Networker

Re: [Networker] Main backup to disk, clone to tape.. different retention periods possible?

2005-09-08 05:22:55
Subject: Re: [Networker] Main backup to disk, clone to tape.. different retention periods possible?
From: Davina Treiber <Treiber AT HOTPOP DOT COM>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 10:17:09 +0100
On Thu, 2005-09-08 at 00:28, Hernandez, Luis wrote:
>  Networker 7.2 on Windows 2003
>  
> I have a scenario where I have to run a full backup to disk and then clone it 
> to tape. We would like to have the disk backup and the tape clone have 
> different retention/browse periods.  Does anyone have any suggestions how to 
> accomplish this? 
>  

As Siobhan pointed out, this functionality is coming in NetWorker 7.3. 
Currently the browse and retention is an attribute of the save set and applies 
to all clones. In 7.3 they are giving each clone its own browse and retention 
attribute. I don't know the details of the implementation, but I guess that by 
default all clones will have this set the same, but you will be able to change 
it at the time of cloning, or afterwards. I would guess that also each clone 
will have its own status flags, so that one clone may be recyclable when 
another is still browsable or recoverable.

In the mean time, as Darren pointed out, making a save set or volume recyclable 
is a bad plan if you have other clones that you don't want to recycle. Making a 
save set recyclable means that all clones of that save set are also recyclable. 
You can however delete or recycle one clone without affecting the others. Note 
the subtle difference between recycling a save set and marking a save set as 
recyclable.

What you need to do is to run a script (from cron perhaps several times a day), 
that will remove save sets from the disk device when they reach a certain age. 
If you want a script to do that you can find one at 
http://www.DriveConsultants.com/housekeepdiskdev.gz . This is a script that can 
also controls cloning of your data from the disk device to two tape based 
pools. If you don't want the script to do your cloning you'll need to make some 
minor changes, since it will only delete data that has already been cloned.

As usual the script is supplied with no warranty or guarantee of fitness for 
purpose.

Oops I've just noticed that you're running Windows so this will be no use to 
you at all unless you want to completely rewrite it in a language of your 
choice. I'll post it anyway in case it is of interest to others. Perhaps it 
will give you a good idea how to proceed anyway.

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