Related Topics:
The primary purpose of a backup is to secure your data to media, for recovery at a later time. Review the following topics to understand the scope of backup operations:
The data that will be backed up is determined first by the agent, which is designed to handle one or more types of data. Then, the subclient content configuration determines what specific data of the supported data type(s) will be backed up.
Each agent is designed to back up one or more specific data types. For example, to secure Exchange 5.5 Database you would use the iDataAgent for Exchange 5.5 Database. To find out what data types an agent is tailored to secure, read the Product Overview for the agent. Some agents may overlap in what data types they can secure, and you should plan your backups accordingly.
Subclient content will determine what gets backed up by the Agent. If an agent is designed to backup an Exchange 5.5 Database, for example, the databases you want to backup must be included the contents of a subclient. Subclients provide a flexible way of managing what gets backed up.
See Subclients for information on subclients and assigning content to subclients.
For agents that support On Demand Data Protection operations, the content is specified via Content Files (in some cases in conjunction with a Directive File) instead of through a Subclient Properties (Content) tab. See Defining Content for On Demand Data Protection Operations for more information.
You may want to exclude files or subdirectories that are contained within a subclient content path from data protection operations. This is useful to prevent the system from needlessly securing data that does not need to be protected. Also, you can prevent the same data from being secured multiple times in cases where two agents are securing the same data, by excluding the data from operations on one of the agents.
See Excluding Data from Data Protection Operations - Overview for information on methods of excluding data from data protection operations.
Some times files cannot be backed up because they are locked or open. See Locked/Open Files for an overview of how these files can be backed up by the system.
Each subclient is associated to a storage policy. How long the backup data will be retained on the backup media is determined by the retention rules set in the Storage Policy Copy Properties dialog box. This will affect media usage, and is an important consideration when planning your backups. A longer retention period, for example, could use more media for securing the data over time.
If a retention period other than infinite is selected, the data will be pruned according to backup cycles in relation to the retention rules you set in the Storage Policy Copy Properties dialog box. Pruned data can be overwritten on the backup media.
The backup data from a subclient will be retained according to the rules set for the storage policy associated with it. The ability to define data in subclients, and then associate them to specific storage policies allows you to prioritize exactly what data is retained and for how long.
For example, a client is being backed up with the Windows File System iDataAgent using the default subclient (which backs up the entire file system). It is associated to a storage policy that regularly ages the data. There is a critical folder on that client that you would like retained longer than the rest of the file system. You could create a new subclient with that critical folder as its content, and associate the new subclient with a storage policy that has the desired retention period.
See Full Backup Cycles and Retention Periods for a description of a typical backup cycle.
See Subclients for information on assigning a storage policy to a subclient.
See Data Aging for detailed information and advanced concepts on Data Aging and retention.
The QiNetix system allows you to schedule or initiate backups at the subclient, instance and/or backup set level, depending upon the agent. Scheduled data protection operations provide a convenient means of securing data without user intervention. When scheduling data protection operations, you need to establish a schedule for each subclient. For example, a backup schedule always contains a full backup and may contain one or more other backup operations. When combined for a given subclient, these backups comprise a full backup cycle.
You can also schedule data protection operations using a Agent Specific Data Protection Schedule Policy or an All Agent Types Data Protection Schedule Policy.
Almost all operations can be scheduled or performed immediately.
Backups for any client start with a full backup. For Agents that support non-full backups, the full backup becomes a baseline to which subsequent backup types are applied. See the following for detailed information on each backup type:
Not all agents support all backup types. Beyond the core backup types listed above, an agent may have additional backup options. See Support Information - Backup Options for a list of supported backup types for each agent. Read the Agent specific Backup Overview for more information on a specific agent.
To determine which combination of backup types best suits your data protection, performance and media usage needs, see the following:
In some cases, the system will automatically run a job as a full backup to ensure the integrity of your data, even if you have selected a non-full backup option. An unplanned full backup could have the following effects:
Therefore, conversions to full should be considered when planning your backups. You can avoid, or plan for these situations by familiarizing yourself with the general circumstances, and the circumstances for each agent in which an operation is converted to full.
See When a Non-Full Backup is Automatically Converted to a Full Backup for detailed information.
Once you have selected your backup type, you can choose to apply Advanced Backup options to your operation. The advanced backup options provide media management tools at the operation level, as well as tools to optimize your backups for specific circumstances.
For a description for each of the Advanced Backup options and why you would use them, see Advanced Backup/Migrate/Archive Options.
To find out which Advanced Backup options are available for a given agent, see Support Information - Advanced Backup/Migrate/Archive Options.
Given below is a list of supported Agents. The corresponding linked page provides information on the Agent specific backup options and procedures.
Backup - Linux NetWare File Systems
Backup - Microsoft Exchange Server
Backup - Microsoft SharePoint Portal
Backup - Microsoft Windows File Systems
Backup - NAS NDMP which includes the following agents:
Backup - Image Level ProxyHost
Backup - Serverless Data Manager
Backup - Unix and Macintosh File Systems