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Strategy for incremental archiving. Archive bit setting different for full VS. incremental backup?

dl2rcf
Level 5

Dear BE2010 users and technical support,

after discovering that some files did not archive at all onto our tape robot, I learned with fear the following within this forum:

Colin Weaver

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/full-using-archive-bitreset-archive-bit-takes-all-fil...

full (with reset Archive bit) = Backup all files in the selection and unset the archive bit
Full (Copy) = Backup all the files in the selection and don't change the status of the archive bit
Incremental (with reset archive bit) = Backup only files in the selection that have the archive bit set  and then unset the archive bit on those files

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My boss in the past set all backup jobs to incremental only (never full backup) in the past due to tape consumtion. We do have HUGE files to archive FOREVER (10+ years). Files normally never change after archiving once. Users may demand files after years, our task is then to locate them and restore them manually to the server for the user (much like your local university's book library would do it).

Could our incremental ONLY jobs be the reason that files have not been targetted by the jobs, because the archive bit was not set (According to Mr. Weaver, having the archive bit not set is no problem with setting "full - with reset archive bit", since ALL files get archived, but a problem with setting "incremental - with reset archive bit" since ONLY files with set archive bit will be archived here...is that so?

If so, how can we incrementally archive in our environment without many redundant copies of the same files on tapes? NTFS journal? We cannot rely on users setting their archive bits....

Did we buy the right product for our demand?

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Jaydeep_S
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

The Archiving option works on the basis of Enterprise Vault. What it does is select data as per the archival settings and move it to the Vault (Database on disk). As soon as you install this option in Backup Exec, it also installs it own vault store database along with other databases and componenets to which it will archive the data.

So yes the initial archiving ONLY happens to disk. You could later on Backup / Restore the Archiving Option data to a tape.archiving.jpg

 

View solution in original post

11 REPLIES 11

Jaydeep_S
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Not sure what is the method that you are using for Archival. Are you using the Backup Exec Archiving option. If so, the option would only allow you to archive files of a Full Backup performed to disk. 

To add to this, the above strategy of endless Incrementals is virtually of no use when it comes to restore. Do you have the first Full backup (whenever it was made) and all the leading Incremental? You would need the complete set to be able to restore the data.

Here is some documentation available for the Archiving option. I would suggest you to read it completly

 http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/b-backup_exec_2010_archiving_options_WP_20999104.end-us.pdf

http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/fact_sheets/b-be2010_option_file_system_archiving_solution_brief.en-us.pdf

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified
If you have complicated archiving requirements, you might want to look at Enterprise Vault

dl2rcf
Level 5

Hi there, I read the archiving option once, but will do again.

This is our situation:

- (few) users store their huge files ~50GB onto a ~10TB disk and normally do not change them afterwards

- All files shall be archived (forever!) by adding them to the tapes. This shall be done at day one the user stored the files on the server automatically

- ~half a year later the files get deleted from the server semi-automatically by a routine that deletes them with approval of admin according to the oldest date

- uses may demand restoring VERY OLD files from tape to server years after

 

The problems I have with the "archiving option":

- We may not delete files at once they got archived on tape, but with that half-year later, "when their time is up", so to have them on the server for users to work on them and yet saved on tape on the same time for that half year

- When I read the paper about BE's archiving option, I got confused completely by "Media Servers", Active directory and all the internettish things. It IMHO uses another type of catalog as well (?).This is a LAN application here and we certainly don't want another server. My boss will kill me, if we need to change much on our structure...

 

To add to this, the above strategy of endless Incrementals is virtually of no use when it comes to restore. Do you have the first Full backup (whenever it was made) and all the leading Incremental? You would need the complete set to be able to restore the data.

At the moment, we do it that way (we do encounter problems https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/bug-wildcards-both-be2010-gui-bemcmd-command-line-app...:(

- user calls by phone, asking for some files

- we browse the catalog for those files

- we click on restore. It's trivial for our site, because as I said, files rarely change after backup job done, so only one of the 1000s incrementals is needed to restore those files completely...

 

What shall I do?

 

dl2rcf
Level 5

Can someone compare BE's Archiving option with the mentioned Enterprise Vault in function regarding our surroundings (no mail, outlook, "social media" whatsoever...) and in aditional cost (rough estimation sufficient).

Can we keep BE2010 when we use the archiving option (since it works well with our robot and we still have garantuee on the bundle)?

Are both archiving option and media vault MUCH MORE suitable to our purpose than endless incremental backup jobs in BE2010? and more safe for restorage of single files YEARS after?

 

Thanks!

dl2rcf
Level 5

Dear Jaydeep S, thanks for detailing on this.

To add to this, the above strategy of endless Incrementals is virtually of no use when it comes to restore. .

could you specifiy, why it is of no use when it comes to restore. We keep all the tapes in our robot. Is BE's catalog to unstable/ unreliable/ limited in size to do so?

 

Do you have the first Full backup (whenever it was made) and all the leading Incremental?

Yes. For one drive my boss even did incremental ONLY with archive bit option, with the problem now, that files are missing on tape...

You would need the complete set to be able to restore the data.

What do you mean by "set"? As I said, we keep all the tapes and want to browse a catalog for restorage

dl2rcf
Level 5

I read

http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/b-backup_exec_2010_archiving_options_WP_20...

again and again and my eyes get bigger and bigger.

 

I will open up a new thread on that white paper...

dl2rcf
Level 5

@ Jaydeep S

Final question on this:

Are you using the Backup Exec Archiving option? 

If so, the option would only allow you to archive files of a Full Backup performed to disk. 

Is that so? You definitively CANNOT archive to a tape robot with Backup Exec Archiving Option?

Jaydeep_S
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

The Archiving option works on the basis of Enterprise Vault. What it does is select data as per the archival settings and move it to the Vault (Database on disk). As soon as you install this option in Backup Exec, it also installs it own vault store database along with other databases and componenets to which it will archive the data.

So yes the initial archiving ONLY happens to disk. You could later on Backup / Restore the Archiving Option data to a tape.archiving.jpg

 

dl2rcf
Level 5

So yes the initial archiving ONLY happens to disk.

Thanks for the clarity!

You could later on Backup / Restore the Archiving Option data to a tape

What?! IMHO this makes no logical sense:

IMHO, the purpose of archiving (as a local historical library does it with books) is putting old data (forever) onto a cheap, scalable storage (tape) with some kind of database on which tape is which data and forget about it until s.o. requests it. From time to time perhaps copy the data from one old tape to a new one (every 5 years or so) to exclude data loss due to disintegration of tape material...

If I backup the Archive Option disk data to a tape (to free my expensive, non-scalable disk space on a sealed server), I got the same problems with the long-term retention issue of backups that I got now with BE2010 naked

Migrate Archived Data to Tape: Backup Exec does not have the capability to migrate data to tape devices for long-term retention.  Use Enterprise Vault in conjunction with the Backup Exec Agent for Enterprise Vault, which includes Enterprise Vault Migration features.

Jaydeep_S
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

I am not sure how Enterprise vault works, but you could try posting your situation in that forum and see if you get some configuration to match your requirement.

dl2rcf
Level 5

...Will do so

Thanks for clearing the issues!

 

Ruben