Veritas Backup Exec Administrator's Guide
- Introducing Backup Exec
- Installation
- Methods for installing the Agent for Windows
- Using a command prompt to install the Agent for Windows on a remote computer
- Using a command script to install the Agent for Windows
- Installing the Remote Administrator
- Installing Backup Exec using the command line (silent mode)
- Backup Exec license contract information
- About upgrading to Backup Exec
- Getting Started
- Backups
- Backing up data
- Restores
- How Backup Exec catalogs work
- Job management and monitoring
- Alerts and notifications
- Enabling active alerts and alert history to display on the Home tab
- Adding a recipient group for alert notifications
- Sending a notification when a job completes
- SNMP traps for Backup Exec alerts
- Disk-based and network-based storage
- Configuring disk storage
- Configuring disk cartridge storage
- Backup sets
- Cloud-based storage devices
- Amazon S3 cloud-based storage
- Google cloud-based storage
- Microsoft Azure cloud-based storage
- Private cloud-based storage
- About S3-Compatible Cloud Storage
- About the Veritas Backup Exec™ CloudConnect Optimizer
- Legacy backup-to-disk folders
- Legacy backup-to-disk folders
- Legacy backup-to-disk folders
- Tape storage
- Robotic libraries in Backup Exec
- Creating robotic library partitions
- Managing tapes
- Creating media sets for tapes
- Labeling tape media
- Default media vaults
- Storage device pools
- Storage operations
- Conversion to virtual machines
- Configuration and settings
- Using Backup Exec with firewalls
- Deleting DBA-initiated job templates
- Backup Exec logon accounts
- Reports
- Creating a custom report
- List of Backup Exec standard reports
- Troubleshooting Backup Exec
- Troubleshooting failed components in the SAN
- Generating a diagnostic file for troubleshooting Backup Exec
- Using Backup Exec in cluster environments
- Configurations for Backup Exec and Microsoft Cluster Servers
- Disaster recovery of a cluster
- Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Setting or changing the alternate location for the disaster recovery information file
- Creating a Simplified Disaster Recovery disk image
- Preparing to recover from a disaster by using Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Recovering a computer with Simplified Disaster Recovery
- Integration with Veritas™ Information Map
- Appendix A. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Windows
- About the Backup Exec Agent Utility for Windows
- Appendix B. Veritas Backup Exec Deduplication Option
- Creating or importing deduplication disk storage
- Selecting storage devices for direct access sharing
- Appendix C. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for VMware
- Backing up VMware virtual machines
- About instant recovery of a VMware virtual machine
- About Recovery Ready for VMware virtual machines
- Appendix D. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V
- Backing up Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines
- About instant recovery of a Hyper-V virtual machine
- About Recovery Ready for Hyper-V virtual machines
- Appendix E. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft SQL Server
- Backing up SQL databases and transaction logs
- Restoring SQL databases and transaction logs
- Disaster recovery of a SQL Server
- Appendix F. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Exchange Server
- Backing up Exchange data
- Appendix G. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft SharePoint
- Backing up Microsoft SharePoint data
- Appendix H. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Oracle on Windows or Linux Servers
- Configuring the Oracle Agent on Windows computers and Linux servers
- Configuring an Oracle instance on Windows computers
- Viewing an Oracle instance on Windows computers
- About authentication credentials on the Backup Exec server
- About backing up Oracle databases
- About restoring Oracle resources
- Appendix I. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Enterprise Vault
- About backup methods for Enterprise Vault backup jobs
- Restoring Enterprise Vault
- About the Backup Exec Migrator for Enterprise Vault
- Configuring the Backup Exec Migrator
- About retrieving migrated Enterprise Vault data
- About the Partition Recovery Utility
- Appendix J. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Active Directory
- Appendix K. Veritas Backup Exec Central Admin Server Option
- About installing the Central Admin Server feature
- What happens when CAS communication thresholds are reached
- About job delegation in CAS
- How to use Backup Exec server pools in CAS
- How centralized restore works in CAS
- Appendix L. Veritas Backup Exec Advanced Disk-based Backup Option
- Appendix M. Veritas Backup Exec NDMP Option
- About restoring and redirecting restore data for NDMP servers
- Viewing the properties of an NDMP server
- Viewing storage properties for an NDMP server
- Appendix N. Veritas Backup Exec Agent for Linux
- About installing the Agent for Linux
- About establishing trust for a remote Linux computer in the Backup Exec list of servers
- Editing configuration options for Linux computers
- About backing up a Linux computer by using the Agent for Linux
- About restoring data to Linux computers
- Editing the default backup job options for Linux computers
- Uninstalling the Agent for Linux
- Appendix O. Veritas Backup Exec Remote Media Agent for Linux
- About installing the Remote Media Agent for Linux
- About establishing trust for a Remote Media Agent for Linux computer in the Backup Exec list of servers
- About the Backup Exec operators (beoper) group for the Remote Media Agent for Linux
- About adding a Linux server as a Remote Media Agent for Linux
- Editing properties for the Remote Media Agent for Linux
- Creating a simulated tape library
- Viewing simulated tape libraries properties
- Appendix P. Accessibility and Backup Exec
- About keyboard shortcuts in Backup Exec
- Backup and Restore tab keyboard shortcuts
- Storage tab keyboard shortcuts
How Backup Exec determines if a file has been backed up
If you use the incremental or the differential backup method as part of your backup strategy, Backup Exec must know when a file has been modified. Full backups include all of the data that you selected to back up. Subsequent incremental and differential backups back up only new files and any files that have changed.
