A backup job not completed within a specific amount of time can be automatically canceled by using the Automatic Cancellation feature in Backup Exec (tm).

Backup Exec starts measuring the length of time the job takes to run when the job actually begins, not when the job is scheduled to begin. This feature can be defaulted for each backup job, or can be enabled for a backup job separately.

1a. Setting Automatic Cancellation default for each backup job in Backup Exec 9.x:

Go to Tools | Options | Schedule, and specify the number of hours or minutes (Figure 1). A backup job will be canceled automatically after the time specified in the Cancel job if not completed within field.

Figure 1
 


1b. Setting Automatic Cancellation default for each backup job in Backup Exec 10.x and above:

Go to Tools | Options | Priority and Availability, and specify the number of hours or minutes (Figure 2).

Figure 2
 


2a. Setting Automatic Cancellation for a backup job in Backup Exec 9.x:

Make backup selections. Click Schedule under Frequency, and specify the number of hours or minutes.

2b. Setting Automatic cancellation for a backup job in Backup Exec 10.x and above:

Make backup selections. Click Priority and Availability under Source, and specify the number of hours or minutes

Automatic Cancellation time specified in a backup job will supersede the default setting (time specified in Tools | Options  | Schedule  for Backup Exec 9.x  and Tools | Options | Priority and Availability for Backup Exec 10.x and above).

After the specified time is reached, the backup job will be automatically canceled and an alert "The job was automatically canceled because it exceeded the job's maximum configured run time" will be generated (Figure 3).

Figure 3
 

The backup job log would have an entry:"The media operation was terminated by the user. Error reading file data" (Figure 4).

Figure 4