Forum Discussion

Teslah's avatar
Teslah
Level 3
9 years ago

Backup exec does not delete old jobs

Hi, I have this problem from time to time in about every version of backup exec I can think of over the years. From time to time, backup exec sends an alert saying to free space on the disk where it ...
2012
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Best Practice
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • VJware's avatar
    VJware
    9 years ago

    The title of your post is slightly misleading as your requirement is to automatic deletion of backup sets and not jobs.

    Have a look @ this post as well as to how DLM removes the backup sets - https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/automated-disk-management-and-data-retention-backup-exec-dlm-or-data-lifecycle-management

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    9 years ago

    Do not delete the .bkf files from the disk storage.  This will leave orphaned backup set entries in the BE console.  When you need to delete backup sets, delete them from the console and BE will delete the corresponding .bkf files from the disk.

    You can use the registry setting at the bottom of this document to delete the last backup chain.

    http://www.veritas.com/docs/000085757

    Do note that if your backup job fails, you would be left with no backup set to do your restore.  It would be better to get a bigger storage than to use this registry setting.

Teslah's avatar
Teslah
Level 3
9 years ago

Hi, thanks both for your comment. In my last particular case, I think I understand what is happening. My disk does not have enough space for 2 full backups (about one and a half). Following VJware's article from the link, what I understand is that backup exec will never delete your last backup even if the media set is expired. I see that I have the option to tell backup exec to delete everyting that is expired, but since I have multiple different backup schemes in there, I don't want to do that.

So the first backup goes fine, then the second one will continue until no more space left. I guess I understand that for good disk space management, you should always have a backup disk that can take at least 2 full backups.

Maybe I did not understand everything correctly, but as of now, I'm still wondering how I can tell backup exec to delete the last full backup before doing it's new full backup automatically.

The only idea I have now is to create and schedule a batch file that deletes all those .bkf files just before the new backup starts. This backup is just a secondary one we do once a week on a NAS, it's not that important but we still want it. You never have too much backup...:)

If any other comments, feel free.

Thanks all again for your input, I've learned a lot regarding media and disk management.

Regards