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sdot257
Asked: 2012-01-24 07:43:33 +0800 CST

Clarify volume retention for me?

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I'm using Bacula but this would pertain to any backup solution.

I'm using LTO5 tapes (1.5TB/3TB), but my data is nowhere near that capacity for the time being. So if I set the retention for my incrementals to 4 weeks, what happens to the tape if it's not full? Does Bacula go to the next tape?

backup bacula

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    VolumeRetention in Bacula defines how long Bacula will retain a full tape for.

    Once Bacula opens a tape it will continue writing (appending) to it until it is full (unless you have told it to only put one backup on a tape, in which case the tape will be considered "full" when the backup finishes).

    A full tape starts the VolumeRetention clock -- Bacula will not recycle and reuse that tape until the VolumeRetention period has has elapsed.

    For example, if you fill a tape on Monday at 08:00, and have VolumeRetention set to 3 days the tape will become eligible for recycling on Thursday at 08:01 (3 days from when it was filled).

    See the Bacula manual section on Automatic Volume Recycling for more details.

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