Thinning backup chain - "Health check" and "Delete restore point from disk" not available

[tks-dataservice]

Hi there,

I'm using Veeam B&R Community Edition 11.0.1.1261 on Windows Server 2022 backing up my vSphere 7 datacenter reverse incremental on a QNAP NAS (SMB).
Since we are running low on disk space (actually there is no space left) and the "Delete" and "Forget" options like in
https://www.provirtualzone.com/how-to-f ... in-backup/
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110
vmware-vsphere-f24/delete-option-disabl ... 47307.html
doesn't appear, I deleted some VRB manually. But these restore points already exist in the restore options so I searched for "Run Health Check" like in
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110
But this option isn't there either. What's going wrong?

I found this blog to heal the repository, but it looks very complicted:
https://www.svanbruggen.nl/veeam-manual ... re-points/
Is this worth a try?

Thanks for your help in advance!

[Mildur]

Hi Claus

Deleting restore points manually is never recommended. But with reverse incremental it will be easy to remove some of the oldest ones.

I would go this way:

1) move the oldest vrb files out of the backup repo folder. You can also delete it, but for me, first moving to a temp folder is a better way for checking if I will remove the correct files and not some files which are required in the backup chain to restore the most current backups.

2) rescan the backup repository

3) remove the missing backup files from the configuration database

[tks-dataservice]

That's the point: I don't have the options screenshot in the linked article - I only have "copy path"

[Mildur]

You will have the options to remove it as soon you have moved or deleted the vrb files with help of the Windows Explorer and done a rescan in the vbr console.

Veeam will then tell you, that there are missing backup files. At this moment you can choose to remove it from the configuration database.

If that is not working, you need to open a support case. Technical issues requires always a support case.

[tks-dataservice]

But if I should not manually delete the VRB-files and the delete-option only appears after I delete these files, then how should I remove restore points?

I noticed a line in the progress protocol stating a "skipped" repository, but not for what reason skipped and it was all marked green, too. Where could I get more details on that?

And under what circumstances appears "Run Health Check"?

[Mildur]

But if I should not delete manually delete the VRB-files and the delete-option only appears after I delete these files, then how should I remove restore points?

Veeam do not have an option to remove specific restore points. You can only choose to delete a vm from the backup repo. This removes all short term (and if choosen, GFS) backup files.

To reduce the retained restore points in a reverse incremental chain, you have two options.
Change the retention to a lower number and run the backup job. Restore points will be deleted. Or use the not recommended way and remove the Restore Points with windows explorer, do a rescan and remove the configuration entries.

And under what circumstances appears "Run Health Check"?

A manual health check can only be started for NAS Backup Job. You are talking about doing backups of your vsphere datacenter and reverse incremental backup files. This are VM Backup Jobs and not NAS Backup Jobs. You won‘t see this option in the menu for vm backup jobs.

I recommend you to open a support case. It‘s difficult to help you without knowing the infrastructure. Only Veeam Support can connect to your environment after you habe opened a support case.

[tks-dataservice]

Ahhh... thanks a lot for your quick help and detailed explanations!!
I'll try to make the best out of it and will report here again