Starting Backup Job in Command Line Interface

You can start a backup job with the command line interface. When you start a backup job, Veeam Agent initiates a new backup job session and provides you with a Session ID. You can monitor the progress of the backup job session or view the session status.To start a backup job, use the following command:

veeamconfig job start --name <job_name>

veeamconfig job start --id <job_id>

where:

<job_name> — name of the backup job that you want to start.
<job_id> — ID of the backup job that you want to start.

TIP

You can use the veeamconfig job start command with the --activefull option to create active full backups. To learn more, see Creating Active Full Backups in Command Line Interface.

For example:

$ veeamconfig job start --name SystemBackup
Backup job has been started.
Session ID: [{381532f7-426a-4e89-b9fc-43d98942c71a}].
Logs stored in: [/var/log/veeam/Backup/SystemBackup/Session_20250307_162608_{381532f7-426a-4e89-b9fc-43d98942c71a}].

Veeam Agent will start the backup job. You can check the backup job session status or view the backup job session log using the Veeam Agent command line interface.

If you start the backup job while another backup job is running, Veeam Agent will perform the backup job immediately after the current job is completed. For details, see Job Queue.

Job Queue

If another backup job is running when you start the backup job, Veeam Agent will submit this backup job to job queue. Veeam Agent will perform the job in the queue as soon as the previous job is completed.

$ veeamconfig job start --name DailyBackup
The backup job has been added to the queue.
Session ID: [{10e8c599-b2aa-4008-89d9-af9b6e04aeba}].
Logs stored in: [/var/log/veeam/Backup/DailyBackup/Session_20250314_153342_{10e8c599-b2aa-4008-89d9-af9b6e04aeba}].

The queued backup job creates a new session with the Pending status. You can view all jobs in the queue by running the veeamconfig session list command.

$ veeamconfig session list
Job name Type ID State Started at Finished at
SystemBackup Backup {37427202-b139-4b36-9982-e0c33894d0cc} Running 2025-03-14 15:33

DailyBackup Backup {10e8c599-b2aa-4008-89d9-af9b6e04aeba} Pending

Note

Consider the following about job queue:

Job queue can contain up to 3 backup jobs besides the job that is already running.
You cannot submit the same backup job to the queue if it is already running.