4 \chapter{Configuring the Director}
5 \label{DirectorChapter}
6 \index[general]{Director!Configuring the}
7 \index[general]{Configuring the Director}
9 Of all the configuration files needed to run {\bf Bacula}, the Director's is
10 the most complicated, and the one that you will need to modify the most often
11 as you add clients or modify the FileSets.
13 For a general discussion of configuration files and resources including the
14 data types recognized by {\bf Bacula}. Please see the
15 \ilink{Configuration}{ConfigureChapter} chapter of this manual.
17 \section{Director Resource Types}
18 \index[general]{Types!Director Resource}
19 \index[general]{Director Resource Types}
21 Director resource type may be one of the following:
23 Job, JobDefs, Client, Storage, Catalog, Schedule, FileSet, Pool, Director, or
24 Messages. We present them here in the most logical order for defining them:
28 \ilink{Director}{DirectorResource4} -- to define the Director's
29 name and its access password used for authenticating the Console program.
30 Only a single Director resource definition may appear in the Director's
31 configuration file. If you have either {\bf /dev/random} or {\bf bc} on your
32 machine, Bacula will generate a random password during the configuration
33 process, otherwise it will be left blank.
35 \ilink{Job}{JobResource} -- to define the backup/restore Jobs
36 and to tie together the Client, FileSet and Schedule resources to be used
39 \ilink{JobDefs}{JobDefsResource} -- optional resource for
40 providing defaults for Job resources.
42 \ilink{Schedule}{ScheduleResource} -- to define when a Job is to
43 be automatically run by {\bf Bacula's} internal scheduler.
45 \ilink{FileSet}{FileSetResource} -- to define the set of files
46 to be backed up for each Client.
48 \ilink{Client}{ClientResource2} -- to define what Client is to be
51 \ilink{Storage}{StorageResource2} -- to define on what physical
52 device the Volumes should be mounted.
54 \ilink{Pool}{PoolResource} -- to define the pool of Volumes
55 that can be used for a particular Job.
57 \ilink{Catalog}{CatalogResource} -- to define in what database to
58 keep the list of files and the Volume names where they are backed up.
60 \ilink{Messages}{MessagesChapter} -- to define where error and
61 information messages are to be sent or logged.
64 \section{The Director Resource}
65 \label{DirectorResource4}
66 \index[general]{Director Resource}
67 \index[general]{Resource!Director}
69 The Director resource defines the attributes of the Directors running on the
70 network. In the current implementation, there is only a single Director
71 resource, but the final design will contain multiple Directors to maintain
72 index and media database redundancy.
78 Start of the Director resource. One and only one director resource must be
81 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
83 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
84 The director name used by the system administrator. This directive is
87 \item [Description = \lt{}text\gt{}]
88 \index[dir]{Description}
89 \index[dir]{Directive!Description}
90 The text field contains a description of the Director that will be displayed
91 in the graphical user interface. This directive is optional.
93 \item [Password = \lt{}UA-password\gt{}]
95 \index[dir]{Directive!Password}
96 Specifies the password that must be supplied for the default Bacula Console
97 to be authorized. The same password must appear in the {\bf Director}
98 resource of the Console configuration file. For added security, the password
99 is never actually passed across the network but rather a challenge response
100 hash code created with the password. This directive is required. If you have
101 either {\bf /dev/random} or {\bf bc} on your machine, Bacula will generate a
102 random password during the configuration process, otherwise it will be left
103 blank and you must manually supply it.
105 \item [Messages = \lt{}Messages-resource-name\gt{}]
106 \index[dir]{Messages}
107 \index[dir]{Directive!Messages}
108 The messages resource specifies where to deliver Director messages that are
109 not associated with a specific Job. Most messages are specific to a job and
110 will be directed to the Messages resource specified by the job. However,
111 there are a few messages that can occur when no job is running. This
112 directive is required.
114 \item [Working Directory = \lt{}Directory\gt{}]
115 \index[dir]{Working Directory}
116 \index[dir]{Directive!Working Directory}
117 This directive is mandatory and specifies a directory in which the Director
118 may put its status files. This directory should be used only by Bacula but
119 may be shared by other Bacula daemons. However, please note, if this
120 directory is shared with other Bacula daemons (the File daemon and Storage
121 daemon), you must ensure that the {\bf Name} given to each daemon is
122 unique so that the temporary filenames used do not collide. By default
123 the Bacula configure process creates unique daemon names by postfixing them
124 with -dir, -fd, and -sd. Standard shell expansion of the {\bf
125 Directory} is done when the configuration file is read so that values such
126 as {\bf \$HOME} will be properly expanded. This directive is required.
127 The working directory specified must already exist and be
128 readable and writable by the Bacula daemon referencing it.
130 If you have specified a Director user and/or a Director group on your
131 ./configure line with {\bf {-}{-}with-dir-user} and/or
132 {\bf {-}{-}with-dir-group} the Working Directory owner and group will
133 be set to those values.
135 \item [Pid Directory = \lt{}Directory\gt{}]
136 \index[dir]{Pid Directory}
137 \index[dir]{Directive!Pid Directory}
138 This directive is mandatory and specifies a directory in which the Director
139 may put its process Id file. The process Id file is used to shutdown
140 Bacula and to prevent multiple copies of Bacula from running simultaneously.
141 Standard shell expansion of the {\bf Directory} is done when the
142 configuration file is read so that values such as {\bf \$HOME} will be
145 The PID directory specified must already exist and be
146 readable and writable by the Bacula daemon referencing it
148 Typically on Linux systems, you will set this to: {\bf /var/run}. If you are
149 not installing Bacula in the system directories, you can use the {\bf Working
150 Directory} as defined above. This directive is required.
152 \item [Scripts Directory = \lt{}Directory\gt{}]
153 \index[dir]{Scripts Directory}
154 \index[dir]{Directive!Scripts Directory}
155 This directive is optional and, if defined, specifies a directory in
156 which the Director will look for the Python startup script {\bf
157 DirStartup.py}. This directory may be shared by other Bacula daemons.
158 Standard shell expansion of the directory is done when the configuration
159 file is read so that values such as {\bf \$HOME} will be properly
162 \item [QueryFile = \lt{}Path\gt{}]
163 \index[dir]{QueryFile}
164 \index[dir]{Directive!QueryFile}
165 This directive is mandatory and specifies a directory and file in which
166 the Director can find the canned SQL statements for the {\bf Query}
167 command of the Console. Standard shell expansion of the {\bf Path} is
168 done when the configuration file is read so that values such as {\bf
169 \$HOME} will be properly expanded. This directive is required.
171 \label{DirMaxConJobs}
172 \item [Maximum Concurrent Jobs = \lt{}number\gt{}]
173 \index[dir]{Maximum Concurrent Jobs}
174 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum Concurrent Jobs}
175 \index[general]{Simultaneous Jobs}
176 \index[general]{Concurrent Jobs}
177 where \lt{}number\gt{} is the maximum number of total Director Jobs that
178 should run concurrently. The default is set to 1, but you may set it to a
181 Please note that the Volume format becomes much more complicated with
182 multiple simultaneous jobs, consequently, restores can take much longer if
183 Bacula must sort through interleaved volume blocks from multiple simultaneous
184 jobs. This can be avoided by having each simultaneously running job write to
185 a different volume or by using data spooling, which will first spool the data
186 to disk simultaneously, then write each spool file to the volume in
189 There may also still be some cases where directives such as {\bf Maximum
190 Volume Jobs} are not properly synchronized with multiple simultaneous jobs
191 (subtle timing issues can arise), so careful testing is recommended.
193 At the current time, there is no configuration parameter set to limit the
194 number of console connections. A maximum of five simultaneous console
195 connections are permitted.
197 \item [FD Connect Timeout = \lt{}time\gt{}]
198 \index[dir]{FD Connect Timeout}
199 \index[dir]{Directive!FD Connect Timeout}
200 where {\bf time} is the time that the Director should continue
201 attempting to contact the File daemon to start a job, and after which
202 the Director will cancel the job. The default is 30 minutes.
204 \item [SD Connect Timeout = \lt{}time\gt{}]
205 \index[dir]{SD Connect Timeout}
206 \index[dir]{Directive!SD Connect Timeout}
207 where {\bf time} is the time that the Director should continue
208 attempting to contact the Storage daemon to start a job, and after which
209 the Director will cancel the job. The default is 30 minutes.
211 \item [DirAddresses = \lt{}IP-address-specification\gt{}]
212 \index[dir]{DirAddresses}
214 \index[general]{Address}
215 \index[dir]{Directive!DirAddresses}
216 Specify the ports and addresses on which the Director daemon will listen
217 for Bacula Console connections. Probably the simplest way to explain
218 this is to show an example:
223 ip = { addr = 1.2.3.4; port = 1205;}
225 addr = 1.2.3.4; port = http;}
234 ip = { addr = 1.2.3.4 }
235 ip = { addr = 201:220:222::2 }
237 addr = bluedot.thun.net
243 where ip, ip4, ip6, addr, and port are all keywords. Note, that the address
244 can be specified as either a dotted quadruple, or IPv6 colon notation, or as
245 a symbolic name (only in the ip specification). Also, port can be specified
246 as a number or as the mnemonic value from the /etc/services file. If a port
247 is not specified, the default will be used. If an ip section is specified,
248 the resolution can be made either by IPv4 or IPv6. If ip4 is specified, then
249 only IPv4 resolutions will be permitted, and likewise with ip6.
251 Please note that if you use the DirAddresses directive, you must
252 not use either a DirPort or a DirAddress directive in the same
255 \item [DirPort = \lt{}port-number\gt{}]
257 \index[dir]{Directive!DirPort}
258 Specify the port (a positive integer) on which the Director daemon will
259 listen for Bacula Console connections. This same port number must be
260 specified in the Director resource of the Console configuration file. The
261 default is 9101, so normally this directive need not be specified. This
262 directive should not be used if you specify DirAddresses (not plural)
265 \item [DirAddress = \lt{}IP-Address\gt{}]
266 \index[dir]{DirAddress}
267 \index[dir]{Directive!DirAddress}
268 This directive is optional, but if it is specified, it will cause the
269 Director server (for the Console program) to bind to the specified {\bf
270 IP-Address}, which is either a domain name or an IP address specified as a
271 dotted quadruple in string or quoted string format. If this directive is not
272 specified, the Director will bind to any available address (the default).
273 Note, unlike the DirAddresses specification noted above, this directive only
274 permits a single address to be specified. This directive should not be used if you
275 specify a DirAddresses (note plural) directive.
278 The following is an example of a valid Director resource definition:
284 WorkingDirectory = "$HOME/bacula/bin/working"
285 Password = UA_password
286 PidDirectory = "$HOME/bacula/bin/working"
287 QueryFile = "$HOME/bacula/bin/query.sql"
293 \section{The Job Resource}
295 \index[general]{Resource!Job}
296 \index[general]{Job Resource}
298 The Job resource defines a Job (Backup, Restore, ...) that Bacula must
299 perform. Each Job resource definition contains the name of a Client and
300 a FileSet to backup, the Schedule for the Job, where the data
301 are to be stored, and what media Pool can be used. In effect, each Job
302 resource must specify What, Where, How, and When or FileSet, Storage,
303 Backup/Restore/Level, and Schedule respectively. Note, the FileSet must
304 be specified for a restore job for historical reasons, but it is no longer used.
306 Only a single type ({\bf Backup}, {\bf Restore}, ...) can be specified for any
307 job. If you want to backup multiple FileSets on the same Client or multiple
308 Clients, you must define a Job for each one.
310 Note, you define only a single Job to do the Full, Differential, and
311 Incremental backups since the different backup levels are tied together by
312 a unique Job name. Normally, you will have only one Job per Client, but
313 if a client has a really huge number of files (more than several million),
314 you might want to split it into to Jobs each with a different FileSet
315 covering only part of the total files.
