Networker

Re: [Networker] Archive bit - was Re: [Networker] Confusion over incremental and levels

2004-01-23 14:07:24
Subject: Re: [Networker] Archive bit - was Re: [Networker] Confusion over incremental and levels
From: "robert.maiello AT thomson DOT com" <robert.maiello AT THOMSON DOT COM>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 14:07:19 -0500
There is a mention of the archive bit in the 7.1 release notes now.
Depending how one copies files the archive bit will get set.  Networker
will not reset the archive bit until the next full.  We saw all our
incrementals and level 9 backups backing up the same files every night.
Working as designed according to Legato.

We switched to using the NTFS Change Journal which seemed to work better
with file copies.  We had to do a full backup to "zero out/initialize/start"
the change journal before we saw it working.

With your snapshots, perhaps you must buy the Networker Module for MS
Snapshots to have it work properly??   Let us know.

Robert Maiello
Thomson Healthcare


On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 17:19:02 -0000, Duncan Greenwood
<duncan.greenwood AT BTINTERNET DOT COM> wrote:

>Does anyone have a definitive understanding of Networker's handling of the
>archive bit on Win filesystems ?
>
>My understanding is the default behaviour is to OR the archive bit setting
>with
>the ctime/mtime of the file for non-fulls, i.e IF (file has been changed
>since the
>last backup) OR (the archive bit is set) THEN (save the file). It should
>then
>unset the bit.
>
>However, if NSR_AVOID_ARCHIVE is set to YES, then the archive bit not taken
>into account - candidate files are selected purely on ctime/mtime.
>
>The default causes some fun with backups of disk array snapshots, as any
>change
>to the archive bit is (obviously) not propagated back to the original
>filesystem, and
>inc/diff backup sizes are artificially large. Files are saved not because
>they have
>changed, but because the archive bit is set - and it never gets unset on the
>production copy of the filesystem.
>
>tia
>
>D
>#
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Craig Ruefenacht" <craig.ruefenacht AT US.USANA DOT COM>
>To: <NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU>
>Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 4:47 PM
>Subject: Re: [Networker] Confusion over incremental and levels - 3 IMPORTANT
>questions!
>
>
>> 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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