The Backup Copy feature allows you to create multiple instances of the same backup file. This file is then copied to a second location (fairly regularly off-site). Since the file on the secondary location has the same format as the primary backup, it is possible to restore from the secondary site directly. This solution is very useful in the event of a disaster at the primary site. The Following types of backup has supported

• VM backup (Veeam Backup and Replication and Veeam Availability for Nutanix AHV)

• Backups of Amazon EC2 instances (Veeam Backup for AWS). Backups of EC2 instances to on-premises repositories

• Backups created with Veeam Agent (linux and Windows)

A copy of the backup data per machine is made at the block level. Thus the totality of the files (VBK, VIB or VRB) of the source backup are not copied to the target. A job is performed with the data of each machine stored in these files.

When the copy job is executed, the backup files are accessed at the source level, the data blocks of the machine concerned are retrieved from the backup file and copied to the target level. The copied blocks are put into a backup file at the target level. No operation is carried out at the production infrastructure level, so no impact is expected on the backuped production servers.

When creating the copy job, it is necessary to configure the schedule, the concerned objects (VM, physical server, …) and the destination. When the job is executed, the servers are processed in parallel. If one of the servers has several disks, they are processed sequentially (disk 1 then disk 2, …). At the target level, a forever forward incremental backup chain is created.

Backup copy

1.Veeam connects to the virtualization servers (vCenter, ESXi) to collect information about the different VMs whose recovery points need to be copied.

2.The backup process launches two Veeam Data Movers (the source and target Veeam Data Mover).

3.Veeam Backup & Replication makes copies of data blocks so you can build a complete backup of a machine from the most recent state. Data blocks can be copied from one or more backup files at the source level. In the case where a backup is created using the inverse incremental backup method, the blocks are copied to the last full backup.

If the backup is created using the incremental forever method, the blocks are copied from the first full backup as well as using the incremental backups. It is of course possible to use data compression and deduplication to reduce the traffic used.

4.The data is transferred by Veeam Backup to the target. All data is copied to a backup file. Two options are available.

• Use per-VM backup files mode not enable. With this Veeam mode, proceeds to the creation of a backup file at the target level. All the data of the different machines present in the job are stored in this file.

• Use per-VM backup files mode enable. Use per-VM backup files. The data for each machine in the job is stored in separate backup files at the target.

5.On subsequent backups, a copy of the changes is transferred to the target. The data is copied to an incremental backup file at the target.

Creating Backup Copy Jobs

From the Veeam console, click on Home tab then on Backup copy. Select the desired platform (Virtual machine for me).

• Virtual machine : For VMware vSphere / ESX backup or Hyper-V Server

• Windows computer backup : For Veeam Agent backup on Windows Machine

• Linux computer backup : For Veeam Agent backup on Linux Machine

• Amazon EC2 backup : For EC2 instance backup on Veeam Backup for AWS

A wizard appear, Enter the desired name and Copy every field.

Click on Add and select object. I choose to add object from backup.

Select the desired backup job and the virtual machine. Click on Add for validate the choice.

Select the backup repositories that you want (my new backup repositories use my NAS for store BAckup Copy file, you can use external server, server on other datacenter, …). Configure Restore point and click on Next.

Click on Advanced then on Storage. Select the compression level and click on OK

On Data Transfer select Direct if you copy data over le local network and not use Wan accelrator.

Configure schefuling and lauch creation of the job. By default, the job is created and started. If you are disable this option lauch manually the job.

My backup is started but he wait new restore point. I started the backup job of my SQL VM for create new restore point.

When the backup job is finished. The Backup copy job started.

The file has been present on my NAS.

The job copy backup wait a new copy interval.

When I try to restore, I can choose between backup job and backup copy job.