Backup To Disk help please...

[Jeff_Sterck]

Hi, I need some help with creating a low maintenance Backup To Disk job. I will explain what I want to do, and I would appreciate any ideas or help that anyone can offer.

What I would like to do is back up data each night to disk. I want it to use up the disk space before it starts to overwrite. So if it backs up 15gb and the limit is 15gb, it will start to overwrite the oldest catalogs, keeping the newest. Effectively, Id like to be able at any time catalog that drive and be able to pull data from 3-4 days old on it. If possible I would like to not have to format it or erase files on a daily basis. I dont need this to be my formal backup, just something I can pull from without having to go locate the tape and such.

Currenty, I back up all the data onto tapes so there is no compromise if the backup to disk does not work, but Id like to have both work properly.

I backup 2 servers doing a differential backup during the weekdays and one full backup on sundays. I created a Backup To Disk folder and assigned it a location on a server to store to. It is enabled for backup use and I assigned it 15gigs of storage and set the limit of the file size to 15 gigs. Now this is where I think I need help. I assigned that device a media set that says Allow overwrite after 3 days and always allow append. When the job starts I have it set to Append to media, overwrite if no appendable media is available.

What seems to happen lately is that It will work for a while, then I will get errors saying that I have reached the end of the tape. My guess would be that It should start overwriting older jobs at that point.

Can anyone help with showing me where I need to focus more attention on? Or if I have any glaring mistakes that I should correct. Thanks!

Jeff

[michael_filtz]

>>> Currenty, I back up all the data onto tapes so there is no compromise if the backup to disk does not work, but Id like to have both work properly.

does that mean you want to run backup-to-tape and backup-to-disk redundant and the backup-to-disk is just for having the last few days on the always-available harddisk (without having to go locate the tape and such) ?



>>> I backup 2 servers doing a differential backup during the weekdays and one full backup on sundays.

how many gigs total and amount of time needed (daily diff/weekly full) ? what tapedrive (capacity/speed) ? how many diskspace available for the backup-2-disk-folder ?



>>> I created a Backup To Disk folder and assigned it a location on a server to store to. It is enabled for backup use and I assigned it 15gigs of storage and set the limit of the file size to 15 gigs. Now this is where I think I need help. I assigned that device a media set that says Allow overwrite after 3 days and always allow append.

media sets are chosen in the job, not for the device. i think the media set overwrite protection is not designed to fulfill your described needs. maybe different b2d-jobs and more b2d-folders will solve this.



>>> When the job starts I have it set to Append to media, overwrite if no appendable media is available. What seems to happen lately is that It will work for a while, then I will get errors saying that I have reached the end of the tape.

with just one b2d-folder limited to 15 gig and just one b2d-job, who dont cares how many space is left on the assigned b2d-folder when it starts to append, there seems to be a very good chance to receive this error.



>>> My guess would be that It should start overwriting older jobs at that point. Can anyone help with showing me where I need to focus more attention on? Or if I have any glaring mistakes that I should correct. Thanks!

im just also a noob with backup-2-disk =)

[Jeff_Sterck]

> >>> Currenty, I back up all the data onto tapes so
> there is no compromise if the backup to disk does not
> work, but Id like to have both work properly.
>
> does that mean you want to run backup-to-tape and
> backup-to-disk redundant and the backup-to-disk is
> just for having the last few days on the
> always-available harddisk (without having to go
> locate the tape and such) ?
>

Yes, I back everything up to tape as well as disk. I want the disk for a "less hassle" restore. I am very persistant with the tapes and check them on a regular basis to ensure that my backups will be restorable.


> >>> I backup 2 servers doing a differential backup
> p during the weekdays and one full backup on
> sundays.
>
> how many gigs total and amount of time needed (daily
> diff/weekly full) ? what tapedrive (capacity/speed) ?
> how many diskspace available for the
> backup-2-disk-folder ?
>

Its total should be not reach 15gb. They are sub 1gb for each night, and no more than 7gb backup at full. So at max 5gb + 7 = 12gb total. I am not using a tape drive in this instance and the server Im saving it to has approx 65gb free.


> >>> I created a Backup To Disk folder and assigned
> d it a location on a server to store to. It is
> enabled for backup use and I assigned it 15gigs of
> storage and set the limit of the file size to 15
> gigs. Now this is where I think I need help. I
> assigned that device a media set that says Allow
> overwrite after 3 days and always allow append.
>
> media sets are chosen in the job, not for the device.
> i think the media set overwrite protection is not
> designed to fulfill your described needs. maybe
> different b2d-jobs and more b2d-folders will solve
> this.


I will look into this...


> >>> When the job starts I have it set to Append to
> o media, overwrite if no appendable media is
> available. What seems to happen lately is that It
> will work for a while, then I will get errors saying
> that I have reached the end of the tape.
>
> with just one b2d-folder limited to 15 gig and just
> one b2d-job, who dont cares how many space is left on
> the assigned b2d-folder when it starts to append,
> there seems to be a very good chance to receive this
> error.


My goal is to only allow a certain amount of disk space available for backup. I dont want to have to manage the space used by backups on the server each day and I dont want the backups to over-run all available disk space on the server.


> >>> My guess would be that It should start
> t overwriting older jobs at that point. Can anyone
> help with showing me where I need to focus more
> attention on? Or if I have any glaring mistakes that
> I should correct. Thanks!
>
> im just also a noob with backup-2-disk =)

[tejashree_Bhate]

Hello,

You should have a bkf file which is recyclable. In that case the backup job will start overwriting that file.

If this does not answer your question please elaborate.


Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm



Note : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked ‘assumed answered’ and would be moved to ‘answered questions’ pool.


Thanks.

[Jeff_Sterck]

Thanks for the response Tejashree..

Could you give me a brief example of how you would do this? Im guessing it is within the Media Set overwrite and append settings. Am I correct in assuming this?

[Renuka_-]

Hello Jeff,

By default, Backup-to-Disk (B2D) files are 1 Gigabyte (GB) in size. these files are treated the same as tapes in backup exec. You need to recylce the tapes for which you need to set the append period and ovewrite protection periods as per the retention period you need to have for the backups.

Please create media sets accordingle and allocate the backup to disk files so as to have a rotation scheme as per the backup size, disk size, B2D file size,retention period etc.

Refer to the technotes provided on media management.



Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked assumed answeredand would be moved toanswered questions pool.