322 \index[dir]{Directive!Job}
323 Start of the Job resource. At least one Job resource is required.
325 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
327 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
328 The Job name. This name can be specified on the {\bf Run} command in the
329 console program to start a job. If the name contains spaces, it must be
330 specified between quotes. It is generally a good idea to give your job the
331 same name as the Client that it will backup. This permits easy
332 identification of jobs.
334 When the job actually runs, the unique Job Name will consist of the name you
335 specify here followed by the date and time the job was scheduled for
336 execution. This directive is required.
338 \item [Enabled = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
340 \index[dir]{Directive!Enable}
341 This directive allows you to enable or disable automatic execution
342 via the scheduler of a Job.
344 \item [Type = \lt{}job-type\gt{}]
346 \index[dir]{Directive!Type}
347 The {\bf Type} directive specifies the Job type, which may be one of the
348 following: {\bf Backup}, {\bf Restore}, {\bf Verify}, or {\bf Admin}. This
349 directive is required. Within a particular Job Type, there are also Levels
350 as discussed in the next item.
356 Run a backup Job. Normally you will have at least one Backup job for each
357 client you want to save. Normally, unless you turn off cataloging, most all
358 the important statistics and data concerning files backed up will be placed
363 Run a restore Job. Normally, you will specify only one Restore job
364 which acts as a sort of prototype that you will modify using the console
365 program in order to perform restores. Although certain basic
366 information from a Restore job is saved in the catalog, it is very
367 minimal compared to the information stored for a Backup job -- for
368 example, no File database entries are generated since no Files are
373 Run a verify Job. In general, {\bf verify} jobs permit you to compare the
374 contents of the catalog to the file system, or to what was backed up. In
375 addition, to verifying that a tape that was written can be read, you can
376 also use {\bf verify} as a sort of tripwire intrusion detection.
380 Run an admin Job. An {\bf Admin} job can be used to periodically run catalog
381 pruning, if you do not want to do it at the end of each {\bf Backup} Job.
382 Although an Admin job is recorded in the catalog, very little data is saved.
387 \item [Level = \lt{}job-level\gt{}]
389 \index[dir]{Directive!Level}
390 The Level directive specifies the default Job level to be run. Each
391 different Job Type (Backup, Restore, ...) has a different set of Levels
392 that can be specified. The Level is normally overridden by a different
393 value that is specified in the {\bf Schedule} resource. This directive
394 is not required, but must be specified either by a {\bf Level} directive
395 or as an override specified in the {\bf Schedule} resource.
397 For a {\bf Backup} Job, the Level may be one of the following:
403 When the Level is set to Full all files in the FileSet whether or not
404 they have changed will be backed up.
407 \index[dir]{Incremental}
408 When the Level is set to Incremental all files specified in the FileSet
409 that have changed since the last successful backup of the the same Job
410 using the same FileSet and Client, will be backed up. If the Director
411 cannot find a previous valid Full backup then the job will be upgraded
412 into a Full backup. When the Director looks for a valid backup record
413 in the catalog database, it looks for a previous Job with:
416 \item The same Job name.
417 \item The same Client name.
418 \item The same FileSet (any change to the definition of the FileSet such as
419 adding or deleting a file in the Include or Exclude sections constitutes a
421 \item The Job was a Full, Differential, or Incremental backup.
422 \item The Job terminated normally (i.e. did not fail or was not canceled).
425 If all the above conditions do not hold, the Director will upgrade the
426 Incremental to a Full save. Otherwise, the Incremental backup will be
427 performed as requested.
429 The File daemon (Client) decides which files to backup for an
430 Incremental backup by comparing start time of the prior Job (Full,
431 Differential, or Incremental) against the time each file was last
432 "modified" (st\_mtime) and the time its attributes were last
433 "changed"(st\_ctime). If the file was modified or its attributes
434 changed on or after this start time, it will then be backed up.
436 Some virus scanning software may change st\_ctime while
437 doing the scan. For example, if the virus scanning program attempts to
438 reset the access time (st\_atime), which Bacula does not use, it will
439 cause st\_ctime to change and hence Bacula will backup the file during
440 an Incremental or Differential backup. In the case of Sophos virus
441 scanning, you can prevent it from resetting the access time (st\_atime)
442 and hence changing st\_ctime by using the {\bf \verb:--:no-reset-atime}
443 option. For other software, please see their manual.
445 When Bacula does an Incremental backup, all modified files that are
446 still on the system are backed up. However, any file that has been
447 deleted since the last Full backup remains in the Bacula catalog, which
448 means that if between a Full save and the time you do a restore, some
449 files are deleted, those deleted files will also be restored. The
450 deleted files will no longer appear in the catalog after doing another
451 Full save. However, to remove deleted files from the catalog during an
452 Incremental backup is quite a time consuming process and not currently
453 implemented in Bacula.
455 In addition, if you move a directory rather than copy it, the files in
456 it do not have their modification time (st\_mtime) or their attribute
457 change time (st\_ctime) changed. As a consequence, those files will
458 probably not be backed up by an Incremental or Differential backup which
459 depend solely on these time stamps. If you move a directory, and wish
460 it to be properly backed up, it is generally preferable to copy it, then
464 \index[dir]{Differential}
465 When the Level is set to Differential
466 all files specified in the FileSet that have changed since the last
467 successful Full backup of the same Job will be backed up.
468 If the Director cannot find a
469 valid previous Full backup for the same Job, FileSet, and Client,
470 backup, then the Differential job will be upgraded into a Full backup.
471 When the Director looks for a valid Full backup record in the catalog
472 database, it looks for a previous Job with:
475 \item The same Job name.
476 \item The same Client name.
477 \item The same FileSet (any change to the definition of the FileSet such as
478 adding or deleting a file in the Include or Exclude sections constitutes a
480 \item The Job was a FULL backup.
481 \item The Job terminated normally (i.e. did not fail or was not canceled).
484 If all the above conditions do not hold, the Director will upgrade the
485 Differential to a Full save. Otherwise, the Differential backup will be
486 performed as requested.
488 The File daemon (Client) decides which files to backup for a
489 differential backup by comparing the start time of the prior Full backup
490 Job against the time each file was last "modified" (st\_mtime) and the
491 time its attributes were last "changed" (st\_ctime). If the file was
492 modified or its attributes were changed on or after this start time, it
493 will then be backed up. The start time used is displayed after the {\bf
494 Since} on the Job report. In rare cases, using the start time of the
495 prior backup may cause some files to be backed up twice, but it ensures
496 that no change is missed. As with the Incremental option, you should
497 ensure that the clocks on your server and client are synchronized or as
498 close as possible to avoid the possibility of a file being skipped.
499 Note, on versions 1.33 or greater Bacula automatically makes the
500 necessary adjustments to the time between the server and the client so
501 that the times Bacula uses are synchronized.
503 When Bacula does a Differential backup, all modified files that are
504 still on the system are backed up. However, any file that has been
505 deleted since the last Full backup remains in the Bacula catalog, which
506 means that if between a Full save and the time you do a restore, some
507 files are deleted, those deleted files will also be restored. The
508 deleted files will no longer appear in the catalog after doing another
509 Full save. However, to remove deleted files from the catalog during a
510 Differential backup is quite a time consuming process and not currently
511 implemented in Bacula. It is, however, a planned future feature.
513 As noted above, if you move a directory rather than copy it, the
514 files in it do not have their modification time (st\_mtime) or
515 their attribute change time (st\_ctime) changed. As a
516 consequence, those files will probably not be backed up by an
517 Incremental or Differential backup which depend solely on these
518 time stamps. If you move a directory, and wish it to be
519 properly backed up, it is generally preferable to copy it, then
520 delete the original. Alternatively, you can move the directory, then
521 use the {\bf touch} program to update the timestamps.
523 Every once and a while, someone asks why we need Differential
524 backups as long as Incremental backups pickup all changed files.
525 There are possibly many answers to this question, but the one
526 that is the most important for me is that a Differential backup
528 all the Incremental and Differential backups since the last Full backup
529 into a single Differential backup. This has two effects: 1. It gives
530 some redundancy since the old backups could be used if the merged backup
531 cannot be read. 2. More importantly, it reduces the number of Volumes
532 that are needed to do a restore effectively eliminating the need to read
533 all the volumes on which the preceding Incremental and Differential
534 backups since the last Full are done.
538 For a {\bf Restore} Job, no level needs to be specified.
540 For a {\bf Verify} Job, the Level may be one of the following:
545 \index[dir]{InitCatalog}
546 does a scan of the specified {\bf FileSet} and stores the file
547 attributes in the Catalog database. Since no file data is saved, you
548 might ask why you would want to do this. It turns out to be a very
549 simple and easy way to have a {\bf Tripwire} like feature using {\bf
550 Bacula}. In other words, it allows you to save the state of a set of
551 files defined by the {\bf FileSet} and later check to see if those files
552 have been modified or deleted and if any new files have been added.
553 This can be used to detect system intrusion. Typically you would
554 specify a {\bf FileSet} that contains the set of system files that
555 should not change (e.g. /sbin, /boot, /lib, /bin, ...). Normally, you
556 run the {\bf InitCatalog} level verify one time when your system is
557 first setup, and then once again after each modification (upgrade) to
558 your system. Thereafter, when your want to check the state of your
559 system files, you use a {\bf Verify} {\bf level = Catalog}. This
560 compares the results of your {\bf InitCatalog} with the current state of
565 Compares the current state of the files against the state previously
566 saved during an {\bf InitCatalog}. Any discrepancies are reported. The
567 items reported are determined by the {\bf verify} options specified on
568 the {\bf Include} directive in the specified {\bf FileSet} (see the {\bf
569 FileSet} resource below for more details). Typically this command will
570 be run once a day (or night) to check for any changes to your system
573 Please note! If you run two Verify Catalog jobs on the same client at
574 the same time, the results will certainly be incorrect. This is because
575 Verify Catalog modifies the Catalog database while running in order to
578 \item [VolumeToCatalog]
579 \index[dir]{VolumeToCatalog}
580 This level causes Bacula to read the file attribute data written to the
581 Volume from the last Job. The file attribute data are compared to the
582 values saved in the Catalog database and any differences are reported.
583 This is similar to the {\bf Catalog} level except that instead of
584 comparing the disk file attributes to the catalog database, the
585 attribute data written to the Volume is read and compared to the catalog
586 database. Although the attribute data including the signatures (MD5 or
587 SHA1) are compared, the actual file data is not compared (it is not in
590 Please note! If you run two Verify VolumeToCatalog jobs on the same
591 client at the same time, the results will certainly be incorrect. This
592 is because the Verify VolumeToCatalog modifies the Catalog database
595 \item [DiskToCatalog]
596 \index[dir]{DiskToCatalog}
597 This level causes Bacula to read the files as they currently are on
598 disk, and to compare the current file attributes with the attributes
599 saved in the catalog from the last backup for the job specified on the
600 {\bf VerifyJob} directive. This level differs from the {\bf Catalog}
601 level described above by the fact that it doesn't compare against a
602 previous Verify job but against a previous backup. When you run this
603 level, you must supply the verify options on your Include statements.
604 Those options determine what attribute fields are compared.
606 This command can be very useful if you have disk problems because it
607 will compare the current state of your disk against the last successful
608 backup, which may be several jobs.
610 Note, the current implementation (1.32c) does not identify files that
614 \item [Verify Job = \lt{}Job-Resource-Name\gt{}]
615 \index[dir]{Verify Job}
616 \index[dir]{Directive!Verify Job}
617 If you run a verify job without this directive, the last job run will be
618 compared with the catalog, which means that you must immediately follow
619 a backup by a verify command. If you specify a {\bf Verify Job} Bacula
620 will find the last job with that name that ran. This permits you to run
621 all your backups, then run Verify jobs on those that you wish to be
622 verified (most often a {\bf VolumeToCatalog}) so that the tape just
625 \item [JobDefs = \lt{}JobDefs-Resource-Name\gt{}]
627 \index[dir]{Directive!JobDefs}
628 If a JobDefs-Resource-Name is specified, all the values contained in the
629 named JobDefs resource will be used as the defaults for the current Job.
