Dell NetWorker 19.9 Administration Guide

Cloning, staging, and archiving

The storage device that you use for the initial backup is often a compromise between a number of factors, including location, availability, capacity, speed, and cost. As a result, the backup data on the initial storage device is unlikely to be on the ideal or best storage for the entire duration of the retention period.

NetWorker provides you with three ways to manage data for long term storage.

• Cloning—The clone process allows you to perform the following tasks:
  • Create a duplicate copy of backup data securely offsite.
  • Transfer data from one location to another.
  • Verify backups.

  You can clone volumes and save sets. The clone process copies existing save sets from a volume in one device to a volume in a different device. The target volume can be the same media type or a different media type than the original.

• Staging—The stage process uses the clone process to transfer backup data from an AFTD or file type device to another medium, then removes the data from the original location.
• Archiving—The archive process captures files or directories as they exist at a specific time, and writes the data to archive storage volumes. NetWorker does not automatically recycle the archive volumes. After the archive process completes, you can delete or groom the original files from the disk to conserve space.