Using the Novell NetWare Backup-Archive Client

Backing Up Files and Directories

There are two types of backup using ADSM: incremental and selective.

An incremental backup backs up all files that are new or that have changed since the last incremental backup.

A selective backup backs up the specific files you indicate.

Both kinds of backup can also be used to back up the NDS and bindery. In addition, ADSM saves trustee rights, file attributes, name spaces, and associated name space information with the backup versions of the files.

Your administrator might have set up schedules to back up files on your NetWare server automatically. See Chapter 5. "Automating ADSM Tasks" for information on checking and running the schedules available to you. The following sections cover how to back up files without using a schedule.

Backing Up New and Changed Files

The most effective way to maintain a complete set of backup versions for your most important files is to run incremental backups regularly. An incremental backup backs up the new or changed files on your NetWare server.

The first time you use the INCREMENTAL command to do an incremental backup, ADSM has to back up all your files, which can take a long time. Subsequent backups usually do not take as long.

There are two types of incremental backup: full and partial. A full incremental is also referred to simply as an incremental backup.

Do You Want a Full or Partial Incremental?

There are two main differences between full and partial incremental backups:

• A full incremental ensures that the backups kept on the ADSM server are managed according to your installation's storage management policies (see "Understand Storage Management Policies"). It ensures that your backup storage accurately reflects the state of your workstation storage.

  A partial incremental does not ensure that the ADSM server reflects the exact state of your NetWare server. For example, files that would normally be backed up during a full incremental might not be backed up during a partial incremental. Also, old files that should be deleted from the ADSM server might not be deleted. See "Understanding Partial Incrementals" for an explanation of how ADSM determines what happens during a partial incremental.

• A partial incremental should complete more quickly than a full incremental and require less memory. Thus, if you are constrained for time or machine memory, you might want to perform a partial incremental.

Use partial incremental only if you must meet a limited backup time window and a full incremental takes longer than the allotted time. Periodically perform full incremental backups to bring the ADSM server in line with your NetWare server's status. For example, if you have only a limited time during the week to perform backups, but extra time on the weekend, you can run partial backups on the weekdays, and then run full incremental backups on the weekends.

Understanding Full Incrementals

In a full incremental, the client queries the ADSM server so that it knows the exact state of your storage as of your last incremental. During a full incremental, ADSM uses this information to:

• Back up new files.

• Back up files whose contents have changed.

• Back up files whose directory contents have changed.

• Rebind backup versions to management classes if you have changed management class assignments, even if the associated file is not backed up.

• Expire backup versions on the ADSM server for files that have been deleted from the NetWare server.

(Expiring a file means that old backup versions of the file are deleted from ADSM storage. ADSM does not delete files from your NetWare server.)

All of this processing is required to maintain your backups according to the policies defined in the management classes.

Understanding Partial Incrementals

In a partial incremental, only certain information is considered when deciding whether to back up a file. You can specify one of two types of partial incremental backups:

• Incremental by date (domain, or filespace, level). Use the incrbydate option with the incremental command to back up a domain (filespace) name. With incrbydate, only the last modified date of each file is considered for backup. If the modification date is later than the date of the last incremental stored at the server, the file is backed up, unless it has been excluded by an exclude statement.

  Files added at the client after the last incremental backup, but with a modification date earlier than that last incremental, are not backed up. Incremental by date updates the date and time of the last incremental at the server.

• Incremental at a level below the domain. You can specify a directory, subdirectory, file, or group of files with the incremental command to back up only a selected subset of your files. With this type of partial incremental, the file will be backed up if there are any changes--such as size, permissions, modification date, or the like--from what is stored at the server. The date or time of the last incremental at the server will not be updated.

In both types of partial incremental, files are not expired or rebound on the server; in addition, the copy group's frequency attribute of the management classes is ignored.

Running a Full Incremental Backup

To run a full incremental backup, use the INCREMENTAL command. ADSM runs an incremental backup against the volumes specified in your client domain. The volumes you specify can include the bindery and the NDS.

You can specify the volumes you want to back up in one of the following ways:

• Allow ADSM to use the default client domain specified with the DOMAIN option in your client options file (see "Understand Policy Domains and Sets"). If the DOMAIN option has not been set in your options file, the default is all locally mounted volumes and the bindery. For example:

     load dsmc incremental
  

• Use the DOMAIN option with the INCREMENTAL command to add volumes to the default client domain specified in your client options file:

     load dsmc incremental -domain=servb\sys:
  

• Use the volume parameter of the INCREMENTAL command to override the client domain specified in your client options file:

     load dsmc incremental data: servc\sys:
  

Running an Incremental by Date Backup

To run an incremental by date backup, add the INCRBYDATE option to the INCREMENTAL command:

   load dsmc incremental -incrbydate

Running an Incremental Backup on a Memory-Constrained Machine

The performance of an incremental backup suffers if your machine runs out of available memory during the backup. If you have enough memory on your machine, you can use a more efficient method of backing up your machine. Turn off the memoryefficientbackup option in the options file:

memoryefficientbackup NO

Specifying memoryefficientbackup yes (the default) causes ADSM to back up only one directory at a time. If you have poor performance even when using memoryefficientbackup yes, check your communication buffer settings and the communication link between your machine and the ADSM server.

