Step 4. Configure Backup Repository Settings

At the Repository step of the wizard, configure general repository settings including path to the repository folder and load control, and also advanced repository settings.

Configuring General Repository Settings

To configure general repository settings:

In the Location section, specify a path to the folder where backup files must be stored. Click Populate to check capacity and available free space in the selected location.

[For HPE StoreOnce with immutability] To prohibit deletion of blocks of data from the backup repository, select the Make recent backups immutable for check box and specify the immutability period. For more information on limitations and recommendation for HPE StoreOnce with immutability, see HPE StoreOnce and Immutability.

Step 4. Configure Backup Repository Settings

[For ExaGrid, Quantum DXi, Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 and Infinidat InfiniGuard] Select the Use fast cloning on XFS volumes check box to enable copy-on-write functionality. In terms of Veeam Backup & Replication, this functionality is known as Fast Clone. For more information, see Fast Clone.

Use the Load control section to limit the number of concurrent tasks and data ingestion rate for the backup repository. These settings will help you control the load on the backup repository and prevent possible timeouts of storage I/O operations.

Select the Limit maximum concurrent tasks check box and specify the maximum allowed number of concurrent tasks for the backup repository. If this value is exceeded, Veeam Backup & Replication will not start a new task until one of current tasks finishes. For more information, see Limiting the Number of Concurrent Tasks.

Note

It is not recommended that you disable the Limit maximum concurrent tasks to N option for backup repositories with per-machine backup chains. In case of per-machine backup chains, synthetic operations (synthetic full backup, backup files merge and transformation) work in parallel for every workload in the backup. The number of parallel operations is limited by the number of concurrent tasks that can be performed on the backup repository. If you disable the Limit maximum concurrent tasks to N option (which results in using an unlimited number of slots), the load on the backup repository may be high.

Select the Limit read and write data rate to check box and specify the maximum rate to restrict the total speed of reading and writing data to the backup repository disk. For more information, see Limiting Combined Data Rate for Backup Repositories.

Note

The Limit read and write data rate to settings does not apply to health checks performed as part of backup and backup copy jobs. Even if you limit read/write rate for a backup repository, the health check will consume resources of the backup repository regardless of this setting. Consider this limitation when configuring basic and health check schedules for backup and backup copy jobs.

Configuring Advanced Repository Settings

To configure advanced repository settings:

Click Advanced.
Use the Align backup file data blocks option to align VM data saved to a backup file at a 4 KB block boundary. The value of the setting depends on the type of backup repository you are adding. For more information, see Preconfigured Advanced Settings.
When you enable compression for a backup job, Veeam Backup & Replication compresses VM data at the source side and then transports it to the target side. Writing compressed data to a deduplicating storage appliance results in poor deduplication ratios as the number of matching blocks decreases. To overcome this situation, select the Decompress backup data blocks before storing check box. If data compression is enabled for a job, Veeam Backup & Replication will compress VM data on the source side, transport it to the target side, decompress VM data on the target side and write raw VM data to the storage device to achieve a higher deduplication ratio.

Note

Veeam Backup & Replication does not compress VM data if encryption is enabled for a job and the Decompress backup data blocks before storing check box is selected in the settings of the target backup repository. Therefore, in the job statistics, you may observe a higher amount of transferred data (the Transferred counter) as compared to a job for which encryption is disabled. For more information on job statistics, see Viewing Real-Time Statistics.

In the properties of the backup created with encryption, you may also see that the backup size (the Backup Size column) is larger than the original VM size (the Original Size column). For more information on backup properties, see Viewing Backup Properties.

Deduplicating storage appliances do not support rotated drives. The This repository is backed by rotated hard drives check box is disabled for all types of deduplicating storage appliances.
To create a separate backup file for every machine in the job, make sure that the Use per-machine backup files check box is selected. If you clear the check box, Veeam Backup & Replication will create single-file backups. For more information on the backup chain formats and their limitations, see Backup Chain Formats.

Note

Changing of the Use per-machine backup files setting after the repository was already created does not take any effect. To change backup chain format, follow the instructions provided in Upgrading Backup Chain Formats.

Step 4. Configure Backup Repository Settings