Better Scheduling Backup Copy Jobs

[tobakslovak]

I'm not sure if I'm simply not understanding the best way forward, but scheduling backup copy jobs seems a bit convoluted. Currently I have them scheduled for the weekend, and they can take up to 12 hours to complete; during this time I have our normal backup jobs disabled so that they don't start and thus stop our backupcopy jobs.

This seems unnecessarily messy though? For one, backupcopy jobs don't always start within their Sat/Sun window first thing Saturday; some wait till Sunday to start and then hit the 11:59PM Sunday deadline and fail. Why the need to set a "copy every" interval (which we have set to 7 days) and why not just be able to schedule to run at X time?

I'm also not opposed to something more intelligent along the lines of "start backupcopy job once a week, immediate after backup job on X day, pause backup jobs while backupcopy runs, and after complete re-enable backup jobs and hibernate backupcopy until next week." Then there would be no potential overlap, no periods of "nothing going on" while backupcopy sits there stupid and backup disabled all weekend.

Am I missing something!?

[veremin]

during this time I have our normal backup jobs disabled so that they don't start and thus stop our backupcopy jobs.

What backup mode the source job is using? Reversed or Forward incremental? In the latter case, the backup copy job shouldn't interrupted.

Why the need to set a "copy every" interval (which we have set to 7 days) and why not just be able to schedule to run at X time?

In contrast to other job, backup copy one is continuous, copying the latest VM state from the backups available at the moment when new synchronization interval starts. Thus, it doesn't have "typical" schedule.

For one, backupcopy jobs don't always start within their Sat/Sun window first thing Saturday; some wait till Sunday to start and then hit the 11:59PM Sunday deadline and fail.

You can set "Copy Every" interval to 7 days, and use "Sync Now" option in order to start synchronization interval explicitly on Saturday. This way, the weekly-worth restore point should be created during weekend by backup copy job.

I'm also not opposed to something more intelligent along the lines of "start backupcopy job once a week, immediate after backup job on X day, pause backup jobs while backupcopy runs, and after complete re-enable backup jobs and hibernate backupcopy until next week.

I believe this can be achieved via custom PS script.

Thanks.

[tobakslovak]

Thanks for the reply.

The job is reversed incremental.

So the only option may be to manually press sync now? What actually fires off a backupcopy job to run... if I set 7 day interval and 12AM Sat to 11:59PM Sun window, what actually tells the job "now is the time" because sometimes it waits 16 hours into the window to actually start.

Any examples or documentation for the PS script?

Am I doing things abnormally or differently than recommended, or what others are doing, are is everyone in the same boat as me?

[veremin]

So the only option may be to manually press sync now?

It's one time operation. That being said, once you do either manually or automatically, new synchronization interval would always start on Saturdays.

Any examples or documentation for the PS script?

Our Online Help Center is a good place to start. Pay attention to the Enable-VBRJob, Disable-VBRJob and Sync-VBRBackupCopyJob commands that the custom script would definitely use.

Am I doing things abnormally or differently than recommended, or what others are doing, are is everyone in the same boat as me?

I recommend reviewing corresponding section of our User Guide, as most of the confusion our customers have tends to disappear, once general concepts are clarified.

Thanks.