How to do a Full Prune (on non-Legacy device types) to clean up past backups that might have been missed in normal retention processes on Local Storage and Cloud Backup device types in NovaBACKUP 21.x (21.x and newer versions). In NovaBACKUP 21 (21.x) we implemented a way to manually force perform a Full Prune on Local Storage and Cloud Backup device types (which are the two non-Legacy device types) to clean up past backups that might have been missed in the normal retention process, and these are the instructions on how to do that; but know that it would not be normal to need to enable this flag manually. Here is the method that can be utilized per FPI type device (Local Storage, otherwise know as "Local FPI" and Cloud Backup, otherwise known as Generic S3, device types) to during the next backup to those device types re-import all off the set records from that device (which are the records index records) again to store and replace the restore index records locally (either in ProgramData, or to the Customer FPI Data Dir folder value if you custom defined that in nsconfig.ini. This guide is only applicable to NovaBACKUP 21.0.x versions. Note: This full import of device set records is always supposed to be done for you automatically after upgrading from 20.1.x to 21.0.x, and it will also be done automatically during the first backup that you will do to either a Local Storage or a Cloud Backup device using 21.0.x (those two scenarios will be when the Full import of device set records are imported in to the local client storage, which a way to force a Full Prune to clean up past backups that might have been missed in normal retention processes). There should not normally be a need to manually enable and disable this flag under normal use cases, but we have documented it here just in case it was ever needed. The import of records insures that all .DCT data files are on the client side, as to avoid needing to perform a full backup run if it is not necessary to do again on the next and subsequent backup job runs to one of those two that device types. The forced import of sets at the start of the backup job, when this flag is enabled (which it will be until a backup job that utilizes that device is executed for instance after an upgrade from 20.x to 21.x, or for the first backup that has ever executed to that device) is so that it perform another full backup that would not be necessary and so that it retents (prunes) data correctly on that device (and then the flag will be automatically (without user intervention to manually change it) changed back to disabled, per device, back to "needImport=0".
- First make sure that no backup or restore jobs are running and then exit NovaBACKUP client software
- Stop the NovaBACKUP Copy/Backup Engine Service in Windows Services.
- Using notepad app edit the nsconfig.ini file in the 'C:\ProgramData\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\Profiles' folder (if you have Windows installed on another hard drive, that drive letter other than C: then that drive letter portion will differ). The format of this file and section that the flag will exist in is shown in the example below, and this is the normal value that you should see in a 21.0.x client that has backed up at least one time to the non-Legacy device types, where the already existing flag is showing "needImport=0" in this case, and keep in mind that this is a per Local Storage (Local FPI) and per Cloud Backup (Generic S3) flag setting (that would need to be configured for that named device type in the nsconfig.ini file). In this example the Local Storage (Local FPI) device comes first in the list of devices, and the Cloud Backup (Generic S3) device comes second, but that order of devices is purely due to the sequential order that the devices were created in, a "Local Storage" device type will always begin with "[Local.Device.X"] and a "Cloud Backup" device type will always begin with "[WebPort.Device.X]" in the first portion of the device section configuration in this file, and the "name" or "deviceName" field value will state how you named that device to know if you are editing the correct device for the "needImport" flag:
- Per each Local Storage (Local FPI) or Cloud Backup (Generic S3) device type, that you need to force a full device records set import on, if you want the enable the Full import you can do so by changing the value of the existing "needImport" flag seen above, per device, from "needImport=0" to "needImport=1". Note: The nsconfig.ini file contains those two device types entries in it, per device, and in that case the "needImport" flag won't be visible on a brand new created device that has not attempted to be backed up to yet. In this example I have enabled the "needImport=1" flag on both of those two device types, as seen in this screenshot before saving the file:
- Then save the nsconfig.ini file, and make sure that the change saved by viewing the file back in notepad, to know that the change that you made in Step 4 exists in the saved file.
- Then start the NovaBACKUP client software (which will start the nsService.exe) and for that same device that you enabled the "needImport=1" flag on, for that one device, you can now start a backup job that utilizes that backup device, which could be an existing backup job or a new backup job, as long as the backup job is assigned to that device type, and it will perform the "Importing objects" and "Importing from sets X" portion of the backup job near the start, before it tries to store any backup data. You should in the Status tab dialog see that progress of the sets being imported. Once that backup job has completed it will automatically change the existing "needImport" flag back to "needImport=0" for you (as seen in the first screenshot in Step 3 for how that flag should look after the backup where that flag was enabled has completed).
- Note: There should not be a real reason to enable that flag manually ever, to change the flag valid to enabled, which would be "needImport=1", but this is just the guide on how to do that.
- After the backup job has completed to that FPI device type that you force enabled the flag on, you should then manually verify by viewing the nsconfig.ini file in notepad again that the flag is disabled and showing as "needImport=0", otherwise if it doesn't state that way then every time a backup job runs in the future to that same device type that had the flag enabled as "needImport=1" it will cause the full Import of records again, for each backup job run to that single device.