About the Administrator-defined streaming mode

If NEW_STREAM is the first line of the backup selections list, the backup is performed in the administrator-defined streaming mode.

The following actions occur:

The backup splits into a separate stream at each point in the backup selections list where the NEW_STREAM directive occurs.
All file paths between NEW_STREAM directives belong to the same stream.
The start of a new stream (a NEW_STREAM directive) defines the end of the previous stream.
The last stream in the backup selections list is terminated by the end of the backup selections list.

In the following examples, assume that each stream is from a separate physical device on the client. Multiple concurrent streams from a single physical device can adversely affect backup times. The backup time is longer if the heads must move back and forth between the tracks that contain files for the respective streams.

For example, consider the following backup selections list:

	NEW_STREAM
	D:\Program Files
	C:\Winnt
	NEW_STREAM
	C:\users
	D:\DataFiles

This backup selections list contains two data streams:

The NEW_STREAM directive at the top of the list starts administrator-defined streaming and the first data stream. This stream backs up D:\Program Files and C:\Winnt.
The second NEW_STREAM starts a second data stream that backs up

C:\users and D:\DataFiles.

If a backup selections list entry is added to a stream, the entry is not backed up until the schedule is due for the policy. If the next backup due is an incremental, only the files that changed are backed up. To ensure that a new entry gets a full backup the first time, add it to a new stream. NetBackup performs a full backup of new streams that are added to the backup selections list.

In the previous example, assume that you add the following:

D:\Utilities

after

D:\Datafiles

If an incremental backup is due that night, only changed files in D:\Utilities are backed up. Add a NEW_STREAM directive before D:\Utilities, to perform a full backup of all files in D:\Utilities, regardless of when the files were last changed.