How to determine the number of resources to back up in a job

When you are setting up jobs for the network, you must decide if you want to create one job that includes many resources or a job for each resource.

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Table: Advantages and disadvantages of including more than one system in a job

Method

Advantages

Disadvantages

One job per device

  • If a job fails, you know immediately which resource was not backed up.

  • If a resource is turned off or moved, backups of other resources are not affected.

  • When resources are added to the network you can simply set up new jobs for each resource.

  • You have more jobs to keep track of (for example, reviewing job histories, and so forth).

Multiple resources per job

  • There are fewer jobs to keep track of and create.

  • You know the order in which the data is backed up.

  • You could make it an overwrite job and thus be able to use the same name for the media and the job.

  • If any of the resources in the job are not available during the backup, the job results in an abnormal completion status.

How to determine the number of resources to back up in a job