Create Backup Schedule

You can create a schedule to start backups automatically. The backup scheduling concept is based on full backups and incremental backups:

  • Full backup - the entire database is backed up.
  • Incremental backup - only changes since the last back up are saved.

EXASolution provides some flexibility with backup levels:

  • Level 0 is a full backup
  • Level 1 is an incremental backup to the full backup (only changes since the full backup are saved)
  • Level 2 is an incremental backup to level 1 (only changes since the level 1 backup are saved)
  • Level 3 is an incremental backup to level 2 (only changes since the level 2 backup are saved)
  • And so on until level 9.

The parameters for backup schedules work similar as for cron jobs - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron for more information.

Steps to Create Backup Schedule

Follow these steps to create backup schedule: 

  1. In EXAoperation, go to Services > EXASolution and click the database instance for which you want to create the backup schedule. The Database Instance screen is displayed.


  2. Click Schedule to create a backup schedule. This displays the EXASolution Backup Scheduling screen.
  3. Set up a backup schedule using a combination of the following parameters. Separate multiple entries with commas.
  4. Setting Description Value Range Example
    Active Check box to indicate active backup schedule.    
    Minute and Hour The time the backup must start. 0-59 for Minute,
    1-23 for Hour
    To start a backup at 11:15 PM, set Minute to "15" and Hour to "23".
    Day The day of the month the backup must run. 1-31 If a backup should run on the 15th, set Day to "15".
    Month The month the backup must run. 1-12 To run the backup every second month, set Month to "2,4,6,8,10,12". This backup will run in February, April, June, August, October, and December.
    Weekday The day of the week the backup must run.

    0-7:

    • 0 (Sun)
    • 1 (Mon)
    • 2 (Tues)
    • 3 (Wed)
    • 4 (Thurs)
    • 5 (Fri)
    • 6 (Sat)
    • 7 (Sun)

    To run the backup on Monday and Wednesday, set Weekday to "1,3"

    For Sunday, you can choose any of the two (0 or 7) options from the value range.

    Archive Select the remote archive the backup will be stored on. N/A  
    Level The backup level, such as full backup, or incremental.

    0-9:

    • 0 - full backup
      1 - incremental backup to level 0 backup
    • 2 - incremental backup to level 1 backup
    • etc.
     
    Expire

    The duration of time until the backup will expire.

    f the volume runs out of free space, expired backups will be deleted automatically. Note that this automatic clean-up functionality is only supported on local archive volumes, and not remote archive volumes.

    N/A To make a backup available for one week and three days, set Expire to "1w 3d"
    Comment A description for the backup. N/A "Weekly full backup"

  5. Select the Active checkbox and Add check boxes for the record you are adding, and click Apply.

Example: Weekly Backup with Daily Incremental Backups

The following is an example of creating a weekly backup with daily incremental backups. The following is a suggestion for a backup schedule:

  • Full Backup on Sunday at 00:00 (level 0), with a retention time of 1w 3.
  • Incremental Backups every day of the week at 00:00 (level 1), with a retention time of 3d.

In this backup setup, a full backup (level 0) is done on Sunday at midnight. The backups on each week night (level 1) back up all changes that occur since the full backup. The backups are stored in an archive volume within the cluster.

Level 0 backup settings

  • Active: Yes
  • Minute: 0
  • Hour: 0
  • Day: Every Day (set to *)
  • Month: Every Month (set to *)
  • Weekday: 0 or 7 (Sunday)
  • Archive: Select an archive volume.
  • Level: 0 (Full Backup)
  • Expire: 1w3d or 10d
  • Comment: optional
  • Add: Yes

Level 1 Backup Settings

  • Active: Yes
  • Minute: 0
  • Hour: 0
  • Day: Every Day (set to *)
  • Month: Every Month (set to *)
  • Weekday: 1,2,3,4,5,6 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)
  • Archive: Select an archive volume.
  • Level: 1 (Incremental Backup)
  • Expire: 3d
  • Comment: optional
  • Add: Yes

Completed Schedule