protection is set for 4 weeks, then significant growth of the IDB stops after 4 weeks. Therefore, in this case, the IDB is 13 times larger if the catalog protection is set to Permanent.
It is recommended that catalog protection includes at least the last full backup. For example, you can set a catalog protection of 8 weeks for full backups and one week for incremental backups.
Use different logging levels in the same cell
A cell often consists of mail (or similar) servers that generate a large number of files on a daily basis, database servers that store all information in a handful of files, and some user workstations. Since the dynamics of these systems are rather different, it is very difficult to prescribe one setting that suits them all. Therefore, it is recommended to create several backup specifications with the following logging level settings:
•For mail servers, use the Log Directories option.
•For database servers, no logging is necessary as they have their own restore policies. Therefore, use the No Log option.
•For workstations, the Log All or Log Files options allow for searching and restoring different versions of files. For backups with the Log Directories or No Log options set, you can import catalogs from the media, which, in a reasonably short time, allows the possibility to browse for the selected object. For information on importing catalogs from media, see the online Help index: “importing, catalogs from media“.
Different logging levels for object copies
Backed up objects and object copies or mirrors of these objects can have the same or different logging levels. Depending on your backup policy, the selected logging level of object copies can be more or less detailed than that of the source objects.
For example, you can specify the No Log option for object mirrors if you create these mirrors just to ensure a successful completion of a backup session. Or, you can specify the No Log option for a backup object to increase the backup performance, and then specify the Log All option for this object in a subsequent object copy session.
Specifics for small cells
If the number of files in a cell is small and will remain small (a million files or less) and the systems in the cell perform usual business activities, you can always use the Log All option, which is the Data Protector default. However, you need to take care of IDB growth and set a reasonable level of catalog protection.
202 | The Data Protector internal database |