Backup Copy Unexpected full backups

[mcdonaldb]

Im getting vbk's more often than i would expect during backup copy job.

Backup Job:
Restore Points to keep = 7
Reversed Incremental
Active Full Backup - Monthly First Sunday

My backup copy is set to do the following archives.
weekly backup = 4 Sunday
Monthly backup = 1 Last Day of the month
quarterly backup = 0 First Sunday of the quarter
Yearly backup = 1 Last Day of the Last Month of the year

I seem to be filling my backup copy repository fast, im getting allot of .VBK and not sure why im not getting more vib's?

VBM wednesday 10/15 114kb
VBK friday 9/26 655GB
VBK friday 10/3 527GB
VBK thursday 10/9 571GB
VBK friday 10/10 570GB
VBK wednesday 10/15 573GB
VIB sunday 10/12 3GB
VIB monday 10/13 3GB
VIB tuesday 10/14 5GB
VIB wednesday 10/15 16GB

Does this seem correct?

[foggy]

Brian, could you please check what is the number of restore points to keep for the backup copy job and how each of these full restore points are marked in the backup properties window (some of them should have 'W' mark for weekly and some 'M' for monthly)?

[mcdonaldb]

Backup Copy Restore Points is set to 5, im not sure where the backup properties window is?

[foggy]

Click the Backups node, right-click the corresponding backup in the right pane and select Properties.

So, the number of VIBs is totally expected, since you have retention set to 5. Here's your "regular" part of the backup copy job chain containing one VBK and four corresponding increments that depend on it:

VBK wednesday 10/15 573GB
VIB sunday 10/12 3GB
VIB monday 10/13 3GB
VIB tuesday 10/14 5GB
VIB wednesday 10/15 16GB

Each day this VBK is moving forward being merged with the oldest VIB file.

The rest of the VBK files you have are GFS (weekly and monthly) restore points. Keep in mind that each GFS restore point is stored as a separate full backup as of the day it is scheduled at. I'm a bit confused by the dates, since you have weekly set for Sundays, however files that I expect to be weekly restore points are dated by Friday.

[mcdonaldb]

i was expecting to see more Sunday backups also, i did just verify it is set to Sunday.

Here is what i found for M and W markings, not sure what the R is for. I think i originally had my monthly going to first Sunday, i have since changed it to last day of the mont, so that is why there is a M for 10/5.

10/12 R
10/6 W
10/5 M
9/29 W
9/22 W

[mcdonaldb]

the reason im concerned with the sizes is im trying to ballpark my total backup sizes so i can offsite these archives to a external drive, once i have a month or so i should be able to estimate what size external drive i will need.

[foggy]

Then everything seems to be as expected.

10/12 R
10/6 W
10/5 M
9/29 W
9/22 W

These seem to be file creation dates, those created on Mondays are weekly ones. R is for Recent (the current full backup, on which the chain of everyday increments relies).

You can estimate the space required by the number of GFS restore points you specify in retention settings: you will have one more monthly and a yearly one, when the time comes. So 6 full backups in total for GFS plus 1 full and 4 increments for the regular chain.

[mcdonaldb]

This makes sense for Mondays being weekly, i now see are because my schedule is for 2-8 am for the backup copy job,

but why the back to back VBK on:

VBK thursday 10/9 571GB
VBK friday 10/10 570GB

[veremin]

Do those backups have any corresponding marks (W, M, etc.)? Have you changed GFS settings at some point of time? I'm wondering because there are some weekly backups created precisely on Fridays:

VBK friday 9/26 655GB
VBK friday 10/3 527GB
VBK friday 10/10 570GB

Thanks.

[foggy]

We are using two sets of dates here, let's stick to the creation date to avoid confusion:

10/12 R
10/6 W
10/5 M
9/29 W
9/22 W

So, the one from 10/5 M is a monthly backup that was created on the first Sunday of October (before you've changed the setting to the last day of the month). The one from 10/6 W is a weekly one (dated by the next day due to the fact that the default time to create weekly is 10pm in the job settings).