05-06-2013 04:20 PM
Hello All:
I understand that when a Windows client full backup is occuring, archive bit sets for files are cleared as the backup job progresses. Is there a way to change this condition so that archvie bits are reset only after when a backup job is confirmed to be completed (0 or 1 exit)? Basically have the full backup job follow the same archive bit set condition as differential incremental backups. Thank you all.
05-06-2013 07:28 PM
I understand that when a Windows client full backup is occuring archive bit sets for files are cleared as the backup job progresses
No it is not the case, the archive bits are cleared once the backup job is completed successfully, if the job is failed then archived bits are not cleared.
Default parameter is 'Wait time before clearing archive bit' = 300 sec
Basically have the full backup job follow the same archive bit set condition as differential incremental backups
Yes only difference is one is full backup other is differential incremental. I hope you know the difference between full and differential incremental in NBU?
05-06-2013 10:38 PM
sazz is 100% correct.
NBU archive bit behaviour/actions can be found in NBU Admin Guide I: http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC3653
Just search the pdf for 'archive bit'.
05-07-2013 01:09 PM
Thank you Sazz and Marianne for the response:
I should have eloborated more why I was asking the question. For some of the DB servers we backup our DBA perform DB backups by performing flat file backup (.bak and .trn files) dumps to a dedicated drive (i.e. W:\Backup). In order to maintain capacity on the backup drive, they have a script that looks for archive bits to be set and if they are cleared their script will delete the backup file. What I observed in some cases is that archive bits are cleared during a full even if the jobs fails rather than when a job is completed. What I believed I understand in terms of Full backups and when the archive bit is cleared is the same to what Sazz and Marainne described; however, when I did some searching I came accross this article in regards to full backups:
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO43852#id-SF640596194
It stated this, "The archive bit clears as each file backs up."
There is a link in the article for, "about differential backups": http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO43828#id-SF640564617
and it has this stated, "Archive bits are cleared on differential-incremental backups if all files are backed up successfully."
So after reading these two articles I thougth my initial understanding was false and was why I posted this question.
In addtion, the pdf file Marainne linked me to stated that the 300 sec wait for archive bit reset is only applicable to diff backups (Page 98 Table 3-20), "This option applies only to differential-incremental backups".
05-14-2013 09:53 PM
It is not recommended to use 3rd party software to clear or set archive bits and might be causing some issue how NBU works but i am not sure. Would it possible for you to test the same without using the 3rd party software.
06-25-2013 10:07 AM
Hello sazz:
They are not using any third party software to clear or set archive bits. What the DBAs script is doing is just looking for archive bit sets for files in directories of interest (i.e. W:\DB_Backups). If the files has its archive bit set cleared (by NBU client succcessful daily incr or full) their script will delete the file based on the assumtion that it has already been backed up to tape.