Category: Veeam

Start Veeam SOBR job

How to start Veeam SOBR job? Note: this is for Veeam version 9.5 update 4 / 4a. If you are using a scale out repository with Veeam and have setup that repository with object cloud storage, then you may notice a SOBR tiering job. This job will periodically run every four hours.

Veeam SOBR Tiering job running

I found out that there is a Powershell command built in that will allow you to start Veeam SOBR job. It is clearly listed on Veeam’s help site.

Finally, here is the Powershell command(s) that I used to initiate a SOBR Tiering job. 

Add-PSSnapin VeeamPSSnapin
$repository = Get-VBRBackupRepository -ScaleOut
Start-VBRCapacityTierSync -Repository $repository
powershell initiate SOBR tiering job

After the job runs the output looks like this:

powershell SOBR tiering job result.

Some quick notes.

  • The job will only push incremental and full backups to your capacity tier once the files are not primary in the scale out repository. These would be the ‘father’ or ‘grandfather’ tier backup files.
  • You set how long the backup files stay in the local scale out repositories in the settings for the scale out repository.
  • Even if you set the local retention for one day, the SOBR Tiering job will not necessarily offload. Veeam waits until the old backups have a separate full backup.
  • Selecting “Active Full” does not count towards the father, grandfather retention. Veeam must initiate the full backup itself based on the backup or backup copy job settings.
  • This post is intended for Veeam version 9.5 update 4 / 4a. Veeam could change the caveats and features in future releases.

Check out my previous post on Veeam here.

Find out more about Veeam and capacity tier information here.

Veeam Capacity Tier Unsupported legacy data block format

While working with Veeam version 9.5 update 4, I wanted to setup a scaling repository to Amazon AWS. The backups would be stored locally first then scale out to the cloud once they got too old. I had existing backups and wanted to test my new configuration. Following this guide from Veeam here, I initiated the transfer to AWS but got this error: Capacity Tier Unsupported legacy data block format.

I found out these backups I wanted to move to the capacity tier were created with Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5 version 9.5.0.823, note they were previous backups on an older version. The job was reverse incremental and set for optimal compression. In order to use the capacity tier with Amazon AWS you have to update to Veeam version 9.5 update 4.

After Updates

I updated to 9.5 update 4 AND changed the compression level to extreme. It was then when I followed the Veeam help center guide above that I got the error: Capacity Tier Unsupported legacy data block format. This was only when the full backup was getting moved to AWS. The incremental backups moved to AWS fine.

After a support case I created a new full backup set with extreme compression using the new Veeam 9.5 update 4 version. Then, following that guide above the full backup file moved to AWS fine. No issues.

The moral of the story is to keep your backup chain the same format as much as possible. Full backups and incremental backups with the same compression and Veeam version. If you do that you should not run into any mismatch legacy block data issues.

Thank you, you can check out my last Veeam blog post here.

Veeam Backup Service wont Start

Have you ever installed a new Veeam Backup server but then Veeam won’t start? 

I ran into this issue recently can got the error ‘The Veeam Backup Service service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs.’ However, this does not make sense because the main Veeam backup service needs to run. The first thing I thought to check was the event logs.  I found this:

veeam event viewer error

Veeam wont start and it seemed to be a database issue. However this was a brand new Veeam server and was using a fresh SQL instance. I re-traced the steps I took to configure the server and the last thing I did was add the server to the domain and rebooted. 

After some web searches I found and option to check the registry. Apparently sometimes Veeam doesn’t update if you install Veeam before you add the server to the domain. 

regedit search

First go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Veeam > Veeam Backup and Replication and verify that SqlServerName is correct and not some random windows generated name.

regedit sql server name

Second go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Veeam > Veeam Backup Catalog and verify the CatalogSharedFolderPath is correct. 

regedit veeam catalogsharedfolderpath

After that the service should start up like normal. Now the event log about the database issue makes sense because of the registry setting for the SQL server name. I hope this saved you some trouble in case Veeam wont start. 

Check out my Veeam Engineer Study guide here.

VMCE v9.5 Study Guide

The Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE) V9.5 Study Guide.

Below is an incomplete list of study material I used for my VMCE Study Guide. This guide may not be up to date on the latest version of Veeam. (Updated 1/17/2019)

After going through the test and passing I wanted to share my experience for others out there to gauge what their experience will be. The test covered 11 sections:

  • Overview of Veeam Products
  • Deployment
  • Initial Configuration
  • Protect
  • Verification
  • Entire VM Recovery
  • Objects Recovery
  • Advanced Data Protection
  • Veeam ONE Features and Functionality
  • Product Editions
  • Troubleshooting
VMCE Study Guide Overview:

First off, the test was 50 questions and you needed a 70% minimum to pass.  I got 70 minutes to take the exam.  Overall, I am not a good test taker.  I needed the 70 minutes to look over my answers again and think through some questions that I flagged.

