Saving bootstrap to a specific pool when they are chosen by backup level

Question

Hi all.

I've set Networker to have 2 backup pools: Full and Incremental (besides the default ones).
They are not bound to any group and their selection criteria is chosen by backup level.

When a full backup occurs, the pool Full is used and all goes well until the end (which includes saving the bootstrap and index).

When an incremental backup is performed (with the Incremental pool being selected), all goes well until we need to save the bootstrap and index at which point Networker asks for the Default pool.
I added the "Bootstrap" and "index" entries to the Incremental pool "save sets" entry but the problem persists.

Anyone knows if I'm missing something ? How can i configure it so that the bootstrap and index are saved along with the incremental backup as well ?

I'm using Networker 7.3.2.
Thanks in advance.

ble1 · Answer

It has something to do with your pool configuration. Both index and bootstrap are part of server's client so keep that in mind when configuring pools.

rcfsiemenscom · Answer

Hi again.I've found the problem =)And got a new one.On the Incremental pool's selection critera, i only selected the 'incr' level.The indexes are a level 9 incr and the bootstrap is level full.If i set the selection to both 'incr' and 'level 9' the indexes are saved correctly but the backup stops requesting the full pool to save the bootstrap.I cannot select the 'full' option in the selction criteria as it's already used by the full pool.Is there a way to 'change' the bootstrap level to be 'level 9' for all incremental backups only?

ble1 · Answer

Why simply not use Full pool if this is full level of bootstrap?

dpinink_silva · Answer

Hrvoje is right, if your criteria is to send full backups do the Full pool, let the bootstrap be saved to the Full pool. The question is, do you need bootstrap to be saved to a specific pool? There are some options to save bootstrap and index to specific pools, you can search KB if you need this and see if the solutions proposed work with your incr/full pools need.

rcfsiemenscom · Answer

Yes, but the idea was to minimizing having to change to the full tape just to save the bootstrap.
This is because the full only occurs once a week whereas the incremental occurs 3 times a day, so you can imagine the amount of times we need to change tapes just to save the bootstrap.

Anyway, i've found out that the boostrap is always level full and that cannot be changed. (At least until vs 7.3.2 of Networker)
URL: https://solutions.emc.com/nsepn/webapps/stqv768481dmts46655278/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg53606

I'll need to do this with a different approach.
Thanks all for your help.

ble1 · Answer

I don't know now without checking docs if bootstrap can run with level backup, but I think it is very likely that bootstrap is always level full. If you set your pools to levels only I see no reason to worry - if it asks for pool Full it means it is using that level. On Windows systems are some other savesets that can't be backed up as incremental but only as full for example as well - so having around tape for that pool is recommended.

ble1 · Answer

If you really believe you do not need bootstrap that often (which is something you should not consider) you can set no index save on groups have it run via savegrp -O when you wish at level full. I usually do that on daily basis.

rcfsiemenscom · Answer

Thanks all for the replies.I would prefer to save the bootstrap to the same pool as the one i'm using to perform a backup.This means, when i'm doing an incremental backup, everything goes there including the bootstrap.The reason for this is i'm using a tape autoloader and the objective is to diminish the changing of tapes as they are different according to the pools.That way, after doing an incremental backup i would like to use the same tape to save the index (already done) and the bootstrap instead of having to change to a tape on the full pool just for that.Is this possible ?

rcfsiemenscom · Answer

Tried that. Didn't work.I've disabled the 'Store index' on the incremental pool and also the 'No save index' on the group configuration.In both cases, the indexes are indeed not saved, but the bootstrap is and asks for the tape on the full pool.Is there anyway of disabling the bootstrap from being saved when a certain pool is used?

ble1 · Answer

Do NOT do that on pool level. Do it only on group level and make sure you have server in active group (that won't save you from having bootstrap once a day of course).

I think you are complicating the things (eg. why full and incremental pools in the first place) so either:
- have a full pool tape ready
- or have index pool created for bootstrap and index (so you keep them at one place), but then you will have 3 pools.

Let us take another approach - why did you decided to use full and incremental approach for volumes?

ble1 · Answer

You could remove those even quicker with full+incr approach as they would fill earlier.

rcfsiemenscom · Answer

The idea is to minimize having to switch tapes.

A full backup is only done once a week, usually on Sunday.
From Monday through Friday only incremental backups are done.

If you have a pool for each type, then during the week you won't change tapes unless the current one is completely filled.

That way, until the tape used in incremental backups isn't filled we do not need to change and therefore achieving less robotic usage. But if the bootstrap "insists" on being saved on a full pool tape then a change of tapes will occurs.
I'm trying to avoid that

Best way so far seems to be disabling the bootstrap to be saved on incremental backups.

That or this entire attempt will fail.

rcfsiemenscom · Answer

So you can safely remove tapes from the full pool (and store them somewhere) replacing with new ones without the restriction of having mixed tapes with full and incremental backups.

ble1 · Answer

Why simply then not using one pool for everything?

dpinink_silva · Answer

I have to agree with people here, there's no use in such approach, unless you have good reasons to keep full and incr backups on different tapes. But as data is from the same servers, incr backups are as important as full backups, anything you plan to do with full backups tapes, you should also do the same with incr backups.

Also, as your environment seems to be simple, keep the backup simple too

NetWorker

Saving bootstrap to a specific pool when they are chosen by backup level

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