Weekly Backup problem 1

[jsheathcote]

Hi All.

I am running Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 for Windows Server but every week my Data backup stops.

My backup routine is split between System and Data backups all being written to the one DLT tape of 200/400 capacity.

During the week the incremental daily backup are run Data first, then System backup. These both complete successfully. On the Friday, for some reason the backups run System first, then Data, and everytime it halts asking for overwritable media.

The Monthly backup runs in the same order as the Daily, Data then System and completes successfully. The Weekly and Monthly are set to Full with No overwrite.

How do I check and change the order of the weekly backup?

Hope someone can help.

Jay

 

[SteveRoadWarrior]

If I'm reading this correctly, you're not performing an overwrite and the tapes are filling up. Because a backup is still in progress, the tape you have in the drive won't do and BUE prompts you for another.

How often do you change tapes?
How full are they when you do?
When do they actually get overwritten?
What is your media retention period?
What happens if you pause your Friday Job(s) and run the Monthly one in its place?

Best...

 

[jsheathcote]

Hi Thanks for your reply

The Friday tapes are recent, fresh tapes.

The daily backups are individual tapes for Mon thru Thurs. These are overwritten on a weekly basis.

The Friday (Weekly) tapes are overwritten by the first backup routine and appended to by the second. This is where I feel the problem lies. The appending routine does not find enough space on the tape, kicks it out and waits for a different tape to be inserted.

The Monthly backups run without problem which again points me towards an issue with the routine order as they are effectively backing up the same data in size and structure.

Tape retention is around 6 months before replacement unless any hint of problem.

 

[SteveRoadWarrior]

Thanks for the reply. I think the problem could be with scheduling. The best thing to do is simplify. Try just having two jobs and set the schedule to be M-F every week. Then when you want to do a "monthly", just take the tape out of rotation and off-site.

By simplifying the setup, you will also be able to notice changes in user storage as well.

Just set the first job of the night (as per your schedule) to be an overwrite job. 1 hour later, start the append job. Have this run every day and take the tapes off site when you want one to be a "monthly" backup. Reuse the M-Th tapes as you're doing.

Once things work well, then you can increase the complexity of the setup.