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Question

Veeam BR12 and third party Tape Software

M
Userlevel 2

Hi All,

I have been using BR for many years and backup (with ease) 30 servers and 110Tb of files via the network. Servers to disk then tape and the 110TB direct to tape (twin LTO8’s)

The 110Tb system is a VM that I do not backup - too big (and in Veeam format), so I only back up the files 50Tb and 60Tb drives as two jobs. Its monthly weekend work so no big hassle (with daily increments). Working well.

(I back the files not the VM as it would need another 110Tb to restore to - which I dont have and if I wanted a file or folder I would have to restore the whole VM etc + time   110Tb on Dual LTO 8 still is 35 hrs). Add to that I dont have 100Tb Veeam Repo size either ….

With the licence changes (based on 500Gb per licence ..this is now becomes cost ineffective ...approx. addition 190 or so instance licences required on top of the 40 I have). Just cant afford it.

So my question is:

  1. Can I remove the tape solution from Veeam BR12 and use third party software to do the tape work. This will mean backing up the Veeam repo (daily) as well as the tape daily direct to tape increm and monthly fulls of the 110Tb?
  1. Will there be any issues (say with VSS)? 
  2. If we have got this far and its a yes…...can anyone recommend a tape solution (software) that just does tape work?

Its not what I want to do just we just cant afford it.

Thanks in advance.

MikeAus

 

3 comments

regnor
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

First of all some general advices. If you contact Veeam support, you will be provided a 12 months license for File2Tape. This way you can upgrade to V12 and still use the File2Tape jobs. Then contact your reseller or account manager and tell them your situation. Because of the capacity you were already using, they might be able to give you a better deal. And if not, at least give them feedback they can forward to Veeam’s licensing team.

To your questions:

  1. If you remove the tape server role from your server or stop the tape access service, then a 3rd party software can control your tape hardware. If you already have Veeam backups on tape, then maybe disabling the service will be your better choice. In that case you’ll still be able to restore.
  2. As long as the size of the volumes you want to backup via VSS is below 64TB you shouldn’t have any issues. You just need to make sure that your Veeam jobs have finished before your tape job starts.
  3. Unfortunately no. And probably you’ll also somehow have to license the tape backup with other vendors.
Max M. | Systems Engineer @Veeam | VMCE/VMCA | former Legend & Vanguard
Chris.Childerhose
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

To add to what Max said which is great information to be able to do tape only you would need to look at something like Veritas Backup Exec that can do tape for you. It will require another purchase but if you are able to do that it might be a possible solution.

I would contact Veeam to see what kind of deal they can give you as mentioned and using the File2Tape option for v12 in the meantime.

Hope everything works out.

Chris Childerhose - VMCA2022 | VMCE2023 | Veeam Vanguard 7* | Veeam Legend 3* | vExpert 5* | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
M
Userlevel 2

I would like to thank you so much for this advice.

Max - thanks. Exactly what I needed and appreciate the finer details on the disk sizes. I will certainly talk to my partner tomorrow.

Chris -  thanks as well. Its funny I went from Backup Exec years ago to Veeam, back then it was great but “hey we virtualised” and Veeam was so much better. 

April - thanks for taking a peek

I will circle back on what I have discovered.

Best 

Mike

 

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