Comparing rotation types

Data Protector Express provides a variety of media rotation types to select from. Or, you can define your own media rotation.

The following table compares the historical backups and full data recovery capabilities of each of the rotation types provided in Data Protector Express.

Rotation Type

# of Sets

Yearly Sets

Monthly Sets

Weekly Sets

Daily Sets

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple

4

 

1 full

1 full

2 full

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple

6

 

2 full

1 full

3 full

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple

10

 

3 full

3 full

4 incremental

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple

11

 

3 full

4 full

4 incremental

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple

12

 

4 full

4 full

4 incremental

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Append

N (def. 4)

 

 

N full

4 incremental appends

 

 

 

 

 

 

GFS

20

2 full

6 full

6 full

6 incremental

 

 

 

 

 

 

GFS

25

2 full

7 full

8 full

8 incremental

 

 

 

 

 

 

GFS

30

2 full

8 full

8 fill

12 incremental

 

 

 

 

 

 

Running Jobs with Rotations

The info bar displays the Current rotation set and the Next rotation set in the Rotation Details section of the info bar. Before the job is run the first time, both fields have the same value. Once the job runs successfully, the current rotation set field will display the media that has just been used and the next rotation set field displays the media that will be used next.

Initial run

The initial run of a rotation job uses the largest schedule interval in the rotation. For example, suppose a job is configured to use a GFS 20 rotation starting on a Thursday, October 28th, 2010. Even though a Thursday in the middle of a month would normally be classified as a Daily backup, the first time the job is run, a Yearly backup will be performed.

Missed jobs

If, for some reason, a run of the job was missed — for example, because the Backup Server was turned off at the scheduled run time — the scheduler will determine the largest interval missed and run it automatically a few minutes after Data Protector Express starts again.

Failed jobs

If a job fails, it will not automatically be run again. However, you can manually rerun by clicking the Run command in the command bar.

Pausing and continuing a schedule

You can stop a scheduled job from running for a period of time by clicking the Pause Schedule command in the command bar. To turn the scheduled job back on, click the Continue Schedule command in the command bar. As with the initial and skipped jobs, the scheduler will start again with the largest schedule interval that was skipped.

Forcing a run

At times it may be desirable to start a job before its scheduled time. Clicking the Run next schedule command in the command bar will cause the next scheduled interval to be run immediately. The job will not be run again when its originally scheduled time arrives. And forcing a run to start ahead of schedule will not affect the scheduling of subsequent runs. They will run at their normally scheduled time.

Running Jobs with Rotations 39