Difference between full & synchronized backup DCE

[DCIM_Support]

All, can someone explain the difference between a full or synchronized backup in DCE, after some testing I am a bit confused.

the manual tells me this: 

Backup Type: what data will be saved in backup files:

• Full: all server data (configuration and repository) will be saved in every backup file.
• Synchronized: only changes to server data (configuration and repository) will be saved after the initial backup file.

When I create a full backup of my test DCE unit the backupsize is 247 Mb

When I create a synchronized backup of this same unit the backup size is also 247 Mb, I do have two questions then:

• what is the advantage of making a synchronized backup if the backupsize is the same as the full backup
• when restoring a synchronized backup on a new DCE server, do you need to restore the full backup first and then the latest synchronized backup or can I restore the synchronized without restoring the full backup.

Please explain.

(CID:105470288)

[DCIM_Support]

Hello Cees,

A full backup is a complete copy of the entire database including the configuration. This is a one for one copy of the DCE storage capacity meaning if the DCE server has 200gig worth of data the backup will be 200gig in size. A Synchronized backup is similar to a full backup with the first backup ran but going forward backups that are take will only contain changes to the system which include data and configuration. See below for an example of both of a DCE server that contains 20gigs of data during the first backuo and 30gigs for the second backup

Full Backup

1st backup -would be a complete backup equaling 20gigs

2nd backup- would be another complete backup equaling 30gigs

Synchronized

1st backup - would be a complete backup equaling 20gigs

2nd backup - would only include the changes to the server after the initial full backup, this backup size would only be 10gigs worth of changes.

Please let me know if you have additional questions

Thanks 

Victor

(CID:105470298)

[DCIM_Support]

Hi Victor, Steve, THX a lot for you're explanation, this was my idea also but when I test I do notice that all my syncronized do have the same size as my full backup, see screenshot, all directory's do have the size of 247 Mb, I expect my synchronized a lot smaller because there is hardly any time between the full & synchronized Secondly, for restoring I do need all the files, so the full plus all the synchronized, can you please confirm this ?

Capture.JPG

(CID:105470322)

[DCIM_Support]

Sorry Cees, I don't see sizes in your screenshot. What did you do, create one and ru nit multiple times? Did you create 3 different sync backups?

(CID:105470338)

[DCIM_Support]

Hi Steve, yep, you can read from the files names of the backup the start date & time, made a full & config backup and after that made three time a synchronized backup with different times in between, I was surprised by the fact that all my synchronized had the same size

backup.JPG

(CID:105470372)

[DCIM_Support]

Hi Steven, this thread is a bit old but doesn't seem to have ever been resolved. I have the same issue: 

I am currently performing Synchronized backups under the belief that it should only contain data that has changed since the last Synchronized backup?  For the last 3 days my synchronized backups are 49GB same size as a full backup yet a full back up takes 20 hours to perform & a synchronized backup only takes an hour to perform.  I am slightly confused now.

Synchronized: only changes to server data (configuration and repository) will be saved after the initial backup file.

(CID:125213231)

[DCIM_Support]

Hi Cees,

A full backup is just that, full....everything. Every time this backup is run, everything is backed up. Let's say you're running this full backup weekly for a month. If you have 100 gigs of data and config and you get an extra 100 megs of data per week, your directory will end up with backups of 100 gig, 100.1 gig, 100.2 gig, and 100.3 gig for a total of 400.6 gig. 

Now let's do the same thing with a synchronized backup. Your first backup is 100 gig, your second backup is 100 meg appended to the first backup, your 3rd backup is 100 meg appended to the 1st backup and your 4th backup is 100 meg appended to the first backup for a total of 100.3 gig.

The pros and cons as I see it are space vs usability. Your full backups are using 300.3 gig more room than the synchronized backup. If there was something that went wrong however, if some type of corruption happened to the data at some point, any full backups prior to that issue should still be usable. Synchronized backups aren't meant to be dissected so the 1 backup you have would have issues. 

Steve

(CID:105470299)

[DCIM_Support]

Hi Steven Marchetti,

May I know the detailed steps to restore the system using synchronized back up? Is it restoring the initial backup file first then incrementally restore each sync backup file? Thanks a lot

(CID:108235569)

[DCIM_Support]

Hi Winnie, It should be no different than any other restore. You simply point it to the correct single backup and restore from that.

(CID:108235620)

[DCIM_Support]

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