When is _M, _W or _Y added to vbk filename?

[jlipari]

Can anyone tell me when _M, _W or _Y is added to the filename of GFS backups? I created a job with a weekly GFS backup configured, but the filename of the vbk file does not have _W at the end. When I look at the properties of the job, it does show a W under the retention column. It was my understanding that these jobs should have _W appended to the end of the filename.

Thanks

[Mildur]

This was true before Veeam V11.
With Veeam V11, the backups will only have a GFS Flag inside the database.

[jlipari]

That's unfortunate, because I was going to archive backup files based on those labels. Now I know I need to find another solution.

Thank you!

[Mildur]

Can you tell us more about your plan? Are you using tape or rotated disk to archive your backups?

Archiving backups could be done with integrated veeam jobs. Or you could script something do find out which backup is a monthly vbk. I am sure, there will be a powershell command from veeam to find the monthly restore points.

[Gostev]

I just wanted to add that this "feature loss" is primarily from the introduction of immutable backups feature, which obviously prevents us from adding these flags to file names once the file has been created - as this means renaming a file, which is simply impossible. Because of that, we had to move these flags into the database.

[whzbk]

Hi Gostev,

thanks for the clear explanation.
We had a script running here that copied all _W _M _Y files to an external USB disk. This script will no longer work. I was wondering if I can make an export of all flagged (M W Y) files via powershell? If so can you help me on my way.
Thanks in advance,
kind regards

[Gostev]

Try asking for help on the PowerShell subforum... people there actually know this stuff and what's possible, unlike me

[soncscy]

Ah, this is a pretty easy one.

Fetch your backup with Get-VBRBackup, and CBackup objects have the GetAllChildrenStorages() method, and you can check the GFSPeriod property there and get the file path also:

Code: Select all

PS C:\Users\Administrator> $storages = $backup.GetAllChildrenStorages()
PS C:\Users\Administrator> $storages | select FilePath, GFSPeriod

FilePath                                                                	 GfsPeriod
--------                                                               		---------
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM-vrdm.vm-23625D2021-11-22T000000_E58D.vib            None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM-vrdm.vm-23625D2021-11-16T000000_9E5E.vib            None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM-vrdm.vm-23625D2021-11-19T184033_3188.vbk          Weekly
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM-vrdm.vm-23625D2021-11-05T184024_D411.vbk Monthly, Yearly
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM-vrdm.vm-23625D2021-11-17T000000_8D7B.vib            None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM-vrdm.vm-23625D2021-11-18T000000_BF6D.vib            None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM-vrdm.vm-23625D2021-11-23T000000_8296.vib            None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM-vrdm.vm-23625D2021-11-12T184046_07E8.vbk            None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM2.vm-106664D2021-11-05T184024_EE78.vbk    Monthly, Yearly
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM2.vm-106664D2021-11-22T000000_47C7.vib               None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM2.vm-106664D2021-11-12T184047_0234.vbk               None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM2.vm-106664D2021-11-19T184033_28E8.vbk             Weekly
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM2.vm-106664D2021-11-18T000000_9773.vib               None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM2.vm-106664D2021-11-17T000000_AAEE.vib               None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM2.vm-106664D2021-11-23T000000_D3DD.vib               None
E:\backup-copy-testing\TestVM2.vm-106664D2021-11-16T000000_9E5E.vib               None

Much better for reporting/taking action. So just get all file paths where the GfsPeriod -ne "None" and you'll have your list to copy.