Networker

Re: [Networker] Confusion over incremental and levels - 3 IMPORTANT questions!

2004-01-23 11:48:09
Subject: Re: [Networker] Confusion over incremental and levels - 3 IMPORTANT questions!
From: Craig Ruefenacht <craig.ruefenacht AT US.USANA DOT COM>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 09:47:36 -0700
George,

>>From the help file of Networker:

Full - NetWorker backs up every file in the save set,
no matter when the files last changed.

1 through 9 - NetWorker backs up only the files that
have changed since the most recent lower backup level.
Each backup level is represented by a number, 1 through
9, where 1 represents the fullest backup and 9
represents the most minimal backup.

Incremental - NetWorker backs up files that have
changed since the previous backup, regardless of the
level of the previous backup.


On Fri, 2004-01-23 at 09:28, George Sinclair wrote:
> Hi,
>
> A user stopped to ask me today what exactly is an incremental. This led
> to a discussion about levels and such and left me with three questions
> that I'm uncertain about myself. I explained that an incremental
> captures all changed files since the previous incremental and so on and
> so forth. I explained that if you run a full on Monday, then running a
> level 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 on Tuesday is tantamount to running an
> incremental on Tuesday, since the full resets everything, but that's
> where the buck stops. As long as the client index has room to grow, the
> incrementals can just keep going and going, each capturing everything
> since the previous one, but a full will start the process all over again
> from scratch and levels capture everything since the previous lower
> numbered level, but do they likewise reset things? The user asked what
> would happen in the following scenario:
>
> Mon=full, Tue=incr, Wed=incr, Thu=incr, Fri=level5, Sat=incr.
>
> 1. Does the Sat incr capture all changed files since Fri, or does it
> instead capture all changed files since Thu?
>
> I was kinda stumped on this question, but I thought it would capture all
> changes since Fri.
>
> 2. We typically run descending levels throughout the month with
> incrmentals and then a full at the end of the month. I was operating
> under the assumption that if someone needed to rebuild something, at
> worst case, they would need the last full tape(s), the most recent level
> backup tape(s), and then all incremental tape(s) after that. In other
> words, if you were performing a saveset recover (so you're doing this
> manually) of an entire file system as it most recently existed, then you
> would select the most recent full instance, the most recent level
> instance and all incrmentals after that, yes?
>
> 3. Also, what would happen in the following scenario:
>
> Mon=full, Tue=incr, Wed=incr, Thu=level5, Fri=incr, Sat=incr, Sun=level5
>
> Will Sunday's level 5 capture all changes since Thursday's level 5 or
> will it, too, go all the way back to Monday just like the first level 5
> did?
>
> Thanks!
>
> George
>
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