Managing Backup Policies (Classes)
105
3
3 weeks (2)
1 month (3)
2 months (4)
3 months (5)
6 months (6)
9 months (7)
1 year (8)
infinite (9)
Note:
The numbers in parentheses are referred to as retention levels and are
index numbers corresponding to the retention period. The retention levels do
not appear in the selection list but, for brevity, NetBackup uses them in some
reports (for example, the default retention period for level 0 equals 1 week).
They are also used in determining which volume to use for storing the
backups.
Precautions For Assigning Retention Periods
• Be certain to assign a long enough retention period, because NetBackup
stops tracking backups when the retention period expires, thus making
them difficult or impossible to recover.
• Within a class, always assign a longer retention period to full backups than
to incrementals. Otherwise, it may not be possible to restore all your files.
• Archive schedules normally use a retention period of infinite.
Mixing Retention Levels on Backup Volumes
NetBackup’s default action when selecting volumes for backups, is to check the
retention level (not period) for each backup and store it on a volume that has
backups at the same retention level. Each time it encounters a backup with a
different retention level, it switches to an appropriate volume. Because
volumes remain assigned to NetBackup until all the backups on them have
expired, this results in more efficient use of media. Otherwise, one small
backup with an infinite retention period can prevent a volume from being
reused, even if all other backups on the volume have expired.
NetBackup 3.2 System Administrator's Guide for Windows NT
NetBackup 3.2 System Administrator's Guide for Windows NT
