Environment
Reload 5 (all versions)
Situation
Resolution
Reload server storage requirements for each GroupWise post office:
Reload stores a GroupWise post office backup on the Reload Server in a manner that seeks to maximize the number of backups that can be stored on the Reload server.
Full Backup vs. Incremental Backup
THE FULL BACKUP
The very first time that Reload backs up a GroupWise post office, the full contents (Full Backup) of the post office needs to be replicated to the Reload server. Included in the Full Backup are the following components of the GroupWise Message Store:
The following GroupWise Databases:
wphost.db, ngwguard.db, and the database contents of the /ofuser, /ofmsg, and /gwdms directories
The QuickFinder Indexes:
The QuickFinder Indexes are kept in the <post office>/ofuser/index directory.
The GroupWise BLOB files in the <post office>/offiles directory and subdirectories.
A few other miscellaneous files are also replicated from the post office directory, such as the <post office>/ofviews directory contents.
Once the Full Backup has been done, Reload never does a Full Backup of the post office ever again.
[ Disk Space in Use at This Point: 100% The Size of the Post Office = 100GB ]
INCREMENTAL BACKUPS
Every successive Reload post office backup is an Incremental Backup. Each Incremental Backup backs up exactly the same data that the Full Backup backed up. The total size of all of the GroupWise databases and indexes mentioned above represent about 10% of the size of the post office. And the offiles directory contents represent approximately 90% of the size of the post office. Since 90% of the data from a size standpoint, exists in the <post office/offiles directory, then in actuality each backup is actually only backing up approximately 11% of the size of the post office. So for example, if a GroupWise post office is 100 GB, then the amount of disk space used by a incremental backup will take about 12 GB to store.
The reason for this is that the original <post office>/offiles directory backup is now shared via a Linux symbolic link on the Reload server with each Incremental Backup. And each Incremental Backup appends to the shared offiles directory on the Reload server. So the 11% represents the following 1% of the size of the post office in new blob files from the <post office>/offiles directory. And 10% of the size of the post office which is in the databases and indexes that are backed up with each Incremental Backup.
[ Disk Space in Use at This Point: 100% The Size of the Post Office + 1 Incremental Backup = 111 GB ]
Most customers find that they need approximately 2 weeks worth of backups available on the Reload server to service 99% of their backup restoration requests. That would be 14 Incremental Backups that would be stored on the Reload Server. Here is an illustration of the math to explain the disk space used on the Reload Server to store the 14 Incremental Backups:
| Backup | Size On Disk |
| Full Backup | 100 GB |
| 14 Incremental Backups | 14 x 11 GB = 154 GB |
| Total | 254 GB (~ 2.5 x The Post Office Size) |
The total disk space used might be a lower or higher than the amount illustrated here. If you have not implemented GWAVA's Retain product, and expect your GroupWise post office message store to continue to grow, then you may want to allocate 3 x The Post Office Size to allow for growth of the post office size.