Veeam GFS Backup:

The GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) backup strategy included in Veeam Backup & Replication software is an optimized method for regular and long-term retention of data. It is important for some companies, especially those in the financial sector, to keep long-term data. With GFS, we can take our Annual, Monthly and Weekly Backups and store these backups for as long as we request.

Grandfather-Father-Son Hierarchy:

Grandfather: At this level, monthly backups are typically stored. It is used to take a full backup on the first and last day of each month and for long-term storage.
Father: This is the level where weekly backups are stored. This level of storage can be achieved by taking a full backup any day of the week.
Last: This is the level where daily backups are stored. For example, daily backups are provided by taking a full backup at the end of each day.
The Schedule of GFS Backup can be seen in the image below. In the image, it can be seen that Weekly Backup is taken on Sundays, daily backups are taken on other days, and Monthly Backup is scheduled on the last day of the month.

What are the Benefits of GFS?

Long-Term Backup Storage: The GFS strategy is designed to meet long-term storage requirements. With this strategy, we can keep our reserves in different time periods.

Flexibility and Customization: GFS strategy can be customized to suit the needs of organizations. This strategy allows backups to be taken and stored on specific days, weeks and months.

Fast Recovery and Rollback: Thanks to the GFS strategy, the recoverability of backups across different time periods increases. This is important to minimize the loss of data and ensures business continuity.

Ease of Management: GFS strategy provides us with a regular and predictable backup and recovery plan. Since the rules such as when to take backups, how long to keep them and when to clean them are clear and orderly, management and follow-up processes become much easier.

Regulatory Compliance: For some industries and institutions, long-term data retention is required to comply with regulations. The GFS strategy offers an ideal method to comply with such regulations because it allows data to be stored across different time periods.

Risk Mitigation: GFS strategy minimizes possible data loss and thus reduces risks. Backups performed at different time periods and at regular intervals play a critical role in ensuring business continuity and minimizing possible damage in case of data loss.

Veeam GFS backup strategy is designed to meet flexibility, security and long-term data retention needs. This strategy can help organizations optimize their data management processes and effectively protect their data.

How to Activate GFS on Veeam Backup & Replication?

First, we need to go to the Storage section by clicking Edit on our Backup Job where we will activate GFS.

Then, we need to activate the GFS feature, that is, “Keep certain full backups longer for archival purposes”, which is marked in the image below.

Finally, by clicking Configure, we activate which of the Annual, Monthly and Weekly Backups we want to take and determine when they will run and how long they will be stored.

Weekly Backup Working Interval:

We choose any day we want the weekly backup to be taken.

Monthly Backup Working Interval:

We can schedule the first day or last day of the month for monthly backup.

Annual Backup Working Interval:

For annual backups, we need to choose which month to take during the year.