630 Any value that you explicitly define in the current Job resource, will
631 override any defaults specified in the JobDefs resource. The use of
632 this directive permits writing much more compact Job resources where the
633 bulk of the directives are defined in one or more JobDefs. This is
634 particularly useful if you have many similar Jobs but with minor
635 variations such as different Clients. A simple example of the use of
636 JobDefs is provided in the default bacula-dir.conf file.
638 \item [Bootstrap = \lt{}bootstrap-file\gt{}]
639 \index[dir]{Bootstrap}
640 \index[dir]{Directive!Bootstrap}
641 The Bootstrap directive specifies a bootstrap file that, if provided,
642 will be used during {\bf Restore} Jobs and is ignored in other Job
643 types. The {\bf bootstrap} file contains the list of tapes to be used
644 in a restore Job as well as which files are to be restored.
645 Specification of this directive is optional, and if specified, it is
646 used only for a restore job. In addition, when running a Restore job
647 from the console, this value can be changed.
649 If you use the {\bf Restore} command in the Console program, to start a
650 restore job, the {\bf bootstrap} file will be created automatically from
651 the files you select to be restored.
653 For additional details of the {\bf bootstrap} file, please see
654 \ilink{Restoring Files with the Bootstrap File}{BootstrapChapter} chapter
657 \label{writebootstrap}
658 \item [Write Bootstrap = \lt{}bootstrap-file-specification\gt{}]
659 \index[dir]{Write Bootstrap}
660 \index[dir]{Directive!Write Bootstrap}
661 The {\bf writebootstrap} directive specifies a file name where Bacula
662 will write a {\bf bootstrap} file for each Backup job run. This
663 directive applies only to Backup Jobs. If the Backup job is a Full
664 save, Bacula will erase any current contents of the specified file
665 before writing the bootstrap records. If the Job is an Incremental
667 save, Bacula will append the current bootstrap record to the end of the
670 Using this feature, permits you to constantly have a bootstrap file that
671 can recover the current state of your system. Normally, the file
672 specified should be a mounted drive on another machine, so that if your
673 hard disk is lost, you will immediately have a bootstrap record
674 available. Alternatively, you should copy the bootstrap file to another
675 machine after it is updated. Note, it is a good idea to write a separate
676 bootstrap file for each Job backed up including the job that backs up
677 your catalog database.
679 If the {\bf bootstrap-file-specification} begins with a vertical bar
680 (|), Bacula will use the specification as the name of a program to which
681 it will pipe the bootstrap record. It could for example be a shell
682 script that emails you the bootstrap record.
684 On versions 1.39.22 or greater, before opening the file or executing the
685 specified command, Bacula performs
686 \ilink{character substitution}{character substitution} like in RunScript
687 directive. To automatically manage your bootstrap files, you can use
688 this in your {\bf JobDefs} resources:
691 Write Bootstrap = "%c_%n.bsr"
696 For more details on using this file, please see the chapter entitled
697 \ilink{The Bootstrap File}{BootstrapChapter} of this manual.
699 \item [Client = \lt{}client-resource-name\gt{}]
701 \index[dir]{Directive!Client}
702 The Client directive specifies the Client (File daemon) that will be used in
703 the current Job. Only a single Client may be specified in any one Job. The
704 Client runs on the machine to be backed up, and sends the requested files to
705 the Storage daemon for backup, or receives them when restoring. For
706 additional details, see the
707 \ilink{Client Resource section}{ClientResource2} of this chapter.
708 This directive is required.
710 \item [FileSet = \lt{}FileSet-resource-name\gt{}]
713 The FileSet directive specifies the FileSet that will be used in the
714 current Job. The FileSet specifies which directories (or files) are to
715 be backed up, and what options to use (e.g. compression, ...). Only a
716 single FileSet resource may be specified in any one Job. For additional
717 details, see the \ilink{FileSet Resource section}{FileSetResource} of
718 this chapter. This directive is required.
720 \item [Messages = \lt{}messages-resource-name\gt{}]
721 \index[dir]{Messages}
722 \index[dir]{Directive!Messages}
723 The Messages directive defines what Messages resource should be used for
724 this job, and thus how and where the various messages are to be
725 delivered. For example, you can direct some messages to a log file, and
726 others can be sent by email. For additional details, see the
727 \ilink{Messages Resource}{MessagesChapter} Chapter of this manual. This
728 directive is required.
730 \item [Pool = \lt{}pool-resource-name\gt{}]
732 \index[dir]{Directive!Pool}
733 The Pool directive defines the pool of Volumes where your data can be
734 backed up. Many Bacula installations will use only the {\bf Default}
735 pool. However, if you want to specify a different set of Volumes for
736 different Clients or different Jobs, you will probably want to use
737 Pools. For additional details, see the \ilink{Pool Resource
738 section}{PoolResource} of this chapter. This directive is required.
740 \item [Full Backup Pool = \lt{}pool-resource-name\gt{}]
741 \index[dir]{Full Backup Pool}
742 \index[dir]{Directive!Full Backup Pool}
743 The {\it Full Backup Pool} specifies a Pool to be used for Full backups.
744 It will override any Pool specification during a Full backup. This
745 directive is optional.
747 \item [Differential Backup Pool = \lt{}pool-resource-name\gt{}]
748 \index[dir]{Differential Backup Pool}
749 \index[dir]{Directive!Differential Backup Pool}
750 The {\it Differential Backup Pool} specifies a Pool to be used for
751 Differential backups. It will override any Pool specification during a
752 Differential backup. This directive is optional.
754 \item [Incremental Backup Pool = \lt{}pool-resource-name\gt{}]
755 \index[dir]{Incremental Backup Pool}
756 \index[dir]{Directive!Incremental Backup Pool}
757 The {\it Incremental Backup Pool} specifies a Pool to be used for
758 Incremental backups. It will override any Pool specification during an
759 Incremental backup. This directive is optional.
761 \item [Schedule = \lt{}schedule-name\gt{}]
762 \index[dir]{Schedule}
763 \index[dir]{Directive!Schedule}
764 The Schedule directive defines what schedule is to be used for the Job.
765 The schedule in turn determines when the Job will be automatically
766 started and what Job level (i.e. Full, Incremental, ...) is to be run.
767 This directive is optional, and if left out, the Job can only be started
768 manually using the Console program. Although you may specify only a
769 single Schedule resource for any one job, the Schedule resource may
770 contain multiple {\bf Run} directives, which allow you to run the Job at
771 many different times, and each {\bf run} directive permits overriding
772 the default Job Level Pool, Storage, and Messages resources. This gives
773 considerable flexibility in what can be done with a single Job. For
774 additional details, see the \ilink{Schedule Resource
775 Chapter}{ScheduleResource} of this manual.
778 \item [Storage = \lt{}storage-resource-name\gt{}]
780 \index[dir]{Directive!Storage}
781 The Storage directive defines the name of the storage services where you
782 want to backup the FileSet data. For additional details, see the
783 \ilink{Storage Resource Chapter}{StorageResource2} of this manual.
784 The Storage resource may also be specified in the Job's Pool resource,
785 in which case the value in the Pool resource overrides any value
786 in the Job. This Storage resource definition is not required by either
787 the Job resource or in the Pool, but it must be specified in
788 one or the other. If not configuration error will result.
790 \item [Max Start Delay = \lt{}time\gt{}]
791 \index[dir]{Max Start Delay}
792 \index[dir]{Directive!Max Start Delay}
793 The time specifies the maximum delay between the scheduled time and the
794 actual start time for the Job. For example, a job can be scheduled to
795 run at 1:00am, but because other jobs are running, it may wait to run.
796 If the delay is set to 3600 (one hour) and the job has not begun to run
797 by 2:00am, the job will be canceled. This can be useful, for example,
798 to prevent jobs from running during day time hours. The default is 0
799 which indicates no limit.
801 \item [Max Run Time = \lt{}time\gt{}]
802 \index[dir]{Max Run Time}
803 \index[dir]{Directive!Max Run Time}
804 The time specifies the maximum allowed time that a job may run, counted
805 from when the job starts, ({\bf not} necessarily the same as when the
806 job was scheduled). This directive is implemented in version 1.33 and
809 \item [Max Wait Time = \lt{}time\gt{}]
810 \index[dir]{Max Wait Time}
811 \index[dir]{Directive!Max Wait Time}
812 The time specifies the maximum allowed time that a job may block waiting
813 for a resource (such as waiting for a tape to be mounted, or waiting for
814 the storage or file daemons to perform their duties), counted from the
815 when the job starts, ({\bf not} necessarily the same as when the job was
816 scheduled). This directive is implemented only in version 1.33 and
819 \item [Incremental Max Wait Time = \lt{}time\gt{}]
820 \index[dir]{Incremental Max Wait Time}
821 \index[dir]{Directive!Incremental Max Wait Time}
822 The time specifies the maximum allowed time that an Incremental backup
823 job may block waiting for a resource (such as waiting for a tape to be
824 mounted, or waiting for the storage or file daemons to perform their
825 duties), counted from the when the job starts, ({\bf not} necessarily
826 the same as when the job was scheduled). Please note that if there is a
827 {\bf Max Wait Time} it may also be applied to the job.
829 \item [Differential Max Wait Time = \lt{}time\gt{}]
830 \index[dir]{Differential Max Wait Time}
831 \index[dir]{Directive!Differential Max Wait Time}
832 The time specifies the maximum allowed time that a Differential backup
833 job may block waiting for a resource (such as waiting for a tape to be
834 mounted, or waiting for the storage or file daemons to perform their
835 duties), counted from the when the job starts, ({\bf not} necessarily
836 the same as when the job was scheduled). Please note that if there is a
837 {\bf Max Wait Time} it may also be applied to the job.
839 \item [Prefer Mounted Volumes = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
840 \index[dir]{Prefer Mounted Volumes}
841 \index[dir]{Directive!Prefer Mounted Volumes}
842 If the Prefer Mounted Volumes directive is set to {\bf yes} (default
843 yes), the Storage daemon is requested to select either an Autochanger or
844 a drive with a valid Volume already mounted in preference to a drive
845 that is not ready. If no drive with a suitable Volume is available, it
846 will select the first available drive.
848 If the directive is set to {\bf no}, the Storage daemon will prefer
849 finding an unused drive, otherwise, each job started will append to the
850 same Volume (assuming the Pool is the same for all jobs). Setting
851 Prefer Mounted Volumes to no can be useful for those sites particularly
852 with multiple drive autochangers that prefer to maximize backup
853 throughput at the expense of using additional drives and Volumes. As an
854 optimization, when using multiple drives, you will probably want to
855 start each of your jobs one after another with approximately 5 second
856 intervals. This will help ensure that each night, the same drive
857 (Volume) is selected for the same job, otherwise, when you do a restore,
858 you may find the files spread over many more Volumes than necessary.
861 \item [Prune Jobs = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
862 \index[dir]{Prune Jobs}
863 \index[dir]{Directive!Prune Jobs}
864 Normally, pruning of Jobs from the Catalog is specified on a Client by
865 Client basis in the Client resource with the {\bf AutoPrune} directive.
866 If this directive is specified (not normally) and the value is {\bf
867 yes}, it will override the value specified in the Client resource. The
871 \item [Prune Files = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
872 \index[dir]{Prune Files}
873 \index[dir]{Directive!Prune Files}
874 Normally, pruning of Files from the Catalog is specified on a Client by
875 Client basis in the Client resource with the {\bf AutoPrune} directive.
876 If this directive is specified (not normally) and the value is {\bf
877 yes}, it will override the value specified in the Client resource. The
880 \item [Prune Volumes = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
881 \index[dir]{Prune Volumes}
882 \index[dir]{Directive!Prune Volumes}
883 Normally, pruning of Volumes from the Catalog is specified on a Client
884 by Client basis in the Client resource with the {\bf AutoPrune}
885 directive. If this directive is specified (not normally) and the value
886 is {\bf yes}, it will override the value specified in the Client
887 resource. The default is {\bf no}.
