Copy job copied all jobs instead of last one

[Artegic]

I have Backup Exec 2012 SP3 running on Windows Server 2008 R2 backing up a few VMs from an ESXi host on a D2D2T backup plan with weekly full and daily incremental backups to deduplication store, linked copy jobs to a LTO tape library, and a monthly copy job of the last full tape backup to a standalone drive for off-site storage.

Last week I modified that job, removing one of the VMs. Today I find the monthly off-site copy has five times the size of the last weekly full it should be a copy of, and consequently did not fit onto the intended tape. Looking in the job log I see it has copied the last four full backups instead of just the last one as I requested.

What might have caused that misbehaviour and how can I avoid that in the future?

Thanks,
Tilman

[Ananya_Bhattach]

We need to take a look at this, I advise you to open a support case about this issue

[Colin_Weaver · Accepted solution]

If by copy job you actually mean 'duplicate job' (which we often see mistranslated if your Backup Exec install is not in English) then be aware that scheduled duplicate jobs by design duplicate all the backup sets linked in the job defintion that have not been duplicated.

As such

Day 1: B2D + Duplicate

Day 2: B2D + Duplicate

will only duplicate one backup set when the duplicate runs

Day 1: B2D

Day 2: B2D

Day 3: B2D + Duplicate

will duplicate 3 backups sets

Also

Day 1: B2D + Duplicate (that fails to run)

Day 2: B2D + Duplicate

will also backup 2 backup sets as Day 1 did not sucessfully run.

You can change this behaviour slightly if you select the option to only duplicate the last full, however if incrementals or differentials are involved then that option will not help.

Note: I am not sure if you edit to remove a VM has contributed to the problem or not althouigh if you edit the original job when the duplicate of the last time it ran is stil scheduled to start then it might get interesting. Of course it is possible that something else affected you as such the recommendation to log a formal support case is potentially a good one

[Artegic]

Ananya, before I open another Symantec support case I'd first like to see a single one of those I already opened being resolved satisfactorily.

[Ananya_Bhattach]

In that case please check Colin's suggestion and see if that helps.

[Artegic]

Colin, thanks for your explanation.

What I mean by "Copy" is what the German version of Backup Exec 2012 labels "Kopie". I regret I do not have an English version around to verify what it's called in the original.

I attach a screenshot of the job definition. The problematic stage is the rightmost one titled "Kopie - monatlich" (copy, or duplicate, monthly). I have several jobs with this structure. The intention is to write weekly full backups to an automatic tape library ("Vesikel") and monthly full backups for off-site storage to a standalone tape drive ("Lysosom"). The reason the monthly tape is duplicated from the weekly tape instead of the deduplication store is simply speed. Duplication from deduplication store to tape is horribly slow. For all the other jobs this works as intended, the "Kopie - monatlich" stage copying just the last backup set of the "Kopie - Band - wöchentlich" stage.

I have no way to select "last full backup" as the source in the settings of the rightmost stage. In the middle stage that option appears on the "planning" tab after selecting "by schedule" and opening the "source" dropdown. In the rightmost stage, the "source" dropdown is absent.

Would you recommend a different job structure to achieve the goal of monthly off-site backups?

Thanks,

Tilman

[Artegic]

I must retract my last statement. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that:

• Those jobs which correctly duplicate just one full backup to the off-site tape do not have the structure above, but instead create the off-site backup by duplicating the last full backup from the deduplication storage ("SYM_Dedup").
• All those jobs with the same structure as shown in my preceding posting do show the same problem of duplicating multiple full backups to the off-site tape.

So Colin's reply was exactly the right one. The behaviour is obviously by design. To achieve the result I require, I must create the off-site backups directly from the deduplication storage and accept the resulting speed penalty.

Thanks a lot for your help!