Using Veeam Backup Validator

Veeam Backup Validator is located on the backup server in the installation folder of Veeam Backup & Replication — by default, %ProgramFiles%\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe. If the default path was changed, you can find the actual path in the following registry value: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication] CorePath.

To run the utility, open the command prompt or the PowerShell console on the backup server and change the current folder to the folder where Veeam Backup Validator is located.

Important

Consider the following:

To run Veeam Backup Validator, you must use an account with administrative rights on the local machine. Also, you must disable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for this account. For more information, see Disabling MFA for Service Accounts.
You cannot use Veeam Backup Validator to verify integrity of unstructured data backups.
You cannot use Veeam Backup Validator to verify integrity of backups created in Veeam Cloud Connect repositories. For more information on Veeam Cloud Connect repositories, see the Cloud Repository section in the Veeam Cloud Connect Guide.
The cloud provider can verify integrity of tenant backups only by using the /file parameter and only if the backup is not encrypted. They cannot verify encrypted backups and they cannot verify backups by using other parameters.
[For backups stored in scale-out backup repositories] Veeam Backup Validator can validate only backups stored in the performance tier which consists of backup repositories (except object storage repositories). Make sure that incremental and full backup files are located on the same extent.

Syntax

Veeam Backup Validator provides parameter sets that allow you to:

Display Veeam Backup Validator help information.

Veeam.Backup.Validator /?

Validate integrity of the content of all VMs or selected VMs in the specified backup.

Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe /backup:backupname|backupid [/vmname:vmname] [/point:pointid] [/date:pointdate] [/time:pointtime] [/silence] [/skip] [/report:reportpath [/format:xml|html]]

Validate integrity of the VM content in the specified backup file.

Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe /file:backupfile{1..*} [/username:username /password:password] [/vmname:vmname]

[/silence] [/skip] [/report:reportpath [/format:xml|html]]

Parameters

Parameter

Description

Required/Optional

Parameter Type

Notes

/backup:
backupname|
backupID

Specifies a name or an ID* of a backup or backup copy job that you want to validate.

Required

String

Consider the following:

Per-machine backup with separate metadata files is a default format of backup files. To validate these backup files, you must specify the child backup name — backup of a specific VM. To get the child backup name, use the following PowerShell commands:

$backup = Get-VBRBackup -Name "<backup_name>"

$child_backups = $backup.FindChildBackups()

$child_backups | Select-Object Name

Each child backup name has the following format: <backup_name> - <vm_name>. For details, see Example 2.

For a backup copy job in the immediate mode, you must specify the name of its child job — task that copies backup job added as a source to the backup copy job. For example, if the My Copy backup copy job copies Daily Backup backup job, then you must set the parameter value to My Copy\Daily Backup.

If you want to validate the whole backup copy job, you must run the utility for each child job.

/file:backupfile{1..*}

Specifies a backup file (VBM, VBK, VIB, VRB) to be validated.

Required

String

Consider the following:

To validate an incremental backup file, you must specify the whole backup chain starting from the VBK file up to the required incremental file. Each backup file must be specified using a separate /file parameter.
If the file is located on a network share, make sure you specify a full path, for example: \\172.16.16.198\TestShare\Empty VM encryptedD2017-09-22T172639.vbk.
Mapped network drives are not supported. For example, you cannot specify z: \\172.16.16.198\TestShare.

/username:
username /password:
password

To access files on network shares.
Specifies account credentials that the utility uses to access network shares.

Required for network share

String

If you want to validate files located on different shares, make sure this account has access rights to all these shares.

/vmname:vmname

Specifies a name of the VM in the backup file to be validated.

Optional

String

—

/point:pointID

Specifies an ID* of the restore point to be validated.

Note: You must provide this parameter after the /backup parameter.

To get the restore point ID, run the Get-VBRRestorePoint cmdlet and retrieve the PointID property.

Optional

String

If not specified, Veeam Backup Validator will verify the latest restore point, that is, all backup files the restore point consists of.

/date:pointdate

Specifies the date when the validated restore point was created.

Optional

Date

Make sure to specify the date in the same format as used on the Veeam Backup server. For example:

For the mm/dd/yyyy format, specify 08.30.2012.
For the dd/mm/yyyy format, specify 30.08.2012.

/time:pointtime

Specifies the approximate time when the validated restore point was created.

Optional

Time

—

/silence

Defines whether to run validation in the silence mode.

Optional

Boolean

—

/skip

Defines whether to skip from processing VMs listed in the vmname parameter.

Optional

Boolean

In the vmname parameter, list all VMs that you want to skip.

/report:
reportpath [/format:xml|
html]

Specifies a full path of a file where you want to store a report on validation results. The utility will generate a report on validation results and store it at the specified path.

Optional

String

Consider the following:

You must specify the full file path, for example, "C:\temp\validator-report.html".
Supported report formats are HTML and XML.

* You can get IDs of backup jobs and restore points from the Veeam Backup & Replication database using scripts or Management Studio.

Examples

Example 1. Validating Specific VM in Incremental Backup File

This example shows how to validate the winsrv29 VM in the incremental backup file and write the result in the report.html file.

Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe /file:"C:\Backup\Backup Job Single Storage\Backup Job Single StorageD2022-10-03T132735_1E50.vbk" /file:"C:\Backup\Backup Job Single Storage\Backup Job Single StorageD2022-10-28T122338_3EE4.vib" /vmname:winsrv29 /report:"C:\report.html"

Example 2. Validating Specific VM Backup

This example shows how to validate the srv506 VM in the Exchange Backup Job backup file. The script finds the child backup of the VM and passes its name to Veeam Backup Validator.

$vm_name = "srv506"

$backup = Get-VBRBackup -Name "Exchange Backup Job"

$child_backups = $backup.FindChildBackups()

foreach ($child_backup in $child_backups) {

if ($child_backup.Name -like "* - $vm_name") {

.\Veeam.Backup.Validator /backup:"$($child_backup.Name)" /vmname:$vm_name

}

Example 3. Validating VM Backup Created After Specific Time and Date

This example shows how to validate the srv506 VM in the Exchange Backup Job backup file created after June 2, 2024, 9:00 PM.

$vm_name = "srv506"

$backup = Get-VBRBackup -Name "Exchange Backup Job"

$child_backups = $backup.FindChildBackups()

foreach ($child_backup in $child_backups) {

if ($child_backup.Name -like "* - $vm_name") {

.\Veeam.Backup.Validator /backup:"$($child_backup.Name)" /date:02.06.2024 /time:21:00 /vmname:$vm_name

}