New Backup Format

The new backup format is based on the following approach: backed-up data on storage is always kept as a data container. This approach enables keeping backup plans completely independent from each other. Thus, every backup plan is a separate directory that delivers backup data to a specific location on backup storage. This rules out any possible plan interference issues.

Backup data on storage is divided into blocks, and a block is the main operating entity. When data is uploaded to backup storage, blocks are combined into data parts. The data part size can vary. The part size depends on the upload speed and backup storage provider limitations. Uploading data by parts enables continuing the upload from the last successful part in case of backup interruption.

• New backup format
  • Client-side deduplication
  • Mandatory and full consistency checks
  • Restore On Restore Points
  • Continued data upload in case of network issues
  • Object size up to 256 TB to any storage destination
  • Optimized performance and storage usage for a large number of small files
  • Improved incremental backup performance.
  • New CLI V2 (BETA)
  • Backup plan configuration is always backed up

Terms and Definitions

This section explains several new terms and entities.

Backup Plan

The backup plan determines the backup data configuration sent to a backup destination. The configuration contains a number of parameters:

• Backup Data
• Encryption
• Compression
• Retention Policy
• Backup Plan Run Schedule

Bunch

Bunch is a notion of a backup plan in the main database. Bunch is linked to a directory in the database, which in turn is linked to a destination. A destination can be modified. Bunch is always unique within the cloud folder and the plan type. This approach enables convenient data deletion on cloud storage since all backup content is stored in one directory.

Generation

Generation is a complete self-contained data set sufficient for data restoration. In other words, generation is a set of a full backup and a chain of incremental backups for a specific backup plan.

Restore Point

Restore Point is a partial data set for restore. A full-fledged restore point contains at least one file or directory. If a restore point does not contain any file or directory, it is considered empty but successful, and it can contain blocks for subsequent runs. A valid Restore Point guarantees a correct restore of backed-up data. In contrast, an invalid restore point does not contain a complete data set for restore, but at the same time can contain blocks that are used for restore from other Restore Points.