Dell NetWorker 19.9 Administration Guide

Backup storage for synthetic full backups

Configure a Client resource for the NetWorker storage node that you use for the synthetic full backup. A client connection license for this storage node is not used if the storage node is not backed up.

There must be at least two available attached devices to perform a synthetic full backup: one for reading the backup data, and one for writing the backup data to a synthetic full backup.

You can store synthetic full backups on any device that can be used in a traditional full backup. However, since synthetic full backups include concurrent recover and save operations, it is strongly recommended that you direct synthetic full backups to devices that can perform concurrent operations, such as Data Domain devices or Advanced File Type Devices (AFTDs). Using these device types allows the NetWorker software to automatically handle volume contention, where the same volume is required for both reading and for writing simultaneously. These devices typically offer better performance.

You can use other devices such as tape drives, VTLs, and basic file devices as the destination for synthetic full backups, but careful preparation is required for the backup to succeed. The backup must be configured so that the destination volume does not contain any of the sources save sets that are used for the synthetic full backup. Also, for tape media, ensure that there are enough available drives to allow for concurrent recovery of the source data and for saving the synthetic full backup. Without careful planning, synthetic full backups to tape, VTL, or basic file devices might stall because of volume contention.

To direct a synthetic full backup to a dedicated pool, configure a separate backup action for synthetic full backups in the data protection policy, and select the pool as the destination pool in the backup action for the synthetic full backup.