Backup Schedule

[santave]

Hi,

I want to run alternate backup schedule, Full - Incr - Full - Incr ..
Will this work that way, If I create schedule as below:
Full, freq 2 days , start windows 21:00 - 06:00 everydaily
Increment, freq 2 days , start windows 21:00 - 06:00 everydaily

If not, how?

Thanks
 

[Will_Restore]

That should work.  Other option is calendar schedule. 

[Andy_Welburn]

Sounds nice, & I'm gonna have a think about it.....

..... what if one of your backups fails or fails to start during it's window? This could result in both backups wanting to run at the same time the following day ..... the full probably has the largest retention so this should get priority which I suppose is no bad thing ..... I'm now thinking of David Chapa's article (& I'm sure Marianne is too!).

Mmmm ..... it *should* work. Might want to drop your frequency to 47 hours or less maybe to reduce the likelihood of each backup starting later & later into its window as a result of resource availability ('schedule creep') e.g. if it cannot start at 2100 one day but starts at 2115 then it will start at 2115 the following day due to the 48 hour frequency.

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/netbackup-frequency-based-scheduling-1

[DavidMac]

If you use a calendar based schedule, you can set your backups to whenever you want.

[santave]

@Andy, once I configured the schedule, which one will run first Full/Incr?
Should I run the Full manualy first? so the next schedule will be incr.

[Andy_Welburn]

*Always* ensure a Full is run first in *any* policy that contains Incrementals.

Be interesting to find out if this works as you intend - do let us know.

[Marianne]

This is certainly the first time in 15 years that I have seen such a backup requirement.
Care to tell us?

When users can afford to (backup window, resources, etc), they prefer Full backups every day.
When backup window and resources are limited, users normally choose Full over weekends and Incr (Diff or Incr) during the week.

How do you see the backups running over weekends?
The reason why I am asking is because of backup windows. You cannot choose fixed windows for specific days of the week, as Full and Incr will run on alternate days of the week.
So, both schedules will need open windows between 21:00 and 06:00 for each day of the week and simply control it with Frequency (slighty reduced to cater for 'schedule creeping' as per Andy's suggestion and David Chapa's article).

Let us know how it goes...

[santave]

The folder has sub-folder day wise created, 2 days data max.
Data increment done everyday in random days.Lastest day's data will be recycled daily.

Backup requirements:
Infinite retention, but minimize duplicate data in tape.

The schedule didn't work. The increment didn't run as per schedule.
Seems netbackup don't see the increment schedule, since it doesn't have first increment backup.
I will run Increment job manually after full, and let see how it works.

 

[Scott_Austin · Accepted solution]

With a frequency of every 2 days. When you run a manual backup, from that minute two days later the backup will attempt to run again during the available window set in the schedule. So every time you run the manual backup, the timer resets.

I would set the FULL to every 5 days and have a window open for the weekends. I would set the INC to every day or even 20 hours. Then have a schedule window open Mon - Fri or Sun - Thurs. This ensures that the scheduler will catch up.

You can always make a test policy. After this is done. Use the 'nbpemreq -updatepolicies' to update pem's work table. Then use 'nbpemreq -redict' to see if the schedule will run when you want it to. Please give the predict a 2 hour window. 

The duplications should be a different thread. Based on what is starting the duplication. (SLP, Vault, or Disk staging storage unit)  Do a quick search for 'slp parameters file' to change how SLP batches the duplication. 

Happy Backups.

[Marianne]

The schedule didn't work. The increment didn't run as per schedule.

Please show us your policy?

bppllist <policy-name> -U

and when last backups ran within this policy:

bpimagelist -client <client-name> -policy <policy_name> -d 02/20/2014 -U

(commands are in /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd)