> Actually, you're wrong here. NetBackup allows you to create a policy now
> but not set it to go active until some point in the future. I've used
> this and it works well.
I'm familiar with that and do it all the time, but I don't like it here.
First, what if I want to do this to an existing policy? No way to do it.
Also, your method requires me to wait until the start of the quarter to do my
first backup. (If I do a full now, the frequency will be based on that full
backup and won't run on the first Friday.) Don't like that either. With SBB,
I can do my first full backup now, then one on the first Friday, and no worries.
> But if all he really wants is a backup that runs roughly every quarter,
> this does actually fill that need. Yes, they'll drift over time. It will >
> also help balance the load across the policies so you don't get *all* of
> your quarterlies on the same day,
I'm sorry, but this is where we are going to have to disagree. I've run large
environments. I've used FBBs, and what actually happens is backups end up
bunching together, and the only thing that will unbunch them is running a
manual backup.
> More than likely, you'd like to spread the load across multiple Fridays
> unless you have a lot of backup window compared to the volume of
> backup.
More than likely? I don't like that uncertainty. Full backups need to be
spread out on a predictable basis, because when they get bunched up (as they
tend to do with FBB -- especially if you're doing monthlies) they wreak havoc.
And the only way to spread them out on a predictable basis is to use SBB.
> When you are responsible for hundreds of terabytes like I am,
> asking for everything to be backed up in a single weekend just gets you
> laughed at (or you can approve the requisition for a *lot* more hardware).
Oh no you didn't! You're not pulling out the "my environment's bigger than
your environment card." ;) This is not my first time to the party. I've tuned
many environments your size, and I've got two customers that backup 2-3 PB a
night. So please don't try to tell me that my ideas don't scale, as I'm all
about scale. As to everything running in one night, I think if you re-read my
response, I recommended the opposite of that. I like doing monthly full
backups, with each night backing up approximately 1/28th of the environment and
a cumulative incremental of 1/7th of the environment.
> The larger the environment, the important FBB is. Yes, they're more
> difficult to control, but that's also an advantage - you don't *want* to
> have to control them. The more control you take, the less NetBackup has,
> and the more likely it is that backups won't run.
I'm a big fan of giving NBU control where it can do good. For example, I
believe (with exceptions) in one giant backup window each night and letting NBU
figure out what to do using priorities. Most people try to have way too much
control over their NBU environment. But I don't believe that full backups and
cumulative backups should be allowed to run willy-nilly the way they do when
you use FBB and frequencies of a week or more.
> And I don't prefer Jonathan's answer for that reason. Sometime in the
> future, somebody will rebuild that box and could forget all about
> scheduled tasks and the script won't run. He'll either run out of tapes
> because images weren't expiring soon enough (or slowly spend a lot of
> money on tapes that he doesn't to), or he'll not extend the quarterly to a
> 7-year expiration and end up expiring images he's not supposed to.
> And then he won't notice until he gets audited or needs to do a restore.
That's why I like the modified suggestion of setting all monthlies to 7 years
and reducing those that aren't going to be kept, as it is safer. The worst
thing that will happen is the first problem you stated.
I'd argue that any backup configurations have the risks you're pointing out
which is why all configurations -- custom or not -- should be documented.
> I'm a bit anal about solutions that can die silently -
> they tend to make me hostile.
As am I, which is why I think the product should support doing what Randy asked
for. People want to do quarterly backups and most people like SBB.
If you've made it this far, ignore Randy's question and tell me what you think
is wrong with SBBs in general. I can go on for a half hour of the bad things
that FBBs have caused my clients over the year.
--
Ed Wilts, Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:ewilts AT ewilts DOT org
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