Hi everybody,

This is sort of a followup to my earlier message about trying to use
multiple Include/Exclude lists at different times. It was shown that this
is a Bad Idea, and an alternative solution was shown. This solution is
described in http://msgs2.adsm.org/cgi-bin/get/adsm0208/785.html .

In short, what happens is that you assign a management class with a
FREQUENCY setting of 9999 to a set of files, and then incrementally back up
those files at an acceptable time (e.g., when the database is down). From
then on, those files won't be backed up with an incremental backup anymore,
due to the FREQUENCY setting.[1] This is nice, because now you can use the
"selective" command to back up the files when you want to, and still run an
"incremental" command when the database is up.

A downside to this solution is that when the DBA creates a new file, you
can't run your "incremental" command until you've backed up the file when
the database is down. Then it is correctly backup up, and the 9999 days
period begin. (Side question: does the 9999 period also start if you backup
the file for the first time with a "selective" command, instead of an
"incremental" command?)

A very nice solution to this problem would be: create a "special" FREQUENCY
setting that is *never* satisfied, not even the first time. (Make it 10000
or something.) This way, you can still back up those files with a
"selective" command, and not get intro trouble with include/exclude lists.

What do the specialists on this list think about such a thing? Ugly hack,
or possible solution? Or are there other ways to solve this problem?


[1] The documentation is a bit unclear about this, but I found that even an
incremental command with a file specification won't backup files that were
backup up less than 9999 days ago. Only a "selective" will do. The
documentation seems to say that the FREQUENCY setting is only obeyed when
using an "incremental" command without any file specifications.

--
Jurjen Oskam

PGP Key available at http://www.stupendous.org/