Understanding the Backup Statistics

During any type of backup, ADSM displays the status of each file it attempts to back up. For each file, ADSM reports the file's size, volume, path, and file name, and whether the backup attempt was successful. (Similar statistics are produced by the selective and archive commands. These also show up in the schedule log for scheduled commands.) When the backup is complete, ADSM displays the backup statistics.

Using the Include-Exclude List to Control Processing

Usually, there are files on your disk that you do not want to back up. These files might be operating system or application files that could be easily recovered by reinstalling the program, or any other file that you could easily rebuild.

You can use the INCLUDE and EXCLUDE options in the ADSM options file to tell ADSM which files to exclude from backup processing. ADSM honors the include-exclude list whether you are doing an incremental or selective backup. ADSM backs up any file that is not explicitly excluded. You do not need to use an INCLUDE option to include specific files unless those files are in a directory you are trying to exclude.

For more information on setting up an include-exclude list, see "Creating an Include-Exclude List".

Incremental Backup: Advanced Considerations

This section discusses some advanced considerations for using incremental backup. You do not need to understand this information in order to use ADSM for basic work.

Understanding What ADSM Considers a Changed File

For full incrementals, ADSM considers a file to be changed if any of these items are different from the last backup taken:

• File size

• Date or time of last modification

• File attributes, except for the A attribute (the archive attribute). ADSM does not use the archive attribute because other programs change the attribute during file copying, even if the file has not changed. When you restore a file, ADSM restores the attributes to what they were when you backed up the file.

• Trustee rights

Understanding Which Files Are Backed Up

When you request an incremental backup, ADSM backs up a file if all of the following requirements are met:

• The file is not specified on an exclude statement in your include-exclude list. If you do not have an include-exclude list, all files are considered eligible for backup.

• The selected management class contains a backup copy group. See Chapter 5. "Automating ADSM Tasks" for more information on management classes and backup copy groups.

• The file meets the serialization requirements defined in the backup copy group. If serialization is static or shared static, and the file is in use each time ADSM attempts to back it up, the file is not backed up. See "Copy Groups" for more information.

• The file meets the mode requirements defined in the backup copy group. If the mode is modified, the file must have changed since the last backup. If the mode is absolute, the file can be backed up even if it has not changed. See "Copy Groups" for more information.

• The file meets the frequency requirements defined in the backup copy group. The minimum number of days since the last backup must elapse before a file is backed up. See "Copy Groups" for more information. (Frequency is ignored for partial incrementals.)

When you run an incremental backup, ADSM also backs up all directory information. You can exclude the files within a directory, but you cannot exclude a directory from being backed up. Directories are counted in the number of objects backed up.

Understanding How Your Files Are Managed

ADSM uses management classes to determine how to manage your backups on the ADSM server. Every time you back up a file, the file is assigned a management class. The management class used is either a default chosen for you, or one you assigned to the file using the INCLUDE option in the include-exclude list. The chosen management class must contain a backup copy group in order for the file to be backed up. See Chapter 5. "Automating ADSM Tasks" for more information on management classes and how to assign them to files.

Backing Up Opened Files

Some files on your system may be in use when you try backing them up (these are called open files, because they are opened by an application for its use). Because an open file may change, it is likely that any backup of an open file will not correctly reflect the contents of the file at a given time.

If you find that certain files are not getting backed up because they are open and get changed when you try backing them up (or when the backup schedule starts), you need to consider your options:

• If the file is unimportant, or can be easily rebuilt (for example, a temporary file), you might not care that the file is not backed up.

• If the file is important:

  • You can ensure the file is closed before ADSM tries to back it up. If backups are run according to a schedule, use the preschedule option to issue a command that closes the file. For example, if the open file is a database, use the database's shutdown command to shut down the database. You can use the postschedule option to restart the application that uses the file after the backup completes.

    If you are not using a schedule for the backup, ensure that you close the application that uses the file before you start the backup.

  • You can have ADSM back up the file even if it is open and gets changed during the backup. This is only useful if the file will be usable even if it changes while being backed up. To have ADSM back up these files, assign the files a management class with the serialization dynamic or shared dynamic. See "Selecting a Management Class for Files" for information on assigning management classes, and "Displaying Information About Management Classes" for information on determining which management classes are available to you.

    Note:

    If the open file has its share flag set to DENY_READ, ADSM cannot back it up.

