VMware snapshots instead of production data.

Hi @CoreyRM  . Can you be more specific what you're wanting to do? 

My apologies what I’m asking, is there a way to backup VMware snapshots rather than actual production data?

Hi @CoreyRM do you mean you want Veeam to take a backup of a manual snapshot?

No... Veeam doesn't backup snapshots. Veeam can take a backup of Storage Snapshots though, & can even be used to orchestrate the Storage Snaps too. Doing so significantly reduces the load on your VM production environment. 

I think if I have not been out of the game too long :) that that is what Veeam does. You can see VEEAM TEMPORARY SNAPSHOT in your list of snapshots, which should go away but there are times when due to communication issues with vsphere they get stuck.

At least I remember people bugging me saying. “what are these, can I get rid of them”.. check if no backup in running first :). 

That’s right @Geoff Burke Veeam will take a backup of the snapshot it created. I’ve never seen  it take a backup of a user created one. 

See points 7 & 8 here (I looked it up for my review as well) 😊

Veeam backs up the read-only (i.e. parent/source) VM disk. 

Had someone ask me that yesterday.  Had a string of about 6 snapshots on a VM asking me if it was okay to commit them.

Wait...you’re saying that if there is a delta disk and then Veeam creates a snap for the backup, it only reads the base disk and doesn’t look for changed blocks in the delta?  Easy enough to test, but I assumed it reads the delta’s as well.

Shane is right on this one for sure.  👍🏼

@dloseke  Veeam doesn’t back up any snaps. If you have 6 snaps on a VM (user-created, for ex.), they don’t get backed up...just the point-in-time of the parent disk before the 1st snap was taken.

Yikes….good to know.

Thanks @coolsport00 I definitely learnt something new today! I’ve always thought it was the snapshot that got backed up rather than the VM but  that makes total sense. 

No worries @dips ...it was a good reminder for myself as well 😊

Is the behaviour for taking backups from Storage Snapshots the same @coolsport00 

@dips - no sir. The screenshot below is what Veeam says in their documentation:
 

You can read more here.

ah good call @coolsport00 ! Correct it does state that clearly here “The source Veeam Data Mover reads the VM data from the read-only VM disk and transfers the data to the backup repository in one of transport modes.”

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/backup_hiw.html?ver=120

@Geoff Burke no worries...good reminder for myself as well 😊

So yeah, those snapshots are there to store the changing data in a delta. If you delete them you lose the data that changed since the start of the backup. I guess when they get orphaned they manage to consolidate or something hence no issues deleting them? I mean otherwise if no one checked that thing could grow to be a monster and then you might not be able to consolidate. 

The Snapshot Hunter feature Veeam created several years ago was much needed. Mostly takes care of orphaned snaps. You are correct though...if, for whatever reason, Veeam can't /doesn't successfully remove the snap after a backup, it can grow. It's highly advised to never manually delete them or yes...you will lose data. Veeam does continue trying to consolidate using the Hunter. If it still can't remove it, all that's needed is to create a snap manually, let it go for like a minute, then consolidate them all. 

Thank you @coolsport00 Massively helpful :) 

Sure thing @dips 😊

I just consolidated a 140TB Snapshot :)