# Backup for the NDMP Agent

The following types of backup operations are available for NDMP:

- Full Backup: Backups start with a full backup. The full backup becomes a baseline to which subsequent backup types are applied. For example, a full backup must be performed before an incremental backup can be performed.

- Incremental Backup: An incremental backup contains only data that is new or that changed since the last backup, regardless of the type. On average, incremental backups use less storage and use fewer resources than full backups.

- Differential Backup: A differential backup contains only the data that is new or that changed since the last full backup. Like incremental backups, differential backups use less storage and use fewer resources than full backups.

## Running full, differential, and incremental backups

For Dell EMC Isilon/PowerScale there is no limit on the number of incremental backups that can be run. Commvault recommends running infrequent full backups with periodic differential backups. Similarly, NetApp allows up to 32 incremental backups, Commvault recommends using infrequent full backups and differential backups at least every 32nd backup.

Note

For NetApp, if the incremental backup fails due to no more incremental backups being allowed, the backup automatically converts to a differential.

## Backups using IntelliSnap

IntelliSnap can be leveraged to help achieve recovery point objectives. Snapshots can be taken while NDMP backup copies are running allowing the IntelliSnap backups to complete on schedule. If the full backup copy takes some time to complete, it does not interrupt the RPO schedule.

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