How GFS Backup to Tape Works

When Veeam Backup & Replication executes a GFS job, it performs the following operations:

1. At 00:00 of the day set in the GFS job schedule the GFS job starts and checks periodically if the source job created a backup:

• If the source job creates a full backup, the GFS job copies it.
• If the source job creates an incremental backup, the GFS job synthesizes a virtual full backup.
• If no backup appears in 24 hours, the GFS job looks for the most recent restore point available. If it is a full backup, the GFS job copies it. If it is an increment, the GFS job uses it to synthesize a virtual full backup.

2. The GFS job connects to the Data Movers and copies the data. The source Data Mover retrieves data from the backup repository and the target Data Mover sends data to tape.
3. The target GFS media pool allots tapes according to rules of the corresponding media set.
4. While tape recording is performed, Veeam Backup service updates data in the Backup Catalog and Tape Catalog in Veeam Backup database. The Veeam Backup console displays refreshed information about backups archived to tape and shows job statistics.

Note the following:

• The GFS job copies only new restore points. If the source job did not create a new point after the last GFS job run, the GFS job will not copy anything to tape. For example, if you want weekly backups in the tape GFS archive, make sure that the source job runs at least once a week.
• When you add a source job to a GFS job, the GFS job does not copy existing restore points. The GFS job will copy only the new restore points that were created after the source job was added to the GFS job.
• If the source job creates more than one full backup in 24 hours, the tape job will copy only the first one.
• If the restore point is available but locked, the GFS job will wait for this restore point to become available for up to 7 days.
• If you stop the tape job manually, it will start again at 00:00 of the next scheduled day.
• If there is a technical problem, for example, the tape library is offline, or the backup server is down, the GFS job will not run. When the problem is fixed, the GFS job will archive two most recent missed full backups for each media set.
• If the GFS tape job was disabled manually for some period, it will skip all backups for this period after it is resumed.