Backup Copy Jobs - struggling controlling the schedule

[myrdin]

Hi guys again,

i am wondering if anyone can explain the logic behind the backup copy job schedule (yes i read the kb already).

Let say i schedule a copy job to start at 10pm every day (interval 1 day).

When i set up the job, instead of stopping it start syncs immediately ignoring the 10pm schedule.

The only way i can to to control when it starts it is to start the job manually at a given time. If i want it to start a 10pm i have to connect at 10pm and force a sync, after that it starts at 10pm.

it ignores completely the schedule.

I cant use the backup window part as there is a bug where if you dont put in continuos mode you get all sort of warnings, which is not good for my customer to see even if it actually works,

thoughts?

[tsightler]

Are you saying that the backups themselves start earlier than 10PM? Normally, backup copy jobs run all the time so you want to set the interval to start at 6PM if your backups start at 6PM, that way the backup copy will start as soon as the backup job finishes. On the other hand if your have backup jobs that run at 6PM, and finish at 7PM, but you don't want the backups copies to start immediately, but rather at 10PM, you should still set the interval to 6PM, but configure the backup window to only allow traffic starting at 10PM although it sounds like you're saying there's a bug with this setup that causes a Warning message, although I would think the warning would clear once the backup window allows transfer, but I'll double check this behavior.

Alternatively, the only other way is to just set the interval to something far too high, say 1 month, and use Powershell to start a manual sync. It's a simple oneline powershell:

Code: Select all

Sync-VBRBackupCopyJob -Job "<Job_Name>"

So you can create a small powershell script that loads the Veeam powershell snapin and schedule it up with Windows task manager to run a "force sync" at 10PM.

[myrdin]

thanks for your answers.

If i force sync now at 5pm, no matter what settings you put in the interval schedule, the copy job will start after 1 day at 5pm. It seems to take the time when you sync initially rather than the time you ask him to start in the actual job.

I dont remember the error, but it is a confirmed bug (i have read it here in the forum), where if you set backup windows in a copy job you get a warning. the only way not to get warnings is to set the job as continuos.

please let m eknow i would like to avoid using scripting.

[foggy]

Let say i schedule a copy job to start at 10pm every day (interval 1 day).

When i set up the job, instead of stopping it start syncs immediately ignoring the 10pm schedule.

The first synchronization interval is started immediately after you launch the job and runs for a shorter period of time, until the new interval starts at the specified time (10pm).

If i force sync now at 5pm, no matter what settings you put in the interval schedule, the copy job will start after 1 day at 5pm. It seems to take the time when you sync initially rather than the time you ask him to start in the actual job.

The behavior depends on the actual interval setting, please review the corresponding user guide section.

I dont remember the error, but it is a confirmed bug (i have read it here in the forum), where if you set backup windows in a copy job you get a warning. the only way not to get warnings is to set the job as continuos.

Are you probably referring to this one (though seems to be different from your scenario)?

[veremin]

The only way i can to to control when it starts it is to start the job manually at a given time. If i want it to start a 10pm i have to connect at 10pm and force a sync, after that it starts at 10pm.

Are saying that you have to do it each day? If you set "copy every interval" to 24 hours and execute "sync now" option either manually or automatically (PS script proposed by Tom), then, starting from this moment backup copy job will always start in 10pm. So, this will be one time operation.

Thanks.

[tsightler]

If i force sync now at 5pm, no matter what settings you put in the interval schedule, the copy job will start after 1 day at 5pm. It seems to take the time when you sync initially rather than the time you ask him to start in the actual job.

I've never seen any behavior like this.

I dont remember the error, but it is a confirmed bug (i have read it here in the forum), where if you set backup windows in a copy job you get a warning. the only way not to get warnings is to set the job as continuos.

I believe you are referring to a completely different issue where, if the allowed windows never allows a copy during a cycle then it will create an error. For example, if you have a job that performs backup copies every day, but then you disallow network on M-F, it will give a warning on each of those days since it can't actually manage to make a copy for those days.

You case is quite different, it sounds like you just want to keep the copy from starting until 10PM, although your backup jobs run earlier (once again, if you would share the specific details of what your trying to accomplish it would allow the answer to be more clear).

I setup a simple test in my lab to prove this. I have a backup job that normally runs a 1AM, and it has two backup copy jobs that are configured to copy the files to a second local repository, and an offsite repository. I normally want these Backup Copies to start immediately after the backup job completes so I have the Backup Copy jobs configured for a 1 day interval that starts a 1AM. At 1AM the backup jobs start, and the Backup Copies wait around for the job to finish, typically around 1:30AM. Once the backup job finishes and the backup copies start the copy their restore points and then the backup copy will enter it's "waiting" state until the next interval when 1AM comes around again.

To emulate you scenario I configured one of my Backup Copies to have a network blackout window from 1AM until 6AM. When 1AM came around the Backup Copy started a new interval, however, because network access was not allowed during this time the job placed the following notice in the job log window:

5/16/2014 1:00:18 AM :: Job started at 5/16/2014 1:00:17 AM
5/16/2014 1:00:23 AM :: New copy interval started
5/16/2014 1:00:24 AM :: Building VM list
5/16/2014 1:01:27 AM :: Waiting for permitted network usage period

The job continued to monitor the linked backup jobs, showing the VMs in the copy as "Pending", and at exactly 6AM, when the network connection was configured to be allowed, the copy of the previous nights backups points started.

I think one of the important things to remember is that the "Interval" setting is not really setting when the backup copy will start, it's setting when the Backup Copy job will look for restore points to copy. In other words, if you configure the interval to 1 day, and the time to 5PM, but you're setting the job at 10AM, it will look for any restore points after 5PM the previous day that are not currently on the target repository and start copying them immediately, however, after that point copies new intervals will start at 5PM and it will only copy points created after that time.