cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Configuring Backup Schedule in Netbackup 7.6

johnwong
Level 3

Hi,

I have a generic backup schedule query amd am hoping for some clarification/ assistance. Currently we have daily/ weekly and monthly schedules configure for different clients. When a monthly backup schedule is set, do we still need to exclude the weekly job frequency from running or is Netbackup smart enough to know that if a monthly job schedule is set to run tonight, it will not run the "weekly" job also?

 

I have attached several pics to illustrate my query.

Current Backup Policy Schedule

NBU Backup Frequency Pic1.JPG

 

Weekly_Full Schedule (in Change Schedule window)

Weekly job excluded from the end of month backup (as per ticked box shown below).

NBU Change Schedule_Exclude Days Pic1.JPG  

 

Monthly_Full Schedule (in Change Schedule window)

Monthly job is scheduled to run on the 30th of the month (as per ticked box shown below).

NBU Change Schedule_Include Days Pic1.JPG

Query: Do we need to manually "Exclude" the last week of the month (e.g. 30th & 31st), so that the weekly schedule job will not run at the same time as the monthly job for each month of the year, as this would be extremely tidious given the large number of backup policies that will need to be configured?

 

Any assistance is much appreciated.

 

Thanks and regards,

John

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

sdo
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Certified

I'll chip in too... and I'm with Marianne on this... I've not had a problem mixing frequency and calendar schedules... (but once you understand how it works - you can see why some poeple say not to mix...) - but then I've only ever mixed them with straightforward scheduling - along the lines of frequency based for daily differentials, and calendar based for weekly (and/or) monthly full.

For example, if I have a 'backup window' of 10 hours each weekday night (Mon - Thu) of 20:00 to 06:00 next morning, then I set the frequency of the daily differential schedules to 11 hours.  Which avoids schedule creep, and also means that if you manually re-run the differential schedule during the day, then it will still run 11 hours later - which may occur in the morning, but at least it will queue (and so should run).

And then have weekly calendar based full schedules, on 2nd/3rd/4th/last Friday of the month, to take a full from Friday 20:00, with a long 'backup window' until 06:00 Monday morning, with 'Retries allowed after runday'.  And then monthly full schedule, same run window, retries allowed after runday, on the 1st Friday of the month.

I've never seen a config like this fail (since v5.1).  Even if we have de-activated the policy on a Friday afternoon, to allow for scheduled maintenance on Saturday - and then re-activated the policy late on a Saturday - NetBackup takes the retries allowed after runday into account and still runs the correct weekly full or monthly full schedule.

However, with such a scenario, one would have to make it clear to the business that monthly full backups (long term retention - probably duplicated to tape) - are only taken on the first Friday of the month, i.e. after business month-end processes have completed.

But you can mix up the week numbers on the weekly and monthly schedules, e.g. I have also configured daily frequency schedules as above - but with weekly full on the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th and monthly full on the 'last' (for customers that wanted their monthly full in the last week of the month) - and never had a problem with that either - because NetBackup knows to run the least frequently run (an unfortunate term here - as, in this example, we're using calendar based not frequency based) schedule.  i.e. NetBackup knows to run the monthly full on the 'last' Friday of a four week month because it hasn't been run for four weeks.

HTH.

View solution in original post

8 REPLIES 8

inn_kam
Level 6
Partner Accredited

my self exclude the dates when this situation occurs

 

Also check these

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/exclude-weekly-backup-during-monthly-backup

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/idea/exclude-dates-based-reoccuring-days-week-or-month

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/suggestion-configuring-multiple-full-schedules-quaterly-and-monthly

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

jim_dalton
Level 6

I have a feeling its not a good idea to have both frequency based and calendar based schedules.

For calendar: you tell it when it can run and when it cant so you need to fill in the calendar and the windows.This can be tiresome unless you have a strict regular pattern: we did use this for a long time but required us to modify calendar schedules every year. Eventually we moved to.. 

Freq based: set the frequency and the window and having understood how it works , sit back and relax. It is designed to run the backup with the greatest not been run time, and perhaps also take into account the retentions when there is still a conflct, eg a new policy. I'm not 100% convinced it works all the time as it seems to occasionslly run too many backups but that could be my problem/config and frankly it is sufficiently functional to meet my needs.

MvdB will correct and clarify on this I'm sure...suffcie to say freq backups are "a good thing".

Jim

Marianne
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Almost a month later with no response from the OP, but I heard my name being called....