889 \item [RunScript \{\lt{}body-of-runscript\gt{}\}]
890 \index[dir]{RunScript}
891 \index[dir]{Directive!Run Script}
893 This directive is implemented in version 1.39.22 and later.
894 The RunScript directive behaves like a resource in that it
895 requires opening and closing braces around a number of directives
896 that make up the body of the runscript.
898 The specified {\bf Command} (see below for details) is run as an
899 external program prior or after the current Job. This is optional.
901 You can use following options may be specified in the body
904 \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|l}
905 Options & Value & Default & Information \\
908 Runs On Success & Yes/No & {\it Yes} & Run command if JobStatus is successful\\
910 Runs On Failure & Yes/No & {\it No} & Run command if JobStatus isn't successful\\
912 Runs On Client & Yes/No & {\it Yes} & Run command on client\\
914 Runs When & Before|After|Always & {\it Never} & When run commands\\
916 Abort Job On Error & Yes/No & {\it Yes} & Abort job if script returns
917 something different from 0 \\
919 Command & & & Path to your script\\
924 Any output sent by the command to standard output will be included in the
925 Bacula job report. The command string must be a valid program name or name
928 In addition, the command string is parsed then fed to the OS,
929 which means that the path will be searched to execute your specified
930 command, but there is no shell interpretation, as a consequence, if you
931 invoke complicated commands or want any shell features such as redirection
932 or piping, you must call a shell script and do it inside that script.
934 Before submitting the specified command to the operating system, Bacula
935 performs character substitution of the following characters:
937 \label{character substitution}
949 %t = Job type (Backup, ...)
955 The Job Exit Status code \%e edits the following values:
957 \index[dir]{Exit Status}
964 \item Unknown term code
967 Thus if you edit it on a command line, you will need to enclose
968 it within some sort of quotes.
971 You can use these following shortcuts:\\
973 \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c}
974 Keyword & RunsOnSuccess & RunsOnFailure & AbortJobOnError & Runs On Client & RunsWhen \\
976 Run Before Job & & & Yes & No & Before \\
978 Run After Job & Yes & No & & No & After \\
980 Run After Failed Job & No & Yes & & No & After \\
982 Client Run Before Job & & & Yes & Yes & Before \\
984 Client Run After Job & Yes & No & & Yes & After \\
992 Command = "/etc/init.d/apache stop"
998 Command = "/etc/init.d/apache start"
1002 {\bf Special Windows Considerations}
1004 In addition, for a Windows client on version 1.33 and above, please take
1005 note that you must ensure a correct path to your script. The script or
1006 program can be a .com, .exe or a .bat file. If you just put the program
1007 name in then Bacula will search using the same rules that cmd.exe uses
1008 (current directory, Bacula bin directory, and PATH). It will even try the
1009 different extensions in the same order as cmd.exe.
1010 The command can be anything that cmd.exe or command.com will recognize
1011 as an executable file.
1013 However, if you have slashes in the program name then Bacula figures you
1014 are fully specifying the name, so you must also explicitly add the three
1015 character extension.
1017 The command is run in a Win32 environment, so Unix like commands will not
1018 work unless you have installed and properly configured Cygwin in addition
1019 to and separately from Bacula.
1021 The System \%Path\% will be searched for the command. (under the
1022 environment variable dialog you have have both System Environment and
1023 User Environment, we believe that only the System environment will be
1024 available to bacula-fd, if it is running as a service.)
1026 System environment variables can be referenced with \%var\% and
1027 used as either part of the command name or arguments.
1029 So if you have a script in the Bacula\\bin directory then the following lines
1034 Client Run Before Job = systemstate
1036 Client Run Before Job = systemstate.bat
1038 Client Run Before Job = "systemstate"
1040 Client Run Before Job = "systemstate.bat"
1042 ClientRunBeforeJob = "\"C:/Program Files/Bacula/systemstate.bat\""
1046 The outer set of quotes is removed when the configuration file is parsed.
1047 You need to escape the inner quotes so that they are there when the code
1048 that parses the command line for execution runs so it can tell what the
1054 ClientRunBeforeJob = "\"C:/Program Files/Software
1055 Vendor/Executable\" /arg1 /arg2 \"foo bar\""
1059 The special characters
1063 will need to be quoted,
1064 if they are part of a filename or argument.
1066 If someone is logged in, a blank "command" window running the commands
1067 will be present during the execution of the command.
1069 Some Suggestions from Phil Stracchino for running on Win32 machines with
1070 the native Win32 File daemon:
1073 \item You might want the ClientRunBeforeJob directive to specify a .bat
1074 file which runs the actual client-side commands, rather than trying
1075 to run (for example) regedit /e directly.
1076 \item The batch file should explicitly 'exit 0' on successful completion.
1077 \item The path to the batch file should be specified in Unix form:
1079 ClientRunBeforeJob = "c:/bacula/bin/systemstate.bat"
1081 rather than DOS/Windows form:
1083 ClientRunBeforeJob =
1085 "c:\textbackslash{}bacula\textbackslash{}bin\textbackslash{}systemstate.bat"
1089 For Win32, please note that there are certain limitations:
1091 ClientRunBeforeJob = "C:/Program Files/Bacula/bin/pre-exec.bat"
1093 Lines like the above do not work because there are limitations of
1094 cmd.exe that is used to execute the command.
1095 Bacula prefixes the string you supply with {\bf cmd.exe /c }. To test that
1096 your command works you should type {\bf cmd /c "C:/Program Files/test.exe"} at a
1097 cmd prompt and see what happens. Once the command is correct insert a
1098 backslash (\textbackslash{}) before each double quote ("), and
1099 then put quotes around the whole thing when putting it in
1100 the director's .conf file. You either need to have only one set of quotes
1101 or else use the short name and don't put quotes around the command path.
1103 Below is the output from cmd's help as it relates to the command line
1104 passed to the /c option.
1107 If /C or /K is specified, then the remainder of the command line after
1108 the switch is processed as a command line, where the following logic is
1109 used to process quote (") characters:
1113 If all of the following conditions are met, then quote characters
1114 on the command line are preserved:
1117 \item exactly two quote characters.
1118 \item no special characters between the two quote characters,
1119 where special is one of:
1123 \item there are one or more whitespace characters between the
1124 the two quote characters.
1125 \item the string between the two quote characters is the name
1126 of an executable file.
1129 \item Otherwise, old behavior is to see if the first character is
1130 a quote character and if so, strip the leading character and
1131 remove the last quote character on the command line, preserving
1132 any text after the last quote character.
1137 The following example of the use of the Client Run Before Job directive was
1138 submitted by a user:\\
1139 You could write a shell script to back up a DB2 database to a FIFO. The shell
1149 db2 BACKUP DATABASE mercuryd TO $DIR/dbpipe WITHOUT PROMPTING &
1154 The following line in the Job resource in the bacula-dir.conf file:
1157 Client Run Before Job = "su - mercuryd -c \"/u01/mercuryd/backupdb.sh '%t'
1162 When the job is run, you will get messages from the output of the script
1163 stating that the backup has started. Even though the command being run is
1164 backgrounded with \&, the job will block until the "db2 BACKUP DATABASE"
1165 command, thus the backup stalls.
1167 To remedy this situation, the "db2 BACKUP DATABASE" line should be changed to
1172 db2 BACKUP DATABASE mercuryd TO $DIR/dbpipe WITHOUT PROMPTING > $DIR/backup.log
1177 It is important to redirect the input and outputs of a backgrounded command to
1178 /dev/null to prevent the script from blocking.
1180 \item [Run Before Job = \lt{}command\gt{}]
1181 \index[dir]{Run Before Job}
1182 \index[dir]{Directive!Run Before Job}
1183 \index[dir]{Directive!Run Before Job}
1184 The specified {\bf command} is run as an external program prior to running the
1185 current Job. This directive is not required, but if it is defined, and if the
1186 exit code of the program run is non-zero, the current Bacula job will be
1190 Run Before Job = "echo test"
1192 it's equivalent to :
1195 Command = "echo test"
1201 Lutz Kittler has pointed out that using the RunBeforeJob directive can be a
1202 simple way to modify your schedules during a holiday. For example, suppose
1203 that you normally do Full backups on Fridays, but Thursday and Friday are
1204 holidays. To avoid having to change tapes between Thursday and Friday when
1205 no one is in the office, you can create a RunBeforeJob that returns a
1206 non-zero status on Thursday and zero on all other days. That way, the
1207 Thursday job will not run, and on Friday the tape you inserted on Wednesday
1208 before leaving will be used.
1210 \item [Run After Job = \lt{}command\gt{}]
1211 \index[dir]{Run After Job}
1212 \index[dir]{Directive!Run After Job}
1213 The specified {\bf command} is run as an external program if the current
1214 job terminates normally (without error or without being canceled). This
1215 directive is not required. If the exit code of the program run is
1216 non-zero, Bacula will print a warning message. Before submitting the
1217 specified command to the operating system, Bacula performs character
1218 substitution as described above for the {\bf RunScript} directive.
1220 An example of the use of this directive is given in the
1221 \ilink{Tips Chapter}{JobNotification} of this manual.
1223 See the {\bf Run After Failed Job} if you
1224 want to run a script after the job has terminated with any
1227 \item [Run After Failed Job = \lt{}command\gt{}]
1228 \index[dir]{Run After Job}
1229 \index[dir]{Directive!Run After Job}
1230 The specified {\bf command} is run as an external program after the current
1231 job terminates with any error status. This directive is not required. The
1232 command string must be a valid program name or name of a shell script. If
1233 the exit code of the program run is non-zero, Bacula will print a
1234 warning message. Before submitting the specified command to the
1235 operating system, Bacula performs character substitution as described above
1236 for the {\bf RunScript} directive. Note, if you wish that your script
1237 will run regardless of the exit status of the Job, you can use this :
1240 Command = "echo test"
1244 RunsOnSuccess = yes # default, you can drop this line
1248 An example of the use of this directive is given in the
1249 \ilink{Tips Chapter}{JobNotification} of this manual.
1252 \item [Client Run Before Job = \lt{}command\gt{}]
1253 \index[dir]{Client Run Before Job}
1254 \index[dir]{Directive!Client Run Before Job}
1255 This directive is the same as {\bf Run Before Job} except that the
1256 program is run on the client machine. The same restrictions apply to
1257 Unix systems as noted above for the {\bf RunScript}.
1259 \item [Client Run After Job = \lt{}command\gt{}]
1260 \index[dir]{Client Run After Job}
1261 \index[dir]{Directive!Client Run After Job}
1262 This directive is the same as {\bf Run After Job} except that it is run on
1263 the client machine. Note, please see the notes above in {\bf RunScript}
1264 concerning Windows clients.
1266 \item [Rerun Failed Levels = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
1267 \index[dir]{Rerun Failed Levels}
1268 \index[dir]{Directive!Rerun Failed Levels}
1269 If this directive is set to {\bf yes} (default no), and Bacula detects that
1270 a previous job at a higher level (i.e. Full or Differential) has failed,
1271 the current job level will be upgraded to the higher level. This is
1272 particularly useful for Laptops where they may often be unreachable, and if
1273 a prior Full save has failed, you wish the very next backup to be a Full
1274 save rather than whatever level it is started as.
