup to Tape job will find any backup on repository that does not yet have a copy on tape, and add a copy to tape. However, you can limit the scope of what the Backup to Tape job should grab (all chains or only most recent chain) if desired.

But in general, Tape GFS looks to fill the necessary media set for a given day, Backup to Tape with Simple media pool looks to have a tape copy of your backup chain.
David Domask | Product Management: Principal Analyst
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