Dell NetWorker 19.9 Administration Guide

Performing scheduled synthetic full backups

Perform scheduled synthetic full backups by configuring a data protection policy with a traditional backup action.

1. Ensure that the environment meets the requirements that are provided in Requirements for synthetic full backups.
2. Create a group to define the clients for the synthetic full backups:
   • Create a basic client group to specify a static list of clients.

   • Create a dynamic client group to specify a dynamic list of Client resources.

     When the backup starts, the NetWorker policy engine dynamically generates a list of Client resources that match the tags that are specified for the group.

   Create separate groups for Windows clients and UNIX clients. Do not mix clients with different operating system types in the same group.
3. Create a policy.
   Policies provide a container for the workflows, actions, and groups that support and define the backup action.
4. Create a workflow.
   Workflows define the start time for a series of actions, the order of actions in a sequence, and the group of client resources for which the action occurs.
5. Use the Policy Action wizard to create a traditional backup action with the following settings:

   • In the schedule area of the Choose Action Type page, click the icon on each day to specify the type of backup to perform. The following icon indicates that a synthetic full backup will occur on the selected day:

     
   • On the Options page, leave the Verify synthetic full option selected to verify the integrity of the new index entries that are created in the client file index for the synthetic full backup.
   • On the Options page, leave the Revert to full when synthetic full fails option selected to perform a full backup of the save set if the synthetic full backup fails.