Backup Jobs Issue (beginner)

[flavor4real]

Good Morning,
I'm new with Netbackup but know Backup Exec 12.5. I have job issues on netbackup, which i've setup.
I've setup 4 clients to be backed up (Full-backup) and each client schedule is setup for the weekends where the start is on friday 1800 and the end monday 0500. Retention is 1 month.
The 4 clients are all setup with the same schedule, and last weekend was the first time where the client policies ran.

I looked at the reports this morning and it looks like that all 4 clients were backed up but then they were backed up 1 or 2 more times. 3 cbackup jobs started monday morning and they were still runing when i came in.

My question:
How can I ensure that a t backup job will run only one time in the specified schedule? instead of running 1 or 2 additional times.

thx

[RahulG]

Start/End Time of Start Window only tells backup job when the job can start. As long as the job starts, it will continue to run until it is finished and is not dependent on the end time of the start window.So you can just configure accordingly
Refer the following document http://support.veritas.com/docs/209227

[Andy_Welburn]

If it's set to one day, say, then it will run more than once in a 59 hour window. The frequency determines how often a backup can run (or what time must elapse before the next job can be scheduled) - if that period elapses and it is within a backup window then a job will be scheduled to run.

This excerpt from the T/N Rahul quoted above sums it up nicely:

"...
Follow this rule when setting the "frequency" on a schedule:
The frequency must be longer than the open backup window and
shorter than the interval between the desired start times.
..."

[flavor4real]

Well,.. The schedule type is set to calender, where retire allowed after unday is un-checked.

I've read the article and set the start window at friday's 1800 to sunday's 1800, which a frequenzy of 3 days. that should let the job run only one time correct? The next weekend it should run the same.

But now I have another question. If I chose frequwenzy then the job runs one time. will it run again the next weekend?
I thought if i chose the calender as scheduled type, and highlight the weekends, the job would run every weekend once...

please correct me if I'm wrong

[ianG]

how many green ticks have you added for the calendar schedule? I believe you should just put in a single one for each weekend - at the start of the window. For example, if your window is from friday 1800 - sunday 1800, just the one tick on the fridays

for this kind of backup, I would suggest a frequency based backup, with a freq of 1 week. Would eliminate the need to go through the calendar adding ticks..

[Andy_Welburn]

calendar to run on specific days (e.g. the last Saturday of the month for our yearly retentions)

frequency to run everything else (e.g. each & every Monday, Saturday or whatever, which we use for monthly retentions).

Can't understand the calendar running more than once - although that may depend on your NB version? (they did change how calendar schedules worked for 6.5.2 & then changed it back due to a few complaints!)

[Andy_Welburn]

If ticked for each day of the weekend then the job would run for each of those days.

[flavor4real]

I just got here and they have netback 6.5 ;-/ .. i heard NB 7.0 is way better.
So is it ok for me to have all full backups set on a calender schedule? and the diff/increm. backups either?

another question, in the start window, you see the modify day, the end day, and the duration.. what is the duration good for? its a bit confusing, because the default is set to 1 day, 00:00:00, and the resolution is set to 5 min.


correct me if I'm wrong, but if i set a frequenzy that would mean that a job would run every 3 days, or 7 days, or even every 1 day.

[flavor4real]

interesting,
i chose calender, and set the green checks on all fridays and saturdays. (and sundays before i modifed it)

[Marianne]

I agree with Andy - use calendar based scheduling for monthly and yearly schedules. For daily and weekly - best to use frequency.

David Chapa's article on Frequency based scheduling explains it very well:

http://blogs.netapp.com/barandgrill/2008/10/frequency-based.html?wwparam=1256285548

[flavor4real]

Thanks guys.
@ Marianne: I agree that the frequency setup is powerfull. After reading the article, it makes sense to me to run the jop polices via frequency but still the calender is itching me. I guess i have to sit down and think.

What reports are usually ran to see if the job succefully started and completed. I've ran a few and i get so much other information with it. I just need a simple start succesfull and end sucesfull ...

thx

[Will_Restore]

might be those ticks

[flavor4real]

uhhhh, right punch and uppercut,,.. that hurted .. hmm, but u might be right! lol

I have another question, since it's about job policies I'll leav it in here.

If I have 8 servers where I'll run a full data backup on the weekend. Should I rather setup 8 individual policies or should i combine all 8 clients in one policy?

thx

[Nitish_R · Accepted solution]

the best way to go about is to have 8 individual policies
u have a better control from your activity monitor on the backup jobs that completed successfully.
worried about creating 8 policies?
you can always write click on the initial policy and chose the copy to new policy option.
this will duplicate the policy. you now have to customise the schedule, volume pool and client and the job is done.

[Girish_N_]

If the selection list is same, go with 1 policy otherwise create 8 policies.

[Andy_Welburn]

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/netbackup-organization
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/one-client-policy
http://www.backupcentral.com/content/view/51/47/?wwparam=1281426605

[flavor4real]

thx for all your help. I really appreciate it