Advanced - Linux File System Backup

Table of Contents

Full Backups

Incremental Backups

Differential Backups

Synthetic Full Backups

Running Synthetic Full Backups

Running an Incremental Backup Before or After a Synthetic Full Backup

Verifying Synthetic Full Backups

Ignoring Errors in Synthetic Full Backups

Accelerated Synthetic Full Backups (DASH Full)

Backing up Mount Points

Disabling System Errors during Backups

Scheduling A Backup

Performing an On Demand Backup

Managing Jobs

Restarting Jobs

Controlling Jobs

Additional Options

Command Line Backups

Log on to the CommServe

Perform the Backup

Generate the Command Line Script from the CommCell Console

Full Backups

Full backups provide the most comprehensive protection of data.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  2. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Select Full as backup type and Immediate to run the job immediately.
  4. Click OK.

    You can track the progress of the job from the Job Controller or Event Viewer window.  When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

Incremental backups

An incremental backup contains only data that is new or has changed since the last backup, regardless of the type. On average, incremental backups consume less media and use less resources than full backups. 

The illustration on the right clarifies the nature of full and incremental backups.

Follow steps given below to perform an incremental backup:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  2. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Select Incremental as backup type and Immediate to run the job immediately.
  4. Click OK.

    You can track the progress of the job from the Job Controller.  When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

  

Differential Backups

A differential backup contains only the data that is new or has changed since the last full backup. Like incremental backups, differential backups also consume less media and use less resources than full backups. Differential backups are cumulative. This means that each differential backup contains all changes accumulated since the last full backup. Each successive differential backup contains all the changes from the previous differential backup.

The illustration on the right demonstrates the nature of differential backups. For simplicity, assume there is a file system that contains six files as represented in the figure.

 
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  2. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Select Differential as a backup type and Immediate to run the job immediately.
  4. Click OK.

    You can track the progress of the backup job from the Job Controller.  When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

Synthetic Full Backups

A synthetic full backup is a synthesized backup, created from the most recent full backup and subsequent incremental and/or differential backups. The resulting synthetic full backup is identical to a full backup for the subclient.

Unlike full, incremental, and differential backups, a synthetic full backup does not actually transfer data from a client computer to the backup media. Therefore, they do not use any resources on the client computer.

Synthetic full backups are media-based; they read backup data from one media and simultaneously write (restore) the result to the new active media within the same media group. As a result, synthetic full backups require that at least two media drives for the same storage policy be available at the time the job is started. Synthetic full backups cannot be performed on subclients where the storage policy is associated with a stand-alone drive.

Running Synthetic Full Backups

Synthetic full backups can either be started manually or scheduled to occur at regular intervals. Do not concurrently run more than one synthetic full backup, especially synthetic full backups with multiple streams.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  1. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  2. From the Backup Options window, select Synthetic Full for Backup Type.
  3. Select Immediate for Job Initiation.
  4. Click OK.

    You can track the progress of the backup job from the Job Controller. When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

Running an Incremental Backup Before or After a Synthetic Full Backup

An incremental backup can be run either before or after a synthetic full backup.

The sections below describe the steps to run an incremental backup before or after a synthetic full backup:

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  1. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  2. From the Backup Options window, select Synthetic Full for Backup Type.
  3. Select Run Incremental Backup and then select Before Synthetic Full or After Synthetic Full options.
  4. Select Immediate for Job Initiation.
  5. Click OK.

    You can track the progress of the backup job from the Job Controller. When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

Verifying Synthetic Full Backups

This option ensures that files that have not backed up by incremental jobs since the last full backup are backed up by the next incremental.

For example: If you perform the conventional full backup only once for a given subclient and then perform incremental (or differential) backups and periodic synthetic full backups.
After the conventional full backup, a file is added to the subclient and the file has a time stamp older than the time of full backup. In such scenario, the file will never get backed up. Eventually, such files may be pruned and no backup of such  files will be available.

The illustration on the right explains the necessity of verifying synthetic full backups.

In order to overcome this problem, it is recommended to verify the synthetic full backups job periodically as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  1. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  2. From the Backup Options dialog box, select Synthetic Full.
  3. Click Advanced.
  4. In the Advanced Backup Options dialog box, click the Data tab.
  5. Select Verify Synthetic Full. Click OK to continue.
  6. Click OK.

Ignoring Errors in Synthetic Full Backups

Errors encountered in synthetic full backups can be ignored, even if backup media is partially corrupted. Errors such as inability to read data (bad tape, files missing on disk media, etc.) will be ignored when this option is enabled.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  1. Right click the subclient and click Backup.
  2. From the Backup Options dialog box, select Synthetic Full.
  3. Click Advanced.
  4. In the Advanced Backup Options dialog box, click the Data tab.
  5. Select Verify Synthetic Full and then select Ignore Error in Synthetic Full.
  6. Click OK to close the Advanced Backup Options dialog box.
  7. Click OK .

