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Nuri_Inuki's avatar
Nuri_Inuki
Level 4
12 years ago
Solved

BE2010R3SP2 - Proper way to create a B2D Device plus backup job

My end goal is to be able to create a backup job that writes to a B2D file(s).  I need to do full backups Monday to Saturday written to B2D file(s) and kept for 2 weeks.  A full backup job on Sunday that is written to B2D file(s) and then duplicated to tape.  Both the tape and file on Sunday needs to be kept for 5 weeks.

Ideally, it will use one file for Monday to Saturday of the first week, a second file for Sunday of the first week, a third file for Monday to Saturday of the second week, a fourth file for Sunday of the second week, a fifth file for Monday to Saturday of the third week, a sixth file for Sunday of the third week, then reuse the first file from the first week for Monday to Saturday of the fourth week, reuse the second file from the first week for Sunday of the fourth week, and so on.  By re-use, it would be nice if it would append to the file and if the backup job will not fit, then it will overwrite.

What is the proper way/settings to create the B2D device so that it will create 100GB files and overwriting said files ONLY AFTER the length of time we want to keep the data?

What is the proper way of building the job to backup the server, using the B2D device and files so that data is maintained for the specified amount of time?

I've read through the documentation already.  I've built the jobs already; however, BE will keep the data for so many days and then wipe the files.  One day I see 8 to 10 backups on the file, the VERY NEXT day, I only see the previous night's backup.  There's only one B2D file created in the folder.  I'm obviously doing something very wrong.

2010
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    12 years ago

    You should leave the default max backup sets of 100 alone.

    You should not use the allocate max size unless you are trying to fit in exact numbers of .bkf onto a disk, .e.g.  you want to fit 9 100GB .bkf files into a 1TB disk.

    You should use your judgement when it comes to max. size.  If you have a big backup like 300GB, leaving it at the default 4GB would result in a lot of small files and will fragment your disk.  You might need to go with a 50GB max size.

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    12 years ago

    You should create 2 media sets, one with OPP = 2 weeks and one with OPP = 5 weeks.  Use these media sets in your jobs according to the period you want to retain your data.

    Your jobs should specify overwrite and not append since they are writing to disk.

    For a better understanding, read the media management section of the Admin Guide which can be found in the BE installation directory.

  • Nuri_Inuki's avatar
    Nuri_Inuki
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    In your experience, what is a good combination of max backup sets, max file size, and allocate max size immediately?  I understand that if any of the max's get hit, it will create a new file and that allocating the max size will help with fragmentation.  Just curious what you've preferred.

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    12 years ago

    You should leave the default max backup sets of 100 alone.

    You should not use the allocate max size unless you are trying to fit in exact numbers of .bkf onto a disk, .e.g.  you want to fit 9 100GB .bkf files into a 1TB disk.

    You should use your judgement when it comes to max. size.  If you have a big backup like 300GB, leaving it at the default 4GB would result in a lot of small files and will fragment your disk.  You might need to go with a 50GB max size.