1276 There are several points that must be taken into account when using this
1277 directive: first, a failed job is defined as one that has not terminated
1278 normally, which includes any running job of the same name (you need to
1279 ensure that two jobs of the same name do not run simultaneously);
1280 secondly, the {\bf Ignore FileSet Changes} directive is not considered
1281 when checing for failed levels, which means that any FileSet change will
1284 \item [Spool Data = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
1285 \index[dir]{Spool Data}
1286 \index[dir]{Directive!Spool Data}
1287 If this directive is set to {\bf yes} (default no), the Storage daemon will
1288 be requested to spool the data for this Job to disk rather than write it
1289 directly to tape. Once all the data arrives or the spool files' maximum sizes
1290 are reached, the data will be despooled and written to tape. When this
1291 directive is set to yes, the Spool Attributes is also automatically set to
1292 yes. Spooling data prevents tape shoe-shine (start and stop) during
1293 Incremental saves. This option should not be used if you are writing to a
1296 \item [Spool Attributes = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
1297 \index[dir]{Spool Attributes}
1298 \index[dir]{Directive!Spool Attributes}
1300 \index[general]{slow}
1301 \index[dir]{Backups!slow}
1302 \index[general]{Backups!slow}
1303 The default is set to {\bf no}, which means that the File attributes are
1305 by the Storage daemon to the Director as they are stored on tape. However,
1306 if you want to avoid the possibility that database updates will slow down
1307 writing to the tape, you may want to set the value to {\bf yes}, in which
1308 case the Storage daemon will buffer the File attributes and Storage
1309 coordinates to a temporary file in the Working Directory, then when writing
1310 the Job data to the tape is completed, the attributes and storage coordinates
1311 will be sent to the Director.
1313 \item [Where = \lt{}directory\gt{}]
1315 \index[dir]{Directive!Where}
1316 This directive applies only to a Restore job and specifies a prefix to
1317 the directory name of all files being restored. This permits files to
1318 be restored in a different location from which they were saved. If {\bf
1319 Where} is not specified or is set to backslash ({\bf /}), the files will
1320 be restored to their original location. By default, we have set {\bf
1321 Where} in the example configuration files to be {\bf
1322 /tmp/bacula-restores}. This is to prevent accidental overwriting of
1325 \item [Replace = \lt{}replace-option\gt{}]
1326 \index[dir]{Replace}
1327 \index[dir]{Directive!Replace}
1328 This directive applies only to a Restore job and specifies what happens
1329 when Bacula wants to restore a file or directory that already exists.
1330 You have the following options for {\bf replace-option}:
1336 when the file to be restored already exists, it is deleted and then
1337 replaced by the copy that was backed up.
1340 \index[dir]{ifnewer}
1341 if the backed up file (on tape) is newer than the existing file, the
1342 existing file is deleted and replaced by the back up.
1345 \index[dir]{ifolder}
1346 if the backed up file (on tape) is older than the existing file, the
1347 existing file is deleted and replaced by the back up.
1351 if the backed up file already exists, Bacula skips restoring this file.
1354 \item [Prefix Links=\lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
1355 \index[dir]{Prefix Links}
1356 \index[dir]{Directive!Prefix Links}
1357 If a {\bf Where} path prefix is specified for a recovery job, apply it
1358 to absolute links as well. The default is {\bf No}. When set to {\bf
1359 Yes} then while restoring files to an alternate directory, any absolute
1360 soft links will also be modified to point to the new alternate
1361 directory. Normally this is what is desired -- i.e. everything is self
1362 consistent. However, if you wish to later move the files to their
1363 original locations, all files linked with absolute names will be broken.
1365 \item [Maximum Concurrent Jobs = \lt{}number\gt{}]
1366 \index[dir]{Maximum Concurrent Jobs}
1367 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum Concurrent Jobs}
1368 where \lt{}number\gt{} is the maximum number of Jobs from the current
1369 Job resource that can run concurrently. Note, this directive limits
1370 only Jobs with the same name as the resource in which it appears. Any
1371 other restrictions on the maximum concurrent jobs such as in the
1372 Director, Client, or Storage resources will also apply in addition to
1373 the limit specified here. The default is set to 1, but you may set it
1374 to a larger number. We strongly recommend that you read the WARNING
1375 documented under \ilink{ Maximum Concurrent Jobs}{DirMaxConJobs} in the
1376 Director's resource.
1378 \item [Reschedule On Error = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
1379 \index[dir]{Reschedule On Error}
1380 \index[dir]{Directive!Reschedule On Error}
1381 If this directive is enabled, and the job terminates in error, the job
1382 will be rescheduled as determined by the {\bf Reschedule Interval} and
1383 {\bf Reschedule Times} directives. If you cancel the job, it will not
1384 be rescheduled. The default is {\bf no} (i.e. the job will not be
1387 This specification can be useful for portables, laptops, or other
1388 machines that are not always connected to the network or switched on.
1390 \item [Reschedule Interval = \lt{}time-specification\gt{}]
1391 \index[dir]{Reschedule Interval}
1392 \index[dir]{Directive!Reschedule Interval}
1393 If you have specified {\bf Reschedule On Error = yes} and the job
1394 terminates in error, it will be rescheduled after the interval of time
1395 specified by {\bf time-specification}. See \ilink{the time
1396 specification formats}{Time} in the Configure chapter for details of
1397 time specifications. If no interval is specified, the job will not be
1398 rescheduled on error.
1400 \item [Reschedule Times = \lt{}count\gt{}]
1401 \index[dir]{Reschedule Times}
1402 \index[dir]{Directive!Reschedule Times}
1403 This directive specifies the maximum number of times to reschedule the
1404 job. If it is set to zero (the default) the job will be rescheduled an
1405 indefinite number of times.
1407 \item [Run = \lt{}job-name\gt{}]
1409 \index[dir]{Directive!Run}
1410 \index[dir]{Clone a Job}
1411 The Run directive (not to be confused with the Run option in a
1412 Schedule) allows you to start other jobs or to clone jobs. By using the
1413 cloning keywords (see below), you can backup
1414 the same data (or almost the same data) to two or more drives
1415 at the same time. The {\bf job-name} is normally the same name
1416 as the current Job resource (thus creating a clone). However, it
1417 may be any Job name, so one job may start other related jobs.
1419 The part after the equal sign must be enclosed in double quotes,
1420 and can contain any string or set of options (overrides) that you
1421 can specify when entering the Run command from the console. For
1422 example {\bf storage=DDS-4 ...}. In addition, there are two special
1423 keywords that permit you to clone the current job. They are {\bf level=\%l}
1424 and {\bf since=\%s}. The \%l in the level keyword permits
1425 entering the actual level of the current job and the \%s in the since
1426 keyword permits putting the same time for comparison as used on the
1427 current job. Note, in the case of the since keyword, the \%s must be
1428 enclosed in double quotes, and thus they must be preceded by a backslash
1429 since they are already inside quotes. For example:
1432 run = "Nightly-backup level=%l since=\"%s\" storage=DDS-4"
1436 A cloned job will not start additional clones, so it is not
1437 possible to recurse.
1442 \item [Priority = \lt{}number\gt{}]
1443 \index[dir]{Priority}
1444 \index[dir]{Directive!Priority}
1445 This directive permits you to control the order in which your jobs run
1446 by specifying a positive non-zero number. The higher the number, the
1447 lower the job priority. Assuming you are not running concurrent jobs,
1448 all queued jobs of priority 1 will run before queued jobs of priority 2
1449 and so on, regardless of the original scheduling order.
1451 The priority only affects waiting jobs that are queued to run, not jobs
1452 that are already running. If one or more jobs of priority 2 are already
1453 running, and a new job is scheduled with priority 1, the currently
1454 running priority 2 jobs must complete before the priority 1 job is run.
1456 The default priority is 10.
1458 If you want to run concurrent jobs you should
1459 keep these points in mind:
1462 \item To run concurrent jobs, you must set Maximum Concurrent Jobs = 2 in five
1463 or six distinct places: in bacula-dir.conf in the Director, the Job, the
1464 Client, the Storage resources; in bacula-fd in the FileDaemon (or
1465 Client) resource, and in bacula-sd.conf in the Storage resource. If any
1466 one is missing, it will throttle the jobs to one at a time. You may, of
1467 course, set the Maximum Concurrent Jobs to more than 2.
1469 \item Bacula concurrently runs jobs of only one priority at a time. It
1470 will not simultaneously run a priority 1 and a priority 2 job.
1472 \item If Bacula is running a priority 2 job and a new priority 1 job is
1473 scheduled, it will wait until the running priority 2 job terminates even
1474 if the Maximum Concurrent Jobs settings would otherwise allow two jobs
1475 to run simultaneously.
1477 \item Suppose that bacula is running a priority 2 job and a new priority 1
1478 job is scheduled and queued waiting for the running priority 2 job to
1479 terminate. If you then start a second priority 2 job, the waiting
1480 priority 1 job will prevent the new priority 2 job from running
1481 concurrently with the running priority 2 job. That is: as long as there
1482 is a higher priority job waiting to run, no new lower priority jobs will
1483 start even if the Maximum Concurrent Jobs settings would normally allow
1484 them to run. This ensures that higher priority jobs will be run as soon
1488 If you have several jobs of different priority, it may not best to start
1489 them at exactly the same time, because Bacula must examine them one at a
1490 time. If by Bacula starts a lower priority job first, then it will run
1491 before your high priority jobs. If you experience this problem, you may
1492 avoid it by starting any higher priority jobs a few seconds before lower
1493 priority ones. This insures that Bacula will examine the jobs in the
1494 correct order, and that your priority scheme will be respected.
1496 \label{WritePartAfterJob}
1497 \item [Write Part After Job = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
1498 \index[dir]{Write Part After Job}
1499 \index[dir]{Directive!Write Part After Job}
1500 This directive is only implemented in version 1.37 and later.
1501 If this directive is set to {\bf yes} (default {\bf no}), a new part file
1502 will be created after the job is finished.
1504 It should be set to {\bf yes} when writing to devices that require mount
1505 (for example DVD), so you are sure that the current part, containing
1506 this job's data, is written to the device, and that no data is left in
1507 the temporary file on the hard disk. However, on some media, like DVD+R
1508 and DVD-R, a lot of space (about 10Mb) is lost every time a part is
1509 written. So, if you run several jobs each after another, you could set
1510 this directive to {\bf no} for all jobs, except the last one, to avoid
1511 wasting too much space, but to ensure that the data is written to the
1512 medium when all jobs are finished.
1514 This directive is ignored with tape and FIFO devices.
1517 The following is an example of a valid Job resource definition:
1524 Level = Incremental # default
1526 FileSet="Minou Full Set"
1529 Schedule = "MinouWeeklyCycle"
1535 \section{The JobDefs Resource}
1536 \label{JobDefsResource}
1537 \index[general]{JobDefs Resource}
1538 \index[general]{Resource!JobDefs}
1540 The JobDefs resource permits all the same directives that can appear in a Job
1541 resource. However, a JobDefs resource does not create a Job, rather it can be
1542 referenced within a Job to provide defaults for that Job. This permits you to
1543 concisely define several nearly identical Jobs, each one referencing a JobDefs
1544 resource which contains the defaults. Only the changes from the defaults need to
1545 be mentioned in each Job.
1547 \section{The Schedule Resource}
1548 \label{ScheduleResource}
1549 \index[general]{Resource!Schedule}
1550 \index[general]{Schedule Resource}
1552 The Schedule resource provides a means of automatically scheduling a Job as
1553 well as the ability to override the default Level, Pool, Storage and Messages
1554 resources. If a Schedule resource is not referenced in a Job, the Job can only
1555 be run manually. In general, you specify an action to be taken and when.
1560 \index[dir]{Schedule}
1561 \index[dir]{Directive!Schedule}
1562 Start of the Schedule directives. No {\bf Schedule} resource is
1563 required, but you will need at least one if you want Jobs to be
1564 automatically started.
1566 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
1568 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
1569 The name of the schedule being defined. The Name directive is required.
1571 \item [Run = \lt{}Job-overrides\gt{} \lt{}Date-time-specification\gt{}]
1573 \index[dir]{Directive!Run}
1574 The Run directive defines when a Job is to be run, and what overrides if
1575 any to apply. You may specify multiple {\bf run} directives within a
1576 {\bf Schedule} resource. If you do, they will all be applied (i.e.
