About Bacula

CIG's uses the latest version of Bacula in the Debian stable release: Etch/Bacula 1.38.11. Bacula is a network Client/Server based backup program. Bacula is relatively easy to use and efficient, while offering many advanced storage management features that make it easy to find and recover lost or damaged files. Due to its modular design, Bacula is scalable from small single computer systems to systems consisting of hundreds of computers located over a large network. Please find details on Bacula at http://www.bacula.org/en/

Backup Notes

Backup Disks

CIG uses usb disk storage for backups. Here is a list of disk labels:

         geodynamcis-big1    1TB
         geodynamics-big2    1TB
         geodynamics1        250GB
         geodynamics2        250GB
         geodynamics3        250GB
         geodynamics4        250GB
         geodynamics5        250GB
         geodynamics6        250GB

For new disks you will need to create file system first, use ext3 file system in this case:

         mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb1

Bacula Basics

On the Bacula director(server), the following packages are installed: bacula-director(use sqlite as database), bacula storage daemon, bacula file daemon. Please refer to Bacula installation on Debian for details.

• Bacula Console

Bacula Console is a program that allows the user or the System Administrator, to interact with the Bacula Director daemon while the daemon is running. Please see Bacula Manual for Bconsole commands and usage. Here are some most used command's sessions:

 *list volumes
Pool: Default
+---------+------------------+-----------+--------------+----------+--------------+---------+------+-----------+-----------+---------------------+
| MediaId | VolumeName       | VolStatus | VolBytes     | VolFiles | VolRetention | Recycle | Slot | InChanger | MediaType | LastWritten  |
+---------+------------------+-----------+--------------+----------+--------------+---------+------+-----------+-----------+---------------------+
| 18      | geodynamics2    | Full      | 129937442925 | 30       | 31536000     | 1       | 0    | 1         | File      | 2008-10-31 03:23:04 |
| 20      | geodynamics4    | Full      | 233366936265 | 54       | 31536000     | 1       | 0    | 1         | File      | 2008-08-12 01:13:03 |
| 21      | geodynamics5    | Full      | 233366885209 | 54       | 31536000     | 1       | 0    | 1         | File      | 2008-08-20 01:09:06 |
| 22      | geodynamics6    | Full      | 233366891412 | 54       | 31536000     | 1       | 0    | 1         | File      | 2008-08-24 01:22:01 |
| 24      | geodynamics3    | Full      | 218728440931 | 50       | 31536000     | 1       | 0    | 1         | File      | 2008-09-27 02:29:23 |
| 26      | geodynamics1     | Full      | 233366815482 | 54       | 31536000     | 1       | 0    | 1         | File      | 2008-10-25 01:49:12 |
| 27      | geodynamics_big2 | Append    | 486330521640 | 113      | 31536000     | 1       | 0    | 1         | File      | 2008-11-14 03:00:22 |
+---------+------------------+-----------+--------------+----------+--------------+---------+------+-----------+-----------+---------------------+

To force a full backup on a client:

 *run
A job name must be specified.
The defined Job resources are:
     1: stress
     2: convection
     3: crust
     4: www
     5: Sue
     6: Ariel
     7: p-wave
     8: dynamo
     9: compress
    10: BackupCatalog
    11: RestoreFiles
Select Job resource (1-11): 8
Run Backup job
JobName:  dynamo
FileSet:  Home
Level:    Incremental
Client:   dynamo-fd
Storage:  dynamo-sd
Pool:     Default
When:     2008-11-14 14:28:20
Priority: 10
OK to run? (yes/mod/no): mod
Parameters to modify:
     1: Level
     2: Storage
     3: Job
     4: FileSet
     5: Client
     6: When
     7: Priority
     8: Pool
Select parameter to modify (1-8): 4
The defined FileSet resources are:
     1: Full Set
     2: Home
     3: Mac Set
     4: Catalog
Select FileSet resource (1-4): 1
Run Backup job
JobName:  dynamo
FileSet:  Full Set
Level:    Incremental
Client:   dynamo-fd
Storage:  dynamo-sd
Pool:     Default
When:     2008-11-14 14:28:20
Priority: 10
OK to run? (yes/mod/no):

• Bacula Email Notification

Bacula can be configured to send email notification to the system admin. Modify the director configuration file: /etc/bacula/bacula-dir.conf to specify the email address. The eamil would look like:

 13-Nov 01:05 dynamo-dir: Start Backup JobId 3138, Job=www.2008-11-13_01.05.00
 13-Nov 01:06 www-fd: DIR and FD clocks differ by 72 seconds, FD automatically adjusting.
 13-Nov 01:05 dynamo-sd: Volume "geodynamics_big2" previously written, moving to end of data.
  13-Nov 02:02 dynamo-dir: Bacula 1.38.11 (28Jun06): 13-Nov-2008 02:02:49
   JobId:                  3138
   Job:                    www.2008-11-13_01.05.00
   Backup Level:           Incremental, since=2008-11-12 01:05:08
   Client:                 "www-fd" x86_64-pc-linux-gnu,debian,4.0
   FileSet:                "Full Set" 2008-07-07 10:01:40
   Pool:                   "Default"
   Storage:                "dynamo-sd"
   Scheduled time:         13-Nov-2008 01:05:00
   Start time:             13-Nov-2008 01:05:07
   End time:               13-Nov-2008 02:02:49
   Elapsed time:           57 mins 42 secs
   Priority:               5
   FD Files Written:       1,654
   SD Files Written:       1,654
   FD Bytes Written:       34,899,762,494 (34.89 GB)
   SD Bytes Written:       34,899,979,996 (34.89 GB)
   Rate:                   10080.8 KB/s
   Software Compression:   None
   Volume name(s):         geodynamics_big2
   Volume Session Id:      113
   Volume Session Time:    1225681453
   Last Volume Bytes:      439,071,633,644 (439.0 GB)
   Non-fatal FD errors:    0
   SD Errors:              0
   FD termination status:  OK
   SD termination status:  OK
   Termination:            Backup OK

 13-Nov 02:02 dynamo-dir: Begin pruning Jobs.
 13-Nov 02:02 dynamo-dir: No Jobs found to prune.
 13-Nov 02:02 dynamo-dir: Begin pruning Files.
 13-Nov 02:02 dynamo-dir: No Files found to prune.
 13-Nov 02:02 dynamo-dir: End auto prune.

• Change/Recycle Storage Disk

When backup disk is full, the bacula email notice will let you know that bacula-sd (storage daemon can not find appendable volume. This is the time you need to change the disk.

To Recycle a Volume:

1. Open a bconsole session.
2. Purge the old volume.
3. use "label" for a new volume, or "relabel" for a existing volume.

• Bacula file daemon on Mac:

start bacula file daeman on mac:

1. sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/bacula-fd.plist
2. sudo launchctl list
3. sudo launchctl start org.bacula.bacula-fd

Not: steps 1 and 2 need to be done only once when installing the file daemon. Run step 3 when file daemon needs to be restarted.