how to create a basic backup script in Roxio Retrospect (formerly EMC Retrospect)

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Retrospect ckup Script Series: Create A Ba
Retrospect Version 7.6.123

2. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
Tab tents le of Con
1 Prerequisites .......................................................................................................................... 3
2 Prep .......................................................................................................................................... 4
3 Create A Script ......................................................................................................................... 7
4 NOTES .................................................................................................................................... 15
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3. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
1 Prerequisites
Before you begin creating a script for performing a backup on remote systems, there are a few
tasks you should accomplish.
1. Have a, thoroughly planned backup strategy
2. Have, installed and configured the Retrospect Client on all remote systems
3. Discovered and added clients to Client Database
4. Double check available HDD/NAS/SAN space allocation
5. Double check client/server connectivity
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4. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
2 Prep
Something I like to do before creating a script is define volumes. For me, I’ve found during the
script creation process, though convenient, defining your volumes can be a hassle. If you have a
planned strategy and you know exactly what it is you want to backup it is simple to jump in and
define your volumes beforehand. Though unnecessary, Retrospect will allow you to define
volumes later in the script creation process; you may find defining volumes may even run faster
when accomplished as a preparatory task.
DEFINING
• Open Retrospect drop down the Configure menu.
• Select Volumes
• Select the “Plus‐Down” for Backup Clients
• Highlight the directory where you want to drill down into and click the “Subvolume…”
button
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5. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• In the “Subvolume Selection” window you can continue to drill down by double clicking
each subvolume (directory parent folder)
• Here I will select /etc and /bin by holding Ctrl and selecting both volumes
• Select Define
• The subvolumes should then be populated underneath the parent directory of the client
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6. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• Continue to do this with each client that is part of your strategy
• After you have defined all of your volumes simply exit out of the Volumes Database
window
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7. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
3 Create A Script
• Select the plus‐down “Automate” in the left menu panel
• Select Manage Scripts
• Select New…
• Here you will be faced with numerous options. The purpose of this guide is to
create a Backup Script
• Highlight Backup and select OK
• Give the new script a name.
o If backing up a single client my standard is to name the script as
Volume(s)_ClientName
• Select OK then Next >
• You’ll be asked what you want to backup. There are 4 options to choose from. I will
select “Let me choose (Advanced). I do this for flexibility purposes. I have specific
folder/files/volumes I backup in my environment and never allow Restrospect to
arbitrarily select my data for me. Now select Next >
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8. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• This is where your prep will glean the most benefit. Plus‐down your client and Ctrl
select the volumes you want to backup, select Next >
o Here you can also Add additional clients or add other volumes that are network
attached such as a share or perhaps a NAS volume, for our guide I are adding
volumes directly from remote client(s) directories
• When asked “What types of files do you want to backup?” select the appropriate box
based on the data inside the volumes you are backing up. In our example the /bin and
/etc directory don’t necessarily contain any images, music, or movies, etc. therefore I
can de‐select each box aside from “All other files”. Select Next >
o In our example it doesn’t matter whether or not I de‐select any of these boxes.
Retrospect will not continue searching the directories for these file types if they
do not exist.
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9. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• Navigate to the location you will put all of your backup files. For consistency, I typically
name the folders the same name of the backup script. Select Next >
• You can create a backup schedule now or you can do so later. I’ll do so now. Select the
“Create a schedule for this backup” radial button and select Next >
o Select the day and time of day you want your backup to run. Select Next >
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10. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• When asked “How many Backup Sets would you like to use?” you must consider a few
questions before selecting whether you want one or more sets of your data
o How much data do you have?
o How much space do you have for your data?
o How much data do you expect to have in the future
o Do you have the ability to expand space?
o How reliable is your software and hardware?
o How many copies of your data do you already have?
o Are you configured with RAID on your backup system?
o Do you plan to archive and store data?
• In my environment I have little data compared to a full‐on enterprise. I have a RAID 5
configuration that spans 6 500GB drives with a total of about 3.5 TB to play with. What I
backup, though crucial, is also backed up on a shared space and sometimes locally. I
archive my data monthly and clean any duplication that may have occurred. Also, the
potential for our data to grow significantly exists and therefore I choose the “One
Backup Set” option. You could choose either; whatever works best for your situation.
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11. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• Name your backup set(s). Click Next >
• When asked, “Would you like to compress your data?” is really up to:
o How much time you have
o How patient you are
o How much space you have
o I don’t compress any of our data. I have plenty of space in my environment and
my hardware is scalable. If you have a limited amount of space you could
compress your data to save space. Remember, this will take a significant
amount of time to do so and in reverse you’ll have to decompress when
restoring data.
• Retrospect has two main methods of encryption. First is a hardline encryption that will
encrypt the data as it is backed up on the wire. The second is encryption of the data
itself. I ALWAYS, as a standard, AES‐256 encryption. It is the most secure and, based on
DISA STIG and other USAF recommendations, is generally accepted as the only way to
go.
o When placing a password for this encryption it is recommended to put a 14
character – alpha numeric – numbers – caps – loIr case – special characters
o In the “Would you like Retrospect to remember this password?” drop down I
leave the “Remember password for scripted access” option (default) selected. I
found when utilizing a backup schedule for a nightly or Iekend backup allowing
Retrospect to fill in the password on its own keeps from permissions issues on
backup files later on.
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12. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• When asked “What do you want to do when you backup drive becomes full?” window,
this can be complicated
o First, as a backup administrator you should never allow your space to become
so full the software has to recycle or remove data as a solution
o HoIver, if you plan is to leave the backups run and never manually clean your
data you can select “Keep only the last XX backups”
o You can also utilize Retrospect’s policy and which will keep the source data for
every day in the last Iek, each Iek in the last month, and so on
o In my environment I must keep EVERYTHING. Because Retrospect only backs up
what has changed since the previous backup my data does not grow
exponentially unlike a Proactive Backup (see Proactive Backup Genius Guide).
Also, I archive my data each month, monitor backup trends, analyze disk usage,
and have scalable hardware capable of supporting multiple terabytes of data.
o I select “Ask for a new disk” as part of my backup strategy. Click Next >
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13. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• To complete the script you have the option to backup all the scripted data immediately.
I would base whether or not you “Backup Now” on:
o Time of day
o Network usage
o Amount of data
• Generally, for small amounts of specific data I would go ahead and backup immediately
to get the ball rolling. If you choose to backup according to schedule and NOT backup
immediately then check back after the backup has ran to troubleshoot any errors if any
occur.
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14. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
• When you select Finish, if you decided to Backup immediately the Activity Monitor will
initiate in the executing tab.
o When the script completes you can select the History tab in the Activity Monitor
to see if you script completed successfully.
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15. Retrospect Guide Nathan Peek 2010
Create A Backup Script Version 1 R3
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4 NOTES
In my experience the retrospect client commonly idles on linux machines. If this happens
and you are not able to access your linux machine from your client database simply PuTTy to
your box and run the retroclient script in /usr/local/dantz/client. Or you may need to go to
the machine and local open a terminal and run the script as root
For more detailed information about your script you can select the Reports plus down on
the left hand menu and select the Operations Log.