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Append period 0 - but it appends?

Stefano_Gianfra
Level 4

Hi,

hot can I stop BE from appending to media? I have two jobs, the first one starts a 11 pm, the second one one hour later. In the media set configuration I've set "append period"  to "0 hours". But in job protocol for the first job append period is reported as "January 1., 1900", because this is in the past the second job appends to this media.

I'm missing a way to set append period to none. In the job configuration settings itself "overwrite media" is activated, which is necessary to achieve the goal having overwritten the bkf files after one week. 

Thanks again for your help and regards,

Stefano

17 REPLIES 17

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

Are they writing to the same media set...?

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

If both jobs are set to Start as Overwrite - then they should not append no matter what your media sets are configured for.

 

However if your jobs are set to start as overwrite and your overwrite protection is set to 0 then you will keep using the same media - but it will be overwriteen not appended to.

Stefano_Gianfra
Level 4

Thanks for input. Both jobs are set to overwrite and OPP ist set to 6 days.

Stefano_Gianfra
Level 4

Yes, Craig, there is only one media set.

Kiran_Bandi
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Hi Stefano,

I think your second job is overwriting the bkf file created by first job (It should). Check it clearly.. It may not be appending. But as you can see only one .bkf file after completing two backup jobs, you may be thinking as second job is appending. As you set both the jobs to overwrite only, appending will never happen.

In the job configuration settings itself "overwrite media" is activated, which is necessary to achieve the goal having overwritten the bkf files after one week.

To achive a overwrite protection of one week, you must set your jobs to Append to media, overwrite if no appendable media is available. As you have no append period configured for your media set, two .bkf files will be created with your two backup jobs and will be overwritten during the next run of the jobs.

hope this helps.

Regards...

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Well with job starting as Overwrite and OPP set to 6 days, then I hope you also don't have

Tools --> Options --> (Settings) Media Management -->

"Media Overwrite Protection Level" set to None

As that could cause the second job to overwrite the first and might look like is has appendedas teh same media name woudl be used.

Does the job log for the second job say that it overwrote or appended?

 

Stefano_Gianfra
Level 4

 

Colin, Kiran,
 
thanks for your comments.
 
> To achive a overwrite protection of one week, 
> you must set your jobs to Append to media, 
> overwrite if no appendable media is available.
 
But what if I want to have separate media for each job? The first job is an Exchange backup, the second job is a full backup with Exchange excluded and I thought they should not use the same media.
 
> As you have no append period configured for
> your media set, two .bkf files will be created...
 
That's what I want. I assume that each bkf file represents a media or, in other words, that bkf file is a synonym for media. Right? I want two bkf files for each job every day until the week is over. Then the first two files should be overwritten.
 
> ...with your two backup jobs and will be
> overwritten during the next run of the jobs.
 
That's not what I want. The media set is configured for an OPP of 6 days, so this should not happen (regarding to Colin's remark: In global configuration options "Media Overwrite Protection Level" is set to "Gesamt" [in english: total, complete, entire]).So it's still not clear to me why it appends / overwrite.
 
When I look into job log of first job it says:
 
Start time: March, 24., 11 pm
Media ID: B2D002532
Overwrite protection until: March, 31.
Appendable until: January 1., 1900
Used Media: B2D002532, IMG000026
 
The log of second job says:
 
Start time: March, 25., 1 am (2 hours after first job)
Media ID: B2D002532
Overwrite protection until: March, 31.
Appendable until: January 1., 1900
Used Media: B2D002532, IMG000027
 
Both jobs write to B2D002532, that's the problem. Still willing to comment?
 
Thanks a lot and regards,
Stefano

Kiran_Bandi
Level 6
Partner Accredited
But what if I want to have separate media for each job? The first job is an Exchange backup, the second job is a full backup with Exchange excluded and I thought they should not use the same media.
 
With the setting mentioned by me in my earlier post will do exactly the same because append period is not configured. Just try once by changing this setting in job properties.
 
You can also try creating a new media set with OPP 6 days, AP None or very less and in job properties Append to media,overwrite if no appendable media is available. Just give a try and let me know about the result.
 
with your two backup jobs and will be  overwritten during the next run of the jobs
 
It's my mistake. Not during the next run. During the next weeks run...
 
Appendable until: January 1., 1900Appendable until: January 1., 1900 Appendable until: January 1., 1900..
 
I couldn't understand this at all... No comments..
 
Thanks....

