My backup repository is an iSCSI mount from some NAS which can take snapshots on iSCSI LUN
I’m thinking about a very simple backup plan with 30 days retention, and monthly snapshot and replicate the iSCSI LUN. If I need to restore something e.g. 3 months ago, can I just dismount the current repository, mount the 3 months old iSCSI snapshot, rescan it and restore files from it?
+17
They would show under Orphaned, if memory serves. And, you could then restore from those files. I haven’t tried this. Maybe someone else can chime in who may have. May I ask why you wanna disconnect your iSCSI LUN then reconnect it? To maybe have an ‘offline’ copy? Just curious.
I’m worring about if I just mount the old iSCSI LUN of the same volume, would have some issues with same volume UUID ?
+17
Do you have enough space on your NAS to create a small 2nd LUN to connect to your Veeam server and test what you’re wanting to do? When you remove the Repository, Veeam removes services it installs when you added it initially. When you re-add it, it reinstalls those services and, if the box is checked as shown in my screenshot above, detects any backup files on the storage. There should be no conflicts.
+20
The OS would care, if you mounted it to the same server. But Veeam is working with files & paths here, so your problem would be upstream.
Your subject title suggests rolling back to a previous snapshot, in which case you would only have one LUN that would be unexpectedly older by Veeam and thus break every chain when Veeam attempts a new backup. But provided you presented the snapshot as a new LUN, you’d just have to deal with the issues such as the UUID duplicating, and then mounting as a new volume to scan by Veeam
+17
Good point there
Ummm, maybe I can build another Veeam workstation, just for restoration from old iSCSI snapshots?
+20
I don’t see why not. But here’s a question, why use iSCSI snapshots when you could use a native backup chain?
+17
GFS can be a bit tricky...I’m with you there. I spent a bit of time wrapping my brain around it before writing that article :) Yes, GFS files are fulls (though incrementals are not), so you do run into needing quite a bit of storage space if you store files for a while.
+20
What OS is the server that’s your repository? What filesystem and block size is the iSCSI LUN configured as?
If you can use synthetic fulls with forward incremental then you’ll see no space different more or less with having so many full backups.
I thought you might be looking at snapshots to protect against an attack on the host or ransomware etc.
Just tested mount the iSCSI snapshot without dismount the current repository, it just works, no complain about duplicate GUID
+17
Nice! :)
+6
Hello
Why don’t you consider Veeam extract Utility?
Veeam Backup & Replication comes with an extract utility that can be used to recover machines from backup files. The extract utility does not require any interaction with Veeam Backup & Replication and can be used as an independent tool on Linux and Microsoft Windows machines.
The extract utility can be helpful, for example, if it is written to the tape next to machine backup files. In this case, you get a possibility to recover machines from backups at any moment of time even if backups are removed from Veeam Backup & Replication or Veeam Backup & Replication is not installed.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/extract_utility.html?ver=120
+11
Enter your username or e-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.
