Backing up Notification Server and the database
Because Notification Server also includes a database, you should back up the server on a regular basis. This process requires you to stop the Altiris Notification Server before backing up so you do not lose or corrupt data. To automate such a backup process, you can use Veritas System Recovery through Veritas System Recovery 18 Management Solution to create a cold recovery point.
Table: Backing up Notification Server and the database
| Step | Description |
| Step 1 | Install the Veritas System Recovery Install Plug-in and Veritas System Recovery. |
| Step 2 | Create a backup policy exclusively for Notification Server. No other computers should be assigned to this backup policy. |
| | - The backup policy needs to run two command files: One command file to stop the Altiris Notification Server before the snapshot is taken of the computer. And the other command file to restart Notification Server immediately after the snapshot. See About running command files during a backup . |
| | - Make sure that the backup policy runs at a time when backup policies for other managed computers do not run. For example, if most of your backup policies are scheduled to run at 02:00 A.M, the backup policy for the Veritas System Recovery 18 Management Solution server should run earlier than 02:00 A.M (or later). |
| Step 3 | Make sure that the Veritas System Recovery 18 Management Solution server computer is not assigned to any Groups that you may have defined in the console. This ensures that the backup policies that are intended for other computers do not get assigned to the server. |
Table: Backup Policy Schedule tab options for a recovery point set
| Schedule tab options | Description |
| Schedule | Lets you select the days and a start time for when the backup should run. |
| Start time (24 hour format) | Lets you customize the start time of the backup . |
| Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat | Lets you customize the days of the week for the backup to run. The default is to run the backup Monday through Friday. |
| Run more than once per day | Lets you run the backup more than once a day to protect the data that you edit or change frequently. |
| Time between backups | Lets you specify the maximum time that should occur between backups. |
| Number of times | Lets you specify the number of times per day that the backup should run. |
| Automatically optimize | Lets you select how often optimization should occur for the backup destination to manage the used disk space. |
| | You can choose from the following options: |
| | - Never Indicates that no deletion of incremental recovery points is performed. |
| | - Every four hours Indicates that a deletion of incremental recovery points that are four hours old (or older) is performed every four hours. Also, after the first incremental of the day is taken, all incremental files from two days previous are consolidated to a single file. |
| | - Every twelve hours Indicates that a deletion of incremental recovery points that are 12 hours old (or older) is performed every 12 hours. Also, after the first incremental of the day is taken, all incremental files from two days previous are consolidated to a single file. |
| Distribute strategy randomly across (minutes) | Indicates that the policy is distributed randomly across a specified number of minutes (0-1440) to all the computers that are assigned to the policy. This option applies if you save recovery points to a network destination. |
| | For example, suppose you want to distribute a backup policy in 60 minutes to 120 computers. Each of the 120 computers would randomly choose a time within the 60 minutes, before or after the scheduled start time, to start the backup. |
| | This option helps to run not the policy at the same start time for all computers, which can cause a denial of service condition on the network, the recovery point destination, or both. |
| Start a new recovery point set | Lets you select how frequently a new recovery point set should be started. |
| | Your options for starting new recovery point set (base) include the following: |
| | - Weekly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the week. |
| | - Monthly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the month. |
| | - Quarterly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup every three months from the date when you selected this option. |
| | - Yearly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the year, once a year, on the date that you selected for this option. |
| | - Custom Lets you set specific weekly or monthly options for starting a new recovery point set. |
| Custom | Lets you customize the start time, and the days of the week or month to run the backup. |
| | Note: If you choose to archive recovery points, consider creating recovery point sets more frequently to keep the size of your recovery point sets smaller. |
Table: Backup Policy Triggers tab options for a recovery point set
| Triggers tab options | Description |
| Any application is installed | Indicates that an incremental recovery point is created at the time users begin to install a software application on their computer. |
| Specified applications are launched | Indicates that an incremental recovery point is created at the time users run a specified software application on their computer. |
| Any user logs on to the computer | Indicates that an incremental recovery point is created when users log on to Windows on their computer. |
| Any user logs off from the computer | Indicates that an incremental recovery point is created at the moment users log off from Windows on their computer (but does not turn off Windows). |
| Data added to the drive exceeds | Indicates that an incremental recovery point is created when the added data on a drive exceeds an amount (in megabytes) that you specify. |
Table: Backup Policy Schedule options for an independent recovery point
| Schedule option | Description |
| Automatically create a recovery point | Lets you specify a weekly or monthly backup schedule. |
| | The scheduling options include the following: |
| | - Weekly Creates a new, independent recovery point on each day of the week that you check, and at the specified time. When you create independent recovery points one or more times per week, large amounts of disk storage space may be required. |
| | - Monthly Creates a new, independent recovery point on each day of the month that you check, and at the specified time. |
| | - No Schedule Saves all of the backup policy settings except a schedule. You can later deploy the backup policy at your convenience by assigning a schedule to the policy. |
| | You can also create a single independent recovery point once, with no schedule. |
| | See Creating an independent backup task . |
| Start time (24 hour format) | Lets you customize the start time of the backup . |
| Days of the week | Lets you customize the days of the week for the backup policy to run. |
| Days of the month | Lets you customize the days of the month for the backup policy to run. |
| Distribute strategy randomly across (minutes) | Indicates that the policy is distributed randomly across a specified number of minutes (0-1440) to all the computers that are assigned to the policy. This option applies if you save recovery points to a network destination. |
| | For example, suppose you want to distribute a backup policy in 60 minutes to 120 computers. Each of the 120 computers would randomly choose a time within the 60 minutes, before or after the scheduled start time, to start the backup. |
| | This option helps to not run the policy at the same start time for all computers, which can cause a denial of service condition on the network, the recovery point destination, or both. |