Whenever a file is created or changed, a computer's file system notes and records the change. You can specify the method by which Backup Exec determines if a file needs to be backed up in the Files and Folders options when you create a backup job. Backup Exec uses the method that you choose to determine when a file is created or changed.
This topic includes the following information:
How Backup Exec uses the change journal to determine which files have changed
Resolving change journal errors
When Backup Exec runs a full backup or incremental backup job, the time that the backup job starts is recorded in the Backup Exec Database. Backup Exec adds the time of the backup job to the Backup Exec Database only if the full backup job completes successfully. The next time that you run an incremental backup job or a differential backup job, Backup Exec compares the file system time to the backup time. If the file system time is later than the time that is recorded in the database, the file is backed up. If the file's modified time is older than the previous backup's modified time, that file is not backed up. If the job does not complete successfully, subsequent differential or incremental backup jobs back up all of the data instead of only the data that has changed.
Note:
A file's last modified date and timestamp do not change when the file is copied or moved. To ensure that the files are protected, run a full backup after you copy or move files.
When you run an incremental backup job, Backup Exec records a new time in the Backup Exec Database. The database time is not updated for differential backup jobs.
When you select the modified time method, Backup Exec uses the Windows change journal to determine if a file has changed since the last time it was backed up. If the change journal is not available, Backup Exec compares the file information to the previous backup time to determine if the file has changed.
Using modified time lets Backup Exec run more accurate incremental backups or differential backups even if other processes have modified files' archive bits.
Backup Exec uses the archive bit from the file system to determine if a file has changed since the last time it was backed up.
When you use the archive bit, Backup Exec turns the archive bit off when a file is backed up. Turning off the archive bit indicates to Backup Exec that the file has been backed up. If the file changes again before the next backup job, the bit is turned on again. Backup Exec backs up the file in the next backup.
If the next backup job is a full backup job or an incremental backup job, the bit is turned off when the backup job completes. If the next backup job is a differential backup job, the archive bit is left intact.
Backup Exec compares path names, modified time, deleted and renamed files and folders, and other attributes. When you select the catalog method, Backup Exec uses the Windows change journal to determine if a file has changed since the last time it was backed up. If the change journal is not available, Backup Exec compares the file information to previous catalogs to determine if it has changed.
The catalog method is only available if the Advanced Disk-based Backup feature (ADBO) is installed.
Note:
The off-host backup feature of ADBO does not support the catalog method.
See Configuring file and folder options for backup jobs.
When you choose the modified time backup method or the catalog backup method for files, Backup Exec uses the update sequence number (USN) change journal. Backup Exec scans the change journal to get a list of the changed files to back up, rather than scanning all files. Use of the change journal reduces the amount of time that Backup Exec requires to perform an incremental backup or a differential backup.
You cannot disable the use of the change journal for either the modified time backup method or the catalog backup method. If the change journal is not already enabled on the volume, then Backup Exec automatically enables it. The volume must support change journals. For example, NTFS and ReFS volumes support change journals, but FAT volumes do not.
When Backup Exec enables the change journal, it sets the change journal defaults as shown in Table: Change journal defaults set by Backup Exec. Backup Exec does not modify settings for a change journal that already exists.
Table: Change journal defaults set by Backup Exec
Volume size | Defaults |
---|---|
128 GB or larger |
|
Over 64 GB - 127 GB |
|
Over 4 GB - 63 GB |
|
4 GB or less |
|
Note:
The Windows Boot Volume is preconfigured by Windows with default values.
If change journal errors occur, then Backup Exec uses the modified time backup method or the catalog backup method without using the change journal.
When change journal errors occur, you can try the following solutions:
Select the
backup method for files.Select the file backup method that was not in use when the change journal errors occurred. For example, if you selected the
method and change journal errors occurred, then select the method and run the backup again.Increase the size of the change journal database.
Refer to your Microsoft documentation for information on how to use fsutil to query, create, modify, or delete the change journal.
Avoid using the local Backup Exec server to back up itself when the Backup Exec server is installed on the Windows Boot volume. Instead, use a remote Backup Exec server to back up the local server, or install the Backup Exec server on a data volume.
Note:
The off-host backup feature of ADBO does not support the catalog backup method for files.