Defining per-Hardware Node Backup Settings

On the Configure Container Backup Settings screen displayed individually for each Hardware Node registered in Parallels Infrastructure Manager, you can configure:

1. the backup settings that will be used by default during the backing up of the Containers belonging to the current Hardware Node. These settings are defined in the Default Backup Options, Number of Backups Available From Parallels Power Panel, and Incremental Backup Settings groups.
2. the location for Container backups that will be used during the backing up of the Containers from any Hardware Node (including this one) provided the current Node is set as the Backup Node for the corresponding backup operation. This setting is defined in the Local Backups Location Settings group.

If you are configuring the Master Hardware Node settings, these settings also serve as the global backup settings for the Hardware Nodes group and there is no the Container Backup Settings section on this screen. If it is a Slave Hardware Node, you should first decide whether you want to inherit the global Container backup settings for this Node, or to define its individual settings. In the latter case select the Use local settings for backing up Containers of this Node radio button in the Container Backup Settings section.

After that you can define the following options:

• On the Backup Type drop-down menu, select one of the following types of backup:
  • Full backup. This type is recommended when doing a backup job for the first time and contains all the data selected for the backup. A full backup storage space and completion time requirements are the highest.
  • Incremental backup affects only those files and data which have changed since the last backup and takes less storage space and creation time.
  • Differential backup includes only the data modified since the last full backup. (Whereas a differential backup will save the data changed after any last backup, be it a full, incremental, or differential, this is only a full backup a differential backup considers to be the last one.)
• On the Compression Level drop-down menu, choose one of the possible levels:
  • None. This level suggests no compression at all and is recommended if you need to perform a fast backup but do not need to save disk space necessary for backups storage;
  • The normal level of compression takes a little more time and allows for some disk space saving;
  • While extending the backup creation time, the high level of compression saves you even more disk space;
  • The maximum compression level means the longest backup creation time and the best backup compression.

    Note: It is recommended to choose the backup compression level according to the type of the data the Container stores. The Virtuozzo Containers software will try to compress the backup regardless of the data type, but some data are worth spending time for compression (such as text files and data bases) and some, such as already compressed archives are not. Therefore, select the None checkbox when the Container you are backing up stores no data that suggest or need compressing.

• select the Backup Node for storing the backups of the Containers of this Node. If you choose to store the backups on this very Node, their exact location will be determined by the local backups location settings below. If you select another Hardware Node, the exact location of the Containers will be determined by the local backups location settings of the corresponding Hardware Node.
• enter the number of backups you are going to limit each Container with in the Number of Backups per Container field of the Number of Backups Available From Parallels Power Panel section.
• enable the backups rotation with the help of the settings in the Incremental Backup Settings group. Use the provided checkboxes to specify the number of incremental backups and/or days after which Parallels Infrastructure Manager should create a new full backup, thus annulling the previous incremental backups.

The Local Backups Location Settings group defines the backup location of those Containers that are backed up to the current Node, irrespective of their Source Node. You may select either a local drive with a local path or a network share path with the corresponding network credentials.

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