Backup Strategies Explained

XtraBackup Manager provides some different backup strategies that are used to control things like:

• When should a FULL backup snapshot be taken?
• When should an INCREMENTAL backup snapshot be taken?
• How long should backups be kept for?

There are currently three backup strategies in XtraBackup Manager and each has a code that is really just a shorthand way of referring to the strategy within the software.

They are:

• Full Only - Code: FULLONLY
• Continuous Incremental - Code: CONTINC
• Rotating Sets of Incremental Backups - Code: ROTATING

Each backup strategy controls when or if to take FULL or INCREMENTAL backups and in addition has a different means of controlling when old backups should be deleted. The rules for when backups should be deleted are referred to in XtraBackup Manager as the retention policy.

The retention policy is only applied upon successful completion of any backup.

Each of the backup strategies is explained in more detail at the linked sections above.