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Hello Veeam Community,

 

I want to share a recent experience I encountered with the Linux-based Veeam Backup Appliance (used via plug-in to protect GCP workloads).

 

This is part of our growing environment where we use Veeam Backup for Google Cloud.

 

Issue Summary:

Yesterday, I ran into a serious issue where the backup appliance became unresponsive. Here’s what happened:

 

Problem Description:

  • Appliance DB disk was full this caused log files to pile up.
  • Logs were not auto-deleting, consuming critical DB disk storage space.
  • The appliance showed the following errors below:
  • "Failed to get server IP address"
  • "Backup Appliance is unavailable"

The Veeam plug-in was unable to communicate with the appliance, and no backups could proceed at that point.

 

 

 

 

Root Cause:

  • The database disk inside the appliance reached full capacity. ( Above Screenshot )
  • Logs under the appliance’s backup storage directory were accumulating over time.
  • The appliance could not boot its services properly due to no free space, which led to connection and IP assignment issues.

 

Resolution Steps:

1: Restored the appliance using a snapshot:

  • Luckily, I had already configured daily snapshots from GCP host-level.
  • Using GCP's snapshot restore feature, I quickly recovered the appliance to the last healthy state.
  • This reinforces the importance of snapshot scheduling.

 

 

2: SSH into the restored appliance and manually cleaned up the logs

 

Run this command to safely remove old compressed log files:

  • find /mnt/vcb-storage -name "*.zip" -type f -delete

This helped free up the disk and allowed the appliance to stabilize after restoration.

 

 

✅ Best Practices (Based on My Experience)

 

Enable Daily Snapshots from GCP Console:

  • These are your first line of defense for recovery treat them like restore points.
  • Snapshot scheduling ensures a fast rollback in case of internal appliance issues.

Monitor DB Disk Usage Regularly:

  • Especially for appliances storing logs locally — check /mnt/vcb-storage or configure alerts.

Automate Log Cleanup:

  • If auto-log rotation is not working, plan for manual cleanups using cron jobs or custom scripts. ( find /mnt/vcb-storage -name "*.zip" -type f -delete )

Secure SSH Access:

  • Always ensure only authorized access can reach your appliance over SSH for such operations.

Document Recovery Steps:

  • Keep a runbook or SOP with your cloud and backup team for quick restoration.

 

Final Thoughts:

The Linux-based Veeam appliance for GCP is a great tool but like any backup solution, it needs regular monitoring and hygiene. With proper snapshot policies, disk usage alerts, and log management, you can avoid surprises and ensure a smooth backup and recovery lifecycle.

 

I'm happy to be a part of this community and share this hands-on learning. I hope it helps others who might face similar issues.

 

 

 

Do not use GCP myself but nice article on your challenges and resolution.  Thanks for sharing.

Nice article! Thanks for sharing.

Do not use GCP myself but nice article on your challenges and resolution.  Thanks for sharing.

 

  

Hi ​@Chris.Childerhose 

Thank you for your words. I appreciate that.

Nice article! Thanks for sharing.

 

Hi ​@matheusgiovanini  

 

Thank you for your words. I appreciate that.

 

 

Thanks for sharing this. I think this not only applies to the appliance for GCP, but also to pretty much any Linux server being used for Veeam such as proxies and repositories.

Hopefully those who use GCP find this useful. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing this. I think this not only applies to the appliance for GCP, but also to pretty much any Linux server being used for Veeam such as proxies and repositories.

 

Dear ​@Tommy O'Shea  Attention should always be given to the GCP appliance connected to the Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR) server, particularly as it operates on a Linux-based environment.

Ensuring that the appliance’s internal database disk remains within healthy limits is critical.

If the database disk becomes full, the appliance can become unresponsive, which effectively brings the GCP backup environment to a non-operational state. As highlighted, this can result in errors such as "failed to get server IP address" or "backup appliance unavailable."

 

I have mentioned above some best practice how to fix this and how to avoid this.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully those who use GCP find this useful. Thanks for sharing!

 

Hi ​@coolsport00 thank you for your words. 

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