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Hi,

In this topic I want to highlight the possibilities to archive a backup for a VM before you want to delete or decommision.

Every company that uses VMs has to deal with deleting existing VMs, replacing them with new VMs because of migrating the application running on the VM, migrating because of using a new OS on the VM, …

A lot of reasons why existing VMs will soon or later will be deleted or replaced by new ones.

 

What do you want to do as a proper engineer before deleting the old VM?

 

→ Of course, you first want to take a backup before deleting the VM.

I often had the situation where the customer needs something being restored/recovered of the deleted VM 😊

Personally the best way for a VM that will be deleted, is having an independent full backup.

 

Is that possible with Veeam 🤣? 

Sure, in my opinion, there are 2 easy ways to do that.

  1. Using VeeamZIP

If the VM is still available on your hypervisor, the easiest way is to use VeeamZIP.

It creates an independent full backup (.VBK file), which you can store on the Veeam repository, local disk or network share.

Personally I prefer using an independent folder (named ARCHIVE) to put all of those backups on a central location.

To perform such a backup, just open the inventory view, select the VM and choose VeeamZIP

 

Afterwards choose the location as mentioned, personally I never activate the option to automatically delete this backup (but that’s personally), activate the encryption (depends on the location where you put the backups - secure or not) and let the rest of the options default

 

 

You can see those backups under Backups > Disks (VeeamZIP)

 

→ Easy, wright?

 

  1. Using exporting backup

If the VM is not yet available anymore on the hypervisor, but you still have 1 or more backups of this VM in an existing backup chain of an existing job, this is the way.

With exporting a backup you can create an independent full backup (.VBK file) for this particular VM of an existing backup chain (full backup file and incremental backup files).

This can be chain using the reverse incremental method or forward incremental method.

A prerequisite is that the chain must exist on the backup repository.

The exported backup file will be on the location where the originally backup chain is present (so the backup repository).

To perform such a backup, navigate to Home and choose Export Backup

 

Afterwards choose the VM and restore point you want to export as a standalone full backup

If you want, you can activate the option to automatically delete this backup after a certain period of time, personally I don’t activate this option.

 

 

Click afterwards on Finish, that’s it, also easy 😉.

You also can see those backups under Backups > Disks (VeeamZIP).

 

I use this simple (somewhat hidden) functionality often.

 

I hope I taught you something.

 

regards

Nico

Great article Nico.  👍🏼

Thank you for sharing @Nico Losschaert 

Good article, Nico.

VeeamZIP and exported backups are great features. I use them rather often to keep certain backup points for single VMs or to keep them for several months after deleting VMs.

Great article Nico.  👍🏼

Thx @Chris.Childerhose  😍

Thank you for sharing @Nico Losschaert 

Thx @Iams3le , my pleasure!

Good article, Nico.

VeeamZIP and exported backups are great features. I use them rather often to keep certain backup points for single VMs or to keep them for several months after deleting VMs.

thx @JMeixner, yes indeed, the power and usability of it, is underestimated 🤗

Great article Nico, a handy little trick if I might add for this:

 

If you accidentally set the backup to delete after X period of time, you don’t need to create another export. Just remove the backup from the configuration, and then reimport it 🙂

Great article @Nico Losschaert Thank you for sharing.

Another handy tip is to perform a recovery if working on a different machine, install the B&R console in trial mode, import the backup and recover the files. No need for a license. Makes it really easy to recover. 

Great article @Nico Losschaert Thank you for sharing.

Another handy tip is to perform a recovery if working on a different machine, install the B&R console in trial mode, import the backup and recover the files. No need for a license. Makes it really easy to recover. 

Tricky 😎

But… wouldn’t this work with the agent, too?

Good article and a practice I follow, but a good bolt-on is some side text file to describe what is inside this standalone backup that could be prompted for at the time of the backup.

Currently all you have to go on is the VM object name - if that is good enough for operators to understand fine.

As in a Veeam Backup Job you have ability to write a comment about the job.

I suppose if you use Notes in the VM summary page you could extract the .vmx file that holds those Notes comments and search for the annotation field.

Great article @Nico Losschaert Thank you for sharing.

