Backup Basics

You can use Arcserve Backup to back up all your clients at the same time, back up only your local host, or pick and choose the hosts that you want.

Note: In order to select objects residing on servers for backup, that server must be entered into the Client database. You must be running Arcserve Backup to be able to add clients and backup other servers beyond from the host server running Arcserve Backup.

Use the Backup Manager to:

• Back up clients to various media or create a customized backup scheme.
• Use job filters to selectively exclude or include directories and files from backup jobs.
• Create an automated backup scheme using media rotation. For more information, see Rotation Scheme Configuration.
• Create an automated backup scheme using the Arcserve Backup GFS rotation scheme.

Global vs. local source options

Arcserve Backup allows you to apply backup options to local source objects (such as volumes and nodes) or globally to the entire backup job, or to both at the same time. If an option is being applied locally to the source, it is accessed from that object's source tab. If it is being applied globally, it is accessed via the Global Options button found on the top portion of the backup manager.

Selecting the best backup scheme for your requirements

Arcserve Backup provides three backup schemes to choose from: Custom, Rotation, and GFS Rotation. Use the table below to help guide you in selecting the right backup scheme.

Note: All scheduled times for Arcserve Backup jobs are based upon the time zone where the Arcserve Backup server is located. If your agent machine is located in a different time zone than the Arcserve Backup server, you will need to calculate the equivalent local time that you want the job to be run.

• Custom--The Custom scheme enables you to run a backup job either once or on a repeating basis. The use of a specific media pool is not required, but you can still submit a backup job to a given media pool as long as you are authorized to access that pool.
• Rotation--Selecting Rotation as a backup scheme enables you to maintain a weekly rotation of media. A combination of three different backup methods is used including: Full, Differential, and Incremental. A specific (non-shared) media pool must be assigned to the rotation scheme. Appending data to media and changing the media name is allowed.
• GFS Rotation--Selecting Enable GFS enables you to maintain a monthly rotation of media. A combination of three different backup methods is used including: Full, Differential, and Incremental. Media pools can be shared and assigned to GFS rotation schemes. As with rotation, appending data to media is allowed; however, changing the name associated with the media within the assigned pool is not allowed. The media is automatically named by Arcserve Backup.

Maximum Number of Sessions

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 very 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.

More information:

Network-based Backups

Backup Job Configuration

Backup Methods

Back Up Windows Machines

Windows Registry and System State Backups

Media Overwrite and Append Rules

Specifying a Password for Your Backup Job

Verifying Your Data on Media

Specifying Pre/Post Commands