Configuring Snapshot-Only Jobs

You can use snapshot-only jobs to create a chain of storage snapshots on the primary storage array and, optionally, on the secondary storage array.

Prerequisites

The ability to create snapshot-only jobs depends on the Veeam Backup & Replication license edition. For snapshot-only jobs on the primary storage arrays, you can use any license edition. For snapshot-only jobs on the secondary storage arrays, the license edition depends on the used storage system and replication feature. The following table shows the dependency.

If you use the appropriate license edition and secondary storage arrays with synchronous replication (for example, IBM Spectrum Virtualize with Metro Mirror or other), Veeam Backup & Replication uses the synchronous replication feature by default. On such storage array systems, long-term snapshots are always created simultaneously on the primary and secondary storage arrays, that is, coordinated snapshots are created. Veeam Backup & Replication maintains the same number of long-term snapshots on the primary and secondary arrays. For snapshot-only jobs, this means that you do not need to add the synchronous replication feature to the job and configure it.

Key Job Settings

The key settings for the snapshot-only job are:

• At the Storage step of the wizard, a primary storage system selected as a repository.
• At the Storage step of the wizard, the Retention policy field.
• [Optional] At the Storage step of the wizard, the Configure secondary destinations for this job.

• [Optional] At the Secondary Target step of the wizard, the added replication feature of a secondary storage array and the Number of snapshot copies to retain field.

Configuring Snapshot-Only Jobs

To configure a snapshot-only job:

1. Open the Home view.
2. Click Backup Job > VMware or vCloud on the ribbon. Veeam Backup & Replication will launch the New Backup Job wizard.
3. At the Name step of the wizard, specify a name and description for the backup job.
4. At the Virtual Machines step of the wizard, click Add and select VMs whose disks are hosted on the storage system.
5. At the Storage step of the wizard, select a primary storage array from the Backup repository list.

In the Retention policy field, specify the number of long-term storage snapshots that you want to maintain in the snapshot chain on the primary storage array. When this number is exceeded, Veeam Backup & Replication will trigger the storage system to remove the earliest snapshot from the chain (if it does not contain any restore points that fall under the retention period).

If you want to additionally create long-term storage snapshots on the secondary storage array, select the Configure secondary destinations for this job check box.

6. If you have enabled a secondary destination for the job, at the Secondary Target step of the wizard, add replication or archiving features that Veeam Backup & Replication will use to create long-term snapshots in the secondary destination.

You cannot select the synchronous replication feature explicitly. Veeam Backup & Replication uses secondary storage arrays with synchronous replication by default if detects the configured ones. In this case, the snapshot retention for both primary and secondary storage arrays is configured at the step 5 of this procedure.

To add other replication or archiving features, click Add. In the Number of snapshot copies to retain field, specify the number of long-term storage snapshots that you want to maintain in the snapshot chain on the secondary storage array or offload target. When this number is exceeded, Veeam Backup & Replication will trigger the storage system to remove the earliest snapshot from the chain.

[For NetApp SnapMirror] The Number of snapshot copies to retain option is not applicable to NetApp SnapMirror. On this secondary storage system, Veeam Backup & Replication maintains the same number of storage snapshots as on primary storage systems. MirrorAndVault Relationships will be identified by Veeam Backup & Replication as SnapVault.

[For NetApp 7-mode] If you use SnapMirror relationships between QTrees, you can define different retention policy settings for the primary NetApp storage system and NetApp SnapMirror. For example, you can configure the backup job to maintain 14 snapshots on the primary NetApp storage system and 10 snapshots of QTree directories on NetApp SnapMirror.

[For HPE 3PAR] The Number of snapshot copies to retain option is not applicable to HPE 3PAR Peer Persistence.

7. To create application-consistent long-term storage snapshots, you can enable VMware Tools quiescence or application-aware processing. If you do not enable either of these options, Veeam Backup & Replication will produce a crash-consistent long-term storage snapshot.

To enable VMware Tools quiescence, in the advanced settings of the backup job select the Enable VMware Tools quiescence check box.

Veeam Backup & Replication will create VMware vSphere snapshots for VMs whose disks are hosted on the storage system. After VMware vSphere snapshots are created, Veeam Backup & Replication will trigger a storage snapshot. For more information on advanced settings, see Specify Advanced Backup Settings.

8. You can enable application-aware processing to create a transactionally consistent snapshot. To do so, select the Enable application-aware processing check box at the Guest Processing step of the wizard. Specify necessary settings for application-aware image processing. For more information on settings, see Specify Guest Processing Settings.

If you are going to process logs, set a repository for storing them. To do so, after you have selected the Enable application-aware processing check box, click Applications. Select any VM and click Edit. In the Processing Settings window, select SQL, Oracle or PostgreSQL. Select Backup logs periodically (for Microsoft SQL VMs) or Backup logs every N minutes (for Oracle and PostgreSQL VMs). The Backup repository field will appear. Choose the backup repository from the drop-down list.

For more information on log settings, see Microsoft SQL Server Transaction Log Settings, Oracle Archived Log Settings and WAL PostgreSQL Backup Jobs.

9. During the job session, Veeam Backup & Replication will quiesce applications running inside VMs using application-aware processing. For more information on how application-aware processing works, see Application-Aware Processing.

Job session flow:

• Veeam Backup & Replication quiesces applications running inside VMs using application-aware processing (performs VSS freeze).
• After applications inside the VM are quiesced, Veeam Backup & Replication creates a VMware snapshot. This does not apply to freeze-only VMs.

A VM is freeze-only if it meets these conditions:

• The disks of this VM can be located on one or more storage volumes,
• These storage volumes only contain the disks of this VM. They do not contain the disks of any other VM that are included in the same job.

• Then Veeam Backup & Replication triggers a storage snapshot.

The freeze-only VMs (those VMs for which a VMware snapshot was not created) are processed in successive order after creating storage snapshots for the other VMs.

10. At the Schedule step of the wizard, select the Run the job automatically check box and specify the schedule by which storage snapshots must be created. For more information, see Define Job Schedule.
11. At the Summary step of the wizard, review settings of the added storage system. Select the Run the job when I click Finish check box if you want to start the job right after you finish working with the wizard. Click Finish to save the backup job settings.