1577 multiple schedules). If you have two {\bf Run} directives that start at
1578 the same time, two Jobs will start at the same time (well, within one
1579 second of each other).
1581 The {\bf Job-overrides} permit overriding the Level, the Storage, the
1582 Messages, and the Pool specifications provided in the Job resource. In
1583 addition, the FullPool, the IncrementalPool, and the DifferentialPool
1584 specifications permit overriding the Pool specification according to
1585 what backup Job Level is in effect.
1587 By the use of overrides, you may customize a particular Job. For
1588 example, you may specify a Messages override for your Incremental
1589 backups that outputs messages to a log file, but for your weekly or
1590 monthly Full backups, you may send the output by email by using a
1591 different Messages override.
1593 {\bf Job-overrides} are specified as: {\bf keyword=value} where the
1594 keyword is Level, Storage, Messages, Pool, FullPool, DifferentialPool,
1595 or IncrementalPool, and the {\bf value} is as defined on the respective
1596 directive formats for the Job resource. You may specify multiple {\bf
1597 Job-overrides} on one {\bf Run} directive by separating them with one or
1598 more spaces or by separating them with a trailing comma. For example:
1604 \index[dir]{Directive!Level}
1605 is all files in the FileSet whether or not they have changed.
1607 \item [Level=Incremental]
1609 \index[dir]{Directive!Level}
1610 is all files that have changed since the last backup.
1614 \index[dir]{Directive!Pool}
1615 specifies to use the Pool named {\bf Weekly}.
1617 \item [Storage=DLT\_Drive]
1618 \index[dir]{Storage}
1619 \index[dir]{Directive!Storage}
1620 specifies to use {\bf DLT\_Drive} for the storage device.
1622 \item [Messages=Verbose]
1623 \index[dir]{Messages}
1624 \index[dir]{Directive!Messages}
1625 specifies to use the {\bf Verbose} message resource for the Job.
1627 \item [FullPool=Full]
1628 \index[dir]{FullPool}
1629 \index[dir]{Directive!FullPool}
1630 specifies to use the Pool named {\bf Full} if the job is a full backup, or
1632 upgraded from another type to a full backup.
1634 \item [DifferentialPool=Differential]
1635 \index[dir]{DifferentialPool}
1636 \index[dir]{Directive!DifferentialPool}
1637 specifies to use the Pool named {\bf Differential} if the job is a
1638 differential backup.
1640 \item [IncrementalPool=Incremental]
1641 \index[dir]{IncrementalPool}
1642 \index[dir]{Directive!IncrementalPool}
1643 specifies to use the Pool named {\bf Incremental} if the job is an
1646 \item [SpoolData=yes|no]
1647 \index[dir]{SpoolData}
1648 \index[dir]{Directive!SpoolData}
1649 tells Bacula to request the Storage daemon to spool data to a disk file
1650 before putting it on tape.
1652 \item [WritePartAfterJob=yes|no]
1653 \index[dir]{WritePartAfterJob}
1654 \index[dir]{Directive!WritePartAfterJob}
1655 tells Bacula to request the Storage daemon to write the current part file to
1656 the device when the job is finished (see
1657 \ilink{Write Part After Job directive in the Job
1658 resource}{WritePartAfterJob}). Please note, this directive is implemented
1659 only in version 1.37 and later. The default is yes. We strongly
1660 recommend that you keep this set to yes otherwise, when the last job
1661 has finished one part will remain in the spool file and restore may
1666 {\bf Date-time-specification} determines when the Job is to be run. The
1667 specification is a repetition, and as a default Bacula is set to run a job at
1668 the beginning of the hour of every hour of every day of every week of every
1669 month of every year. This is not normally what you want, so you must specify
1670 or limit when you want the job to run. Any specification given is assumed to
1671 be repetitive in nature and will serve to override or limit the default
1672 repetition. This is done by specifying masks or times for the hour, day of the
1673 month, day of the week, week of the month, week of the year, and month when
1674 you want the job to run. By specifying one or more of the above, you can
1675 define a schedule to repeat at almost any frequency you want.
1677 Basically, you must supply a {\bf month}, {\bf day}, {\bf hour}, and {\bf
1678 minute} the Job is to be run. Of these four items to be specified, {\bf day}
1679 is special in that you may either specify a day of the month such as 1, 2,
1680 ... 31, or you may specify a day of the week such as Monday, Tuesday, ...
1681 Sunday. Finally, you may also specify a week qualifier to restrict the
1682 schedule to the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth week of the month.
1684 For example, if you specify only a day of the week, such as {\bf Tuesday} the
1685 Job will be run every hour of every Tuesday of every Month. That is the {\bf
1686 month} and {\bf hour} remain set to the defaults of every month and all
1689 Note, by default with no other specification, your job will run at the
1690 beginning of every hour. If you wish your job to run more than once in any
1691 given hour, you will need to specify multiple {\bf run} specifications each
1692 with a different minute.
1694 The date/time to run the Job can be specified in the following way in
1701 <week-keyword> = 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | first |
1702 second | third | fourth | fifth
1703 <wday-keyword> = sun | mon | tue | wed | thu | fri | sat |
1704 sunday | monday | tuesday | wednesday |
1705 thursday | friday | saturday
1706 <week-of-year-keyword> = w00 | w01 | ... w52 | w53
1707 <month-keyword> = jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul |
1708 aug | sep | oct | nov | dec | january |
1709 february | ... | december
1710 <daily-keyword> = daily
1711 <weekly-keyword> = weekly
1712 <monthly-keyword> = monthly
1713 <hourly-keyword> = hourly
1714 <digit> = 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0
1715 <number> = <digit> | <digit><number>
1716 <12hour> = 0 | 1 | 2 | ... 12
1717 <hour> = 0 | 1 | 2 | ... 23
1718 <minute> = 0 | 1 | 2 | ... 59
1719 <day> = 1 | 2 | ... 31
1720 <time> = <hour>:<minute> |
1721 <12hour>:<minute>am |
1723 <time-spec> = <at-keyword> <time> |
1725 <date-keyword> = <void-keyword> <weekly-keyword>
1726 <day-range> = <day>-<day>
1727 <month-range> = <month-keyword>-<month-keyword>
1728 <wday-range> = <wday-keyword>-<wday-keyword>
1729 <range> = <day-range> | <month-range> |
1731 <date> = <date-keyword> | <day> | <range>
1732 <date-spec> = <date> | <date-spec>
1733 <day-spec> = <day> | <wday-keyword> |
1734 <day-range> | <wday-range> |
1736 <day-spec> = <day> | <wday-keyword> |
1737 <day> | <wday-range> |
1738 <week-keyword> <wday-keyword> |
1739 <week-keyword> <wday-range>
1740 <month-spec> = <month-keyword> | <month-range> |
1742 <date-time-spec> = <month-spec> <day-spec> <time-spec>
1748 Note, the Week of Year specification wnn follows the ISO standard definition
1749 of the week of the year, where Week 1 is the week in which the first Thursday
1750 of the year occurs, or alternatively, the week which contains the 4th of
1751 January. Weeks are numbered w01 to w53. w00 for Bacula is the week that
1752 precedes the first ISO week (i.e. has the first few days of the year if any
1753 occur before Thursday). w00 is not defined by the ISO specification. A week
1754 starts with Monday and ends with Sunday.
1756 An example schedule resource that is named {\bf WeeklyCycle} and runs a job
1757 with level full each Sunday at 1:05am and an incremental job Monday through
1758 Saturday at 1:05am is:
1763 Name = "WeeklyCycle"
1764 Run = Level=Full sun at 1:05
1765 Run = Level=Incremental mon-sat at 1:05
1770 An example of a possible monthly cycle is as follows:
1775 Name = "MonthlyCycle"
1776 Run = Level=Full Pool=Monthly 1st sun at 1:05
1777 Run = Level=Differential 2nd-5th sun at 1:05
1778 Run = Level=Incremental Pool=Daily mon-sat at 1:05
1783 The first of every month:
1789 Run = Level=Full on 1 at 1:05
1790 Run = Level=Incremental on 2-31 at 1:05
1801 Run = Level=Full hourly at 0:05
1802 Run = Level=Full hourly at 0:15
1803 Run = Level=Full hourly at 0:25
1804 Run = Level=Full hourly at 0:35
1805 Run = Level=Full hourly at 0:45
1806 Run = Level=Full hourly at 0:55
1811 \section{Technical Notes on Schedules}
1812 \index[general]{Schedules!Technical Notes on}
1813 \index[general]{Technical Notes on Schedules}
1815 Internally Bacula keeps a schedule as a bit mask. There are six masks and a
1816 minute field to each schedule. The masks are hour, day of the month (mday),
1817 month, day of the week (wday), week of the month (wom), and week of the year
1818 (woy). The schedule is initialized to have the bits of each of these masks
1819 set, which means that at the beginning of every hour, the job will run. When
1820 you specify a month for the first time, the mask will be cleared and the bit
1821 corresponding to your selected month will be selected. If you specify a second
1822 month, the bit corresponding to it will also be added to the mask. Thus when
1823 Bacula checks the masks to see if the bits are set corresponding to the
1824 current time, your job will run only in the two months you have set. Likewise,
1825 if you set a time (hour), the hour mask will be cleared, and the hour you
1826 specify will be set in the bit mask and the minutes will be stored in the
1829 For any schedule you have defined, you can see how these bits are set by doing
1830 a {\bf show schedules} command in the Console program. Please note that the
1831 bit mask is zero based, and Sunday is the first day of the week (bit zero).
1835 \section{The Client Resource}
1836 \label{ClientResource2}
1837 \index[general]{Resource!Client}
1838 \index[general]{Client Resource}
1840 The Client resource defines the attributes of the Clients that are served by
1841 this Director; that is the machines that are to be backed up. You will need
1842 one Client resource definition for each machine to be backed up.
1846 \item [Client (or FileDaemon)]
1847 \index[dir]{Client (or FileDaemon)}
1848 \index[dir]{Directive!Client (or FileDaemon)}
1849 Start of the Client directives.
1851 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
1853 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
1854 The client name which will be used in the Job resource directive or in the
1855 console run command. This directive is required.
1857 \item [Address = \lt{}address\gt{}]
1858 \index[dir]{Address}
1859 \index[dir]{Directive!FD Address}
1860 \index[dir]{File Daemon Address}
1861 \index[dir]{Client Address}
1862 Where the address is a host name, a fully qualified domain name, or a
1863 network address in dotted quad notation for a Bacula File server daemon.
1864 This directive is required.
1866 \item [FD Port = \lt{}port-number\gt{}]
1867 \index[dir]{FD Port}
1868 \index[dir]{Directive!FD Port}
1869 Where the port is a port number at which the Bacula File server daemon can
1870 be contacted. The default is 9102.
1872 \item [Catalog = \lt{}Catalog-resource-name\gt{}]
1873 \index[dir]{Catalog}
1874 \index[dir]{Directive!Catalog}
1875 This specifies the name of the catalog resource to be used for this Client.
1876 This directive is required.
1878 \item [Password = \lt{}password\gt{}]
1879 \index[dir]{Password}
1880 \index[dir]{Directive!Password}
1881 This is the password to be used when establishing a connection with the File
1882 services, so the Client configuration file on the machine to be backed up
1883 must have the same password defined for this Director. This directive is
1884 required. If you have either {\bf /dev/random} {\bf bc} on your machine,
1885 Bacula will generate a random password during the configuration process,
1886 otherwise it will be left blank.
1888 \label{FileRetention}
1889 \item [File Retention = \lt{}time-period-specification\gt{}]
1890 \index[dir]{File Retention}
1891 \index[dir]{Directive!File Retention}
1892 The File Retention directive defines the length of time that Bacula will
1893 keep File records in the Catalog database after the End time of the
1894 Job corresponding to the File records.
1895 When this time period expires, and if
1896 {\bf AutoPrune} is set to {\bf yes} Bacula will prune (remove) File records
1897 that are older than the specified File Retention period. Note, this affects
1898 only records in the catalog database. It does not affect your archive
1901 File records may actually be retained for a shorter period than you specify
1902 on this directive if you specify either a shorter {\bf Job Retention} or a
1903 shorter {\bf Volume Retention} period. The shortest retention period of the
1904 three takes precedence. The time may be expressed in seconds, minutes,
1905 hours, days, weeks, months, quarters, or years. See the
1906 \ilink{ Configuration chapter}{Time} of this manual for
1907 additional details of time specification.