Another handy tip is to perform a recovery if working on a different machine, install the B&R console in trial mode, import the backup and recover the files. No need for a license. Makes it really easy to recover. 

Tricky 😎

But… wouldn’t this work with the agent, too?

Good point. I’ve not tested with the agent so definitely something for me to try. 

Great article @Nico Losschaert Thank you for sharing.

Another handy tip is to perform a recovery if working on a different machine, install the B&R console in trial mode, import the backup and recover the files. No need for a license. Makes it really easy to recover. 

Tricky 😎

But… wouldn’t this work with the agent, too?

Good point. I’ve not tested with the agent so definitely something for me to try. 

I think it would with the Agent too but good to test. 👍

Great article Nico, a handy little trick if I might add for this:

 

If you accidentally set the backup to delete after X period of time, you don’t need to create another export. Just remove the backup from the configuration, and then reimport it 🙂

Thx @MicoolPaul for the handy trick 😂

Good article and a practice I follow, but a good bolt-on is some side text file to describe what is inside this standalone backup that could be prompted for at the time of the backup.

Currently all you have to go on is the VM object name - if that is good enough for operators to understand fine.

As in a Veeam Backup Job you have ability to write a comment about the job.

I suppose if you use Notes in the VM summary page you could extract the .vmx file that holds those Notes comments and search for the annotation field.

Thx @MacGee and good remark!

Thanks for sharing @Nico Losschaert! VeeamZIP is perfect for creating independent archives.

Great article, already using VeeamZIP like this or for archival purpose :)

@Nico Losschaert Great article.  This was very helpful since I have recently discovered these “hidden features.”  What if I need to move my archive files to a new repository?  Would I just copy them to the new location then rescan the new repository to update the repository location under Backups → Disk (VeeamZip)?  What if I backup to a Local or Shared Folder, but then have to move them?

Hi @Andrew Carmichael  which version of Veeam are you currently running? V12 now comes with VeeaMover that allows you to move files to another location without needing to manually move files and rescanning repositories. 
I’ve not tested this in V12 yet but the option might be there. Otherwise, it’ll need to be moved manually and repository location rescanned. 
I will need to check and report back. 
 

Hi @Andrew Carmichael  which version of Veeam are you currently running? V12 now comes with VeeaMover that allows you to move files to another location without needing to manually move files and rescanning repositories. 
I’ve not tested this in V12 yet but the option might be there. Otherwise, it’ll need to be moved manually and repository location rescanned. 
I will need to check and report back. 
 

@dips I am still on V11.  I don’t mind manually moving them if I had to.  Also what do I do if I backup to Local Storage or Shared Folder that isn’t a repository in Veeam?

@Nico Losschaert Great article.  This was very helpful since I have recently discovered these “hidden features.”  What if I need to move my archive files to a new repository?  Would I just copy them to the new location then rescan the new repository to update the repository location under Backups → Disk (VeeamZip)?  What if I backup to a Local or Shared Folder, but then have to move them?

The “move backup” function is available for exported backups and VeeamZIP  in V12. So, you move around these kinds of backups to another location, too.

And when you copy your backup files to a location outside a repository, you will have to copy them back into a repository and rescan the repository in order to use them with VBR.

Thanks @Nico Losschaert for this article.

VeeamZip is a long standing feature not everybody is aware of or has the reflex to use it.

IMHO and undervalued function...

Thank you @Nico Losschaert 

I use VeeamZip, then use a file to tape job for my archives still.

 

It’s a great way to get the data off of production, and off of the Veeam SAN and still know that I have a copy in 3 years when someone asks me for that 1 file they forgot.

I created a media pool that will keep tapes for a few years for “deleted VM’s”   Once they hit the retention period they are gone for good. 

 

Even when I’m told. “please delete this we no longer need it” a quick VeeamZip and File to Tape has saved our bacon a few times.  Well, I’ve saved my co-workers at least :) 

 

@Andrew Carmichael , glad my post helped you. As others already described : from V12 you can use de Veeamover, before V12 : just put on a repository and do a rescan or just put it on a share or drive. The great thing of Veeam is that everything is inside the backup-file, so you can always import a .VBK or .VBM file so you can restore if needed 😄

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