VM Backup can't be copied per point?

[jhonatanwick12]

I'm new on Veeam BR and currently responsible for our VM backup. What I've done so far is create a backup job with an active full once a month and differential every day. Not using periodic synthetic for now but I think would use it soon. My problem is I can't find alternative ways to get back up per point.
So the scenario that I want to achieve is:
1. Full backup once a month.
2. Differential every day.
3. Copy the VM backup file (VBK and VIB) last Saturday every week to another disk or location.

So, based on my scenario I know veeam has an export feature to make a full backup per point. But the problem is the process took so long and made our storage full (because the export file is a full backup) and not so efficient for our current env. I know and learned about how backup works in Veeam. It's not like backup mode like SQL server where the full and diff file is independent. It's easy to restore per point only restore the full and diff that we want to restore and the job is done but in veeam that's not how it works right?
Based on the documentation

Rolling Back VMs

To roll back a VM to a specific point in time, you need a chain of backup files: a full backup file plus a set of incremental backup files dependent on this full backup file. If some file in the backup chain is missing, you will not be able to roll back to the necessary state. For this reason, you must not delete separate backup files from the backup repository manually. Instead, you must specify retention policy settings that will let you maintain the desired number of backup files in the backup repository.


Any idea how I can fulfill my scenario?

Thank you.

[Dima P.]

Hello jhonatanwick12,

What I've done so far is create a backup job with an active full once a month and differential every day.

There is no option to create differential backup every day, instead we offer incremental backup. Take a look at this article Backup Methods.

So, based on my scenario I know veeam has an export feature to make a full backup per point. But the problem is the process took so long and made our storage full (because the export file is a full backup) and not so efficient for our current env.

If you need a full backup for specific day you can configure active full backup or synthetic full backup in the job schedule but keep in mind that this will consume the repository free space in a similar way as the export backup functionality you've tested before.

I know and learned about how backup works in Veeam. It's not like backup mode like SQL server where the full and diff file is independent.

The incremental backup approach indeed requires you to have the backup chain available whenever you restore from incremental backup. However, to restore the data from full backup the subsequent backup chain of increments is not required.

It's easy to restore per point only restore the full and diff that we want to restore and the job is done but in veeam that's not how it works right?

Restore is always easy if you keep the job folder with all it's content on the repository and avoid any manual operations such as move / delete on the file system to make sure that all the backup files are preserved. I'd say it's a question of storage consumption at the end of the day: you can store only full backups on your repository, but you will pay with the space consumed by such full backups. Instead the most common practice is to use forward incremental backup chains (fulls followed by incremental restore points) and create the periodic GFS full backup restore points according to your compliance / regulation requirements.

[jhonatanwick12]

Dear Dima P,

I appreciate your answer; it makes me fully understand the backup method behavior on Veeam. I'm sorry for the "differential" word that I used to describe the work that I've done. What I mean is Incremental and we use the forward incremental backup method right now. I think making a synthetic full backup could solve our problem and another purpose of my question in this forum is to make sure what I've done so far is on the right track and to fulfill my company's needs and scenario. And based on my question and your answer I can describe the needs that my company must provide to our team like tape or HDD storage, etc as maybe you know it's kinda "hard" to convince them of the need for our company's condition. Thank you Dimas P.

[Dima P.]

Hi jhonatanwick12,

Sure it's totally fine, no hard feelings

synthetic full backup could solve our problem and another purpose of my question in this forum is to make sure what I've done so far is on the right track and to fulfill my company's needs and scenario

Synthetic full backup comes extremely handy when you do not want to provide additional pressure on your production. At the end of the day that's an incremental backup from the source which is 'aggregated' into full backup but at the repository side. Thank you!