Mapping an existing Veeam Agent backup chain to a Veeam Backup & Replication repository

Challenge

You need to map an existing Veeam Agent backup chain to a Veeam Backup & Replication repository.

Cause

There are no features in Veeam Agent that would allow mapping existing backups to Veeam Backup & Replication, however it is possible to copy a local backup chain to a Veeam Backup & Replication repository and continue using it.

Solution

Here is the list of steps for mapping a local backup chain to a Veeam Backup & Replication repository.

1. Create a backup with Veeam Agent at any temporary backup destination of your choice.

If a Veeam Backup & Replication repository was used,

• remove the existing Veeam Agent backup job from jobs (right click > Delete)
• remove the backup files from configuration: right click Disk (backups) > Endpoint Backups > Remove from configuration. 

2. Place the backup chain into the required folder.

2.1 Example for a non-cloud repository

Backup files reside in C:\VeeamBackup\Backup Job 1 and need to be moved to a Veeam Backup & Replication repository into the following folder: C:\Backup.

Under C:\Backup you will need to create a folder named after the account that is used to access the repository. In this example, the account is DOMAIN1\user1, so the folder name would be DOMAIN1_user1.

The complete path to the backup files would be C:\Backup\DOMAIN1_user1\Backup Job 1

2.2 Example for a cloud repository

The backup files reside in C:\VeeamBackup\Backup Job 1 and need to be moved to a cloud Veeam repository into following folder: C:\Backup.

Under C:\Backup you will need to create a folder named after the tenant account that is used to access the repository. If the account name is Tenant2, the complete path to the backup files would be C:\Backup\Tenant2\Backup Job 1

If a subtenant is used with the account name Subtenant3, the path will be C:\Backup\Tenant2\users\Subtenant3\Backup Job 1

3. Rescan the Veeam Backup & Replication repository. Here is a brief guide on repository rescan. 
Note: For backups that you are mapping to cloud, rescan the repository hosting the tenant backups on the provider side.

4. The Veeam Agent backup should appear under Disk > Imported.
Note: When a backup chain is mapped to cloud, it will not be displayed under Disk > Imported.

5. Point the Veeam Agent job to the required Veeam Backup & Replication repository. Do not run it immediately, just close the wizard after making the changes.

6. On the Veeam Backup & Replication machine, the backup should be moved from the Imported section to Backup > Disk. Make sure that backups are located in Backups > Disks (not Disk (imported)).

7. Run the Veeam Agent backup job. It should continue the imported backup chain.

Note: The described solution works for Veeam Backup & Replication repository and Veeam Cloud Connect repository.

More Information

NOTES: 1. If local backup encryption was enabled during the initial job configuration, additional steps may be needed to complete the mapping.

For non-cloud repositories
Importing a backup chain to a Veeam Backup and Replication server puts the imported chain in the Disk (encrypted) tab. Before the backup chain can be continued, you will need to right click on the encrypted backup chain and enter the password.

For cloud repositories
In some cases it may be necessary to enter the password in order to continue the backup chain. If entering the password is required, you will be prompted to do so when the job starts.

2. If Backup & Replication repository’s encryption is enabled at the repository, you should decrypt it using password specification (Right click > Specify password) to finish the import procedure.

3. Migration to local VBR SOBR is described in kb2236 (the outlined method is completely relevant for Veeam Agent backups).
Put everything in the nutshell, here are the steps:

1. Map the backup to a simple VBR repository.
2. Run said backup.
3. Add the simple repository to the SOBR repository (make sure VBR processed the existing backup to SOBR extent – as an indication, you will be prompted for it with a special message first and by the end of the process SOBR’s extents will have job’s VBM).
4. Put a new SOBR extent into maintenance mode and evacuate all the backups from it. This procedure will place the existing temporary repository’s backup to other active extents.
5. Change the backup job configuration on the VAW side to the SOBR repository and then check the backup from there.

4. Migration to a Cloud Connect SOBR has its own specific moments. The guide below contains all required steps required for a proper migration:
 
1) Get the successful backup to a simple VCC repository. It depends on the use case but the thing is that it is not possible to map VAW backup to VCC SOBR directly, first VAW backup should be mapped to a simple repository. Once it is done, feel free to proceed with SOBR migration;
2) Copy VBM and VBK, VIB files to SOBR extents and replace 'space' symbols with 'underscore' (_), e.g. 'Backup Job hostname' to 'Backup_Job_hostname' in the name of the job and the VBM-file.
The backup points itself (VBK, VIB) should be moved to the only extent, whereas VBM should be placed to all the SOBR's extents.
3) Then rename the old local repository VBM to VBM_old and rescan the simple VCC repository. This will clean VCC database of the old job's info.
4) Delete the existing tenant's quota and add a new SOBR's one. It's possible to achieve via tenant's properties by replacing the simple VCC repository with the SOBR one in 'Cloud repositories' section.
5) Rescan the SOBR repository.
6) Reconfigure the Veeam Agent job to a VCC SOBR repository
 
5. If Veeam Agent is managed by VAC, then, there are no limitations for VCC seeding and all the steps above are completely relevant. The guide below contains more details regarding specific VAC-related steps:

1.    Create a VAC policy pointed to a local repository;
2.    Apply the policy to the desired machine. You can find how to apply a policy here;
3.    Let the Policy Job run to its desired location. In our example, that is “E:\Local Repository\” and under this folder will be a new folder named with the job name which is defined in step 1 like “E:\Local Repository\Policy”
4.    Edit the VAC policy by changing the repository from the local target to the cloud repo. Once the policy was applied, create the job folder on the cloud repository for the Agent machine. 

The folder path will be <Default Repository Path>\<Tenant account>\Users\<Tenant Account>_<Hostname>\<Job name>. 

For example, in our test we are going to the default repository with the path of C:\Backup, using a tenant account named “test”, and the machine name is AgentHostname, so the final path will be: C:\Backup\test\Users\test_AgentHostname\Policy

5.    Copy the local backups from the local folder “Policy” to the Cloud folder made in the previous step (simply move all the backup content such as VBM, VBK, VIB files).
6.    Re-scan the Veeam Backup & Replication repository hosting the tenant backups on the provider side. Here is a brief guide on repository rescan.
7.    On the Backup Agent machine, delete the local backup that we made with the local policy.
8.    Begin the backup to the Cloud Repository, run the job on Agent site (if VAC account related issues occur - restart VAC Management Agent Service on Tenant site).

 
Check the mapping result. Make sure that there were no folders with suffix _1, _2 created on the Cloud repository Tenant's folder during initial run.


If you have any questions, open a case with Veeam Support.