Backup Exec 16 Issue
We run two backup jobs Full and incremental rotating the media device between 2x(external USB drive) weekly.
A full backup is scheduled every Friday when the USB drive is rotated and incrementals the rest of the week.
The retention period on both jobs are set to 7 days so a weekly backup consists of 1 full backup job (Fri) and 6 incrementals (Saturday-Thursday).
Overwrite protection level is set to - None.
Data management is set to - Allow backup Exec to delete all expired backup sets.
The issue we are having is when the media device is full it's not automatically deleting the expired backup sets. Please see Uploaded files for further detail.
BackupSets1.PNG shows all backup sets on device 2, when checking backup dependancies for the full snapshot of C: on the 13/04/2018 it includes all sets listed in BackupSets2.PNG.
BackupSets2.PNG shows all dependant sets which includes my latest incremental jobs/sets dated 02/05/2018 and 03/05/2018 on device 1 which have a further 7 days until expiry.
Why would the latest incremental backups dated 02/05/2018 and 03/05/2018 on device 1 be part of the dependant backup set for my full backup dated 13/04/2018 on device 2?
Backup Application Specification and Job details
Backup Exec 16 version 16
Full Backup
Schedule: Every Friday
Retention Policy: 7 days
Selection List :
Local C:/
System State
EFI System Partition
Media retention: 1 Week
Incremental Backup
Schedule: Saturday - Thursday
Retention Policy 7 days
Selection List:
Local C:/
System State
EFI System Partition
If anyone has experienced this before or has any ideas why this is occurring please advise.
BackUpSets1.PNG
BackUpSets2.PNG
A full backup is scheduled every Friday when the USB drive is rotated and incrementals the rest of the week.
The retention period on both jobs are set to 7 days so a weekly backup consists of 1 full backup job (Fri) and 6 incrementals (Saturday-Thursday).
Overwrite protection level is set to - None.
Data management is set to - Allow backup Exec to delete all expired backup sets.
The issue we are having is when the media device is full it's not automatically deleting the expired backup sets. Please see Uploaded files for further detail.
BackupSets1.PNG shows all backup sets on device 2, when checking backup dependancies for the full snapshot of C: on the 13/04/2018 it includes all sets listed in BackupSets2.PNG.
BackupSets2.PNG shows all dependant sets which includes my latest incremental jobs/sets dated 02/05/2018 and 03/05/2018 on device 1 which have a further 7 days until expiry.
Why would the latest incremental backups dated 02/05/2018 and 03/05/2018 on device 1 be part of the dependant backup set for my full backup dated 13/04/2018 on device 2?
Backup Application Specification and Job details
Backup Exec 16 version 16
Full Backup
Schedule: Every Friday
Retention Policy: 7 days
Selection List :
Local C:/
System State
EFI System Partition
Media retention: 1 Week
Incremental Backup
Schedule: Saturday - Thursday
Retention Policy 7 days
Selection List:
Local C:/
System State
EFI System Partition
If anyone has experienced this before or has any ideas why this is occurring please advise.
BackUpSets1.PNG
BackUpSets2.PNG
ASKER
Apologies these have now been uploaded.
Adrian
Adrian
"Why would the latest incremental backups dated 02/05/2018 and 03/05/2018 on device 1 be part of the dependant backup set for my full backup dated 13/04/2018 on device 2?"
I see what you're speaking of and the only way I can explain is if there's a software glitch where BE ignored the retention period then simply increment to the chain of previous incremental backups and FULL backup instead of expiring all backup and create a FULL for that week in May.
Perhaps the best explanation can only be offered by the vendor's tech support. If they can't tell you why I would consider using the Windows Task Scheduler to prune.
I see what you're speaking of and the only way I can explain is if there's a software glitch where BE ignored the retention period then simply increment to the chain of previous incremental backups and FULL backup instead of expiring all backup and create a FULL for that week in May.
Perhaps the best explanation can only be offered by the vendor's tech support. If they can't tell you why I would consider using the Windows Task Scheduler to prune.
ASKER
Many thanks for your suggestions and feedback this was working historically.
Ideally I would like to resolve this within BE and I will explore your suggestion of using a batch script.
Ideally I would like to resolve this within BE and I will explore your suggestion of using a batch script.
On second thoughts, here is the way I would try to logically explain it is if BE run the incremental job first because it sees that a full backup existed then run the retention policy afterward. But by now the latest incremental backup is dependent on all previous incremental and full April backup which cannot be deleted due to the dependencies.
Is there an option to run the retention before the backup job instead of after? With Acronis there is this option.
Is there an option to run the retention before the backup job instead of after? With Acronis there is this option.
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ASKER
Issue resolved
You mentioned "the issue we are having is when the media device is full it's not automatically deleting the expired backup sets."
Can you set BE to prune old backup sets when the media is full instead of using time limit then test?
I have moved away from Symantec (used to be Veritas) Backup Exec to Acronis for some years and it too had issues pruning expired backups. The retention policy doesn't always apply.
An alternative would be to schedule a batch script then use the Windows Task Scheduler to prune the old backup sets. This has worked reliably for some of my clients and much more easier to manage with a lot less failures and confusions. It will be ideal for simple weekly backup routine like yours.