Full Backup Methods
Veeam Backup & Replication provides the following methods for creation of full backup files:
When you perform an active full backup, Veeam Backup & Replication retrieves VM data from the source volume where the VM resides, compresses and deduplicates it and writes it to the VBK file in the backup repository.
When you perform a synthetic full backup, Veeam Backup & Replication does not retrieve VM data from the source volume. Instead, it synthesizes a full backup from data you already have in the backup repository. Veeam Backup & Replication accesses the previous full backup file and a chain of subsequent incremental backup files on the backup repository, consolidates VM data from these files and writes consolidated data into a new full backup file. As a result, the created synthetic full backup file contains the same data you will have if you create an active full backup.
Tip |
You can perform both active and synthetic full backups. For more information on how to do that, see Backup Settings. |