1909 The default is 60 days.
1911 \label{JobRetention}
1912 \item [Job Retention = \lt{}time-period-specification\gt{}]
1913 \index[dir]{Job Retention}
1914 \index[dir]{Directive!Job Retention}
1915 The Job Retention directive defines the length of time that Bacula will keep
1916 Job records in the Catalog database after the Job End time. When
1917 this time period expires, and if {\bf AutoPrune} is set to {\bf yes}
1918 Bacula will prune (remove) Job records that are older than the specified
1919 File Retention period. As with the other retention periods, this
1920 affects only records in the catalog and not data in your archive backup.
1922 If a Job record is selected for pruning, all associated File and JobMedia
1923 records will also be pruned regardless of the File Retention period set.
1924 As a consequence, you normally will set the File retention period to be
1925 less than the Job retention period. The Job retention period can actually
1926 be less than the value you specify here if you set the {\bf Volume
1927 Retention} directive in the Pool resource to a smaller duration. This is
1928 because the Job retention period and the Volume retention period are
1929 independently applied, so the smaller of the two takes precedence.
1931 The Job retention period is specified as seconds, minutes, hours, days,
1932 weeks, months, quarters, or years. See the
1933 \ilink{ Configuration chapter}{Time} of this manual for
1934 additional details of time specification.
1936 The default is 180 days.
1939 \item [AutoPrune = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
1940 \index[dir]{AutoPrune}
1941 \index[dir]{Directive!AutoPrune}
1942 If AutoPrune is set to {\bf yes} (default), Bacula (version 1.20 or greater)
1943 will automatically apply the File retention period and the Job retention
1944 period for the Client at the end of the Job. If you set {\bf AutoPrune = no},
1945 pruning will not be done, and your Catalog will grow in size each time you
1946 run a Job. Pruning affects only information in the catalog and not data
1947 stored in the backup archives (on Volumes).
1949 \item [Maximum Concurrent Jobs = \lt{}number\gt{}]
1950 \index[dir]{Maximum Concurrent Jobs}
1951 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum Concurrent Jobs}
1952 where \lt{}number\gt{} is the maximum number of Jobs with the current Client
1953 that can run concurrently. Note, this directive limits only Jobs for Clients
1954 with the same name as the resource in which it appears. Any other
1955 restrictions on the maximum concurrent jobs such as in the Director, Job, or
1956 Storage resources will also apply in addition to any limit specified here.
1957 The default is set to 1, but you may set it to a larger number. We strongly
1958 recommend that you read the WARNING documented under
1959 \ilink{ Maximum Concurrent Jobs}{DirMaxConJobs} in the Director's
1962 \item [Priority = \lt{}number\gt{}]
1963 \index[dir]{Priority}
1964 \index[dir]{Directive!Priority}
1965 The number specifies the priority of this client relative to other clients
1966 that the Director is processing simultaneously. The priority can range from
1967 1 to 1000. The clients are ordered such that the smaller number priorities
1968 are performed first (not currently implemented).
1971 The following is an example of a valid Client resource definition:
1977 FDAddress = minimatou
1979 Password = very_good
1984 \section{The Storage Resource}
1985 \label{StorageResource2}
1986 \index[general]{Resource!Storage}
1987 \index[general]{Storage Resource}
1989 The Storage resource defines which Storage daemons are available for use by
1995 \index[dir]{Storage}
1996 \index[dir]{Directive!Storage}
1997 Start of the Storage resources. At least one storage resource must be
2000 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
2002 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
2003 The name of the storage resource. This name appears on the Storage directive
2004 specified in the Job resource and is required.
2006 \item [Address = \lt{}address\gt{}]
2007 \index[dir]{Address}
2008 \index[dir]{Directive!SD Address}
2009 \index[dir]{Storage daemon Address}
2010 Where the address is a host name, a {\bf fully qualified domain name}, or an
2011 {\bf IP address}. Please note that the \lt{}address\gt{} as specified here
2012 will be transmitted to the File daemon who will then use it to contact the
2013 Storage daemon. Hence, it is {\bf not}, a good idea to use {\bf localhost} as
2014 the name but rather a fully qualified machine name or an IP address. This
2015 directive is required.
2017 \item [SD Port = \lt{}port\gt{}]
2018 \index[dir]{SD Port}
2019 \index[dir]{Directive!SD Port}
2020 Where port is the port to use to contact the storage daemon for information
2021 and to start jobs. This same port number must appear in the Storage resource
2022 of the Storage daemon's configuration file. The default is 9103.
2024 \item [Password = \lt{}password\gt{}]
2025 \index[dir]{Password}
2026 \index[dir]{Directive!Password}
2027 This is the password to be used when establishing a connection with the
2028 Storage services. This same password also must appear in the Director
2029 resource of the Storage daemon's configuration file. This directive is
2030 required. If you have either {\bf /dev/random} {\bf bc} on your machine,
2031 Bacula will generate a random password during the configuration process,
2032 otherwise it will be left blank.
2034 \item [Device = \lt{}device-name\gt{}]
2036 \index[dir]{Directive!Device}
2037 This directive specifies the Storage daemon's name of the device resource
2038 to be used for the storage. This name is not the physical device name, but
2039 the logical device name as defined on the {\bf Name} directive contained in
2040 the {\bf Device} resource definition of the {\bf Storage daemon}
2041 configuration file or if the device is an Autochanger, you must put the
2042 name as defined on the {\bf Name} directive contained in the {\bf
2043 Autochanger} resource definition of the {\bf Storage daemon}. You can
2044 specify any name you would like (even the device name if you prefer) up to
2045 a maximum of 127 characters in length. The physical device name associated
2046 with this device is specified in the {\bf Storage daemon} configuration
2047 file (as {\bf Archive Device}). Please take care not to define two
2048 different Storage resource directives in the Director that point to the
2049 same Device in the Storage daemon. Doing so may cause the Storage daemon
2050 to block (or hang) attempting to open the same device that is already open.
2051 This directive is required.
2054 \item [Media Type = \lt{}MediaType\gt{}]
2055 \index[dir]{Media Type}
2056 \index[dir]{Directive!Media Type}
2057 This directive specifies the Media Type to be used to store the data.
2058 This is an arbitrary string of characters up to 127 maximum that you
2059 define. It can be anything you want. However, it is best to make it
2060 descriptive of the storage media (e.g. File, DAT, "HP DLT8000", 8mm,
2061 ...). In addition, it is essential that you make the {\bf Media Type}
2062 specification unique for each storage media type. If you have two DDS-4
2063 drives that have incompatible formats, or if you have a DDS-4 drive and
2064 a DDS-4 autochanger, you almost certainly should specify different {\bf
2065 Media Types}. During a restore, assuming a {\bf DDS-4} Media Type is
2066 associated with the Job, Bacula can decide to use any Storage daemon
2067 that supports Media Type {\bf DDS-4} and on any drive that supports it.
2069 If you are writing to disk Volumes, you must make doubly sure that each
2070 Device resource defined in the Storage daemon (and hence in the
2071 Director's conf file) has a unique media type. Otherwise for Bacula
2072 versions 1.38 and older, your restores may not work because Bacula
2073 will assume that you can mount any Media Type with the same name on
2074 any Device associated with that Media Type. This is possible with
2075 tape drives, but with disk drives, unless you are very clever you
2076 cannot mount a Volume in any directory -- this can be done by creating
2077 an appropriate soft link.
2079 Currently Bacula permits only a single Media Type. Consequently, if
2080 you have a drive that supports more than one Media Type, you can
2081 give a unique string to Volumes with different intrinsic Media
2082 Type (Media Type = DDS-3-4 for DDS-3 and DDS-4 types), but then
2083 those volumes will only be mounted on drives indicated with the
2084 dual type (DDS-3-4).
2086 If you want to tie Bacula to using a single Storage daemon or drive, you
2087 must specify a unique Media Type for that drive. This is an important
2088 point that should be carefully understood. Note, this applies equally
2089 to Disk Volumes. If you define more than one disk Device resource in
2090 your Storage daemon's conf file, the Volumes on those two devices are in
2091 fact incompatible because one can not be mounted on the other device
2092 since they are found in different directories. For this reason, you
2093 probably should use two different Media Types for your two disk Devices
2094 (even though you might think of them as both being File types). You can
2095 find more on this subject in the \ilink{Basic Volume
2096 Management}{DiskChapter} chapter of this manual.
2098 The {\bf MediaType} specified here, {\bf must} correspond to the {\bf
2099 Media Type} specified in the {\bf Device} resource of the {\bf Storage
2100 daemon} configuration file. This directive is required, and it is used
2101 by the Director and the Storage daemon to ensure that a Volume
2102 automatically selected from the Pool corresponds to the physical device.
2103 If a Storage daemon handles multiple devices (e.g. will write to
2104 various file Volumes on different partitions), this directive allows you
2105 to specify exactly which device.
2107 As mentioned above, the value specified in the Director's Storage resource
2108 must agree with the value specified in the Device resource in the {\bf
2109 Storage daemon's} configuration file. It is also an additional check so that
2110 you don't try to write data for a DLT onto an 8mm device.
2112 \label{Autochanger1}
2113 \item [Autochanger = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2114 \index[dir]{Autochanger}
2115 \index[dir]{Directive!Autochanger}
2116 If you specify {\bf yes} for this command (the default is {\bf no}), when
2117 you use the {\bf label} command or the {\bf add} command to create a new
2118 Volume, {\bf Bacula} will also request the Autochanger Slot number.
2119 This simplifies creating database entries for Volumes in an autochanger.
2120 If you forget to specify the Slot, the autochanger will not be used.
2121 However, you may modify the Slot associated with a Volume at any time by
2122 using the {\bf update volume} command in the console program. When {\bf
2123 autochanger} is enabled, the algorithm used by Bacula to search for
2124 available volumes will be modified to consider only Volumes that are
2125 known to be in the autochanger's magazine. If no {\bf in changer}
2126 volume is found, Bacula will attempt recycling, pruning, ..., and if
2127 still no volume is found, Bacula will search for any volume whether or
2128 not in the magazine. By privileging in changer volumes, this procedure
2129 minimizes operator intervention. The default is {\bf no}.
2131 For the autochanger to be used, you must also specify {\bf Autochanger =
2132 yes} in the \ilink{Device Resource}{Autochanger} in the Storage daemon's
2133 configuration file as well as other important Storage daemon
2134 configuration information. Please consult the \ilink{Using
2135 Autochangers}{AutochangersChapter} manual of this chapter for the details of
2138 \item [Maximum Concurrent Jobs = \lt{}number\gt{}]
2139 \index[dir]{Maximum Concurrent Jobs}
2140 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum Concurrent Jobs}
2141 where \lt{}number\gt{} is the maximum number of Jobs with the current
2143 resource that can run concurrently. Note, this directive limits only Jobs
2144 for Jobs using this Storage daemon. Any other restrictions on the maximum
2145 concurrent jobs such as in the Director, Job, or Client resources will also
2146 apply in addition to any limit specified here. The default is set to 1, but
2147 you may set it to a larger number. However, if you set the Storage
2148 daemon's number of concurrent jobs greater than one,
2149 we recommend that you read the
2150 waring documented under \ilink{Maximum Concurrent Jobs}{DirMaxConJobs}
2151 in the Director's resource or simply turn data spooling on as documented
2152 in the \ilink{Data Spooling}{SpoolingChapter} chapter of this manual.
