Importing Backup Files

If the Veeam Backup & Replication server has failed and you have restored it in a new location, you can copy the backup files to a new repository and re-map the Veeam Plug-in backup files.

Limitations and Prerequisites

Consider the following limitations:

• If backup files are not imported according to instructions given in this section, Veeam Plug-in backup and restore operations may fail.
• The repository from which you plan to import backups must be added to the Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure. Otherwise you will not be able to access backup files.

• [For imports to the scale-out backup repository] Before importing your backup, consider that the names of all backup files (.VAB, .VASM, .VACM) and paths to these files contain only the following allowed characters:

• a-zA-Z0-9 
• _-.+=@^

If your backup was initially created on a standalone backup server, the default name of the backup metadata file (.VACM) contains forbidden characters. Before importing, you must delete forbidden characters from the file name or replace them with the allowed characters.

Importing Veeam Plug-in Backup Files

To import Veeam Plug-in backup files, do the following:

1. Move the folder with the backup file to the required backup repository or create a new backup repository with this folder as a subfolder.

2. In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, open the Backup Infrastructure view.
3. In the inventory pane of the Backup Infrastructure view, select the Backup Repositories node.
4. In the working area, select the required backup repository and click Rescan on the ribbon. Alternatively, you can right-click the backup repository and select Rescan.

During the rescan operation, Veeam Backup & Replication gathers information about backups that are currently available in the backup repository and updates the list of backups in the configuration database. After the rescan operation, backups that were not in this configuration database will be shown on the Home view in the Backups > Disk (Imported) node.

5. On the Microsoft SQL Server machine, set the new backup repository as a target in the Veeam Plug-in settings and map Veeam Plug-in to backups in the repository. For more information, see Configuring Veeam Plug-in for Microsoft SQL Server.

Repairing Backup

As a result of malware activity or unplanned actions, backup job metadata files (.VACM) may become unavailable in the repository. In such cases, to import from the repository, Veeam Backup & Replication can regenerate the .VACM file based on information from the backup job storage metadata file (.VASM). The recovery process depends on whether the backup is still visible in the Veeam Backup & Replication console. Use the following procedure to restore backup availability in the Veeam Backup & Replication console.

Before you start the repair operation, you must disable the backup job that created the backup. Otherwise, Veeam Backup & Replication will display a message notifying that the job must be disabled.

To repair a backup:

1. In the Veeam Backup & Replication console, open the Home view.
2. In the inventory pane, select Backups.
3. In the working area, select the necessary backup.
4. Press and hold the [Ctrl] key, right-click the backup and select Repair.