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

If OPP = 6 days and AP = 0 Hours, and job is set to start as Overwrite and Media Protection is set to Full then there should be no way you can use the same piece of media for a job until after 6 days have passed.

If you are seeing the same media be re-used earlier than that either as an append or as an overwrite then you need to log a formal support case with us as either:

- something is not working as intended

- or our forum advice is being misunderstood and you need more specific help (possible with a form of remote control)

 

Ken_Putnam
Level 6
You can also try creating a new media set with OPP 6 days, AP None or very less and in job properties Append to media,overwrite if no appendable media is available. Just give a try and let me know about the result.
 
Kiran, shouldn't both jobs be defined as Overwrite Only? (since he does NOT want to append at all)

Kiran_Bandi
Level 6
Partner Accredited

@ ken,

Depends on the media overwrite protection level he sets.

If it is set to FULL, then in job it should be overwrite only (Even append to medai overwrite if no appendable media will work here with no append period configured for the media set). But by default it will be set to NONE.

With NONE, job must be set to append to media, overwrite if no appendable media available. (With none append period)

With NONE, Overwite only  then BE will not try to create second bkf file, it will throw a media overwrite alert and overwrites the first one. (Whatever OPP set with media set no matter)

Hope this is clear...

Thanks...

Ken_Putnam
Level 6

I'll have to take your word for the behavior of BE with NONE as the Global Overwrite Protection setting and Overwrite of BKF files.  I saw way to many other strange behaviors way back before B2D was introduced to ever consider running that way. 

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

@kiran,

I don't think you get the concept of media overwrite protection level correct.  Here is what the Admin Guide says.

============================

The media overwrite protection level specifies whether to

overwrite scratch, imported, or allocated media, regardless of the medias overwrite

protection period.

Use the media overwrite protection level to specify the type of media, such as

scratch or imported media, that you want to be available for overwrite backup

jobs.

The options for the media overwrite protection level are as follows:

Full - Overwrites scratch media, which are media that contain data you are

willing to discard, and recyclable media, which are media that are associated

with media sets and have expired overwrite protection periods.

Partial - Overwrites imported media, which are media that was created by

another installation of Backup Exec or some other backup product, and

overwrite scratch media.

None - Overwrites all media, including those that have current overwrite

protection periods (allocated media).

Caution: The None option is not recommended. It does not protect data from being

overwritten.

============================

First off, the default setting is Partial, not None.  It would be irresponsible for BE to set the level to None as media would be overwritten even if their OPP has not expired.

Once you have set the protection level to None, then any media can be overwritten.  Once the job wants to overwrite something it will use an existing media since all media can be overwritten.  Whether the job is set to append, otherwise overwrite or just overwrite does not not matter.

Kiran_Bandi
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Thanks Pkh..

I know anout media overwrite protection levels well and the same discussion happend between me and other members already some times.

But one thing which differs is, tape and disk backups will be treated differently when it comes to overwrite protection.

I tested it. You can prove it to yourself.

With protection level None and job not starting as overwrite only, BE will not overwrite anything which is not overwritable.

None - Overwrites all media, including those that have current overwrite protection periods.

This statement is true against tape backups and disk backups with jobs starting as overwrite only.

Thanks....

Stefano_Gianfra
Level 4

 

Colin, 

I've combined these two jobs so my problems regarding appending and/or overwriting are obsolete. I divided system backup into two jobs because Symantec tells you to do if there is an Exchange backup involved. But since Exchange backup works there is no need to do so - I have to admit that I'm far away of understanding OPP an AP concepts in BE. As the discussion in this thread shows, I'm not the only one. :)

Thanks a lot also to Ken, Kiran and PKH for their interesting comments.

Regards,

Stefano

Stefano_Gianfra
Level 4

 

> With protection level None and job not starting as overwrite only,
> BE will not overwrite anything which is not overwritable.

But then BE will append instead of creating a new bkf file, doesn't it? If you do not choose the overwrite option within the job settings then there are only two more options left. And both of these options are appending options...
 
Regards,
Stefano

Kiran_Bandi
Level 6
Partner Accredited

The second option is Append to media, overwrite if no appendable media available. As you don't have any append period configured for backups will not be appended. But as the other members already said, symantec recommends Overwrite only with B2D jobs. Because remaining options showed some odd behaviour. (Today i also experienced it while trying with all the options for confirming to myself.)

Choosing append period to 0 Hours means NONE.

Thanks...