Backup Exec 2014 - Backup Schedule

[pmevalenzuela]

Hi.

I got a server with only 2x 300 GB 10K SAS, 8 GB RAM & Quad Core CPU @ 2.4 Ghz only.

Attached to it is a Dell PV124T LTO6 SAS Auto Loader with 8 Magazine slot.

Full backup of four (4) server will only be around 2 TB (uncompress).

Backups should be written to tapes directly.

Can I configure my backup jobs this way

Daily Backups (Incremental or differential), retention is 7 days

Weekly backups (Full), retention is 4 weeks (28 days)

Monthly backups (Full), retention is 12 months.

My tapes should be dedicated to each type of backups.

Can I configure it this way: Each day must be assigned a slot.

Daily, Weekly & Monthly tapes should not be mixed. If a tape is used for Monday then it should only be used for Monday

If a tape is used for Full weekly backups on Saturday, no other backup data from other days should be appended to it.

For Slot 1 to 5, I plan just to leave the tapes on the autoloader.

For Slot 6, I will remove the tape weekly and replace with a different tape each week. There will be four (4) tapes assigned for weekly backups.

For Slot 7, I will remove the tape after a full backup that will be executed once a month (last Sunday of the Month). There will be twelve (12) tapes

Monday --> Slot 1 (Daily incrementals), Retention 7 days

Tuesday --> Slot 2 (Daily incrementals), Retention 7 days

Wed ---> Slot 3 (Daily incrementals), Retention 7 days

Thursday ---> Slot 4 (Daily incrementals), Retention 7 days

Friday ---> Slot 5 (Daily incrementals), Retention  7 days

Saturday ---> Slot 6 (Full weekly), Retention 28 days

Sunday ---> Slot 7 (Full monthly), Once a month, retention 12 Months

I would be open to suggestions and recommendations.

I'm also considering for Monday to Friday backups I will allocate around two (2) tapes. Incremental backups will be written to it daily. Backup data will be appended each day. So instead of having 5 tapes Monday to Friday, I will just use two tapes with a total of 5 TB capacity.

Thanks,

Paul

[CraigV]

Hi Paul,

Partitioning the autoloader will allow you to direct specific jobs to specific slots, although having the correct Append/OPP settings on your media set will accomplish the same thing.

I went the partitioning route and it worked out really well.

That said, dedicating 2 tapes per day Monday --> Friday will mean you equire 10 tapes and due to the number of slots available, you won't be able to accomplish this without swopping tapes every 3rd day.

Also bear in mind that if you require a 2nd tape and there are no appendable/free tapes in a partition, BE will not look for an available tape in another partition.

Other than that, it looks good. If the Append/OPP settings don't work out you are able to shorten/lengthen them as needed.

Thanks!

[pmevalenzuela]

Hi. CraigV,

I can't partition the autoloader, it can only support one tape drive.

So you mean, I would be able to execute my backup plan via Backup Exec 2014 with the schedules below?

Monday --> Slot 1 (Daily incrementals), Retention 7 days

Tuesday --> Slot 2 (Daily incrementals), Retention 7 days

Wed ---> Slot 3 (Daily incrementals), Retention 7 days

Thursday ---> Slot 4 (Daily incrementals), Retention 7 days

Friday ---> Slot 5 (Daily incrementals), Retention  7 days

Saturday ---> Slot 6 (Full weekly), Retention 28 days

Sunday ---> Slot 7 (Full monthly), Once a month, retention 12 Months

--------------

What I mean is that two tapes have a total 5 TB usable capacity for backups and I'm 100% sure the total incremental backups won't even approach 3 TB (if we add all incremental backups done from monday to friday).

Would I be able to execute this ?

--------------

Can I duplicate backup jobs from Tapes to another set of tapes.

For example I do a full weekly backup to tapes (retention 28 days), can I copy the backups on that tapes to another set of tapes to be retained for 12 months ?

Thanks,

Paul

[CraigV]

...you can partition your autoloader. You're talking about basically creating multiple logical libraries.

This just splits the slots within BE to appear as groups of slots. 1 tape drive is fine for this. The Admin Guide will have details on how to do this...

Thanks!

[CraigV]

...sorry to add:

* You can't duplicate your data between tapes unless you have either a 2nd drive in the autoloader or another autoloader/stand-alone drive. You would have to duplicate to disk, change tapes, and then backup that data again with the setup you have.

