Backup to Tape for NAS Backups

Backup to tape for NAS backups is a particular case of using backup to tape jobs to write to tapes backups and backup copies created by file backup jobs. For more information on the file share backup, see NAS Backup.

Using backup to tape for NAS backups has the following benefits:

• It allows avoiding excessive load on the production NAS storage.
• It allows implementing the '3-2-1' backup approach (3 copies, 2 types of media, 1 offsite location) considered as a best practice for data protection and disaster recovery.

Just like with ordinary backup to tape jobs, as a source you can specify either file backup jobs or repositories that store NAS backups and their copies. For more information on sources of backup to tape jobs, see Backup to Tape.

When creating a backup to tape job for additionally securing NAS backups, consider the following:

• Files on tapes are stored in the native format.
• NAS backup to tape does not support GFS.
• The tape job always writes to tapes the latest restore point (the state of file share backup files as of the backup to tape job run).
• When starting a backup to tape job for NAS backups, Veeam Backup & Replication checks if the backup chain stored on tapes is consistent. If it is not consistent, Veeam Backup & Replication creates a new full backup based on the latest backup point of the source NAS backup.
• In contrast to other backup to tape jobs, NAS backup to tape creates a virtual full backup in any case, even if a full backup was already created on the same day. For more information on virtual full backups, see Virtual Full Backup.