HP Data Protector Express Basic-Software - Manual (Page 53)

Simple and GFS Rotation Types
These rotation types specify combinations of full and incremental backups that efficiently use a specific
number of media sets. The main difference between the Simple and the GFS rotations are that only the
GFS rotations specify Yearly backups.
Custom
Select this option to create your own rotation.
TIP:
You can select a rotation similar to the desired rotation prior to selecting the custom rotation type and the
values from the previously selected rotation will remain as a starting place. The Calendar view is very
helpful when creating custom rotations.
Comparing rotation types
Data Protector Express provides a variety of media rotation types to select from. Or, you can define
your own media rotation.
The following table compares the historical backups and full data recovery capabilities of each of the
rotation types provided in Data Protector Express.
Rotation Type # of Sets Yearly Sets Monthly Sets Weekly Sets Daily Sets
Simple 4 1 full 1 full 2 full
Simple 6 2 full 1 full 3 full
Simple 10 3 full 3 full 4 incremental
Simple 11 3 full 4 full 4 incremental
Simple 12 4 full 4 full 4 incremental
Daily Append N (def. 4) N full 4 incremental appends
GFS 20 2 full 6 full 6 full 6 incremental
GFS 25 2 full 7 full 8 full 8 incremental
GFS 30 2 full 8 full 8 fill 12 incremental
Running Jobs with Rotations
The info bar displays the Current rotation set and the Next rotation set in the Rotation Details section
of the info bar. Before the job is run the first time, both fields have the same value. Once the job runs
successfully, the current rotation set field will display the media that has just been used and the next
rotation set field displays the media that will be used next.
Initial run The initial run of a rotation job is uses the largest schedule interval in the rotation. For
example, suppose a job is configured to use a GFS 20 rotation starting on a Thursday, October 28th,
2010. Even though a Thursday in the middle of a month would normally be classified as a Daily backup,
the first time the job is run, a Yearly backup will be performed.
Missed jobs If, for some reason, a run of the job was missed — for example, because the Backup
Server was turned off at the scheduled run time — the scheduler will determine the largest interval missed
and run it automatically a few minutes after Data Protector Express starts again.
User’s Guide 53