Customizing Jobs › Rotation Schemes

Rotation Schemes

This section describes how to configure a rotation scheme for a backup job by using the Arcserve Backup default scheme or by specifying your own rotation parameters. To access the parameters for configuring a rotation scheme, select the Schedule tab in the Arcserve Backup Manager. The parameters that you can use are described below.

• Scheme Name--Select the type of rotation scheme you want, based on 5 or 7 days, and incremental, differential, or full backups. For more information on these standard schemes, see Calendar View Tab to modify your rotation scheme.
• Start Date--The date the backup will start.
• Execution Time--The time the backup will start.
• Enable GFS--Arcserve Backup allows you to select from pre-defined Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) rotation schemes consisting of full weekly backup jobs combined with daily incremental and differential jobs. The GFS strategy is a method of maintaining backups on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

  Accessible from the Backup Manager, the primary purpose of the GFS scheme is to suggest a minimum standard and consistent interval to rotate and retire the media. The daily backups are the Son. The last full backup in the week (the weekly backup) is the Father. The last full backup of the month (the monthly backup) is the Grandfather. GFS rotation schemes allow you to back up your servers for an entire year using a minimum of media.

  GFS backup schemes are based on a five or seven-day weekly schedule beginning any day. A full backup is performed at least once a week. On all other days, full, partial, or no backups are performed. Using GFS rotation, you can restore data reliably for any day of the week by using the weekly full backup in conjunction with the daily incremental or differential backup jobs.

  Note: A five-day GFS rotation scheme requires 21 media-per-year, while a seven-day scheme requires 23 media-per-year.

  Although GFS rotation schemes are predefined, you can modify these schemes to suit your individual needs. You can deviate from your standard rotation scheme (for instance, if a holiday falls on Wednesday, your usual backup day).

  • Append Media--If you specify the Enable GFS option, you can direct Arcserve Backup allow data from GFS rotation to append to existing jobs on the media.
• Daily Backup Method--The Daily Backup Method option lets you specify one of the following options for your daily backup jobs:
  • Full--All source files are backed up. This backup method clears the archive bit.
  • Incremental--Files that have changed since the last backup are backed up. This backup method clears the archive bit.
  • Differential - Archive Bit--Files that have changed since the last full backup job are backed up. This backup method does not change the archive bit.
• Use WORM Media--The Use WORM Media option lets you direct Arcserve Backup to use WORM media for all rotation rules. With this option enabled, you have the capability to use WORM media for daily, weekly, and monthly GFS backup jobs.

  Important! Arcserve Backup does not support the use of WORM media for multiplexing and multistreaming backup jobs. As a result, when you enable the Multiplexing option or the Multistreaming option on the Destination tab of the Backup Manager, the Use WORM Media option is disabled.

More information:

Calendar View Tab