When are inactive files deleted?

[kimon]

If you make an interactive backup of a directory, then delete a file in that directory and back the directory up again, the backup of the file deleted is marked as 'STATE: INACTIVE_VERSION' in the 'BACKUPS' table.



The deleted file can still be retrieved using the -latest flag on your restore command.



My question is, when does an INACTIVE_VERSION file actually get deleted from the storage pool, if ever, assuming it does not otherwise expire?



Secondly, suppose you are doing selective backups of the same file over and over. Only the latest backup is the active version, all the rest are inactive.



When are INACTIVE_VERSION files deleted in the case of selective backups? Is the behavior the same as with selective backups?



Kimon

 

[LED888]

If you look at the copy group setting, the"retain only version."

This value is the number of days that the file is kept.

If the value is 60, once the file is delete from the work station. The file will be kept for 60 days. On the 61st day the file will be delete.



There is a catch to this. Expiration must be running. Expiration checks to see if any file have reach beyond the copygroup setting. If the file have reach beyond the value then the file is officially delete. If expiration is only issued once every three months (I know that this is an extreem), file can exceed the copygroup setting.



Expiration is a very heavy CPU intense it is best to set up an admin schedule to run "expire inventory" when there is little load on the CPU. Rather than have TSM automatically issue the "expire inventory."



You are correct, if you do a selective backup of a file over and over again. The last backup will be the active version all the rest will be the inactive backup. When you exceed the version data exist then those versions are mark for expiration.



Sias