Backup Exec 25 Administrator's Guide
- Introducing Backup Exec
- Installation
- Methods for installing the Agent for Windows
- Using a command prompt to install the Agent for Windows on a remote computer
- Using a command script to install the Agent for Windows
- Installing the Remote Administrator
- Installing Backup Exec using the command line (silent mode)
- About updates to Backup Exec using Arctera Update
- Backup Exec license contract information
- About upgrading to Backup Exec
- Getting Started
- Configuring the Home tab
- Backups
- Recommendations for when to use virtual-based backup and agent-based backup
- Backing up data
- Restores
- How Backup Exec catalogs work
- Job management and monitoring
- About the Job Monitor
- About the Job History
- Viewing the job log
- Error-handling rules for failed or canceled jobs
- Alerts and notifications
- Enabling active alerts and alert history to display on the Home tab
- Adding a recipient group for alert notifications
- Sending a notification when a job completes
- SNMP traps for Backup Exec alerts
- Disk-based and network-based storage
- Configuring disk storage
- Configuring disk cartridge storage
- Backup sets
- Cloud-based storage devices
- Amazon S3 cloud-based storage
- Google cloud-based storage
- Microsoft Azure cloud-based storage
- Private cloud-based storage
- About S3-Compatible Cloud Storage
- Cloud deduplication storage device
- Requirements for configuring a cloud deduplication storage device
- About the Backup Exec™ CloudConnect Optimizer
- Generic S3 Configurator
- OpenStorage devices
- Microsoft 365
- OneDrive plugin: Performance and throttling configuration
- Exchange plugin: Performance and throttling configuration
- SharePoint plugin: Performance and throttling configuration
- Teams plugin: Performance and throttling configuration
- Tape storage
- Robotic libraries in Backup Exec
- Creating robotic library partitions
- Managing tapes
- Creating media sets for tapes
- Labeling tape media
- Default media vaults
- Storage device pools
- Storage operations
- Conversion to virtual machines
- Configuration and settings
- Configuring role-based access settings
- Configuring parallel streams and job settings for Microsoft 365
- Changing network and security options for Backup Exec
- Using Backup Exec with firewalls
- Deleting DBA-initiated job templates
- Backup Exec logon accounts
- Reports
- Creating a custom report
- List of Backup Exec standard reports
- Instant Cloud Recovery
- Preconfigurations to be completed in the Azure portal
- GDPR Guard
- Troubleshooting Backup Exec
- Troubleshooting failed components in the SAN
- Generating a diagnostic file for troubleshooting Backup Exec
- Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Setting or changing the alternate location for the disaster recovery information file
- Creating a Simplified Disaster Recovery disk image
- Preparing to recover from a disaster by using Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Recovering a computer with Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Performing manual disaster recovery
- Forever Incremental Backup
- Appendix A. Backup Exec Agent for Windows
- About the Backup Exec Agent Utility for Windows
- Appendix B. Backup Exec Deduplication Feature
- Creating or importing deduplication disk storage
- Selecting storage devices for direct access sharing
- Appendix C. Backup Exec Agent for VMware
- About establishing trust for a vCenter/ESX(i) server
- Backing up VMware virtual machines
- About instant recovery of a VMware virtual machine
- About Recovery Ready for VMware virtual machines
- Appendix D. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V
- Backing up Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines
- About instant recovery of a Hyper-V virtual machine
- About Recovery Ready for Hyper-V virtual machines
- Appendix E. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft SQL Server
- Backing up SQL databases and transaction logs
- Restoring SQL databases and transaction logs
- Disaster recovery of a SQL Server
- About SQL Server Always On availability groups
- Appendix F. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Exchange Server
- Backing up Exchange data
- Appendix G. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft SharePoint
- Backing up Microsoft SharePoint data
- Appendix H. Backup Exec Agent for Oracle on Windows or Linux Servers
- Configuring the Oracle Agent on Windows computers and Linux servers
- Configuring an Oracle instance on Windows computers
- Viewing an Oracle instance on Windows computers
- About authentication credentials on the Backup Exec server
- About backing up Oracle databases
- About restoring Oracle resources
- Appendix I. Backup Exec Agent for Enterprise Vault
- About backup methods for Enterprise Vault backup jobs
- Restoring Enterprise Vault
- About the Backup Exec Migrator for Enterprise Vault
- Configuring the Backup Exec Migrator
- About retrieving migrated Enterprise Vault data
- About the Partition Recovery Utility
- Appendix J. Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Active Directory
- Appendix K. Backup Exec Central Admin Server Feature
- About installing the Central Admin Server feature
- What happens when CAS communication thresholds are reached
- About job delegation in CAS
- How to use Backup Exec server pools in CAS
- How centralized restore works in CAS
- Appendix L. Backup Exec Advanced Disk-based Backup Feature
- Appendix M. Backup Exec NDMP Feature
- About restoring and redirecting restore data for NDMP servers
- Viewing the properties of an NDMP server
- Viewing storage properties for an NDMP server
- Appendix N. Backup Exec File Servers
- Appendix O. Backup Exec Agent for Linux and Unix
- About installing the Agent for Linux and Unix
- About establishing trust for a remote Linux and Unix computer in the Backup Exec list of servers
- Editing configuration options for Linux and Unix computers
- About backing up a Linux and Unix computer by using the Agent for Linux and Unix
- About restoring data to Linux and Unix computers
- Editing the default backup job options for Linux and Unix computers
- Uninstalling the Agent for Linux and Unix
How do forever incremental backups work
Two job templates are added by default for a forever incremental backup definition. You can also add a third job template. You can navigate to the templates from Backup Options > Schedule tab.
