Dell NetWorker 19.9 Administration Guide

Characteristics of the online indexes

The size of an index is proportional to the number of entries the index contains. The media database is usually smaller than the client file index, because the media database stores one entry for each volume, while the client file index stores one entry for each file that NetWorker saves on a volume. The NetWorker server selects which volume to mount to perform a recovery by mapping the saved files to their volumes.

Each entry in the client file index includes this information for a saved file:

• Filename
• Number of blocks
• Access privileges
• Number of links
• Owner
• Group
• Size
• Last modified time
• Backup time

The client file indexes grow with each backup, as entries are added for each newly saved file and save set. As long as an index entry for a file remains in the client file index, you can perform a browsable recovery of the file. Over time, the size of these indexes can grow very large.

NetWorker uses browse and retention policies to manage the lifecycle of the data, and to automatically control the size of the client file index. Backup Browse and Retention provides information about policies.