Backup Exec (tm) for Windows Servers Advanced Open File Option (AOFO) uses a static volume, also referred to as a "Cache File" for backing up open files. The location of the static volume will impact the Have Backup Exec calculate the initial and maximum size of the static volume option.

These settings can be configured by going to Tools | Wizards | Advanced Open File Option Wizard (Figure 1).

Figure 1
 

The location of the static volume can be automatically determined by the Use default option or a fixed drive can be specified (Figure 2). If Use default is selected, the static volume will be created on a drive that is not selected for backup. However, if all drives are selected for backup, the static volume will be created on all the drives at the same time. It is possible to bypass this setting within Backup Exec by implementing a registry change to perform single volume snap (see Related Documents for more information).The drives can be forced into snapping separately by breaking up the drives into their own jobs. For instance, one job for backing up all C: drives, one job for backing up all D: drives, etc. This will allow the AOFO component to create the static volume on any other available drive, which is the ideal option.

Figure 2
 

Have Backup Exec calculate the initial and maximum size of the static volume is selected by default and the initial size and maximum size are grayed out at 50 and 100 percent (Figure 3). If Backup Exec is calculating the initial and maximum size, it will determine which is smaller, 10% of used space or 50% of free space, and use that as the Initial size of the static volume. The maximum size will be calculated by determining which is smaller, 30% of used space or 90% of free space. If Backup Exec is not calculating the initial and maximum size of the static volume, it will take the percentage given by the user and determine which is smaller, x% of used space or x% of free space, and use that value to calculate the initial and maximum sizes.

Figure 3