synth periodical full backups from forever forward backups

[Gearson]

We have a backup job that uses forever forward incrementals with a limited number of restore points, as seen below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/B2Qtu4J923HjHrw19

Is there a way to configure a backup copy job to synthesize a full backup out of the periodical backups configured above? Our goal is to only have one full backup along with all necessary increments at the primary backup location.

We have the job configured below already, but I am not sure it is working as I expect it to:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9YXUyn81GuQeDoGD9

Just in case it's important: the primary job is doing SQL backups as well, along with transaction logs.

[foggy]

Hi Thomas, backup copy does synthesize its restore points from the backups stored in the source repository, though in its separate repository. Could you please clarify your request?

[Gearson]

I guess I am confused by the output I see in the destination directory for the backup copy job, see below:

Code: Select all

08/07/2018  12:08 AM    65,010,852,864 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-06T181151.vib
08/05/2018  11:24 PM    55,341,401,600 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-05T180921.vib
08/03/2018  12:02 AM    37,123,875,328 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-02T180154.vib
08/11/2018  12:19 AM    93,926,391,808 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-10T182038.vib
08/16/2018  05:49 AM         1,423,320 SQL2018_Copy.vbm
08/07/2018  11:23 PM    61,193,511,424 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-07T181419.vib
08/09/2018  12:08 AM    64,147,873,792 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-08T181653.vib
08/12/2018  05:44 AM     9,508,125,696 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-12T054011.vib
08/10/2018  12:08 AM    57,231,982,080 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-09T181842.vib
08/12/2018  05:39 AM    42,525,579,776 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-11T233934.vib
08/14/2018  12:10 AM    67,322,960,896 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-13T234412.vib
08/04/2018  12:04 AM    58,184,623,104 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-03T180426.vib
08/02/2018  12:27 AM    88,020,289,536 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-02T000015.vib
08/16/2018  12:14 AM    64,502,815,744 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-15T234919.vib
08/12/2018  11:24 PM    57,313,254,912 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-12T174119.vib
08/03/2018  12:09 AM    24,266,843,648 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-03T000240.vib
08/15/2018  12:11 AM    68,514,667,520 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-14T234658.vib
08/05/2018  05:41 AM    51,186,943,488 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-05T000729.vib
08/01/2018  09:50 AM   566,167,093,760 SQL2018_CopyD2018-08-01T000000.vbk
              19 File(s) 1,531,490,510,296 bytes

Given my configuration, I would expect to see more than one full backup file at this point.

[foggy]

This is expected, it will start creating GFS restore points once it reaches the specified retention of 30 restore points.

[Gearson]

I see. Regarding the "Read entire restore point from source backup" setting in the backup copy configuration, will this cause the full backup to be synthesized from the full/increments in the source, as opposed to the full/increments at the destination? I'm just wanting to clarify the meaning of that setting.

The reason I ask is that our I/O at the source is probably going to be much faster at synthesizing the full backup, rather than the destination.

Thanks for your help.

[foggy]

Yes, with this check box enabled, backup copy job will copy the entire full restore point from the source repository, effectively switching from forever incremental to simple forward incremental mode.