Using the Command Line Interface › ca_backup - Backup Manager Command › Global Job Options › ca_backup Operation Options

ca_backup Operation Options

The ca_backup command includes the following global operation options:

ca_backup

[-backupasdb]
[-backupcatalog]
[-backupjobqueue]
[-noestimation]
[-createcrc]
[-deletefiles]
[-preserveaccesstime]
[-eject|-noeject]
[-partialdbupdate|-nodbupdate]
[-disableResetArchiveBitForDedupe]

-backupasdb

Appends the Arcserve Backup database at the end of the backup data.

-backupcatalog

Appends the catalog files at the end of the backup data.

-backupjobqueue

Appends the job scripts at the end of the backup data.

-noestimation

Disables file estimation. By default, before any file is backed up to media, Arcserve Backup performs an estimate of how long the job will take. Select this option if you want Arcserve Backup to skip this function, saving time at the beginning of the backup.

-createcrc

Calculates and stores the CRC value on backup media. Select this option if you want Arcserve Backup to automatically calculate the CRC values and save them to the backup media during the backup job. The CRC values can then be used by the scan operation immediately following the backup job (if the -scan global verification option is included), or as part of a separate scan job.

-deletefiles

Deletes the files from the hard disk after the file backup is completed. Select this option if you want to delete source files from the source machine after they have been backed up to media. This option deletes only the files from the specified unprotected folder. It does not delete the empty folder itself.

You can use this option to perform disk grooming. For example, if you set up a backup job with a filter to back up files that haven't been accessed for a certain period of time, you could then include this option to delete those files from the source disk.

Notes:

• On Windows computers, protected system files and files that are excluded from the backup by other filters are not deleted. For a remote backup job or a 64-bit operating system local backup job or a Windows Server 2008 local backup, the Windows Client Agent backs up the files. After the backup, this option deletes only the files from the specified unprotected folder. It does not delete the empty folder itself. Boot files, however, are not protected and can be deleted.
• On Linux/UNIX and Mac computers, all files that are backed up are deleted, except for those in protected directories, such as /bin, /etc, and /lib. To designate additional directories as protected, add them to the groom.cntl file on the client agent machine.

-preserveaccesstime

Preserves file access time (for windows file system only). This option directs Arcserve Backup to preserve the last access time of files when a backup is performed.

The Access Time of a file is automatically updated by the operating system whenever a file is accessed (read or write). However, after a full backup is performed, the Access Times of all the backed up files are also updated. Therefore, if you want to track whether or not a file has actually been accessed (and not just backed up), you need to preserve the original access time.

• If this option is not included, the last file access time of any files that are backed up is updated to the new value that is present when the backup is completed. This is the default setting.
• If this option is included, Arcserve Backup preserves the last file access time of any files that are backed as the original value that was present before the backup was performed.

-eject

Ejects the media from the drive after the job finishes. This helps prevent any other job from overwriting information on this media. If you select this, it overrides the setting you selected during library configuration.

-noeject

Does not eject the media from the drive after the job finishes. If you select this, it overrides the setting you selected during library configuration.

-partialdbupdate

Records only Job and Session information into the Arcserve Backup database. Select this option to log only job and session information in the database. This is the recommended method.

Note: On Windows, if you select this, no detail information will be merged into the database. If you enabled the catalog database and select this, catalog files are stored in the CATALOG.DB folder. If you did not enable the catalog database, catalog files are deleted afterwards.

-nodbupdate

Disables database recording. Does not log any information about this job in the database. Select this option if you are backing up the Arcserve Backup database or if you have limited disk space.

You must submit a Merge Media operation before you can use any of the database views to restore this data.

-disableResetArchiveBitForDedupe

Disables the resetting of the archive bit for all files specified in the command. If you omit this switch, archive bits are reset by default.

Important! Use this switch with caution. The archive bit marks a particular file as changed. When you perform deduplication jobs with Optimization, only the files marked as "changed" since the last backup are actually deduplicated. After the backup job completes, the Archive Bits on those files should be reset. If the Archive Bit is not reset, files are automatically considered "changed" and Optimization includes them in subsequent backup jobs, even if no changes actually took place.

You should disable archive bit resetting in situations where files to be backed up by custom deduplication with optimization jobs are also backed up by some other backup job, such as a GFS job. Clearing the archive bit after the first job could affect the GFS job.

More information:

ca_backup - Examples