Backup Tape DR(locate offsite) Planning

[sungpillhan]

We're planning to move backup tape every Wednesday offsite as a part of DR planning. As I'm still new to netbakcup with volume pool, not sure how I can achieve moving tapes every week. And below is our current backup setting. Basically, the policy is triggered by OS crontab with bpbackup command and backup up 6 folders to a volumn pool which has multiple tapes. 

Questions

1. What is the backup type of this setting, Full, Incredemtal? It doesn't uses bpbackup command, it doesn't specify the type of backup. 
2. How can I move backup tape weekly to offsite as a part of DR planning? Since it backs up to multiple tape medias in BCV volume pool and tapes contain multiple images, it's confusing what tapes I need to pull off.
3. And if I pull off active backup tapes, then what happen to the next day backup? Will it bring another 4 scrach tapes active and starts backuping to the tapes until next wednesday? 

-----------------Current backup setting---------

1. Backup policy is as following
   • Backup type: User Backup
   • Policy type: Standard
   • Volumne pool: BCV (4 Full, 4 Active, 3 Frozen)
   • Retension: 1 month
   • Backup schedule: 12:00 AM Everyday
2. Backup method and what it backs up. Backup is triggered by srv2 server with crontab script as following. 

   echo "/data102" >> ${BK_DIR}backup.lst1
   echo "/data102" >> ${BK_DIR}backup.lst1
   echo "/data103" >> ${BK_DIR}backup.lst2
   echo "/data104" >> ${BK_DIR}backup.lst2
   echo "/data105" >> ${BK_DIR}backup.lst3
   echo "/data106" >> ${BK_DIR}backup.lst3
   echo "/logs101" >> ${BK_DIR}backup.lst4
   echo "/logs102" >> ${BK_DIR}backup.lst4

   echo "\nComplete select file from Backup at `/bin/date +%c`"

\#COUNT=`cat ${BK_DIR}backup.lst | wc -l`

sleep 10

echo "\nstarting Backup at `/bin/date +%c`"

## bpbackup LTO
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpbackup -p srv1 -s srv1 -h srv2 -S srv2 -f ${BK_DIR}backup.lst1 -w 0 &
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpbackup -p srv1 -s srv1 -h srv2 -S srv2 -f ${BK_DIR}backup.lst2 -w 0 &
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpbackup -p srv1 -s srv1 -h srv2 -S srv2 -f ${BK_DIR}backup.lst3 -w 0 &
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpbackup -p srv1 -s srv1 -h srv2 -S srv2 -f ${BK_DIR}backup.lst4 -w 0 &

[EvenHornfelt · Accepted solution]

1. s the backup type of this setting, Full, Incredemtal? It doesn't uses bpbackup command, it doesn't specify the type of backup. A: - Check docs at  https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/article.100040135.html , you'll find bpbackup -s 'shedule' (type of backup, Full/Diff is selected in the schedule).
2. How can I move backup tape weekly to offsite as a part of DR planning? Since it backs up to multiple tape medias in BCV volume pool and tapes contain multiple images, it's confusing what tapes I need to pull off. - A: the newly written tapes that occour in your DR/Offsite tape-pool is to be offsited.
3. And if I pull off active backup tapes, then what happen to the next day backup? Will it bring another 4 scrach tapes active and starts backuping to the tapes until next wednesday?  - A: If NetBackup needs more tapes for a tape-pool, it will pick from Scratch-pool.

[sungpillhan]

EvenHorfelt, 

The schedule shows 'Type of Backup' as 'User Backup'. The drop down menu also contains Full, Differential, Incremental, User Archive. If bpbackup command takes the type of backup from policy schedule, my backup is typed as 'User Backup'. If then, what is my backup behavior, Full, Differential, Incremental or some NetBackup smart method such as fullbackup with dedup?

[sdo · Accepted solution]

"User" mode backup schedules are always full backups and cannot be anything other than full backups.

[sungpillhan]

I can't find any about What will be the type of backup if schedule has 'User Backup' as type of backup and bpbackup command does backup. bpbackup command also has no option to specify type of backup. The only thing I found from Netbackup 8.1 Administrator Guide was below. 

User Backup:

A user initiates a user backup through the Backup, Archive, and Restore client interface.
A user backup backs up all files that the user specifies. Users can start backups only during
the times that are allowed on the schedule Start Window tab.
For a user to be able to initiate a backup, the policy must contain a schedule of the User
Backup type.
Use this backup type for a catalog archive.
See “Considerations for user schedules” on page 799.
See “Creating a catalog archiving policy” on page 951.

[sungpillhan]

Thank you, confirming what I thought was right. 

[sdo]

From the client side, there are two similar (but different) ways to request that a backup job (policy + schedule + client) be started :

1) bpbackup - but as a client, i.e. the backup client is just that, a backup client - and can only ever request a run of a "user mode" schedule, and so always runs a full backup

2) bpbackup - but using the "-i" (immediate) switch, but this requires that the backup client has to be a "server" of the master server, i.e. the backup client has its name in the "server" list of the master server, and so now the backup client is a very powerful backup client indeed and can request the run any schedule of any policy, and so now the client would be able to request a "cinc" or "diff" schedule be started.

mode 1) above is by far less dangerous than mode 2).

[sdo]

Of course, if you schedule crontab from the master server, then the master is always able to request an immediate "bpbackup -i" of any policy/schedule/client, just as if you were right-clicking a policy in the Admin Console and selecting "Manual Backup...".