4 Backup
4.5 Replication and retention of backups
4.5.5 Replication/cleanup inactivity time
This option is effective only if you set up replication or retention rules (p. 84) for the backups. This option defines a time period when starting replication or applying retention rules is not allowed. The operations will be performed when the inactivity time ends, if the machine is powered on at that moment. The operations that had started before the inactivity time began continue without
interruption.
The inactivity time affects all locations, including the primary one. The preset is: Disabled.
To specify the inactivity time, select the Do not start replication/cleanup within the following time check box, and then select the days and the time period during the day.
Usage example
You may want to use this option to separate the backup process from replication or cleanup. For example, suppose that you back up machines locally during the day and replicate the backups to a network folder. Make the inactivity time contain the working hours. Replication will be performed after the working hours, when network load is lower.
4.5.6 Usage examples
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4.5.6.1
Example 1. Replicating backups to a network folder
Consider the following scenario:
You want to perform a full backup of your machine manually.
You want to store the backups in Acronis Secure Zone (p. 170) on the machine.
You want to store a copy of the backups in a network folder.In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Manual start scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify Acronis Secure Zone in the Path field, select Full in the Backup type field, select the Replicate just created backup to another location check box, and then specify the network folder in the 2nd location field.
Result:
You can recover the machine’s volumes or files from a readily available local backup, which is stored in a dedicated area of the hard disk.
You can recover the machine from the network folder if the machine’s hard disk drive fails.4.5.6.2
Example 2. Limiting the age and total size of stored backups
Consider the following scenario:
You want to perform a weekly full backup of your machine.
You want to keep all backups that are younger than a month.
You want to keep even older backups, as long as the total size of all backups stays below 200 GB. In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Custom scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify a weekly schedule for the full backup. In Clean up archive, select Using retention rules. Click Retention rules, select the Backups older than and the Archive size greater than check boxes, and specify respectively 1 month and 200 GB. In If the specified conditions are met, select Delete the oldest backups.Click OK. In Apply retention rules, select the After backup check box. Result:
Backups that are younger than one month are kept, regardless of their total size.
Backups that are older than one month are kept only if the total size of all backups (older plus younger) does not exceed 200 GB. Otherwise, the software deletes some or all of the older backups, starting from the oldest one.4.5.6.3
Example 3. Moving older backups to tapes
Consider the following scenario:
You want to perform a daily backup of your machine.
You want to store the backups locally for one week.
You want to move the backups that are older than one week to a tape device. Such scenario is sometimes called disk staging, or D2D2T (disk-to-disk-to-tape).In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Simple scheme and a daily schedule. (All backups will be full by default.) When creating the backup plan, specify a local folder or Acronis Secure Zone in
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the Path field. Under Retention rules, select Move backups older than 1 week. Then, specify the tape device in the 2nd location field.
Make sure that the tape device is ready to work. The preparation steps are described in the "Backing up a machine to a directly attached tape device" (p. 177) section.
Result:
After a backup is completed, the agent checks for backups that need to be moved.
The agent moves the backups that are older than one week, by copying them to the tape device and then deleting them from the original location.
You can eject tapes with backups and securely store them off-site. Once you select data for recovery, Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 will prompt you which tapes to insert.4.5.6.4
Example 4. Backing up to tapes within a narrow backup window
This example assumes that you are using an advanced edition of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.
Consider the following scenario:
You want to back up servers every workday after working hours.
You want to do a monthly full backup on one of the workdays, and partial (incremental or differential) backups on the other workdays.
You want to store the backups on a tape library.
The backup window for the servers is narrow, so they cannot be backed up to the tapes directly. In this scenario, install Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Storage Node and create two managed vaults: one on a hard disk local to the storage node, and another on the tape library locally attached to it. Create a centralized backup plan for all of the machines with the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) scheme. When creating the backup plan, specify the vault on the hard disk in the Path field. Under Backup type, select Full/Incremental/Differential.For the primary location, in Keep backups, choose to keep monthly backups for one month (you need to clear the Keep indefinitely check box). This way, the vault will serve as an intermediate, short-term storage for the backups.
Select the Replicate just created backup to another location check box, and then specify the vault on the tape library in the 2nd location field. For the second location, select to keep monthly backups indefinitely.
Result: