On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 12:12:47PM -0700, aminukapon wrote:
> hello all,
> 
> I need a brief clarification on what the dumpcycle is  and how it involves 
> incremental backup and full backups . Most of what I have read online have 
> been confusing thus far.
> 

Basically it is the time between level 0 backups.
For amanda, it is thought of as a "maximum time" between level 0's.

Think about a traditional backup scheme:
on Sunday night you do a full, level 0, backup of everything.
On Monday - Saturday you do incrementals.  Your dumpcycle
in this case is 7 days, the time between level 0's.  Always
and for everything.

Amanda does the same thing with a few caveats.
- The dumpcycle is applied to each DLE, some get their level 0
  on Sundays, others on Monday, others Tues etc.
- Even for a single DLE, the day the level 0 is done can
  vary.  Amanda may decide to "promote" the level 0 for
  some DLE and thus do it early.  Why; several possibilities.
  Maybe a lot of data changed and the incremental would be
  close in size to a level 0.  Amanda likes to dump the
  same amount each run, maybe Tuesdays level 0's have gotten
  too large (or small) and the order needs to be redone.
  Maybe a client was done one night and threw the schedule off.

But again, basically dumpcycle is nominally the maximum time
between level 0 dumps of a DLE.  You can set it globally and
on a DLE by DLE basis.

jl
-- 
Jon H. LaBadie                  jon AT jgcomp DOT com
 JG Computing
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