Backup Definition: Overview

To back up data, create a backup definition. A backup definition is required for simple one-time backups as well as for complex, regularly scheduled backups. Once the backup definition has been specified, you must save it as a backup job.

The backup definition specifies the following:

Mode	The method for transferring backup data: Block, Agentless VMware, NDMP, Image, File.
Source	The data to be backed up.
Destination	The devices or device paths and media to which the data is backed up.
Source Options, Destination Options, and Job Notification Options	Rules of behavior associated with the backup. If you do not set these options, uses the defaults you set during configuration. See Chapter 16: Configuring Defaults.
File Exclusion Rules	Rules describing classes of files to be excluded from the backup source set. If you do not set these rules at backup time, DPX uses the defaults you set during configuration.
Schedule	The time and frequency of the backup. The schedule also allows you to specify a base/incremental/differential backup scheme. You can save and manually run a job without defining a schedule.

The following are the steps required for creating a backup definition:

1. Determining the Backup Mode

2. Begin Defining a New Backup Job

3. Source Considerations for File Backup

4. Specifying Destinations for the Backup Job

5. Defining Backup Options

6. Specifying File Exclusion Rules for Backups

7. Specifying a Schedule for the Backup Job

DPX supports three types of backups: base, differential, and incremental. You set this when you specify a backup schedule or before you run a backup job.

Note that for DPX 4.4.3 and later, for Windows operating systems, the Recovery Partition is always backed up as a base backup in order to improve space handling.

The following defines the three backup types:

Base	Backs up all the files on the specified nodes.
Differential	Backs up all the files on the specified nodes that have changed since the last base backup of the same name.
Incremental	Backs up files on the specified nodes that have changed since the last base or incremental backup with the same name.