Installing the Data Repository Component › Install the Data Repository Component › How to Set Up Automatic Backups of Data Repository (Single-Node and Cluster Installations) › Data Repository Backup Considerations

Data Repository Backup Considerations

Consider the following information before you back up Data Repository:

• You do not need to stop Data Repository or Data Aggregator when you back up Data Repository.
• Backups are stored in the location that you specify in the configuration file that you use to back up the database. The directory that contains the backup file has a subdirectory for each node that is backed up to that location. The subdirectory contains a directory with the name of the backup snapshot. The snapshot name is set using the snapshotName option in the configuration file.
• Perform incremental backups daily. We recommend performing backups during nonbusiness hours because backup processing is resource-intensive.
• You can back up Data Repository to a remote host, or you can back it up to the same host.

  Note: If you back up to the same host, save the backup to a different partition than the one that is used by the catalog and data directories.

• Perform full backups weekly. The daily snapshots depend on the full backup. Restoring to any snapshot depends on the integrity of the full backup. Consider the following information about full backups:
  • Create a .ini file for each weekly full backup. The .ini file is required to restore to a particular snapshot. When a unique name is given to the .ini file, and the .ini file is run for the first time, a full backup is performed. Therefore, it is important to take note of your disk space. If the disk space is at a premium, we recommend keeping only one or two weeks of data (in addition to the current week). This solution requires an extra maintenance step of deleting the oldest week of backups as each new week begins.
  • Perform a full backup by either running the /opt/vertica/bin/vbr.py -setupconfig command to generate a new .ini file, or by making a copy of the current version of the .ini file. Copy the existing .ini file to a new .ini file and then change the value for “snapshotName” in the new .ini file.

More information:

How to Set Up Automatic Backups of Data Repository (Single-Node and Cluster Installations)