How Backup Uses Backup Levels

A backup schedule defines what level backup should be done on a given day during a backup cycle. You can apply one or more of these backup levels to customize a backup schedule. If you are considering using backup levels in a customized schedule, consider the following issues to help you make decisions that best suit your environment:

• Full backups take more time to complete than incremental backups.

• If you have only one storage device and the full backup does not fit on a single piece of media, an operator must be available to monitor the backup and change the media.

• Full backups cause the online indexes to grow more rapidly than incremental or level backups.

• Level backups serve as checkpoints in your schedules because they collect all the files that have changed over several days, or even weeks, into a single backup session. Using level backups can simplify and speed file recovery.

The online client file indexes, server index, and media database are backed up whenever the Backup server is backed up. In general, they take on the backup level of the server. For example, if the Backup server's backup is a full level, the backup of the online client file indexes, server index, and media database is also a full level; if the Backup server's backup is a level 5, the backup of the online client file indexes, server index, and media database is also a level 5. However, when the server's backup level is incremental, the backup of the online client file indexes, server index, and media database is level 9.