Backing Up Specific Files or Directories

You can use the SELECTIVE command to back up specific files, a group of files with similar names, entire directories, the NDS, or the bindery. This is called a selective backup.

You can use more than one file specification on the SELECTIVE command. For example, to back up the sys:/proj/test.doc and the bindery files, use:

   load dsmc selective sys:/proj/test.doc bindery

See "Understanding the Backup Statistics" for an explanation of the statistics that ADSM provides after processing an INCREMENTAL, SELECTIVE, or ARCHIVE command. For a scheduled selective backup, your ADSM administrator must specify which files to back up.

For more information, see Selective.

Selective Backup: Advanced Considerations

This section discusses some advanced considerations for using selective backup. You do not need to understand this information in order to use ADSM for basic work.

Backing Up Directories

If you back up a directory, you can use the SUBDIR=YES option to include all the subdirectories under that directory in the backup.

For example, to back up the sys:/proj directory and its subdirectories, use:

   load dsmc selective sys:/proj/ -subdir=yes

Using Wildcard Characters

You can use the operating system's wildcard characters in file specifications with ADSM, including on ADSM commands, for most ADSM tasks. These characters allow you to select groups of files that have similar names.

In a command, wildcard characters can only be used in the file name or extension. They cannot be used to specify destination files, volume names, server names, NDS names, or the bindery.

The wildcard characters used by NetWare are:

*

Asterisk. This stands for zero or more characters. For example:

*.exe matches all files that have the extension exe

hm*.* matches all files that start with hm, regardless of extension

*h*.* matches all files with an h somewhere in the file name, regardless of extension

?

Question mark. This stands for one character. For example:

?.exe matches all files with the extension exe that have one, and only one, character in their file name

hm?.exe matches all files that have three-character names beginning with hm and that have an exe extension

You can combine the asterisk and question mark in a file specification. For example, ??hm.* matches all four-character file names ending in hm, no matter what extension they have.

Understanding Which Files Are Backed Up

When you request a selective backup, ADSM backs up a file if all of the following requirements are met:

• The file is not specified on an exclude statement in your include-exclude list. If you do not have an include-exclude list, all files are considered for backup.

• The selected management class contains a backup copy group.

• The file meets the serialization requirements defined in the backup copy group. If serialization is static or shared static, and the file is in use each time ADSM attempts to back it up, the file is not backed up.

For selective backups, ADSM does not check frequency or mode, and does not check to see whether a file has changed since it was last backed up. The only criteria for selective backups are that the file is not excluded from backup services and the management class associated with it has a backup copy group.

When you run a selective backup, ADSM also backs up all directory information. You can exclude the files within a directory, but you cannot exclude a directory from being backed up. Directories are counted in the number of objectsbacked up.

When you use the VOLINFORMATION option with the SELECTIVE command, volume information such as disk space restrictions and volume root directory trustee rights are backed up.

Requesting Backup and Archive Services for Remote Servers

You can request backup and archive services for multiple NetWare file servers.

To back up files on a remote NetWare file server, you must either:

Know the NetWare administrator password

Know the supervisor password for each server

Have a user ID and password with administrator or supervisor equivalence

ADSM includes two options that relate to backing up and archiving files for remote servers:

• NWUSER--Allows you to specify a user ID and password for a local or remote NetWare server. You can use this option as many times as necessary in your client options file to provide password information for each remote file server for which you plan to back up and archive files.

  If you do not store password information for local or remote servers in your client options file, ADSM prompts you for that information when you issue commands to back up or archive files stored on those servers.

• NWPWFILE--If you choose not to include password information for a local or remote NetWare server in your client options file, you can use this option to specify whether you want ADSM to save the user ID and password you provide when prompted.

  If you set NWPWFILE to Yes, the first time you issue a command to back up or archive files for a local or remote NetWare server, ADSM encrypts the user ID and password you provide and stores that information in a file with an extension of .pwd in your installation directory. When you issue subsequent commands to back up or archive files for that server, ADSM obtains the password information from that file instead of issuing a prompt. This is the default for this option.

  If you set NWPWFILE to No, ADSM prompts you for the user IDs and passwords for local or remote NetWare servers each time you issue a command to back up or archive files stored on those servers.

You can include volumes stored on remote NetWare file servers in your default client domain specified with the DOMAIN option in your client options file. For example, to specify the SYS: volume on three remote NetWare file servers as well as all local volumes and the bindery, use:

   DOMAIN ALL-LOCAL  servb\sys:  servc\sys:  servd\sys:

You can also use the DOMAIN option with the INCREMENTAL command to specify volumes stored on remote NetWare file servers. For example:

   load dsmc incremental -domain="servb\sys: servc\sys:"

In addition, you can selectively back up or archive files stored on a remote server. For example:

   load dsmc selective servb\sys:/test/*
   load dsmc archive servc\sys:/test2/proj1/