I know the manuals say not to mix Calendar and Frequency, but we have been doing so for many years.
I still prefer Frequency for daily and weekly. (Old habits die hard and there were initially major issues with Calendar schedules crossing midnight, making me stick to what I know and understand.)

We have never needed to exclude any dates - just schedule the monthly to kick in 10 minutes before the weekly. This way nbpem sees another Full is already running for this policy and does not start the weekly.

Whether this is still needed in 7.6 I cannot say.
I just stick with what has been working for us.

GHamilton
Level 3
Partner Accredited Certified

Not sure if anyone else has seen this but I saw some issues with frequency based schedules and manual backups.

For example: The backup administrator would get a special request from "lets say the Exchange DBA" to run a full backup on a Tuesday. This would complete successfully. The normal full backup was scheduled for Fridays. However this would not run on its typical schedule because a full had been succesfully registered in the last 7 days.

This would cause a week and a half delay between full backups. I found running a calendar based schedule resolved this issue. I only saw this occur on NBU 7.1.x but I've been cautious ever since.

ShelleyK
Level 4

I generally exclude but I do seem to recall that, when detemining if a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly backup is to occur, the schedule with the longest retention time (a/k/a least often backed up) gets priority. For example, if your retention is as such:

Monthly / Retention Level 8 / 1 year

    scheduled to run the first Friday of every month

Yearly / Retention Level 10 / 7 years

    scheduled to run the first Friday of the year

Then, on the first Friday in January, they would both be scheduled. Since your Yearly backups have a much longer retention time (backed up less often), they take priority and the Monthly doesn't run.

LOL - I just read the last article that inn_kam posted above (which references a post from Marianne), and what I recall is in there. You will probably want to mark that as your solution.

Michelle

 

Marianne
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified
Once you understand the logic behind frequency based schedules, you will know how manual backups will affect the next scheduled backup and prepare for it. Either by creating a new 'ad-hoc' schedule with correct retention and no backup window for manual execution or by adjusting the frequency so that it will run at the desired time. In the article that inn_kam posted above: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/netbackup-frequency-based-scheduling-1 my 2c contribution to David Chapa's doc is a diagram from an old manual and a brief explanation of the logic. Be sure to read David's article.

sdo
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Certified
Hi John - is it an absolute business/service/SLA requirement that the monthly backup always runs on the 30th of every month, no matter what day of the week it is (i.e. Including weekdays (Mon-Fri))? Let me know if so, and I can post some suggestions for you.

sdo
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Certified

I'll chip in too... and I'm with Marianne on this... I've not had a problem mixing frequency and calendar schedules... (but once you understand how it works - you can see why some poeple say not to mix...) - but then I've only ever mixed them with straightforward scheduling - along the lines of frequency based for daily differentials, and calendar based for weekly (and/or) monthly full.

For example, if I have a 'backup window' of 10 hours each weekday night (Mon - Thu) of 20:00 to 06:00 next morning, then I set the frequency of the daily differential schedules to 11 hours.  Which avoids schedule creep, and also means that if you manually re-run the differential schedule during the day, then it will still run 11 hours later - which may occur in the morning, but at least it will queue (and so should run).

And then have weekly calendar based full schedules, on 2nd/3rd/4th/last Friday of the month, to take a full from Friday 20:00, with a long 'backup window' until 06:00 Monday morning, with 'Retries allowed after runday'.  And then monthly full schedule, same run window, retries allowed after runday, on the 1st Friday of the month.

I've never seen a config like this fail (since v5.1).  Even if we have de-activated the policy on a Friday afternoon, to allow for scheduled maintenance on Saturday - and then re-activated the policy late on a Saturday - NetBackup takes the retries allowed after runday into account and still runs the correct weekly full or monthly full schedule.

However, with such a scenario, one would have to make it clear to the business that monthly full backups (long term retention - probably duplicated to tape) - are only taken on the first Friday of the month, i.e. after business month-end processes have completed.

But you can mix up the week numbers on the weekly and monthly schedules, e.g. I have also configured daily frequency schedules as above - but with weekly full on the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th and monthly full on the 'last' (for customers that wanted their monthly full in the last week of the month) - and never had a problem with that either - because NetBackup knows to run the least frequently run (an unfortunate term here - as, in this example, we're using calendar based not frequency based) schedule.  i.e. NetBackup knows to run the monthly full on the 'last' Friday of a four week month because it hasn't been run for four weeks.

HTH.