Backup job may start outside the backup time window when resuming

Problem

Backup job may start outside the backup time window when resuming or restarting.

For instance, the backup time window is between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM. (Figure 1)

 a) A backup job is scheduled every day at 8:00 PM.
 b) Reschedule the job if it does not start 1 hours after its scheduled start time.
 c) Cancel the job if it still running 2 hours after its scheduled start time.

Figure 1.

This job will start at 9 PM at the latest, and will be canceled at 10 PM if the job is still running.
However, the backup job will run even after the backup time window when the job fails and resumes.
Consider the following scenario:

 i) The job starts at 8:00 PM.
 ii) The job fails at 9:30 PM.
 iii) Error-Handling Rules are enabled for the error and are configured to restart after an hour.
 iv) The job starts at 10:30 PM again.

Error Message

N/A

Cause

When a job starts outside the backup time window by manual operation or Error-Handling Rules, the schedule does not affect to the backup job instance.

Solution

Disable resuming or restarting option in Error-Handling Rules if the backup time window is critical to the production system.

Note: The following conditions are enabled by default to resume the job in Error-Handling Rules
1. Checkpoint Restart
   There is a job property to enable Checkpoint Restart in addition to Error-Handling Rule. The job property is disabled by default.
2. Recovered Job
   If the server is in the hang up status or shutdown status in a long term and the job is running at the time, the job may resume at unexpected times.

Error-Handling Rules can be configured from Backup Exec icon > [Configuration and Settings] > [Error-Handling Rules] (Figure 2)

Figure 2.