Is there a way to set Script Priority if two scheduled repeating scripts fall on the same day?

[epoulin]

I'm running into a little problem that I can work around manually, but would like to know if there is an automatic setting in Retrospect 7.0 for Windows (Single Server, newest updates as of 3/16).

 

I'm running a pretty standard Grandfather-Father-Son backup rotation, with the Grandfather falling at the last day of the month (rotating through 4 tapes). Father is set to backup every Friday (rotating through 4 tapes). Son is set to backup Monday-Thursday with a tape for each day. All backup are set to start at 9pm each night. The Father and Son schedules don't conflict at all since they are set for separate repeating days of the week, but obviously the last day of the month falls on various days as the year goes on. This results in two scripts being scheduled for the same day at the same time once a month.

 

I was hoping that there was a way to set Script Precedence so that if two scripts fall on the same day, one script is run, and the other is skipped. For instance, March 31st is a Thursday, so the Grandfather for March and the Son for Thursday are set to run that night. I can go in and skip that script manually, but it would be nice if it could do it automatically.

 

Thanks!

[natew]

Hi

 

A simple answer to your question is no. However we might be able to suggest a better strategy for you. Retrospect is sort of designed not to do GFS. It manages the data much differently.

 

So if I understand you correctly - you are using 7 different backup sets.

A monthly set - Grandfather

A weekly set - Father

A daily set for each day - Son monday, son tuesday etc...

 

Right?

 

Are you running normal backups or recycle backups? Are you using an autoloader or changing tapes manually?

 

Thanks

Nate

[epoulin]

Nate,

 

That is essentially correct with GFS, however if there is a better strategy with Retro, I am open to changing. I'm only on the second day of the GFS rotation so it's not a problem to scrap the scripts I've set up.

 

I am running a single LTO2 drive (HP StorageWorks 460 via SCSI), manually changing tapes, and using recycle backups. The daily backup is about 170GB so I'm still well in the one tape per day range.

 

 

Thanks for you help.

[natew]

Hi

 

A couple of key concepts.

 

Unlike GFS Retrospect stores a complete backup in each backup set. This is regardless if you do fulls or incrementals. Each backup set represents a completely independent backup of the machine.

 

Every time Retrospect runs a backup it compares the contents of the backup set to what is on disk. It then backs up whatever is not already in a backup set. The point is, incremental backups don't depend on the full backup. All that matters is what is already in the set vs what is on disk.

 

Here is what I would do:

 

-Create 5 backup sets ( name them mon, tue, wed ...) and add them all as destinations to a single backup script.

-Create 5 schedules for this script running normal backups on each day to the corresponding set.

 

Thats your daily backup - 5 completely independent, complete backups.

 

Now to keep the sets from getting too large we set up recycle backups. To prepare for this, look at a wall calendar. Starting with the first monday of the month draw a diagonal line through each day to the friday 5weeks later.

Each day of the week will be marked only once. We will do recycles based on these days. What this will give you is a 5 week rotation. You recycle only one set a week so you will have 4 weeks of backup history at any time. Make sense?

 

-Create another script like the one above with all 5 sets

-Add 5 schedules like above but change the start date in accordance with the dates from the diagonal line on the calendar.

-Set the weeks box to "5" and select recycle backups.

 

Scheduling recycles and normals to run at the exact same time is not a problem. The recycle will take precendent.

 

If you ever want to retire a set for archive purposes go to configure->backup sets in Retrospect, Right click on the backup set and choose "new media". This will tell Retrospect to continue your current backup schedule using a new backup set/tape. You can then take the old one off site.

 

Hope that helps

 

Nate

[epoulin]

That makes complete sense, thanks for the great explanation.

 

One Clarification: So if I look at the schedule in Retrospect and see that say next Friday has two executions scheduled, one the Normal and one the Recycle, that Retrospect will know to run the recycle only, and not wait and try to run the other one after the first finishes? (they are both set for the same time).

 

 

I have made one change that I think will help cover all of our bases. In addition to the file server that we will be backing up (the ~170GB mentioned earlier), we have another server that marketing uses to store all of the project images, powerpoint shows, etc. This server hold about ~250GB. They are currently doing a overhaul to the layout, structure of directory, and quality of images, so I want to make sure that I get all of that as well. This is occuring mostly on weekends, and doesn't change at all during the week for the most part.

 

I know that both servers contents won't fit onto one tape alone, so I set it that on Mondays, Retro runs a Normal backup to a set of three tapes (Media 1, Media 2, Media 1), and that on the 5th cycle, it runs a recycle like the other sets.

 

So here is a snipit of my schedule as listed in Retrospect starting today: (*=double scheduled normal/recycle)

 

Friday Mar 18 | Normal | Daily Friday

Monday Mar 21 | Normal | MediaArchive 1

Tuesday Mar 22 | Normal | Daily Tuesday

Wednesday Mar 23 | Normal | Daily Wednesday

Thursday Mar 24 | Recycle | Daily Thursday *

Thursday Mar 24 | Normal | Daily Thursday *

Friday Mar 25 | Normal | Daily Friday

Monday Mar 28 | Normal | MediaArchive 2

Tuesday Mar 29 | Normal | Daily Tuesday

Wednesday Mar 30 | Normal | Daily Wednesday *

Wednesday Mar 30 | Recycle | Daily Wednesday *

Thursday Mar 31 | Normal | Daily Thursday

 

...and that repeats with each week a differnt day recycles until it loops back around in 5 weeks, including the MediaArchive set.

 

Looking at the schedule, it leaves one hole for our file server backup on Mondays, but in general, if we lost one day and at least have Friday's, that is not a deal breaker.

 

Thanks for walking me though this!

[natew]

Hi

 

That looks good.

You are correct about the recycles/ normals scheculed for the same set at the same time. Only the recycle will run even though both show up in the preview window.

 

Actually, now that I think of it, that only works if the normal and recycle are schedules of the same script. Just make sure to set up everything in one script and you will be OK.

 

Thanks

Nate