Help with Policies & Templates

[Joseph_Engel]

Hi All:

We need some help in understanding Policies and Templates.

We want to something pretty simple.  Something that must be done regularly by many I would think.

We were told in our BUE training that a Windows server backup, where data files, SharePoint, SQL and Exchange are all required to be backed up (and we do have all of the options to do that) that these should be backed up in seperate jobs with seperate selection lists.  That makes sense to us.

So we asked "how can we run these jobs sequentially?"  That is how can we run data backup and when that completes successfully or unsuccessfully, go on to the next job (SharePoint), and then the next, etc.  The answer Symantec said, was "use Policies and templates."  The whole point of course, was if one job failed, we wanted to move on to the next.  And as times to complete vary widly, to simply fire of the next job after the presious one, not via a time estimate.

So we figured that would be simple.  Make a policy, add a templated job, aim it at just the data selection, make a rule that says run the next template after this one.

But we cannot use different selection lists as they are tied t the policy, not the template.  So how do we do this?  How do we say:

Run job 1 using selection list 1, when that completes (or fails)

Run job 2 using slection list 2

??

Help Please! 

[Joseph_Engel]

Hi:  Am I talking in an empty room?  Is there anybody out there?

[Joseph_Engel]

I'm surprised.  No response at all.  I was under the impressions that Symantec or surrogates for Symantec monitored these boards.

Not much help here.

Back to the telephone tech support hell process <G>.

[Hywel_Mallett]

When you apply a policy to a selection list, you get a job for each template combined with each selection list.

In your case, say (for the sake of clarity) that you just want to do a full backup each night. Just add one template to your policy, which says "do a full backup". Then create a selection list for each resource type (one for Exchange, one for files, one for SQL etc), and apply that policy to each selection list. Now you'll have one job for each resource type.

If you are backing up to a singel tape drive, then the jobs will run sequentially as a tape drive can only do one job at a time. You can set the order of the jobs by setting the priority for each selection list.

[Joseph_Engel]

Thank you for your response.  We have been involved in a huge dialog with Symantec over this issue which has taken literally months to clarify.  And it's such a simple item.  Your response, combined with the agonizingly obtuse responses from Symantec, pretty much confirms that BUE cannot perform this utterly simple requirement.

To re-iterate.  Four different jobs created.  Two file data backups, one SQL backup and one Exchange BU.  Backing up to large disk storage NAS.  BUE recommends thatr SQL, MSX and data backups be created as seperate jobs (and they obviously need sepeerate settings and selection lists) and then be run sequentially.

But BUE cannot be set to run jobs sequentially.  As in, when job one finishes, start job two.  We have to use a guestimate of elapsed time to complete previous jobs, and that can vary dramatically depending upon the type of job and the data, etc.

How hard can it be to check a box that says, when job 1 completes, start job 2?

wowser! 

[Hywel_Mallett]

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@Joseph Engel wrote:

...

But BUE cannot be set to run jobs sequentially.  As in, when job one finishes, start job two.  We have to use a guestimate of elapsed time to complete previous jobs, and that can vary dramatically depending upon the type of job and the data, etc.

How hard can it be to check a box that says, when job 1 completes, start job 2?

wowser! 

---

BE can start job 2 when job one finishes, using a policy. However, a policy applies to a group of selection lists, whereas what you want is different jobs for different selection lists. So there is a limitation that applies to you for the start one job when another completes rule.