Active Full Backup Copies

You can manually create an ad-hoc full backup for the backup copy job — active full backup copy, and add it to the backup chain on the target backup repository. To do this, you can use the Active Full button on the ribbon or the Active Full command from the shortcut menu.

Active full backup copy can be helpful if you want to change backup copy job settings, for example, define a new encryption password. Veeam Backup & Replication will apply new settings starting from this full backup.

Veeam Backup & Replication treats archive full backups created with the active full backup method as regular backups and applies regular retention policy rules to maintain the necessary number of restore points.

Retention Policy for Active Full Backups

If you create active full backups for backup copy jobs, Veeam Backup & Replication handles restore points in the previous backup chain in the following way:

1. During the copy interval when an active full backup is created, Veeam Backup & Replication does not merge restore points in the previous backup chain.
2. During the next copy interval, Veeam Backup & Replication merges 2 restore points in the previous backup chain at a time.
3. At subsequent copy intervals, Veeam Backup & Replication merges 1 point in the previous backup chain at a time.

If you additionally use the GFS retention scheme for the backup copy job, Veeam Backup & Replication merges restore points in the previous backup chain up to the restore point that must be marked as an archive backup. The archive restore point is  then set aside by standard backup copy rules.

Related Topics

Creating Active Full Backups