Repository and Storage Management Flashcards

A backup job uses the forward incremental method with periodic active fulls. Over time, VMs have been removed from the job. An administrator notices that the active full backup file (VBK) on the repository is not shrinking in size, even though it now contains fewer VMs. What repository maintenance task should be performed to reclaim this unused space within the VBK file?

Answer: Run the "Compact full backup file" task.

The "Compact full backup file" task is specifically designed to reclaim unused space within a VBK file. When VMs are removed from a job, their data blocks become obsolete but remain within the file. Compacting creates a new, smaller VBK file by copying only the data blocks belonging to the VMs that are still in the job, effectively removing the 'white space' left by the deleted VMs.

Which of the following is a primary advantage of enabling the "Use per-VM backup files" option on a backup repository?

Answer: It improves performance and scalability, especially for Scale-out Backup Repositories and deduplication appliances.

Enabling "Use per-VM backup files" creates a separate backup chain for each virtual machine. This allows for multiple write streams to the repository, which can significantly improve performance and scalability, especially when targeting Scale-out Backup Repositories or certain deduplication appliances that benefit from multiple concurrent streams. While it may slightly reduce the cross-VM deduplication ratio, the performance gains are often a more critical advantage.

An administrator needs to add an SMB (CIFS) share located in a remote office as a backup repository. The Veeam Backup & Replication server is in the main datacenter, and the WAN link between the sites has high latency. To optimize data transfer and processing, what component should be deployed in the remote office?

Answer: A Gateway Server.

For repository types that cannot host the Veeam Data Mover service themselves, like an SMB share, a Gateway Server is required. In a remote office scenario with a high-latency WAN link, deploying a Gateway Server (typically on a Veeam proxy) in the remote office, close to the SMB share, is critical. This ensures that data-intensive operations like synthetic full creation and data transformation happen locally at the remote site, preventing excessive traffic over the WAN.

An administrator is configuring a Linux Hardened Repository to protect backups from ransomware. To ensure immutability, which of the following is a critical requirement for the user account that Veeam uses to connect to the Linux server?

Answer: The user account must be a non-root account with single-use credentials for initial deployment.

A core security principle of the Veeam Hardened Repository is the use of single-use credentials for a non-root user. These credentials are used only for the initial deployment of Veeam services on the Linux server. After deployment, the credentials are not stored by Veeam, and ongoing communication uses a certificate-based method. This prevents the Veeam server, if compromised, from having persistent credentials that could be used to access and compromise the repository.

A small office uses multiple external USB drives that are swapped weekly for off-site storage. To manage this, the administrator has configured a single backup repository with the "This repository is backed by rotated hard drives" option enabled. What is a key behavior of a backup job targeting this type of repository?

Answer: Veeam will track which files are on which drive and will only display restore points from the currently connected drive.

When a repository is configured for rotated drives, Veeam maintains a catalog of which backup files reside on which specific drive. When a drive is connected, Veeam scans it and updates its database. In the console, it will only show the restore points that are available on the currently connected drive, preventing job failures or confusion that would arise from trying to access files on a disconnected drive.

An administrator has configured a Scale-Out Backup Repository (SOBR) with a Performance Tier and a Capacity Tier using the 'Move' policy. After a backup chain's operational restore window expires, its data blocks are moved to the Capacity Tier. What happens to the corresponding VBK (full backup) file on the Performance Tier?

Answer: The VBK file is transformed into a 'shell' file containing only metadata and pointers to the data blocks in the Capacity Tier.

When the 'Move' policy offloads an inactive backup chain to the Capacity Tier, Veeam optimizes storage on the Performance Tier. The data blocks from the VBK and VIB files are moved to object storage. The files on the Performance Tier, including the VBK, are then transformed into metadata-only 'shell' files. These shell files are very small and act as pointers, allowing Veeam to maintain the backup chain's structure and transparently retrieve data from the Capacity Tier during a restore.