Darren Dunham wrote:

We're running 6.1.1. Out of curiosity, what is the significant change
since 5.x and before?

There are several things added to the media database.  "group" for one
is not in 5.x.

Thanks to Davina's prodding and I think I understand the changes now for
the retention.

Pre-6 would not normally put a defined expiration date for a saveset
into the database.  Instead the value was left blank and it was up to
nsrim to notice when the retention period had expired and change the
saveset to recyclable.  Because this was dynamic, bringing the retention
period in would have an almost immediate effect.  (You could use the -e
flag to 'save' to "hard code" a retention time, but that was unusual).
(Also since the 'group' wasn't stored in the database, this meant that
you couldn't have different retentions with different groups).

6 and up now actually makes use of the 'ssretent' field which is filled
at the time the saveset is created.  Because of that, later changes to
the retention period do not affect the existing backups.  You have to
code something yourself if you want to make changes to them.

(That's from memory on the pre-6 stuff).

Pretty good summary Darren. I should add that pre-6 specifying the -e
forced the browse and retention to be the same as each other. At 6 and
above you can (and do) specify them separately, since they are distinct
values in the media DB.

To elaborate, at pre-6, not specifying the -e caused nsrim to query the
client resource each time it ran in order to establish the browse and
retention values. Now at 6+ it just reads the media database since every
save set has a value for browse and retention. Actually much simpler and
a superior method IMO.

I'm not sure that the group field in the media DB has a direct effect on
this, I think we're just benefiting from the fact each save set has
these values defined. All the same the group field is a nice-to-have
attribute.

Going back to George's earlier comment about training, the only course I
ever did on the NetWorker base product was a "NetWorker 6 delta" course
just after 6 was released. It was held in Hoofdorp and the trainer was
one of Legato's top trainers of the time (thanks Arnt). I learned a LOT
that week. The rest of my learning was done through this list in the
NW4.2 era, although I admit learning a lot from the internal mailing
lists in Legato when I was working for them.

--
Note: To sign off this list, send a "signoff networker" command via email
to listserv AT listmail.temple DOT edu or visit the list's Web site at
http://listmail.temple.edu/archives/networker.html where you can
also view and post messages to the list.
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=