Creating a test run job

The Backup Exec test run option determines if a scheduled backup will complete successfully. When you run a test job, you can monitor the job just as you would a normal backup job, but no data is backed up. During the test run, the tape capacity, credentials, and media are checked. If there is an error, the job will continue to run and the error will appear in the job log. Notification can also be sent to a designated recipient.

During a test run job, the following may cause a job to fail:

Test run jobs that are targeted to All Drives will fail the test if any of the devices in the All Drives drive pool cannot handle the job. For example, if one of the devices does not have any media.

A test run job checks media capacity available for the selected job. However, you can check if there is enough available media for multiple test run jobs in the Test Run Results report.

Before you create a test run job, Symantec recommends that you run backup jobs to your devices first. Backup Exec does not recognize the capacity of a backup device until an actual backup job is targeted to the device. If you create a test run job before any other jobs, Backup Exec cannot check that the device has sufficient capacity to perform the backup job. After at least one backup job has been targeted to a device, Backup Exec can determine the capacity.

See Test Run Results Report.

To create a test run job

  1. On the navigation bar, click Job Setup.

  2. In the Jobs pane, select the job for which you want to create a test run.

  3. Under General Tasks, click Test Run.

  4. Select the appropriate General options as follows:

    Job name

    Type a name for the test run job.

    Credentials check

    Select this check box to verify that the Backup Exec logon account is correct for the resources being backed up.

    Media capacity check to complete individual job

    Select this check box to test if there is enough available capacity on the media to complete the job.

    During the test run job, the number of scheduled jobs in the queue is not checked; therefore, jobs that are scheduled before the test run job may use the media that was available when the test run job was performed.

    Media check

    Select this check box to test whether the media is online and overwritable.

    Use previous job history, if available

    Select this option to use past job histories to determine whether there is enough media available to run the scheduled backup job. Checking the previous job history is faster than performing a pre-scan.

    Perform Pre-scan

    Select this option to enable Backup Exec to scan the scheduled backup job to determine whether there is enough media available to run the job. This is the most accurate method of determining media capacity and should be selected if there is not an existing job history.

    Upon any failure, place the scheduled job on hold

    Select this option to have the scheduled job placed on hold if any failures are detected during the test run.

    Run at priority

    Select the priority level for the test job. If another job is scheduled to run at the same time as this job, the priority you set determines which job runs first.

    You can choose the following priorities:

    • Highest

    • High

    • Medium

    • Low

    • Lowest

  5. If you want Backup Exec to notify a recipient when the backup job completes, on the Properties pane, under Settings, click Notification.

    See Assigning notification recipients for completed jobs.

  6. If you want to run the job now, click Run Now.

    Otherwise, on the Properties pane, under Frequency, click Schedule to set the scheduling options you want to use.

    See Scheduling jobs.