Synthetic Cumulative Incremental Backups

The scenario for creating a synthetic cumulative incremental backup is similar to that of creating a synthetic full backup. Remember, a cumulative incremental backup includes all changes since the last full backup.

If a cumulative incremental backup exists that is newer than the last full backup, a synthetic cumulative backup image is produced by consolidating the following component backup images:

• All differential incremental backups taken since the last cumulative backup.
• The last cumulative incremental backup. If no cumulative incremental backup is available, just the differential incremental backups are used for the synthetic image.

Synthetic Cumulative Backup Usage Example

1. Create a Standard or MS-Windows-NT policy for the 5.0 clients you want to back up. Include the following schedules:
   • A schedule for one traditional full backup to run one Sunday every 3 months.
   • A schedule for daily (Monday through Saturday) differential incremental backups.
   • A schedule for weekly cumulative incremental synthetic backups.
2. Make certain that the traditional full backup runs on the first scheduled Sunday. If, for some reason, the backup does not complete, run the backup manually.
3. Per schedule, run daily differential incremental backups for the clients throughout the week. The last incremental for the week will run on Saturday.
4. Per schedule, run synthetic cumulative incremental backups for the clients on subsequent Sundays.

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     Note    The synthetic cumulative backups in this scenario will be only as current as the Saturday incremental backup.

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5. Per schedule, run a traditional full backup for the clients one Sunday every three months.