Backup Copy Modes

Veeam Backup & Replication offers two backup copy modes:

Immediate copy

In the immediate copy mode, Veeam Backup & Replication copies restore points as soon as they appear in a source backup repository. Veeam Backup & Replication copies only restore points created by source backup jobs (backup jobs that you select when configuring a backup copy job). Veeam Backup & Replication can also copy transaction log backups if you enable this capability in job settings.

The immediate copy mode is supported for the following backup types:

Backups of VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V VMs created with Veeam Backup & Replication
Backups created with Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, Veeam Agent for Linux or Veeam Agent for Mac operating in the managed mode
Backups created with Veeam Plug-ins for Enterprise Applications (Oracle RMAN, SAP HANA, SAP on Oracle)

Periodic copy

In the periodic copy mode, Veeam Backup & Replication copies the latest source restore point according to schedule specified in backup copy job settings. Veeam Backup & Replication copies only restore points created by source backup jobs (backup jobs that you select when configuring a backup copy job).

The periodic copy mode is supported for the following backup types:

Backups of VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V VMs created with Veeam Backup & Replication
Backups created with Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, Veeam Agent for Linux or Veeam Agent for Mac operating in the standalone or managed mode

For the managed mode, backups created by both backup jobs managed by the backup server and jobs managed by Veeam Agent are supported.

Backups created with Veeam Agent for Oracle Solaris

Backups created with Veeam Backup for Nutanix AHV
Backups created with Veeam Backup for AWS
Backups created with Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure
Backups created with Google Cloud Platform
Backups exported with K10 policies

Note

Periodic backup copy jobs created in Veeam Backup & Replication 11 or earlier became legacy periodic backup copy jobs in Veeam Backup & Replication 12. Legacy periodic backup copy jobs are fully operational, but you can only edit them and cannot create new ones. You can upgrade backup files of a legacy periodic backup copy job to the per-machine backup files using mapping. For more information, see Upgrading Backup Chain Formats.

Changing Backup Copy Modes

Veeam Backup & Replication allows you to change the selected backup copy mode by editing backup copy job settings.

Important

The periodic copy mode does not support processing of transaction log backups. Processing of transaction log backups must be turned off before changing the immediate copy mode to the periodic copy mode.

If you want to change the selected backup copy mode for a backup copy job created in earlier versions of Veeam Backup & Replication, it must have the per-machine backup with separate metadata files format. If a backup copy job has the per-machine backup with single metadata file format, you must upgrade its backup chain format to per-machine with separate metadata files or detach backups to start a new backup chain. For more information, see Upgrading Backup Chain Formats.