A few things to clarify the actions of a PIT configuration:
1. PIT configurations are created using the normal "bundle.dat" client configuration that is part of any BMR enabled backup that has its path in the file list. The initial PIT configuration is based on the client "bundle.dat" configuration file for that date/time.
2. The PIT creation process will initiate a small single file restore of the "bundle.dat" file in the backup image. It will be redirected to the Master Server for processing.
3. Because the configuration being restored is the "current" configuration of the client image, it is also a read-only copy. If changes are required to this configuration, a copy of it must be made ahead of that activity. The "change" option is disabled for the original copy.
4. All BMR enabled backups, regardless of the content of the policy file list, will perform the 'bmrsavecfg' process on the client ahead of any NBU backup stream. The will always create a fresh copy of the file "bundle.dat" which in turn will be imported as the latest "current" configuration..
5. As the client configuration file is new, it will be part of any incremental backup as well as any FULL backup. Unless manually deleted, it is a persistent file.
6. Using a PIT configuration will create a recovered client with settings that match the client for that specific point in time. Any changes made to the client settings after that specific time/date will be lost. As an example, if a new drive letter or file system was created since the backup, that data will not be part of a recovery. They must be reset manually post BMR recovery.
7. The major internal difference between normal configurations and PIT configurations is the use of an end date in the image restore phase. Non-PIT configuration versions have a ctime setting of zero (0). PIT versions have the ctime of the backup image. All NBU related commands used by BMR will make use the the "-e " end date option for its operations. Non-PIT processing makes use of end of epoch as the end date.
8. If the PIT date/time selected is not a FULL backup image, BMR will parse the catalog listing for the client until a valid FULL backup image is found. The youngest available FULL backup will become the start date/time of the restore. The recovery will be for that FULL and any associated INCR backup images up to the selected end date.
9. A copy of a PIT configuration can be modified (changed) in the same manner as a copy of any other configuration. All of the client settings in the configuration are open to change, with the lone exception of the client name.
10. A command line listing of configurations will show configuration types of SAVED ("current"), PIT, COPIED, and DISC (discovered configurations). COPIED configurations will not show what was the source of the copy operation. Discovered configurations are used to initialize sections of a client configuration and cannot themselves be directly copied or modified. That happens within the configuration that it is initializing.
