Backup Job Scripts

You can instruct Veeam Agent for Linux to run custom scripts within the backup job session:

• Pre-job and post-job scripts — Veeam Agent runs these scripts before the backup job starts and after the backup job completes. You can use pre-job and post-job scripts, for example, to configure email notifications about jobs performed by Veeam Agent.
• Pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts (in the Server edition only) — Veeam Agent runs these scripts before and after creating a snapshot. For example, the pre-freeze script may quiesce the file system and application data to bring the Linux OS to a consistent state before Veeam Agent creates a snapshot. After the snapshot is created, the post-thaw script may bring the file system and applications to their initial state.

Consider the following about using backup job scripts:

• Scripts must be created beforehand. You must specify paths to them in the job settings. Veeam Agent supports scripts in the SH file format.
• Scripts must have UNIX line endings (LF).
• Script settings are enabled at the job level. If Veeam Agent operates in the Server edition and you want to configure multiple backup jobs, you can specify individual scripts for each job.
• If you use relative paths in your scripts, during script execution such paths will refer to the root directory. For example, the script may have an output that must be saved to a new file. If you specify a relative path to that file or only a file name, the file will be created in the root directory. To specify a different location for a file, use a full absolute path.

Pre-Job and Post-Job Scripts

You can instruct Veeam Agent for Linux to run custom pre-job and post-job scripts. Veeam Agent executes the pre-job script directly before the backup job starts. After the backup job completes, Veeam Agent executes the post-job script.

Veeam Agent starts the backup job regardless of the pre-job script result. If the pre-job script fails to execute, Veeam Agent will always start the backup job. Then, after the backup job completes, Veeam Agent will execute the post-job script.

The script is considered to be executed successfully if a "0" is returned.

The default time period for script execution is 10 minutes. After this period expires, Veeam Agent stops executing the script and displays a warning message in the job session. You can change the script timeouts in the /etc/veeam/veeam.ini configuration file with the timeoutPrePost parameter where the time period is set in seconds.

Pre-Freeze and Post-Thaw Scripts

You can instruct Veeam Agent for Linux to run custom pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts. Veeam Agent executes the pre-freeze script before creating a snapshot. After the snapshot is created, Veeam Agent executes the post-thaw script.

The script is considered to be executed successfully if a "0" is returned.

By default, if the pre-freeze or post-thaw script fails to execute, Veeam Agent does not start the backup job. However, you can instruct Veeam Agent to ignore errors that occur during the script execution process. To allow Veeam Agent to start backup jobs regardless of the script execution result, in the /etc/veeam/veeam.ini configuration file, uncomment the ignoreFreezeThawFailures parameter and set its value to true.

If Veeam Agent is set up to ignore script errors, and the pre-freeze or post-thaw script fails to execute, Veeam Agent will start the backup job. After the job successfully completes, Veeam Agent will display the Warning status for the job session.

The default time period for script execution is 10 minutes. After this period expires, Veeam Agent stops executing the script. You can change the script timeouts in the /etc/veeam/veeam.ini configuration file with the timeoutFreezeThaw parameter where the time period is set in seconds.