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NetBackup™ for Greenplum Administrator's Guide

Last Published: 2025-03-18

Product(s): NetBackup & Alta Data Protection (11.0)

Schedule properties

This topic describes the schedule properties that have a different meaning for database backups than for file system backups. Other schedule properties vary according to your specific backup strategy and system configuration. Additional information about other schedule properties is available. See the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.

Table: Description of schedule properties

Property	Description
Type of backup	Specifies the type of backup that this schedule can control. The selection list shows only the backup types that apply to the policy you want to configure. See NetBackup for Greenplum backup types.
Schedule type	You can schedule an automatic backup in one of the following ways: Frequency Frequency specifies the period of time that can elapse until the next backup operation begins on this schedule. For example, assume that the frequency is 7 days and a successful backup occurs on Wednesday. The next full backup does not occur until the following Wednesday. Calendar The Calendar option lets you schedule the backup operations that are based on specific dates, recurring week days, or recurring days of the month.
Retention	The retention period for an application backup schedule refers to the length of time that NetBackup keeps backup images. The retention period for an automatic schedule controls how long NetBackup keeps records of when scheduled backups occurred. For example, if your database is backed up once every Sunday morning, you should select a retention period of at least 2 weeks. The type of schedule you select affects the retention period as follows: Frequency-based scheduling Set a retention period that is longer than the frequency setting for the schedule. For example, if the frequency setting is set to one week, set the retention period to be more than one week. The NetBackup scheduler compares the latest record of the automatic backup schedule to the frequency of that automatic backup schedule. This comparison is done to determine whether a backup is due. So if you set the retention period to expire the record too early, the scheduled backup frequency is unpredictable. However, if you set the retention period to be longer than necessary, the NetBackup catalog accumulates unnecessary records. Calendar-based scheduling The retention period setting is not significant for calendar-based scheduling.

Property

Description

Type of backup

Specifies the type of backup that this schedule can control. The selection list shows only the backup types that apply to the policy you want to configure.

See NetBackup for Greenplum backup types.

Schedule type

You can schedule an automatic backup in one of the following ways:

Frequency
Frequency specifies the period of time that can elapse until the next backup operation begins on this schedule. For example, assume that the frequency is 7 days and a successful backup occurs on Wednesday. The next full backup does not occur until the following Wednesday.
Calendar
The Calendar option lets you schedule the backup operations that are based on specific dates, recurring week days, or recurring days of the month.

Retention

The retention period for an application backup schedule refers to the length of time that NetBackup keeps backup images. The retention period for an automatic schedule controls how long NetBackup keeps records of when scheduled backups occurred. For example, if your database is backed up once every Sunday morning, you should select a retention period of at least 2 weeks.

The type of schedule you select affects the retention period as follows:

Frequency-based scheduling
Set a retention period that is longer than the frequency setting for the schedule. For example, if the frequency setting is set to one week, set the retention period to be more than one week. The NetBackup scheduler compares the latest record of the automatic backup schedule to the frequency of that automatic backup schedule. This comparison is done to determine whether a backup is due. So if you set the retention period to expire the record too early, the scheduled backup frequency is unpredictable. However, if you set the retention period to be longer than necessary, the NetBackup catalog accumulates unnecessary records.
Calendar-based scheduling
The retention period setting is not significant for calendar-based scheduling.