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Dell NetWorker Deploy 2023 study materials
Dell NetWorker Deploy 2023 study resources

Dell NetWorker Deploy 2023: Client Configuration and Backup Policies

Dell NetWorker Deploy 2023 · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Client Configuration and Backup Policies

What this domain tests

Expect questions on the modern policy/workflow/action model, client resources and save sets, schedules, retention versus browse, target pools, and directives.

Policy structure

In current NetWorker releases, a policy contains workflows. A workflow contains a group (clients and start time) and one or more actions. A backup action defines the backup command, schedule, destination pool, and retention behavior. A clone action can run in the same workflow after the backup. This replaces the older flat group/schedule model, so know which object holds clients and which holds the schedule.

Client and save-set rules

  • The client resource defines the client name, save sets, backup command, parallelism, storage node preference, and directives.
  • Save sets can be explicit paths, filesystem mount points, or platform-specific values. Avoid assuming a single value works on every OS.
  • A schedule sets the backup level for each day: full, incremental, or levels 1–9. The first backup of a cycle is normally full; later ones are incremental.
  • Retention controls how long the save set is kept. Browse controls how long it appears in the client file index for browsing and file-level recovery. Browse cannot exceed retention.
  • A pool determines which volumes receive the data.

Worked example

A policy must run a full backup every Saturday and incrementals Sunday through Friday. Files must be recoverable by browsing for seven days, but the save sets must be retained for 30 days. Configure the action schedule with full on Saturday and incremental on the other days. Set browse to 7 days and retention to 30 days. If you reversed those values, NetWorker would reject the configuration because browse cannot outlive retention.

Traps

Do not put the schedule on the client when the action owns it. Do not set browse longer than retention. Do not assume a clone copy inherits the source retention; clone retention is controlled by the clone action and target pool. Check directive precedence when an exclude rule does not seem to apply.