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About Backup Copy

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    With backup copy, you can create several instances of the same backup file and copy them to secondary (target) backup repositories for long-term storage. Target backup repositories can be located in the same site as the source backup repository, or can be deployed offsite. The backup copy file has the same format as the primary backup, so you can restore necessary VM data directly from it in case of a disaster.

    Veeam Backup & Replication copies VM data per VM at the block level. That is, it does not copy the whole VBK, VIB or VRB files from the source to target backup repository. Instead, it works with data of separate VMs stored in these files.

    When the backup copying process starts, Veeam Backup & Replication accesses VM backup files on the source backup repository, retrieves data blocks for a specific VM from the backup file, copies them to the target backup repository, and composes copied blocks into a backup file on the target backup repository. The backup copying process does not affect virtual infrastructure resources, does not require creation of additional VM snapshots and does not produce load on VMs whose backups are copied.

    In Veeam Backup & Replication, backup copy is a job-driven process. To copy backups, you need to configure backup copy jobs. A backup copy job is a configuration unit of the backup copy activity. The backup copy job defines when, what, how and where to copy.

    One backup copy job can be used to process one or several VMs. If the backup copy job is created for several VMs, you can define the order in which the job must process VMs.

    By default, backup copy jobs process VMs in the job in parallel, starting from the first VM in the list. If some VM cannot be processed for some reason, for example, in case a new restore point for this VM is not available yet, the job will start processing the next VM in the list. When this VM is processed, the job attempts to copy the unprocessed VM once again.

    On the target backup repository, the backup copy job creates a backup chain in the forever forward incremental backup method. The target backup repository always contains only one active incremental backup chain. Restore points in the chain are rotated according to the retention policy. For more information, see Retention Policy for Backup Copy Jobs.

    About Backup Copy Note:

    Backup copy jobs process VMs in parallel only if you transport VM data over the direct data path. If you use WAN accelerators for backup copy jobs, VMs are processed sequentially. For more information, see Data Transport Path.

    Parallel data processing over the direct data path is enabled by default. If necessary, you can disable parallel data processing with registry keys. For more information, contact the Veeam Support Team.

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