Backup Manager Backup Media Options

You can specify the overwrite/append rules for the media used in your backup job while you are configuring the job. This section describes the rules so that you can determine which method is best for your purposes.

Arcserve Backup allows up to 20000 sessions on a single tape and up to 101 sequences of a series of spanned tapes. Keep this in mind when planning your backups, because, if your sessions are small, you can reach 20000 sessions quickly. If you have a large amount of data to back up, you can quickly exceed 101 sequences, depending upon how much data each tape can hold. You can stop appending the data to the tape when the sequence number reaches the maximum limit and start a new tape set by selecting the Overwrite Same Media Name, Blank Media or Overwrite Same Media Name, or Blank Media First, then Any Media option.

For a file system device (FSD), the limitation is 4,294,967,295 sessions on a single FSD.

Jobs may fail when you back up older versions of Arcserve Backup database and application agents to FSDs that contain more than 65,535 sessions. Therefore, you must upgrade any older versions of Arcserve Backup database and application agents to this release to avoid job failure on these devices.

First Backup Media

The first backup media is the media you use when the backup job begins. The options for the first media determine the overwrite rules for the first media that is used for the backup job:

Note: If the "Use Rotation Scheme" backup option is selected on the Schedule tab, the Rotation Rules override these options.

• Append to Media--Append job sessions to the selected media.

• Overwrite Same Media Name, or Blank Media--Overwrite the media in the drive only if it is the one you specified for the job or if the media is blank. If neither of these conditions are met, Arcserve Backup prompts you to supply the specific media name.

• Overwrite Same Media Name, or Blank Media First, then Any Media--Overwrite any media found in the drive. If you select this media option, Arcserve Backup checks to see if the media in the drive is the one specified for the job. If it is not, Arcserve Backup checks to see if the media is blank. If the media is not blank either, Arcserve Backup reformats whatever media it finds in the device and starts backing up files at the beginning of the media.
• Timeout for First Media--Number of minutes Arcserve Backup attempts to write to media before canceling job or selecting a different media.

Be aware of the following:

• The deduplication device does not support Overwrite Same Media Name. The backup job will always append to the deduplication device even if Overwrite Same Media Name, or Blank Media or Overwrite Same Media Name, or Blank Media First, then Any Media is selected.
• If you want to format the deduplication device, format it manually in Arcserve Backup Manager.
• Arcserve Backup ignores the First Backup Media options that you specified when the Append days option is specified as a custom job option.

Additional Backup Media

These options apply to jobs that require more than one media to determine the overwrite rules for the additional media. You need to specify which media Arcserve Backup can use when the job spans media.

Note: If the "Use Rotation Scheme" backup option is selected on the Schedule tab, the Rotation Rules will override these options.

• Overwrite Same Media Name, or Blank Media--Write to the media in the device only if it has the same media name (but a different media ID) or if it is blank. Arcserve Backup remembers the name and ID of the job's first media. When the job requires additional media, Arcserve Backup checks if the new media has the same name (but different media ID) or if it is a blank media. As long as the ID is different, Arcserve Backup reformats the media, giving it the same name and ID as the first media. The sequence number changes.
• Note: To overwrite media based on its name only, select the Distinguish Media by Name Only option.

• Overwrite Same Media Name, or Blank Media First, then Any Media--Overwrites any media found in the device (as long as it has a different ID from the first media's ID). If neither of these conditions are met, Arcserve Backup reformats whatever media it finds in the drive and starts backing up files at the beginning of the media. All subsequent media are reformatted with the same name and ID as the first media. Only the sequence number changes.
• Note: To overwrite media based on its name only, select the Distinguish Media by Name Only option.

• Timeout for Additional Media--Number of minutes Arcserve Backup pauses before attempting write backup data to the same media, write backup data to different media, or cancel the job.

Distinguish Media by Name Only

Arcserve Backup writes to any media that has the name specified in the Media text box on the Destination tab, regardless of the media's ID or sequence number. This option is useful if you are running a repeating Overwrite job with a specific media and you want to ensure that the same media is used for the job each time.

When this option is not enabled, the second time the backup job is run, Arcserve Backup might not be able to locate the original tape because some of its identifying features will have changed. When this option is enabled, however, Arcserve Backup simply looks for a media that has the name specified in the Media text box and uses it, regardless of the media's other identifying features.

Note: If more than one media in the tape library have the same name, Arcserve Backup will use the first media in the device group that matches the specified name. Therefore, we do not recommend that you use this option to perform a one-time overwrite.