Archive Manager Encryption/Compression Options

Arcserve Backup lets you encrypt, compress, or both encrypt and compress archive data.

Be aware of the following:

• Arcserve Backup does not support compressing and encrypting data on deduplication device groups.
• Note: For more information, see Compression and Encryption with Deduplication.
• If you specify encryption and compression options, and the archive destination is a drive that does not support compression, Arcserve Backup encrypts the archive data and does not compress the archive data.

The following options define how Arcserve Backup processes archive data during an archive job.

Session/Encryption Password

• Session/Encryption password--Specify a Session/Encryption password to restore this data from media.
• If you specify a Session Encryption password, you must specify the password to perform the following operations:
• Restore operations where the encryption, compression, or both were processed at the agent or at the archive server.
• Compare operations where the encryption, compression, or both were processed at the agent or at the archive server.
• Merge and Scan operations where the encryption, compression, or both were processed at the archive server. (You do not need to specify the password to perform Merge and Scan operations where the encryption, compression, or both operations were processed at the agent.)
• Note: The Session/Encryption password is not required when you Merge or Scan only the session headers.
• Save Current Session/Encryption Password to the Arcserve Backup database--Use this option to save the password to the Arcserve Backup database and enable password management. This option is selected by default. This option is available for both local and global option passwords.
• Note: You can modify only the Global Option password from the Session/Encryption password dialog by right clicking on the job in the job queue.
• Remind to change password n days after specifying a password--Specify the number of days a password is valid. Seven days prior to the specified number of days, a message prompting you to change your password will be logged in the Activity Log.
• Example:
• On Jan. 1 you set n to 30 days. On Jan. 24 the message, "The archive job password will expire in 7 days.", will appear in the Activity Log. On Jan. 31 the message, "The archive job password has been expired." Please change it now appears in the Activity Log.

Encryption/Compression methods

• Encrypt data--Use this option to encrypt the archive data. You can specify one of the following options:
• At agent--Select this option to encrypt the archive data prior to the actual archive process. For more information about this option, see Data Encryption at the Agent Server.
• At backup server during archive--Select this option to encrypt the archive data at the backup server during the archive process.

• Compress data--Use this option to compress the archive data. You can specify one of the following options:
• At agent--Select this option to compress the archive data on the system where the agent is installed and running.
• Note: Arcserve Backup does not support data compression at the agent system when the archive source consists of UNIX.
• At backup server--Select this option to compress the archive data at the Arcserve Backup server during the archive process. This option lets you compress files before archiving by using a software compression algorithm.
• Be aware of the following behavior:
  • You must specify Encrypt data at backup server during archive to enable compression at backup server.
  • With the 'at Backup Server' option specified in the Compress data section and the 'at Backup Server during archive' option specified in the Encrypt data section, Arcserve Backup uses software compression to compress the data at the backup server before the data is encrypted.
  • If the storage device associated with the job does not support hardware compression, Arcserve Backup ignores the 'at Backup Server' option selected in the Compress data section.