Block Backup Wizard Step 4: Job Options

In the Job Options step, define the job options for the backup job as needed.

The job options are described in the following topics:

• Source tab

• Application tab

• NDMP tab

• Script tab

• Notification tab

Source tab

• Task Data Transfer Retry Count

  Controls the number of checkpoint retries of an interrupted Block backup. The retries attempt to resume the job from the last successfully backed-up data block. Enter the number of checkpoint restart attempts.

• Task Retry Intervals (Minutes)

  Determines how long to wait before retrying failed tasks.

  When a task fails (due to permission problems, open files, interim job changes, etc.), it waits the number of minutes specified in this field before attempting that task again. Because the same failure might occur if the task is retried too soon, it is better to allow some time for an error to be corrected before retrying the task. A task is only retried once. Failing tasks appear in error message lists in the Job Log. All tasks are subject to retry.

• Throttle

  Enter a value in KB/s (kilobytes per second) to set the maximum transmission rate per backup task. The value 0, the default, allows the task to use the maximum bandwidth available. See Catalogic DPX Block Data Protection.

• Resolution Auto Cancel Interval (Minutes) This option comes into play when DPX attempts to retry a failed snapshot. If the retry is unresponsive, DPX initiates job auto-cancel after this interval, in minutes, has lapsed.

• Resolution Retry Count Determines how many times to retry a failed snapshot attempt.

• Wait Interval Between Retries (Minutes) Determines the amount of time (in minutes) to wait between retry attempts for a failed snapshot attempt.

• Data Transfer Auto Cancel Interval (Minutes) This option comes into play if a job does not get an indication of “active” status during the data transfer phase of the job. DPX initiates job cancellation after this interval, in minutes, has lapsed.

• Backup IA-Mapped Drive This is an option to backup IA-Mapped drives from DPX snapshots.

Note. The default setting is NO and should be changed to YES in order to back up the drives.

Application tab

• MSSQL DB Consistency Check Tells DPX to run a consistency check on SQL Server before backing up a SQL Server database. The check runs three utilities that Microsoft recommends before a backup: DBCC CHECKDB, DBCC CHECKALLOC, and DBCC CHECKCATALOG.

No	Does not perform the consistency check.
Yes	Performs the consistency check.

• Truncate Exchange Logs This option controls the truncation of Microsoft Exchange Logs during a Block backup.

Yes	After the backup is complete, DPX deletes the old Exchange logs. Yes is the default.
No	DPX does not delete any Exchange logs.

• Oracle RMAN Cataloging Control For Oracle backups, determines whether to synchronize the RMAN catalog after the job completes. Yes is the default.

Yes	Synchronize the RMAN catalog after the job completes.
No	Do not synchronize the RMAN catalog after the job completes. If you choose this option, the job is not cataloged in RMAN.

• Backup and Truncate SQL Logs This option controls truncation of SQL Server Transaction Logs during a Block backup. This option must be set to “Yes” in order to enable Point-in-Time restore.

Yes	SQL Server transaction logs are truncated on the source database server after the backup completes. To find the backed up SQL logs, refer to the message “BACKUP LOG <database-instance> TO DISK...” in the Job Log or to Event 18265 in the Application Event Log.
No	SQL Server transaction logs are not truncated and will therefore continue to grow on the source database server. To truncate translation logs, run SQL Server maintenance on the source machine. No is the default.

• Exchange DAG Passive Copy Determines whether DPX will back up Exchange DAG from a passive node or an active node.

Yes	Default setting. Back up Exchange DAG from a passive node.
No	Back up Exchange DAG from an active node.

NDMP tab

• NDMP File History Handling Controls file history generation for NDMP and Block backup tasks. For Block backups, recovery through the use of Instant Access provides for granular file-level restore regardless of whether file history was generated or not. Instant Access allows Block backups to be run very frequently by eliminating the need to include file histories during backup. For information on using Instant Access for file-level restore, see Instant Access as a File History Alternative.

Disable File History	Disables NDMP server file history generation.
Process File History on Local Client	Enables NDMP server file history generation and processes the file history data on the NDMP client node. This is the default.
Process File History on Master Server	Enables NDMP server file history generation but transmits the file history data to the master server node for processing.

• Enable NDMP Server Logging Controls the routing of NDMP server-generated log messages to the job log file.

Yes	All NDMP server log messages will be routed to the master server’s job log file. Yes is the default.
No	The NDMP server log messages will be logged locally in the NDMP client node log file instead of in the master server’s job log file.

• Additional NDMP Environment This option allows you to introduce any additional NDMP environment variables that are necessary for the backup task. Specify your environment variables as an ASCII string with an environment variable name and value pairs using the following syntax:

env1name=value,env2name=value,...

Note that syntax validation is not performed on the specified value at job definition time, but rather at run time. Only valid entries are added to the NDMP operation environment.

Do not specify any of the following NDMP environment variables in your variable string because DPX controls these specifically:

• BASE_DATE

• DEBUG

• DIRECT

• DUMP_DATE

• EXTRACT

• FILES

• FILESYSTEM

• HIST

• LEVEL

• PREFIX

• RECOVER_FILEHIST

• SINCE_TIME

• TYPE

• UPDATE

• VERBOSE

Specifying the variables above may cause unexpected results due to the unpredictability of the order in which they are evaluated.

NDMP servers from different vendors may support different NDMP environment variables. Except for a few well-known environment variable names, there is currently no standardized set of such variables. This option allows you to add environmental variables specific to your NDMP server.

Script tab

Pre-Job Script

Enter the name of a script to execute prior to the actual job.

If Pre-Script fails

The action to take if the Pre-Job Script fails to successfully complete.

If Job fails

The action to take if the Job fails to successfully complete.

Post-Job Script

Enter the name of a script to execute after the actual job.

See also. For more information about the Pre-Job Scripts and Post-Job Scripts, see Chapter 29: Pre-Scripts and Post-Scripts in the Reference Guide.

Related Topics:

• Implementing Pre-Script and Post-Script for Snapshots Operations

• Chapter 29: Pre-Scripts and Post-Scripts in the Reference Guide

Note. There are no Block Backup Destination Options.

Notification tab

The Job Notification Options dialog controls who receives messages pertaining to the current job when it is run. Before reports can be emailed to the designated recipients, ensure that the SMTP Host Name and SMTP Port fields are correct.

See Setting Backup Job Notification Options.