Welcome @chinchilla are you using GFS when backing up to tape? 

Additionally, looking at the Veeam documentation here: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/backup_to_tape_pools.html?ver=110

“If the source job produces a forever incremental backup chain or is a backup copy job without GFS option enabled, Veeam Backup & Replication will periodically create a virtual full backup. You can configure the full backup schedule at this step of the wizard. The virtual full cannot be switched off; however, it is disabled automatically if the sourcejob periodically creates active full or synthetic full backups.”

hi dips,

Thanks for your advise, refer about all setting without GFS, file_share_to_tape manual execute end of every month. Will it execute full backup when insert new tape?

I did not see the behaviour you are describung up to now. I have many tape jobs running (VM, File and NAS).

If a new tape is used without creating a new media set the backup chain is continued.

If a new media set is created, then a new full backup is needed.

But please be aware that new media sets can be startes automatically under specific circumstances:

• The required tape is offline. If you bring such tape online before the tape job starts, it will be used as planned.
• A backup to tape job is scheduled to export tapes from the media pool upon job completion. Exporting closes the current media set and starts a new one on the next job run.
• The required tape is hardware or software protected.
• In library failover on the following events: library is offline and all drives are busy. When a tape library is failed over on these events, Veeam Backup & Replication starts a new media set even if the global media pools are configured to always continue one media set

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/tape_media_sets.html?ver=110

So, perhaps one of these 4 conditions are met in your case and new media sets are created?

@chinchilla,

No, a new media set does not require a full backup.

Media sets are a logical way of organizing your tapes, it has little (if anything) to do with the data on the tape. So if you’re doing increments, it will continue to do increments, but on the new media set.

Now, for planning purposes, if you are going to be making new media sets, there might be some logic in running a full when the media set switches so that recovery is much more simple. With your current media set settings, it shouldn’t force a change except for those situations listed above.

So, it should be fine, but do consider that human error might result in a new media set, and it might be easier management wise to run a full after that so the number of tapes to retrieve from vault is more controllable.

But this is purely for your convenience, it’s not a requirement So your call.

Ok….

But a media set without an initial full is rather useless, isn't it? I am using media sets to have a single set of tapes to send them offsite.

On question to you initial issue with starting a new media set when using a new tape: Are you using a tape library or a single drive?

Hi All,

Sorry misleading, just want to below requirement.

two jobs vm_to_tape and file_share_to_tape backup to one tape for every month full backup, how can setup every month full backup with two backup jobs to one tape?

@JMeixner Doesn’t matter Media Set is purely a _logical construction_. If your goal is to make recovery from your vault as simple as possible, then yes, not having a full would negate this, but in terms of functionality, it will work just fine.

To elaborate, let me repeat how I explain it to Engineers during training:

Think back to when you were a kid; if you were a dork like me, you recorded your saturday morning cartoons on VHS so you could watch them again in the future when boring afternoon shows were on.

Now, you have a bit of an issue with organization here cause you’re a kid and don’t have a lot of money, so you decide to just buy tapes as you need them/can and fill them to the end. This means each tape has multiple Saturdays and really disconnected lists of cartoons. You use your tapes effectively, but it’s very hard to find specific episodes/Saturdays you want to watch again.

Or, you have enough money somehow that you can buy as many tapes as you want, and each Saturday gets its own tape. This is great, because now you can quickly find which Saturday has your favorite cartoons! But, probably a lot of the tapes are not used efficiently and you are spending a lot on tapes.

Ultimately, it comes down to your preference: Convenience for restore (watching cartoons) or using your tapes efficiently.

The restore itself will work _perfectly_ without a full in the media set. But you're going to have to fetch a lot of tapes, which is not always efficient and you might get some surprises as a result when you’re in your most dire need for restore. So it’s purely about how you plan to handle restores from tape, what SLA you agree on, etc. Functionally, Veeam will work the same way.

That being said, I do advise a media set creation schedule that matches your tape rotation schedule for the very reason you mentioned. However, based on available resource, this isn’t always feasible for all people, and that’s fine, Veeam can service them either way :)

@chinchilla 

For File to Tape (FTT), set a monthly Full schedule: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/files_to_tape_pool.html?ver=110

For Backup to Tape (BTT), this requires a little planning. I think GFS is your best bet here and just set up a monthly tape schedule. If you prefer Backup to Tape, consider what you want to be sent to tape: Just fulls? Fulls and Increments? if you can share your details more, it would help to advise.

Keep in mind the two jobs cannot write to the same tape at the same time, so you will need to plan your job schedule accordingly.

Hi All,

Thanks for your advise, sorry and I overlook the file_to_tape job could manual execute with “Active Full” when require full backup.

Just let me quote this. I am trying to wrap my head around it too. How can I force a complete backup chain, including the oldest full backup and the increments, onto a new media set when using a Backup-to-Tape job?

At the moment, when a new media set begins, only incrementals are sent to the new media set. This means I cannot perform a restore from “media set 2” if “media set 1” is destroyed, defective, stolen, etc.

My scenario: I perform VM backup jobs to disk, using a forward-forever incremental strategy with a retention period of 30 days.

What I want to achieve: Have this complete backup chain (full backup + increments for 30 days) on an independent media set. This set should be written to every Sunday, with a rotation scheme of 4 weeks. This way, I will have, at any given time, 4 independent media sets, each holding a full backup and increments for 30 days.

Best,
DD