Help required with backup strategy 2

[l4user]

Hi, I'm new to ArcServe and am in the process of reading up on the documentation, but would really appreciate it if someone could help me determine how to implement the backup requirements that have been given to me.


- We have a single tape drive. Windows NT 4, ArcServe v9 (upgrading soon to W2K3 and ArcServe 11)

- We would like to do a full backup once per week, and incremental backups on each other weekday. (Rotational scheme??)

- If possible, we would only want to swap the tapes only once per week!

- If possible, we would like ArcServe to check the name of the tape before overwriting. I.e., only overwrite if the tape is a certain name. (Would media pools archive this?)



I've looked into using media pools, but with only one tape drive the tape gets moved into the save set after it has been written to once. This would mean swapping tapes every day??

With the rotational scheme, we'd have to swap tapes twice per week as it doesn't seem to let you put an incremental backup on the same tape as the full backup. Also, it doesn't seem to be able to check the name of the tape first.


I'm guessing we need to use the rotational scheme with media pooling (I've seen the option for that), but i'm not entirely sure how to configure it to our needs.

 

[ACiDelic]

- We would like to do a full backup once per week, and incremental backups on each other weekday. (Rotational scheme??)

Yes, you can do with with a rotation job. You can do a full backup on Friday and do either incremental or differetial for the 5 day or 7 day week.

- If possible, we would only want to swap the tapes only once per week!

You might be able to get away with that if you specify in the rotation job that you want to "append" and not "over-write".

Keep in mind that if the data you are backing up exceeds the capacity of the tape you will have to insert tapes during the week so that the backup can span. This would be the size of the full backp plus all the data from the other (incremental or differential) backups for the rest of the week.

If you don't like switching tapes a small library would be a good investment. I went from a single drive to a 15 slot, 1 drive library and never have to worry about changing tapes by hand.

- If possible, we would like ArcServe to check the name of the tape before overwriting. I.e., only overwrite if the tape is a certain name. (Would media pools archive this?)

Media pools give you the ability to manage the tapes. You basically create a media pool and assign any media you want to use to the pool. Blank media don't have to be added; they are essentially part of the scratch set by default.

Once you set the retention time ARCserve won't let you overwrite a tape until it is a certain age.

The names of the tapes are set by the rotation job. When the job runs on Friday the tape is formatted as FRIDAY. I'm not sure if you can override the tape name.

I've looked into using media pools, but with only one tape drive the tape gets moved into the save set after it has been written to once. This would mean swapping tapes every day??

When you specify "append" in the rotation options it will always append to tapes in the saved set. The scratch set is used when a new tape is required.

So, going back to "can I use one tape", if for some reason you can no longer append to the tapes in the saved set, the job would ask you for a tape from the scratch set or a blank.

With the rotational scheme, we'd have to swap tapes twice per week as it doesn't seem to let you put an incremental backup on the same tape as the full backup. Also, it doesn't seem to be able to check the name of the tape first.

This may be true. I'm using BAB r11 and I can use one tape. Perhaps BAB 9 does not have that functionality.

I'm guessing we need to use the rotational scheme with media pooling (I've seen the option for that), but i'm not entirely sure how to configure it to our needs.

Use the media pool manager to create and maintain the media pools.

Use the backup manager to create your backup job and to set the rotation options.

Although they are painfully long your best buddy should be the documentation that comes with ARCserve. The Getting Started Guide is a good place to start.

 

[befortin]

Hi ACiDelic,

When you say that "The names of the tapes are set by the rotation job. When the job runs on Friday the tape is formatted as FRIDAY. I'm not sure if you can override the tape name.", what will ARCServe do if I am doing a backup on all the days of the week with the "append" option? Will the tape name be "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "..." (as the same tape is used all those days)??

 

[ACiDelic]

The tape name will identify the day of the week that it was formatted. If the job formats a tape on Friday, then it will be by default be named FRIDAY.

You can override the name of the tapes when creating the job. In the schedule tab you can double click the day of the week line and change the name of the tape. It will show the prediction of what tape names will be used on what days depending on your selections. The calendar view comes in handy when visualizing your backup.

Full backups always use a new tape. So, whatever day your full backups run, you will have a tape named for that day. The first backup after the last full with also use a new tape. This ensures that your incremental and full backups are on separate sequences.

The append and overwrite option applies to non-full jobs only. If you use append then the incremental (or differential) job will append to an existing tape, such as the tape used for the last backup. If you use overwrite then you will create a new tape for each day of the week. Each tape will be formatted with the name of that day.

You can use the Calendar view to enter exceptions. For example if you want a full on a specific weekday for some reason you can do it there.

I hope this helps.

 

[befortin]

Thanks ACiDelic, your post was helpful.

You say that "The append and overwrite option applies to non-full jobs only". Does this means that a full job cannot append?

You also say that "[...] ensures that your incremental and full backups are on separate sequences." Is it safer to have the full and the incremental on different tape sets?

I also have a last question. I'm planning to use rotational jobs (and maybe GFS) soon, as it sounds interesting. The problem that I have is the following : I take a full of SERVER1, SERVER2 and SERVER3 on friday (and not any incremental or differential or full during the other days of the week). For the other servers (let's say from SERVER4 through SERVER9), I'm doing a full on each Friday and a differential from Monday to Thursday. Will this work with rotational job? Or will I have to create another job for SERVER1 through SERVER3? And send that other job to a different tape set?

 

[ACiDelic]

Full jobs will always use a new tape. I'm not sure if you can override this behavior.

You also say that "[...] ensures that your incremental and full backups are on separate sequences." Is it safer to have the full and the incremental on different tape sets?

Putting sessions on separate tapes helps protect you from a bad media. You may not be able to restore sessions on a tape if one of the earlier session are corrupt or if a tape gets damaged you lose all the contents.

If you are using differential jobs then separate media is preferred. If you lose one of the differential tapes to corruption or media damage then the latest diff will have a backup of all the files changed since the last full including the data saved on the media that was ruined.

If you have a bad tape with your incremental job, then you'll lose all the information backed up on that tape. Even though you can restore the incrmentals after that point in time.

...Will this work with rotational job? Or will I have to create another job for SERVER1 through SERVER3? And send that other job to a different tape set?

I think your best bet is to create two jobs. The first to backup the first three servers. This can be a scheduled backup. The second being a rotation job to backup the other servers. If you are using a media pool then you should be okay using the same set of tapes for both jobs.