Use this template to get data from the source virtual machine with the VMware or Hyper-V backup methods. If it is the first job that runs as a part of the forever incremental solution, it backs up the full data from the source virtual machine.
Use this template to consolidate all backup sets available since the last full backup and create a new full backup set on the Backup Exec server. The consolidate backup runs locally on the Backup Exec server and does not connect to the virtualization host or the virtual machine that is backed up. Subsequent incremental backups refer to this consolidate full backup as the baseline.
Add this job template to run a full backup from the source virtual machine (protect the virtual machine directly from the source) as per the defined schedule.
In a consolidated full backup, at the end of the backup phase, Backup Exec mounts the backup set from the consolidate full backup and compares the GRT volume level information with the last backup set.
For example, you created a forever incremental backup definition for a VMware virtual machine. The incremental is scheduled daily starting from Saturday, 7th September and consolidate full is scheduled weekly starting Friday, 13th September. On the first Saturday, 7th September at 11:00 P.M., full data of the virtual machine is backed up from the source virtual machine (F1).
Table:
Date | Backup | Date | Backup | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Week 1 | Saturday, 7th September - 11:00 P.M. | Full (F1) | Week 2 | Saturday, 14th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F2-I2) |
Sunday, 8th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F1-I1) | Sunday, 15th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F2-I3) | ||
Monday, 9th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F1-I2) | Monday, 16th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F2-I4) | ||
Tuesday, 10th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F1-I3) | Tuesday, 17th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F2-I5) | ||
Wednesday, 11th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F1-I4) | Wednesday, 18th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F2-I6) | ||
Thursday, 12th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F1-I5) | Thursday, 19th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F2-I7) | ||
Friday, 13th September - 11:00 A.M. | Full (F2) | Friday, 20th September - 11:00 A.M. | Full (F3) | ||
Friday, 13th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F2-I1) | Friday, 20th September - 11:00 P.M. | Incremental (F3-I1) |
The backup chain then continues.
You can set a schedule for each job template.
The default schedule is set for 11:00 P.M. every day. An incremental backup is taken from source virtual machine every day at 11 P.M.
The default schedule is set for every week on Friday at 11:00 A.M. The consolidate operation runs on the Backup Exec server every Friday at 11:00 A.M.
The default schedule is set for the fourth Friday of each month at 11:00 P.M. A full backup runs on the source virtual machine on the fourth Friday of each month at 11:00 P.M. You can change the schedule as per your requirements.
You need to specify the backup set retention for forever incremental backups and consolidate full backup sets. The backup sets are not expired and deleted until the retention period has expired.
Backup sets that are created by forever incremental backup jobs are retained (consolidate full, full, and forever incremental backups). When the consolidate full or full backup from the source virtual machine runs and is successful, the previous backup chain containing the earlier full and the incremental backup sets are no longer retained.
The latest full backup set created by the consolidate full or full backup from the source virtual machine is retained along with the next set of incremental backups. The backup set is retained until the subsequent consolidate full or full backup runs.
Even if a backup set has expired, it is not deleted as it is part of the backup chain that is retained.
After the consolidate full or full backup from the source virtual machine is successfully completed, the sets in the previous chain are no longer retained. Those sets can be deleted depending on the retention period.
Considering the previous example, Backup Exec retains F1 to F1-I5. After F2 runs and is successful, F2 is retained and Backup Exec no longer retains F1 to F1-I5. In this backup chain, F2 to F2-I7 are retained till F3 runs and is successful. At any point, only latest backup chain is retained.
In the Backup Exec user interface, all backup sets have the retention option set as
and retain reason as .The consolidate full backup does not run a catalog operation to collect GRT information. The GRT information is instead copied from the latest incremental backup available before the consolidate full backup is run. For the incremental or the full backup from the source virtual machine, the catalog operation is run to collect GRT information.