Accelerated Synthetic Full Backups (DASH Full)

When a storage policy copy is deduplicated, synthetic full backups can be created in an accelerated mode to significantly reduce the copy duration. This is done by identifying and transferring the data signatures (instead of the data itself) to the target wherever possible.

Learn more...

Backing up Mount Points

Backups follow mount points by default, backing up both the configuration and the data on the mounted volume. You can use another subclient to backup the data on the mounted volume. In such case, you can exclude the data on the mounted volume from the default backup.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System |defaultBackupSet.
  2. Right click the default <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Select Full as backup type and Immediate to run the job immediately.
  4. Click Advanced and select  the Advanced Backup Options dialog box.
  5. In the Advanced Backup Options dialog box, click the Data tab.
  6. Select (or clear) Follow Mount Points to include (or exclude) mount point data from the subclient.
  7. Click OK.

    Depending upon your selection, the mount point data will be included or excluded from the default subclient backup.
  When backups are run from multiple nodes on clustered file systems, the same content is backed up multiple times. Backups should be run on only one node to avoid such duplicate content backups. However, the other nodes can also be configured to run backups but make sure that the clustered file system mount point is added to the file system exclusion list of the physical machine's subclients.

For VERITAS Cluster File System, the clustered file system mount point is added automatically to the file system exclusion list when backup is run for the first time on the virtual node/s.

Disabling System Errors during Backups

By default, system errors are displayed during backup operations; for example, file not found. Use the following steps to ignore such specific system errors:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to Client Computers.
  2. Right-click the <Client>, and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Registry Key Settings tab.
  4. Click Add.
  5. In the Name field, type backupDoNotReportFileError.
  6. In the Location list, type FileSystemAgent.
  7. In the Type list, select Value.
  8. In the Value field, type <errcode1, errcode2, errcode3...> where errcode1, errcode2, errcode3 are error codes to ignore.

    For example, 65521.

  9. Click OK.

Command Line Backups

You can perform backups of file system data from the command line interface.

Command line backups enable you to perform backup operation on multiple clients simultaneously. In order to run the backups from command line, you need an input xml file which contains the parameters for configuring the backup options. This input xml file can be obtained from one of the following ways:

Log on to the Commserve

To run command line operations you must first login to the CommServe as follows:

Perform the Backup

  1. Download the backup_template.xml file and save it on the computer from where the command will be executed.
  2. Execute the saved .xml script using qoperation execute command.

    qoperation execute -af backup_template.xml -appName 'File System' -clientName xxxxx -backupsetName xxxxx -subclientName xxxxx -backupLevel FULL

  1. Verify the status of the job using the following command:

    qlist job –j JOBID

  2. Once the job completes, logout from the CommServe using the qlogout command.

    qlogout [-cs commserver] [-all] [-tf tokenfile] [-tk token] [-h]

Examples

Performing a Full Backup

qoperation execute -af backup_template.xml -appName 'File System' -clientName client1 -backupsetName backupset1 -subclientName subclient1 -backupLevel FULL
Performing an Incremental Backup

qoperation execute -af backup_template.xml -appName 'File System' -clientName client1 -backupsetName backupset1 -subclientName subclient1 -backupLevel INCREMENTAL

Generate the Command Line Script from the CommCell Console

In addition to the parameters provided in the template xml file, if you want to include additional options for the backup, you can do so by selecting the required options from the CommCell Console and generate the command line xml script for the backup. 

Follow the steps given below to generate a script which you can use to perform a backup from the command line interface:

  1. From the CommCell Console, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  2. Right click the default subclient and click Backup.
  1. Select the required backup options which you want to execute using the script.
  2. Click Save as Script.
  1. Enter the location where you want to save the script or click Browse and navigate to the location.

    The script will be saved as a .xml file and a .bat file is created.

    If a file with the same name already exists in the specified location, the .xml file will be created with a timestamp. However, the .bat file will overwrite the existing file.

  2. Enter the username and password for the user account which you want to use to perform the backup.

    By default, the user account which you have used to login to CommCell console is used for performing the backup. However, if the user account does not have access to any application or database, click Use a different account.

  3. Click OK.

Scheduling a Backup

1.
  • From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System | defaultBackupSet.
  • Right-click the Subclient and click Backup.
2.
  • Select the Backup type.
  • Click Schedule.
  • Click the Configure button.
3. Select the appropriate scheduling options. 

For example, use the following steps to create a weekly schedule:

  • Type a name for the schedule in the Schedule Name box.
  • Click Weekly.
  • In the Start Time box type or select the schedule start time.
  • Click and select the days to run the schedule.
  • Click OK.
4. When the schedule is run, the Job Controller window will display the job as shown in the sample image.
5. Once the job is complete, you can view the job details from the Backup History.
  • Right-click the Subclient and select View Job Details.

