NovaBACKUP Cloud / xSP / Remote Workforce
What is FastBIT Technology?
FastBIT technology is the component of the NovaBACKUP Storage Server that allows backups to be as small and fast as possible. FastBIT utilizes a block-level comparison between files already backed up on the Storage Server and files on a client machine being backed up. Once the files are compared, FastBIT prepares and sends ONLY the differences at the block level between those two files, reducing the amount of data to be sent to the storage server significantly.
During the initial backup of files to the NovaBACKUP Storage Server the NovaBACKUP client will prepare a number of signature files (*.sig). These signature files provide the reference points for the block-level comparisons and are stored in the NovaBACKUP Temporary file location. When the next backup is performed, the client will use these signature files that have been created to quickly evaluate what files have been changed. After identifying the changed files, NovaBACKUP will run the block level comparison and prepare the appropriate FastBIT patch files to send to the server.
What if I delete the signature files?
As long as you're not attempting to backup from a new machine and have only deleted the signature files (e.g. - Uninstall / Reinstall or by clearing your backup cache) then you will not need to backup all of your data again. During the next backup (following the signature file deletion) the NovaBACKUP Client will download the existing file list from the Storage Server. The client will then re-build a set of signatures locally and compare them to the existing file list just as before. The only downside of deleting the signature files will be a longer backup on the next run (for the signatures to be recreated).
If you have moved servers / reinstalled the operating system however you will need to perform an APF Migration to inform the NovaBACKUP Storage Server that the signature files on this machine should be identical to the prior machine. User Data Import and Verify using APFMigration
Where can I read more about FastBIT?
Information about FastBIT Technology can be found at https://sdm.lbl.gov/fastbit/
The basis for FastBIT is "bitmap indexing" (more information on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitmap_index