The synthetic full keeps track of moved and deleted files that occur 
between incrementals.  When the incrementals are assembled, the changes 
are reflected in the new synthetic full.  I just tested this to see for 
myself. (ver 6.5)

I believe this feature is enabled (and required) in the policy under the 
label "collect true image restore information" and "with move detection".

I moved a subdirectory to a new directory level, and the incremental 
backed up the entire contents of that moved data.  It isn't smart enough 
to see that the files were same just moved to a new home.  Maybe 
de-duplication will handle this in future versions.

-Jon

> You need to run a differential and then a synthetic full immediately
> following.  The synthetic basically takes your last full and applies all
> the differentials to it to create a new "full" image.
>
> Full + Diff + Diff + Diff = Synthetic Full
> Synthetic Full + Diff + Diff + Diff = Synthetic Full
> Synthetic Full + Diff + Diff + Diff = Synthetic Full
> etc...
>
> The "Synthetic Full" is a normal full image backup according to
> Netbackup and gets used in the next Synthetic Backup.  I think there are
> issues with this related to deleted files (differential backups don't
> realize that something got deleted so the new full will have all the
> deleted files) so I would recommend "refreshing" the synthetic with an
> actual full every so often.
>
>
> -Jonathan 
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of dbergen
> Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:20 PM
> To: VERITAS-BU AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> Subject: [Veritas-bu] Question about synthetic backups
>
>
> When I attempt a synthetic backup and the most recent backup of the
> client is a full backup nothing happens.
>
> Nothing happens because Netbackup says there was no incremental backup
> to analyze. My question is: So What?
>
> I want another full backup, to a completely different volume pool,
> shouldn't Netbackup realize that the volume pool is different and run
> the synthetic backup again?
>
> Hopefully someone can tell me what I am doing wrong here.
>
> Thanks,
> dbergen
>
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------
> |This was sent by dbergen AT cucbc DOT com via Backup Central.
> |Forward SPAM to abuse AT backupcentral DOT com.
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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