See Scheduling for a comprehensive information on scheduling jobs.

Performing An On Demand Backup

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System |<On Demand Backup Set>.
  2. Right click the <Subclient> and click Backup.
  3. Click Browse.
  4. Navigate to the Directive file or Content file that you want to use.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Select Immediate to run the job immediately.
  7. Click OK.

You can track the progress of the backup job from the Job Controller. When the backup has completed, the Job Controller displays Completed.

Managing Jobs

Jobs can be managed in a number of ways. See Job Management for a comprehensive information on managing jobs.

The following sections provide information on the different job management options available:

Restarting Jobs

Jobs that fail to complete successfully are automatically restarted based on the job restartability configuration set in the Control Panel. Keep in mind that changes made to this configuration will affect all jobs in the entire CommCell.

To Configure the job restartability for a specific job, you can modify the retry settings for the job. This will override the setting in the Control Panel. It is also possible to override the default CommServe configuration for individual jobs by configuring retry settings when initiating the job. This configuration, however, will apply only to the specific job.

Backup jobs for this Agent are resumed from the point-of-failure.

Configure Job Restartability at the CommServe Level

  1. From the CommCell Browser, click Control Panel icon.
  2. Select Job Management.
  3. Click Job Restarts tab and select a Job Type.
    • Select Restartable to make the job restartable.
    • Change the value for Max Restarts to change the maximum number of times the Job Manager will try to restart a job.
    • Change the value for Restart Interval (Mins) to change the time interval between attempts for the Job Manager to restart the job.
  4. Click OK.

Configure Job Restartability for an Individual Job

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to <Client> | File System.
  2. Right-click the <Subclient>and select Backup.
  1. Click Advanced.
  2. In the Advanced Backup Options dialog box, click the Job Retry tab.
  3. Select Enable Total Running Time and specify the maximum elapsed time before a job can be restarted or killed.

    Select Kill Running Jobs When Total Running Time Expires to kill the job after reaching the maximum elapsed time.

  4. Select Enable Number Of Retries and specify the number of retries.
  5. Click OK.
  

Controlling Jobs

The following controls are available for running jobs in the Job Controller window:

Suspend

 Temporarily stops a job. A suspended job is not terminated; it can be restarted at a later time.

Resume

 Resumes a job and returns the status to Waiting, Pending, Queued, or Running. The status depends on the availability of resources, the state of the Operation Windows, or the Activity Control setting.

Kill

 Terminates a job.

Suspending a Job

  1. From the Job Controller of the CommCell Console, right-click the job and select Suspend.
  2. The job status may change to Suspend Pending for a few moments while the operation completes. The job status then changes to Suspended.

Resuming a Job

  1. From the Job Controller of the CommCell Console, right-click the job and select Resume.
  2. As the Job Manager attempts to restart the job, the job status changes to Waiting, Pending, or Running.

Killing a Job

  1. From the Job Controller of the CommCell Console, right-click the job and select Kill.
  2. Click Yes when the confirmation prompt appears if you are sure you want to kill the job. The job status may change to Kill Pending for a few moments while the operation completes. Once completed, the job status will change to Killed and it will be removed from the Job Controller window after five minutes.

Additional Options

The following table describes the available additional options to further refine your backup operations:

Option Description Related topics
Startup Options The Startup Options are used by the Job Manager to set priority for resource allocation. This is useful to give higher priority to certain jobs. You can set the priority as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and click Startup tab.
  4. Select the Change Priority checkbox.
  5. Enter a priority number - 0 is the highest priority and 999 is the lowest priority.
  6. Select the Start up in suspended State check box to start the job in a suspended state.
  7. Click OK.
 Refer to Job Priority and Priority Precedence.
Alerts This option enables users or user groups to get automatic notification on the status of the data protection job. Follow the steps given below to set up the criteria to raise notifications/alerts:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and select the Alert tab.
  4. Click Add Alert.
  5. From the Add Alert Wizard dialog box, select the required threshold and notification criteria and click Next.
  6. Select the required notification types and click Next.
  7. Select the recipients and click Next.
  8. Click Finish.
  9. Click OK.
 Refer to Alerts.
Command Line Backups Command Line Interface enables you to perform backups or restore from the command line. The commands can be executed from the command line or can be integrated into scripts.

You can also generate command line scripts for specific operations from the CommCell Browser using the Save As Script option.

