First of all - I am new with Networker backup software.
I have problem with tapes expiration on my backup server. I don't know why, but they always expires exactly one year after first backup was saved to the tape.
For example I have a group which creates full backup during weekend, during week days inceremental and all is saved on tape pool which should store backups for two weekes - but the tape expiration after backup is set after one year.
This is because a tape expires by the date as per the retention period of the save sets backed up.
By default, backup server has a retention policy of 1 year and indexes are backed up on the same tape on which backup is taken. Index is a backup server save set. So at end of the backup, indexes are backed up on the tape with one year retention as set for backup server. Therefore, the tape expires after one year even if other client's save sets are having two weeks retention period.
Ways to resolve:
1. Reduce the retention period of the client resource of backup server to be equal to or less than the retention period of the clients in the same group.
2. Configure your backup setup such that the indexes are backed up on a separate dedicated media other than the media on which client save sets are backed up. This way you can have index retention of one year although if the backup media (on which client save sets were backed up) lasts for two weeks only then there is no point retaining indexes.
2. Is it possible to save index each time on the same media where the backup is done? If i lost tape with Index I would have a problem with DR and restoring some data
By Default, index gets saved to the same media (media pool if more than one media are used) where backup is done. That is why you have the media retention going to one year which is the default for backup server (index) savesets.
Keeping it on different media can speed up DR and to safegaurd against loss of index tape, you can allways keep a clone of it if you have the luxury of having multiple tape drives in your setup.
1. There are two groups which are saving data from two clients (Exchange + File Server) to this Pool. Both clients are set with Browse and Retetion policy of one month.
2. Is it possible to save index each time on the same media where the backup is done? If i lost tape with Index I would have a problem with DR and restoring some data
Create a new pool with savesets INDEX: & Bootstrap. Mark all the required groups in this pool and label media for this pool. Next time when the group backup is over, it will pick up media from this pool for index backup.
Index is the catalog information of the files that have been backed up. Thsi is stored in your /nsr/index folder and the clientname sub-folder. this helps you track what all has been backed up and when you want a browsable recovery, Networker refers to this index to give you the file-by-file view like Windows Explorer. This is important to backup so that if you have lost your backup server and want to rebuild it, this helps you rebuild the indexes. Also, when you take incr or diff backup, Networker refers to this index information to get details on the last backup attributes for each file.
Bootstrap holds the configuration information i.e. the /nsr/res and /nsr/mm folders. Again, if your backup server crashes, you can install fresh Networker software and recover bootstrap i.e. res and mm folders and you do not need to reconfigure anything.
In event of a complete crash of backup server, recovering bootstrap gives you /nsr/res and /nsr/mm and recovering index gives you /nsr/index folders without the need to manually reconfiguring your environment.
By default, these are backed up at the end of every group backup. Bootstrap is done once a day in the group that has backup server as a client. The media chosen for these backups depends on the configuration as discussed in previous posts of this thread. You can also take an extra backup by creating a group with all clients and then manually running a savegrp -O{groupname} command. The pool you specify for this group will be used for these backups.
NO INDEX AND BOOTSTRAP BACKUPS MEANS NO WAY TO COME BACK FROM A BACKUP SERVER DR.
You can manually also keep a copy of these three critical folders but then firstly it is manual (can forget sometimes) and secondly you need to stop Networker services for it.
You can choose retention period based on how long you want them but remember that if retention period of a given save set of a client has crossed, it's indexes will get deleted from the /nsr/index folder automatically since if you do not retain data, there is no point retaining the index for it.
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I created tape Pool index and defined all things like in the article, but backup index are still saved on the backup pools - not on index pool and tape
Shall I create some additional client and group to backup indexex on separate pool tape?
My tapes expiration is still one year instead of for example two weeks or one month - depends of group/client configuration....
amediratta
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2014 Posts
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Posted September 2nd, 2010 00:00
This is because a tape expires by the date as per the retention period of the save sets backed up.
By default, backup server has a retention policy of 1 year and indexes are backed up on the same tape on which backup is taken. Index is a backup server save set. So at end of the backup, indexes are backed up on the tape with one year retention as set for backup server. Therefore, the tape expires after one year even if other client's save sets are having two weeks retention period.
Ways to resolve:
1. Reduce the retention period of the client resource of backup server to be equal to or less than the retention period of the clients in the same group.
2. Configure your backup setup such that the indexes are backed up on a separate dedicated media other than the media on which client save sets are backed up. This way you can have index retention of one year although if the backup media (on which client save sets were backed up) lasts for two weeks only then there is no point retaining indexes.