* yes, you can append to your tapes if needed...just make sure the Append/OPP Settings are correct to allow for this.

Thanks!

[pkh]

I think your scheme is too complicated and restrictive.  Further with partitions, you are increasing the likelihood of your jobs failing due to lack of overwritable tapes in the targeted partition, even though there are overwritable tapes in other partitions.  Read my article below

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/must-mondays-backup-be-monday-tape

[pmevalenzuela]

Hi. pkh,

Thanks for the reply.

Actually I will not be using paritions. I would want to keep it as simple as possible.

Im open to any suggestions. What would you recomment?

Scenario:

1. Daily, weekly and monthly tapes should not mix.

2. A Full backup will not exceed LTO6 capacity. I got 50 tapes for the first year at my disposal.

3. Daily backups with retention 7 days

4. Weekly backups with retention 28 days

5. Monthly Backup with rettention 12 months

----------------------------

Would this possible via Backup Exec 2014

Slot 1 - Monday (incremental), retention 7 days

Slot 2 - Tuesday (incremental), retention 7 days

Slot 3 - Wed (incremental), retention 7 days

Slot 4 - Thur (incremental), retention, 7 days

Slot 5 - Friday (incremental), retention 7 days

Slot 6 - Saturday (Full) weekly, retention 28 days

Slot 7 - Sunday (Full) Once a month, retention 12 months

-----------------

Another option I'm looking at:

Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 3, Slot 4, & Slot 5 will be used for Monday to Friday Backups with 7 days retention.

Only incremental backups will be written to slot 1 to slot 5. It does not matter if Friday backups will be written / appended to Slot 1 or any other slot.

For Saturdays backup a full backup with 28 days retention I will use Slot 6.

For Sundays backup a full backup with 12 months retention I will use sSlot 7.

-----------------

Thanks,

Paul

[pkh · Accepted solution]

You don't have to worry about slots.  BE will be able to handle it.  

As I said in my article, it does not matter which tape your backups end up on.

If I were you, I would just have 3 media sets

Daily - OPP = 7 days

Weekly - OPP = 28 days

Monthly - OPP = 12 months.

The jobs would just target these media sets.  All the tapes would be in the scratch media set and in any slot.  Once they are written, they would be in the targeted media set and protected accordingly.  Once they expired, either leave them in their media set or move them to the scratch media set.

Life is simple.  Don't make it complicated.

You might want to add an export stage to your weekly and monthly jobs so that the tapes would be exported to them mailslot after the job.  You can then collect them from the mailslot.  This way you don't have to hunt for them in the magazines.

[pmevalenzuela]

Hi. Pkh,

Thanks for the recommendation.

Last questions

For the daily back set if set the append to infinity (in the actual deployment I will set it to 5 days)  I can write to the tapes as long as there is free space.

Since, I will not use the daily media sets on Saturday and Sunday. I Plan to set the OPP to 2 days, so when I return on Monday OPP should have expired already. As I understand the OPP is always reset after an append or overwrite  job completes on the media set.

Question

1. When the OPP expires, which backup data will BE2014 first overwrites from the media set ? As I understand the oldest will be the first to be overwritten.

2. Even if OPP expires, can I still retrieve backup data on the tapes provided they have not yet been overwritten?

3. OPP is applied per Media Set ? Not per backup job ?

4. As I understand as long as OPP expires on the media set BE2014 will allow me to write on this tapes. Eventhough append is set to inifnity.

Its all making sense right now. I'm going to junk the slot per day approach.

Thanks,

Paul

[pmevalenzuela]

Hi, Pkh,

Thanks for the recommendation.

Last Questions:

1. What happens if I set append period to infinity (just as an example) and OPP to 2 days for Daily media set.

Since, I will not be using my daily media set on Saturday & Sunday, when I return on Monday I will be able to

write backup data on the my Daily Media Set.

Which backup data will BE2014 overwrite first ? How is this determined?

2. For my weekly backups. I need a retention of 28 days and I execute on a weekly full backup.

How should I configure the OPP and append setting ? Since, OPP is reset everytime a append job is completed. I plan to set the append setting to 28 days. Which backup data is overwritten first ?

Thanks,

Paul

[pkh]

Yes to all your questions

[pkh]

1. BE will use the take with the oldest allocated date 2. If you are not planning to append to the tape then set the AP to 1 hour