About NetBackup

NetBackup administrators can set up periodic or calendar-based schedules to perform automatic, unattended backups for clients across a network. An administrator can carefully schedule backups to achieve systematic and complete backups over a period of time, and optimize network traffic during off-peak hours. The backups can be full or incremental. Full backups back up all client files. Incremental backups back up only the files that have changed since the last backup.

The NetBackup administrator can allow users to back up, restore, or archive the files from their computer. (An archive operation backs up a file, then deletes it from the local disk if the backup is successful.)

NetBackup includes both the server and the client software as follows:

Server software resides on the computer that manages the storage devices.
Client software resides on computer(s) that contain data to back up. (Servers also contain client software and can be backed up.)

NetBackup accommodates multiple servers that work together under the administrative control of one NetBackup master server in the following ways:

The master server manages backups, archives, and restores. The master server is responsible for media and device selection for NetBackup. Typically, the master server contains the NetBackup catalog. The catalog contains the internal databases that contain information about NetBackup backups and configuration.
Media servers provide additional storage by allowing NetBackup to use the storage devices that are attached to them. Media servers can also increase performance by distributing the network load. Media servers can also be referred to by using the following terms:
- Device hosts (when tape devices are present)
- Storage servers (when performing I/O directly to disk)
- Data movers (when sending data to independent, external disk devices like OpenStorage appliances)

During a backup or archive, the client sends backup data across the network to a NetBackup server. The NetBackup server manages the type of storage that is specified in the backup policy.

During a restore, users can browse, then select the files and directories to recover. NetBackup finds the selected files and directories and restores them to the disk on the client.