Before the test I used various resources to study and prep. Aside from the book that Veeam provides for the course, this guide here got me started with practice tests.  Similarly, I found the test from rhyshammond.com the most helpful because it gave the answers to questions and even had some references on answers you got wrong with links to documentation. Very well done!

I work with Veeam every day since my work uses / offers Veeam as a cloud services provider. Even with my daily exposure to Veeam I needed to study to learn about the offerings I don’t use on a daily basis. Example: Hyper-V vs. VMware configurations, different backup methods, vendor storage directly compatible with Veeam, vendor monitoring that integrates with Veeam and so on.

Finally, I would say don’t underestimate the exam. Study well and give yourself time to learn the parts of Veeam that you don’t work with all the time.  I hope the rest of my referenced material helps push you towards your certification!

(Updated 1/17/2019) List of supported storage compatible with Veeam Backup, reference:

  • Cisco HyperFlex
  • EMC (Dell)
    • Dell EMC VNX
    • Dell EMC VNX2
    • EMC VNXe
    • Unity
  • Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    • HPE 3PAR StoreServ
    • HPE StoreVirtual
    • StoreVirtual VSA
    • Nimble Storage
  • Huawei OceanStor
  • INFINIDAT InfiniBox
  • Lenovo
    • V-Series
    • DM-Series
  • NetApp
    • FAS
    • AFF Series
  • IBM
    • Spectrum Virtualize
    • Storwize Family
    • SAN volume controller
  • Pure Storage FlashArray
Things to know:

First of all, see my list of Veeam extensions here:

Second, in order to use the predefined tests (Heartbeat, Ping, Application) for a VM you must have VMware tools or Hyper-V integration services installed on the VM.  Likewise, you may also run custom scripts.

(Updated link 1/17/2019) Veeam explorers datasheet here:

Additionally, if you plan on using ‘extreme compression’ Veeam recommends using a proxy that has at least 6 modern CPU cores.

Another item is new compression settings are applied at the next run of a job. New deduplication settings are applied after a new active full backup is created.

Note that WAN accelerators must be installed on 64 bit Windows machines with a recommended minimum 8GB of RAM.

SureBackup recovery verification configurations: Basic (one network) and Advanced (two or more networks) single host virtual lab. This can work on VMware or Hyper-V.

Also, SureReplica recovery verification configurations: Single host basic (one network) and advanced (two or more networks) virtual lab. Also advanced (one or more networks, must reside in one datacenter) multi-host virtual lab. (SureReplica is only available with VMware)

Finally, Veeam supports these de-duplicating storage appliances: EMC Data Domain, ExaGrid, HPE StoreOnce.  (This is old information as of 2017, keep in mind Veeam supports many storage appliances now, 2019, and that Veeam has a ‘Dedupe-friendly’ option now for storage appliances with dedupe, reference here).

Memorize these:

The five benefits of Veeam are:

  • High-Speed Recovery
  • Data Loss Avoidance
  • Verified Recoverability
  • Leveraged Data
  • Complete Visibility

Additionally, the Veeam Support Response times (yes, this may be on the test).

Severity Production Support Basic Support
1 1 hour 2 hours
2 3 hours 8 business hours
3 6 hours 12 business hours
4 8 hours 24 business hours

 

List of Veeam file extensions

First off, below is a list of Veeam file extensions with an explanation for each. Overall, I used this list for studying for the VMCE exam. (Updated 1/17/2019)

  • VBK – this is a full backup file
  • VIB – incremental backup file
  • VRB – reverse incremental backup file
    • (Quick note, I think VBR is a miss-print you may see on the web)
  • VBM – replica metadata file
  • BCO – configuration backup file
  • DEM – private and public encryption key – Enterprise manager
  • VSB – virtual synthetic backup (these are pointers to backup data blocks)
  • VLB – A generic Veeam database log
  • VSM – Microsoft SQL Server transaction log backup
  • VOM – database log file (Oracle)
  • DIT – active directory database file
  • MDF – Microsoft SharePoint content database file
  • EDB – Similarly, this is a Microsoft Exchange mailbox database
  • ERM – Scale out backup repository
  • RCT and MRT – used to complement CBT data with Microsoft Hyper-V 2016 RCT (Resilient Changed Tracking)
  • CTP – info on data blocks that have changed for Hyper-V replication from a Veeam proprietary driver.

Overall, I found this information in my VMCE-95 textbook, and in Veeam’s online documentation. Additionally, a direct reference here.

Finally, this extension list is part of my Veeam Study Guide.