rotating backup set - automatic?

[redlex]

The section of the documentation entitled "Individual Strategy 2- Scheduled Script" reads:

 

"To introduce new media for rotation with other sets or off-site storage, periodically configure the Backup Set to use a new Backup Set, as described in The Options tab."

 

This sounds like a manual step. Is there anyway to script it so that the backup set does "new backup set" option automatically when I want, rather than a manual intervention?

[rhwalker]

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This sounds like a manual step. Is there anyway to script it so that the backup set does "new backup set" option automatically when I want, rather than a manual intervention?

 

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Yes. Step one is to set up schedules for alternating backup sets, say, "Set A" and "Set B". Put both "Set A" and "Set B" in the destination for the script, with alternating days - e.g., "Set A" on MWF and "Set B" on TuesThursSat. For reasons you will see in a moment, name each with a suffix of 001 surrounded with brackets, e.g.,

 

Set A [001] scheduled for MWF

Set B [001] scheduled for TuesThursSat

 

Then, add an additional schedule item for each backup set, on its scheduled normal backup day, say, once every two weeks, to do a "New Media" backup. When that happens, Retrospect will create a new backup set of the same name with an incremented number, do a full (non-incremental) backup, and incremental backups each scheduled day after. If a New Media backup and incremental (normal) backup are scheduled for the same time on the same day, only the New Media backup will be done.

 

So, you will end up with backup sets named:

 

Set A [001]

Set B [001]

 

Set A [002] (automatically created after two weeks, when Set A [001] ceases being used)

Set B [002] (automatically created after two weeks, when Set B [001] ceases being used)

 

etc.,

 

and member names

 

1-Set A [001], 2-Set A [001], 3-Set A [001], etc. (as many as it takes until new media)

1-Set B [001], 2-Set B [001], 3-Set B [001], etc. (as many as it takes until new media)

 

1-Set A [002], 2-Set A [002], 3-Set A [002], etc. (as many as it takes until new media)

1-Set B [002], 2-Set B [002], 3-Set B [002], etc. (as many as it takes until new media)

 

1-Set A [003], 2-Set A [003], 3-Set A [003], etc. (as many as it takes until new media)

1-Set B [003], 2-Set B [003], 3-Set B [003], etc. (as many as it takes until new media)

 

Clear?

 

Russ

[redlex]

Hi there

Thanks for that reply, most helpful.

I think I understand how it is done now.

One thing - you say "to do a 'New Media' backup" - did you actually mean "New backup set"? What you describe seems to fit with "New backup set".... "New media" can only create new members in a backup set AFAIK and won't create new backup sets.

[redlex]

Oh yeah, one last thing about this scheme.

 

With a finite amount of tapes, eventually old tapes taken off-site will have to be brought back in and reintroduced to the scheme. What are the correct steps to do this?

 

I'm thinking that in the very least I will have to:

 

a) manually tell retrospect to 'forget' (Delete) the corresponding backup set (which should also make it forget the members in that backup set)

 

manually wipe the tape I've bought in - or is that not necessary? As far as I can see, Retrospect likes 'new' tapes to be erased.

 

Or is there a more magic automated way of doing these things?

[rhwalker]

You have never indicated what version of Retrospect you are using, and have posted this in the "General Discussion" forum, so I have answered in generalities using the terminology used in the Macintosh version of Retrospect.

 

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One thing - you say "to do a 'New Media' backup" - did you actually mean "New backup set"?

 

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No. I meant exactly what I said. A scheduled "New Media" backup.

 

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With a finite amount of tapes, eventually old tapes taken off-site will have to be brought back in and reintroduced to the scheme.

 

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Well, if you do that, then you lose your offsite backups. The solution is to buy more tapes, as we do, preserving your offsite backup. It is the only way to recover from accidental deletion of files when the deletion is not discovered until a long time later, after you have recycled tapes.

 

Your steps on recycling tapes are correct, but for the wrong reasons, and might not be necessary depending on what you want to do for tape names and backup set names. Retrospect tries very hard to protect your data and to prevent you from doing something by accident that would cause loss of your data.

 

If you want to keep the same backup set name but recycle the tape, then erasing the tape causes Retrospect to know that there is no data on a tape by that name. If you "forget" a backup set, it does NOT delete the catalog, it simply causes that catalog to disappear from the Retrospect listings. To delete the catalog, you have to perform the additional step, from the Finder, of dragging that catalog to the trash and emptying the trash. If you delete the catalog but do not "forget" it, Retrospect will want you to locate the catalog the next time you try to access it.

 

As for Retrospect "liking" new tapes to be erased, no, it will not let you write to a tape that is already named and in use as a member of a different backup set. That is to prevent you from destroying your valuable backup data. Sometimes it may be inconvenient and cumbersome to make you go through hoops to write to a tape that you no longer care about, but that is for the protection of your data.

 

Russ

[redlex]

Hi Russ

Great help and information, thanks! Appreciate it.

[redlex]

Hi again Russ

 

I've checked the documentation again and it appears to be wrong (If you are correct): it says "Since New Member backups use an existing Backup Set, they only copy new and changed files since the last backup."

 

Regarding "New backup set" backup, the docs say "Then Retrospect performs a New Backup Set backup, it makes a new Backup Set (with a name similar to the old one) using a new or erased tape, disk, or CD/DVD. This allows the original Backup Set and its Catalog File to remain intact for long-term storage in a safe place. The new Backup Set Catalog File and the new media member are each named with a number in sequence, such as "Office Net [001]" and "1-Office Net [001]". Retrospect replaces references to the old Backup Set in scripts and schedules with the new Backup Set name." This seems to be what you are describing above. Is the documentation wrong?

 

p.s. sorry, forgot to say I am using Retrospect 7.5 on windows server 2003. (Multi-server license.)

[rhwalker]

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p.s. sorry, forgot to say I am using Retrospect 7.5 on windows server 2003. (Multi-server license.)

 

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That is a very key piece of information that you omitted. It may just be a difference in terminology between the Windows version and the Macintosh version of the program. What I told you was for the Macintosh version, because you had not previously provided information as to which version you were using.

 

What I told you was correct for the Macintosh version.

 

Russ

[redlex]

That seems a bit crazy that the two terms are switched on different OSes!

Thanks.