1. Quick Tips #1 – Wan accelerator seeding for backup jobs
Pascal di Marco
Solution Architect

2. Wan Accelerator : brief overview
1. Before processing the backup file with the backup copy job, Veeam Backup & Replication uncompresses the backup file to analyze its content. 2. The Veeam WAN Accelerator Service on the source WAN accelerator analyzes data blocks of the file to be transferred and creates a file with digests for these data blocks. The created file with digests is stored to the VeeamWAN folder on the source WAN accelerator. 3. Veeam Backup & Replication compresses the backup file data and copies it to the target backup repository. At this point, Veeam Backup & Replication can perform deduplication within the VM itself — that is, deduplicate identical data blocks in every VM disk.

3. Wan Accelerator : brief overview
4. During the data transfer process, the Veeam WAN Accelerator Service on the target WAN accelerator populates the global cache storage with data blocks from the copied file. 5. During the next job cycle, the Veeam WAN Accelerator Service on the source WAN accelerator analyzes data blocks in the file that should be transferred this time and creates digests for these data blocks. 6. The Veeam WAN Accelerator Service compares the created digests with the digests that have been previously stored to the VeeamWAN folder on the source WAN accelerator. If duplicate data blocks are found, the actual block data in the backup file is not copied over the WAN. Instead, it is taken from the global cache and written to the restore point in the backup copy folder or on the target data volume.

4. Wan Accelerator : brief overview
7. Additionally, Veeam Backup & Replication analyzes restore points that have been previously copied to the target side. If duplicates are found, Veeam Backup & Replication does not copy such blocks over the WAN but takes them from the global cache.

5. Wan Accelerator : brief overview
Why seeding ? You can manually pre-populate the global cache to avoid the situation when the cache remains empty. As a result, by the time a remote job starts, the global cache will contain data blocks that can be used for data deduplication

6. How to seed WAN cache & Backup Copy ?
Create a temporary VM on source site to emulate target site repository & WAN Accelerator global cache
Assign proper repository and WAN Cache drives to this VM.
USE THE FASTEST POSSIBLE DRIVES
Declare the temp VM as a repository
Assigne to both « sides » WAN Accelerators role
Create and launch a backup copy job, enabling WAN Accelerator

7. How to seed WAN cache & Backup Copy ?
On the pseudo target, copy both « VeeamWAN\GlobalCache\trg » and « \Backups\Backup Copy Job – SEEDING” folders on a transportable drive
Send the transportable drive on the real target site
Configures repository & WAN Accelerator on the target site server
Stop VEEAM services on target server
Copy backup copy files and WAN cache from transportable drive to proper location of target

8. How to seed WAN cache & Backup Copy ?
Start VEEAM services on target server
On the B&R server, rescan and import the backup copy files of the target repository
Recreate a backup copy job (or reuse) and map the seed files to it
Do not forget to map the WAN accelerators too
You should observe good rates

9. What if ? I already have backup copy jobs files seeds on target site ?
Starting from version 8, you can populate WAN accelerator cache on the target from the backup copy files.
It won’t be as efficient as additionaly seeding the cache but is a really acceptable solution (it will only be based on guest OS disks)

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