One of the new cool feature provided by Nakivo Backup & Replication v10.8 is the capability to merge backup jobs of the same type.
When two or more jobs are merged, the process doesn't require a full backup if already existing in the original jobs allowing to save a lot of time.
How to merge backup jobs
This feature is very useful if you want to have a better organization of your backup environment by removing obsolete backup jobs or to adopt for example a new name convention. This can be done now by merging a backup job into an existing one without the hassle of recreating a new backup chain that requires time.
For example you may need to re-organize some backup jobs belonging to a specific department because it has been renamed or merged with another one. So far the only way to achieve this goal would have been creating new backup jobs (then a new backup chain) with a new full backup to process. This means time invested by the IT staff for the new configuration, time to process the new full backups, more storage space consumption and so forth.
With the new merge backup capability, this change can now be done quickly and it works for backup jobs of the same type.
How it works
When a merge operation runs, the following occurs:
- Source objects are copied to the new target job.
- Destination, Networks, and Re-IP settings are used after the merge.
- Retention and Schedule settings are used after the merge.
- If expiration dates have been configured, expiration dates are maintained after the merge.
- Settings configured on the Options step of the target job creation process are used after the merge with a few exceptions:
- App-aware mode - if enabled for the source job and disabled for the target job (or vice versa), it will be enabled for the merged job.
- Full Backup - settings are displayed after the merge if either the source or target job was using a repository with Incremental with full backups data storage type selected.
- Truncate Exchange logs - if enabled for the source job and disabled for the target job (or vice versa), it will be enabled for the merged job.
- Truncate SQL logs - if enabled for the source job and disabled for the target job (or vice versa), it will be enabled for the merged job.
- Transporter - if the target job Transporter selection settings cannot be applied to the source job objects, the merge fails.
- When the operation is done successfully, the source job is removed.
Configure the merge Backup Job
Two Backup Jobs belonging to a specific department must be reconfigured because the department changed the name and also the name convention changed.
From the Jobs section, highlight the Backup Job to merge in another job and select Manage > Merge from the menu.
Select the Backup Job target to merge with and click Apply. Bear in mind that when the operation is done successfully, the source job is removed.
The chosen Backup Job has been merged into the selected target Backup Job. Click Close.
The source job has been merged into the target job and removed.
Machines that were previously protected by the source Backup Job are now member of the selected target Backup Job.
You just need now to rename the Backup Job to comply with the new department name or new convention name. Right click the Backup Job and select Rename.
Enter the New name and click Rename.
The Backup Job has now the new name.
The merge backup operation is very simple and takes only few minutes to be finalized successfully.
Nakivo Backup & Replication is available to download as 15-day trial.