Refer to Command Line Interface.
Data Path Options Data Protection operations use a default Library, MediaAgent, Drive Pool, and Drive as the Data Path. You can use this option to change the data path if the default data path is not available. Follow the steps given below to change the default data path:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and select the Data Path tab.
  4. Select the MediaAgent and Library.
  5. Select the Drive Pool and Drive for optical and tape libraries.
  6. Click OK.
 Refer Change Data Path.
Index Cache Server Index Cache Server provides the facility to automatically continue data protection operations when there are job failures due to loss of connectivity to the index. You can configure the Index Cache Server as follows:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Storage Resources | MediaAgent.
  2. Right-click the <MediaAgent> and click Properties.
  3. Click the Catalog tab and ensure that the Index Cache Server is configured.
  4. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  5. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  6. Click Advanced.
  7. Make sure that the Use shared profile if present with transaction logging option is selected.
  8. Click OK.
 Refer to Index Cache Server for more information.
Create New Index This option accelerates Full or On Demand backups and is enabled by default. When you perform a browse and restore operation, the default browse displays data up to the most recent full backup. To browse and restore older data you have to use the options to browse before or between specific dates.

When disabled, Full or On Demand backups may be slower. However the default browse displays all data in the entire retention period; not just one full backup cycle. Use the following steps to configure this option for specific Full or On Demand backups. This option can also be configured for all subclients at the iDataAgent level.

  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Select Full as a backup type and click Advanced.
  4. Select the Create new index check box.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to Index.
Start New Media The Start New Media option enables you to start the data protection operation on a new media. This feature provides control over where the data physically resides.Use the following steps to start the data protection operation on a new media:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and select the Media tab.
  4. Select the Start New Media check box.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to Start New Media.
Mark Media Full This option marks the media as full, two minutes after the successful completion of the data protection job. This option prevents another job from writing to this media. Follow the steps given below:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and select Media tab.
  4. Select the Mark Media Full on Success check box.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to Export Media.
Allow other Schedules to use Media Set The Allow Other Schedules to use Media Set option allows jobs that are part of the schedule or schedule policy and using the specific storage policy to start a new media. It also prevents other jobs from writing to the same set of media.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and select the Media tab.
  4. Select the Allow Other Schedules To Use Media Set check box.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to Creating an Exportable Media Set.
Reserve Resources Before Scan Media is reserved for a job when the job is ready to write data. You can use this option to reserve the media during the initial phase of the job. Follow the steps given below to reserve media:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and select the Media tab.
  4. Select the Reserve Resources before Scan check box.
  5. Click OK.
  
Extended Data Retention This option allows you to extend the expiration date of a specific job. This will override the default retention set at the corresponding storage policy copy. Follow the steps given below to extend the expiration date:
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and select the Media tab.
  4. Select one of the following options:
    • Infinite - Select this option to extend the expiration date by infinite number of days
    • Number of day - Select this option to specify the number of days to extend the expiration date and then enter the number of days.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to Extended Retention Rules.
Vault Tracker This feature provides the facility to manage media that is removed from a library and stored in offsite locations. Depending on your VaultTracker setup, select the required options. Use the following steps to access and select the VaultTracker options.
  1. From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set.
  2. Right-click the Subclient in the right pane and click Backup.
  3. Click Advanced and select the VaultTracking tab.
  4. Select the required options.
  5. Click OK.
 Refer to VaultTracker  or  VaultTracker Enterprise.

 
CommCell Readiness Report The CommCell Readiness Report provides you with vital information, such as connectivity and readiness of the Client, MediaAgent and CommServe. It is useful to run this report before performing the data protection or recovery job. Follow the steps given below to generate the report:
  1. From the Tools menu in the CommCell Console, click Reports.
  2. Navigate to Reports | CommServe | CommCell Readiness.
  3. Click the Client tab and click the Modify button.
  4. In the Select Computers dialog box, clear the Include All Client Computers and All Client Groups check box.
  5. Select the client from the Exclude list.
  6. Click the Include > button.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Click the MediaAgent tab.
  9. Clear the Include All MediaAgents checkbox.
  10. Select the MediaAgent from the Exclude list.
  11. Click Include >.
  12. Click Run.

    The generated report is displayed.

Refer to CommCell Readiness Report.
Backup Job Summary Report The Backup Job Summary Report provides you with information about all the backup jobs that are run in last 24 hrs for a specific subclient. You can get information such as status, time, data size etc. for each backup job. It is useful to run this report after performing the backup. Follow the steps given below to generate the report:
  1. From the Tools menu in the CommCell Console, click Reports.
  2. Navigate to Reports | Jobs | Job Summary.
  3. Click Data Management on the General tab in the right pane.
  4. Select the Computers tab.
  5. Click Subclient and select the Edit tab.
  6. Navigate to Client Computers | <Client> | File System | Backup Set | Subclient.
  7. Click Run.
 Refer to Backup Job Summary Report.

Keywords

Mount point, Full backup, Incremental backup, Differential backup, Synthetic full backup, Dash full, On demand backup

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