Transaction Log Backup Scheduling (Optional)

Configuring this step is optional. Vembu OnlineBackup will do a transaction log backup dump of the database with respect to the previous backup (full/differential/transaction log) whenever this transaction log backup is scheduled.

This step has the following options from which any one can be chosen.

Run Weekly - Choose the time and the day of the week the backup should run. Vembu

OnlineBackup will execute the backup every week on the particular day and time chosen. Note that you can select multiple days of the week if you wish to run the backup on multiple days of the week. Unless you’ve selected the “Run this Backup each time Vembu OnlineBackup

restarts” option in Advanced Options, Vembu OnlineBackup will run at the stipulated time/day only.

Run Daily - Choose the time at which the backup should run daily. This will execute the backup everyday at the time you have provided. Unless you’ve selected the “Run this Backup each time Vembu OnlineBackup restarts” option in Advanced Options, Vembu OnlineBackup will run at the stipulated time only.

Run Every Few Hours - Choose the hours/minutes interval between each time Vembu

OnlineBackup must run. If Vembu OnlineBackup is restarted in the interim, the backup will run once Vembu OnlineBackup starts. Thereafter, Vembu OnlineBackup automatically reschedules the next backup after the period you’ve set. For example, if you created a backup schedule at 10 am and set it to run every 1 hour, Vembu OnlineBackup will first run the schedule at 10am and the next scheduled time will be 11am. However, if at 10.15am, Vembu OnlineBackup is restarted, then the schedule will run once at 10.15am and the next scheduled time will now be set to 11.15am.

Additionally, you can also select the days in which this schedule should run. For example, if you do not want to run this backup schedule on Saturdays and Sundays, uncheck the checkbox against these days. If the "Select all days" checkbox is checked, then the schedule will be run on all the days of the week.

Vembu OnlineBackup | Admin User Guide | MS SQL Server Backup and Restore 76 Advanced Settings (Optional)

If you want to configure some additional advanced options - like, CPU utilization, etc. click on the Advanced Options button.

Advanced Backup Schedule Settings

1. Maximum Number Of Full Backups : You can specify the maximum number of full

backups that need to be stored in the server. For example if you configured a monthly full backup, then Vembu OnlineBackup will take a full backup every month. After 6 months you will have 6 separate full backups in the backup server along with differential and transaction logs under each of the 6 full backups. If your policy is to retain only backup data for 6 months, then you can configure "Store maximum of 6 full backups" here. On the 7th month, Vembu OnlineBackup, after finishing the 7th full backup, will delete the first full backup along with its differential and transaction log backups thus retaining always the last 6 month backups.

2. Differential Backup Count : If the MSSQL Server differential backups are configured more frequently [Run every few hours] in Vembu OnlineBackup SQL Server backup and the MSSQL Server databases are changing rapidly, then the clients backup space usage will grow faster. To avoid this, you can specify maximum number of Differential backups to be kept in the server. If the number of differential backups count exceeds this count then the oldest differential backup file and the transactions logs taken between that differential backup and its successive differential/full backup job are deleted. The default value is 5 and minimum value is 2.

3. Read and verify the integrity of the backup on completion : If you enable this option, then SQL Server will perform a verification of the backup once it completes.

4. Run this backup immediately after saving this configuration (thereafter, Backups will be scheduled as per the schedule stipulated) : If you enable this option, then this backup schedule will be executed once immediately after you save this backup schedule – even if its not yet ‘time’ as per the schedule. For example if you configure a daily backup at 10.00 AM but you configured the backup at 8.00 AM, then the backup schedule will be run once immediately (8.00 AM) and then as per schedule (eg. daily at 10.00 AM).

5. Attempt to run this backup every 5 minutes in case of non completion because of a problem (Network error etc.) : If enabled, the user can choose to reschedule this

backup every 5/10/15/20/25/30 minutes, whenever an attempted backup is incomplete because of a network error, server crash etc. The number of times the backup will be rescheduled (due to an error) can be configured to be in between 1-5 or unlimited, with the default setting as 5. This is to ensure that an incomplete backup is completed as soon as possible without waiting for the next actual schedule time. Note that this option is enabled by default.

6. Data Integrity Check : Vembu OnlineBackup supports data integrity check where the data sent from the client machine is verified for integrity at the backup server. When a file's integrity check fails, Vembu OnlineBackup flags that file as skipped and the file is then again backed up during the next backup schedule.

Vembu OnlineBackup | Admin User Guide | MS SQL Server Backup and Restore 77

Saving the configured backup

Once all the SQL Server database(s) to be backed up are chosen and the configuration options are set, you simply need to click on the "Configure/Save Backup” button to activate the backup as per the schedule- on to the configured backup servers.

Troubleshooting Tips

Error: The following message is displayed in the backup report. "SQL Server Backup

aborted because of error in getting the virtual device backup configuration. Check your database properties."