IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for UNIX and Linux Backup-Archive ...

Related concepts“Excluding system files” on page 84There are some recommended system file excludes that should be placed in theclient options file. These system files are either locked by the operating system orthey can cause problems during restore. These are system files that cannot berecovered without possibly corrupting the operating system, or temporary fileswith data that you can easily recreate.Performing an incremental, selective, or incremental-by-date backup(UNIX and Linux)Your administrator might have set up schedules to automatically back up files onyour workstation. The following sections discuss how to back up files withoutusing a schedule.There are two types of incremental backup: full incremental and partialincremental.Related tasks“Setting the client scheduler process to run as a background task and startautomatically at boot time” on page 214You can configure the Tivoli Storage Manager client scheduler to run as abackground system task which starts automatically when your system is started.This is true for both client acceptor daemon-managed and traditional methods ofrunning the Tivoli Storage Manager client scheduler.Full and partial incremental backupAn incremental backup backs up only new and changed files. Whether youperform a full or partial incremental backup depends on what you select forbackup.If you select entire file systems, you are performing a full incremental backup. Ifyou select a directory tree or individual files, you are performing a partialincremental backup.The first time you run a full incremental backup, Tivoli Storage Manager backs upall the files and directories that you specify. This process can take a long time if thenumber of files is large, or if one or more very large files must be backed up.Subsequent full incremental backups will only back up new and changed files.This allows the backup server to maintain current versions of your files, withouthaving to waste time or space by backing up files that already exist in serverstorage.Depending on your storage management policies, the server might keep more thanone version of your files in storage. The most recently backed up files are activebackup versions. Older copies of your backed up files are inactive versions.However, if you delete a file from your workstation, the next full incrementalbackup will cause the active backup version of the file to become inactive. If youneed to restore a file you have deleted, and if a full incremental backup has beenrun since you deleted the file, then you will need to restore an inactive version ofthe file (assuming that a version still exists on the server). The number of inactiveversions maintained by the server and how long they are retained is governed bythe management policies defined by your server administrator. The purpose of theactive versions is to represent which files existed on your file system at the time ofthe backup.Chapter 4. Backing up your data 119