NBU6 and small files

[Tim_Wilkinson]

Hi,

It seems FlashBackup is the way to go where possible.
However, from what I've read (some posts, some documents, some admin guides) because it is effectively a raw partition backup, it can only backup the partition\volume rather than specified folders. Does this mean that more disk space (equaling the size of the volume to be backed up) is required?

What are other ways of optimising the backup of many small files?

Can it be done at the folder level or is it generally backing up the raw parititon?

Cheers,

Tim

[Deepak_Bhalwank]

Hi,
Does this mean that more disk space (equaling the size of the volume to be backed up) is required? -YES.
The good thing is you can restore individual folders or files.


Br,
Deepak.

[Tim_Wilkinson]

Does anyone use FlashBackup and what experiences have you had with this?

Cheers,

Tim

[Deepak_Bhalwank]

I have used FlashBackups. I use disk STUs for taking flasbackups and suggest using latest MP patch for the NBU version you have also reboot machines after applying patches. I found how to mention client data path as \\.\E:\ for windows.
Using snapshots with FlashBackup for Unix clients is optional however you need to have snapshots for windows clients. Although I have not tried flashbackup on Unix clients without snapshots.
The time taken for backup is amazingly less. Overall satisfactory.

Br,
Deepak.

[Lance_Hoskins]

Indeed using flash backup is probably your best bet when it comes to backing up many small files. You can use a raw backup (at no additional cost) which essentially does the same thing, but with that option it's an all or nothing restore (i.e. no file level restores like with flash backup). Flash backup also gives you the ability to do incremental backups, though I haven't had enough time to get that working smoothly yet.