2155 The following is an example of a valid Storage resource definition:
2159 # Definition of tape storage device
2163 Password = storage_password # password for Storage daemon
2164 Device = "HP DLT 80" # same as Device in Storage daemon
2165 Media Type = DLT8000 # same as MediaType in Storage daemon
2170 \section{The Pool Resource}
2171 \label{PoolResource}
2172 \index[general]{Resource!Pool}
2173 \index[general]{Pool Resource}
2175 The Pool resource defines the set of storage Volumes (tapes or files) to be
2176 used by Bacula to write the data. By configuring different Pools, you can
2177 determine which set of Volumes (media) receives the backup data. This permits,
2178 for example, to store all full backup data on one set of Volumes and all
2179 incremental backups on another set of Volumes. Alternatively, you could assign
2180 a different set of Volumes to each machine that you backup. This is most
2181 easily done by defining multiple Pools.
2183 Another important aspect of a Pool is that it contains the default attributes
2184 (Maximum Jobs, Retention Period, Recycle flag, ...) that will be given to a
2185 Volume when it is created. This avoids the need for you to answer a large
2186 number of questions when labeling a new Volume. Each of these attributes can
2187 later be changed on a Volume by Volume basis using the {\bf update} command in
2188 the console program. Note that you must explicitly specify which Pool Bacula
2189 is to use with each Job. Bacula will not automatically search for the correct
2192 Most often in Bacula installations all backups for all machines (Clients) go
2193 to a single set of Volumes. In this case, you will probably only use the {\bf
2194 Default} Pool. If your backup strategy calls for you to mount a different tape
2195 each day, you will probably want to define a separate Pool for each day. For
2196 more information on this subject, please see the
2197 \ilink{Backup Strategies}{StrategiesChapter} chapter of this
2201 To use a Pool, there are three distinct steps. First the Pool must be defined
2202 in the Director's configuration file. Then the Pool must be written to the
2203 Catalog database. This is done automatically by the Director each time that it
2204 starts, or alternatively can be done using the {\bf create} command in the
2205 console program. Finally, if you change the Pool definition in the Director's
2206 configuration file and restart Bacula, the pool will be updated alternatively
2207 you can use the {\bf update pool} console command to refresh the database
2208 image. It is this database image rather than the Director's resource image
2209 that is used for the default Volume attributes. Note, for the pool to be
2210 automatically created or updated, it must be explicitly referenced by a Job
2213 Next the physical media must be labeled. The labeling can either be done with
2214 the {\bf label} command in the {\bf console} program or using the {\bf btape}
2215 program. The preferred method is to use the {\bf label} command in the {\bf
2218 Finally, you must add Volume names (and their attributes) to the Pool. For
2219 Volumes to be used by Bacula they must be of the same {\bf Media Type} as the
2220 archive device specified for the job (i.e. if you are going to back up to a
2221 DLT device, the Pool must have DLT volumes defined since 8mm volumes cannot be
2222 mounted on a DLT drive). The {\bf Media Type} has particular importance if you
2223 are backing up to files. When running a Job, you must explicitly specify which
2224 Pool to use. Bacula will then automatically select the next Volume to use from
2225 the Pool, but it will ensure that the {\bf Media Type} of any Volume selected
2226 from the Pool is identical to that required by the Storage resource you have
2227 specified for the Job.
2229 If you use the {\bf label} command in the console program to label the
2230 Volumes, they will automatically be added to the Pool, so this last step is
2231 not normally required.
2233 It is also possible to add Volumes to the database without explicitly labeling
2234 the physical volume. This is done with the {\bf add} console command.
2236 As previously mentioned, each time Bacula starts, it scans all the Pools
2237 associated with each Catalog, and if the database record does not already
2238 exist, it will be created from the Pool Resource definition. {\bf Bacula}
2239 probably should do an {\bf update pool} if you change the Pool definition, but
2240 currently, you must do this manually using the {\bf update pool} command in
2241 the Console program.
2243 The Pool Resource defined in the Director's configuration file
2244 (bacula-dir.conf) may contain the following directives:
2250 \index[dir]{Directive!Pool}
2251 Start of the Pool resource. There must be at least one Pool resource
2255 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
2257 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
2258 The name of the pool. For most applications, you will use the default
2259 pool name {\bf Default}. This directive is required.
2262 \item [Maximum Volumes = \lt{}number\gt{}]
2263 \index[dir]{Maximum Volumes}
2264 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum Volumes}
2265 This directive specifies the maximum number of volumes (tapes or files)
2266 contained in the pool. This directive is optional, if omitted or set to
2267 zero, any number of volumes will be permitted. In general, this
2268 directive is useful for Autochangers where there is a fixed number of
2269 Volumes, or for File storage where you wish to ensure that the backups
2270 made to disk files do not become too numerous or consume too much space.
2272 \item [Pool Type = \lt{}type\gt{}]
2273 \index[dir]{Pool Type}
2274 \index[dir]{Directive!Pool Type}
2275 This directive defines the pool type, which corresponds to the type of
2276 Job being run. It is required and may be one of the following:
2286 Note, only Backup is current implemented.
2288 \item [Storage = \lt{}storage-resource-name\gt{}]
2289 \index[dir]{Storage}
2290 \index[dir]{Directive!Storage}
2291 The Storage directive defines the name of the storage services where you
2292 want to backup the FileSet data. For additional details, see the
2293 \ilink{Storage Resource Chapter}{StorageResource2} of this manual.
2294 The Storage resource may also be specified in the Job resource,
2295 but the value, if any, in the Pool resource overrides any value
2296 in the Job. This Storage resource definition is not required by either
2297 the Job resource or in the Pool, but it must be specified in
2298 one or the other. If not configuration error will result.
2300 \item [Use Volume Once = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2301 \index[dir]{Use Volume Once}
2302 \index[dir]{Directive!Use Volume Once}
2303 This directive if set to {\bf yes} specifies that each volume is to be
2304 used only once. This is most useful when the Media is a file and you
2305 want a new file for each backup that is done. The default is {\bf no}
2306 (i.e. use volume any number of times). This directive will most likely
2307 be phased out (deprecated), so you are recommended to use {\bf Maximum
2308 Volume Jobs = 1} instead.
2310 The value defined by this directive in the bacula-dir.conf file is the
2311 default value used when a Volume is created. Once the volume is
2312 created, changing the value in the bacula-dir.conf file will not change
2313 what is stored for the Volume. To change the value for an existing
2314 Volume you must use the {\bf update} command in the Console.
2316 \item [Maximum Volume Jobs = \lt{}positive-integer\gt{}]
2317 \index[dir]{Maximum Volume Jobs}
2318 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum Volume Jobs}
2319 This directive specifies the maximum number of Jobs that can be written
2320 to the Volume. If you specify zero (the default), there is no limit.
2321 Otherwise, when the number of Jobs backed up to the Volume equals {\bf
2322 positive-integer} the Volume will be marked {\bf Used}. When the Volume
2323 is marked {\bf Used} it can no longer be used for appending Jobs, much
2324 like the {\bf Full} status but it can be recycled if recycling is
2325 enabled, and thus used again. By setting {\bf MaximumVolumeJobs} to
2326 one, you get the same effect as setting {\bf UseVolumeOnce = yes}.
2328 The value defined by this directive in the bacula-dir.conf
2329 file is the default value used when a Volume is created. Once the volume is
2330 created, changing the value in the bacula-dir.conf file will not change what
2331 is stored for the Volume. To change the value for an existing Volume you
2332 must use the {\bf update} command in the Console.
2334 \item [Maximum Volume Files = \lt{}positive-integer\gt{}]
2335 \index[dir]{Maximum Volume Files}
2336 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum Volume Files}
2337 This directive specifies the maximum number of files that can be written
2338 to the Volume. If you specify zero (the default), there is no limit.
2339 Otherwise, when the number of files written to the Volume equals {\bf
2340 positive-integer} the Volume will be marked {\bf Used}. When the Volume
2341 is marked {\bf Used} it can no longer be used for appending Jobs, much
2342 like the {\bf Full} status but it can be recycled if recycling is
2343 enabled and thus used again. This value is checked and the {\bf Used}
2344 status is set only at the end of a job that writes to the particular
2347 The value defined by this directive in the bacula-dir.conf file is the
2348 default value used when a Volume is created. Once the volume is
2349 created, changing the value in the bacula-dir.conf file will not change
2350 what is stored for the Volume. To change the value for an existing
2351 Volume you must use the {\bf update} command in the Console.
2353 \item [Maximum Volume Bytes = \lt{}size\gt{}]
2354 \index[dir]{Maximum Volume Bytes}
2355 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum Volume Bytes}
2356 This directive specifies the maximum number of bytes that can be written
2357 to the Volume. If you specify zero (the default), there is no limit
2358 except the physical size of the Volume. Otherwise, when the number of
2359 bytes written to the Volume equals {\bf size} the Volume will be marked
2360 {\bf Used}. When the Volume is marked {\bf Used} it can no longer be
2361 used for appending Jobs, much like the {\bf Full} status but it can be
2362 recycled if recycling is enabled, and thus the Volume can be re-used
2363 after recycling. This value is checked and the {\bf Used} status set
2364 while the job is writing to the particular volume.
2366 The value defined by this directive in the bacula-dir.conf file is the
2367 default value used when a Volume is created. Once the volume is
2368 created, changing the value in the bacula-dir.conf file will not change
2369 what is stored for the Volume. To change the value for an existing
2370 Volume you must use the {\bf update} command in the Console.
2372 \item [Volume Use Duration = \lt{}time-period-specification\gt{}]
2373 \index[dir]{Volume Use Duration}
2374 \index[dir]{Directive!Volume Use Duration}
2375 The Volume Use Duration directive defines the time period that the
2376 Volume can be written beginning from the time of first data write to the
2377 Volume. If the time-period specified is zero (the default), the Volume
2378 can be written indefinitely. Otherwise, the next time a job
2379 runs that wants to access this Volume, and the time period from the
2380 first write to the volume (the first Job written) exceeds the
2381 time-period-specification, the Volume will be marked {\bf Used}, which
2382 means that no more Jobs can be appended to the Volume, but it may be
2383 recycled if recycling is enabled. Using the command {\bf
2384 status dir} applies algorithms similar to running jobs, so
2385 during such a command, the Volume status may also be changed.
2387 recycled, it will be available for use again.
2389 You might use this directive, for example, if you have a Volume used for
2390 Incremental backups, and Volumes used for Weekly Full backups. Once the
2391 Full backup is done, you will want to use a different Incremental
2392 Volume. This can be accomplished by setting the Volume Use Duration for
2393 the Incremental Volume to six days. I.e. it will be used for the 6
2394 days following a Full save, then a different Incremental volume will be
2395 used. Be careful about setting the duration to short periods such as 23
2396 hours, or you might experience problems of Bacula waiting for a tape
2397 over the weekend only to complete the backups Monday morning when an
2398 operator mounts a new tape.
2400 The use duration is checked and the {\bf Used} status is set only at the
2401 end of a job that writes to the particular volume, which means that even
2402 though the use duration may have expired, the catalog entry will not be
2403 updated until the next job that uses this volume is run.
2405 Please note that the value defined by this directive in the bacula-dir.conf
2406 file is the default value used when a Volume is created. Once the volume is
2407 created, changing the value in the bacula-dir.conf file will not change what
2408 is stored for the Volume. To change the value for an existing Volume you
2410 \ilink{\bf update volume}{UpdateCommand} command in the Console.
2412 \item [Catalog Files = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2413 \index[dir]{Catalog Files}
2414 \index[dir]{Directive!Catalog Files}
2415 This directive defines whether or not you want the names of the files
2416 that were saved to be put into the catalog. The default is {\bf yes}.
2417 The advantage of specifying {\bf Catalog Files = No} is that you will
2418 have a significantly smaller Catalog database. The disadvantage is that
2419 you will not be able to produce a Catalog listing of the files backed up
2420 for each Job (this is often called Browsing). Also, without the File
2421 entries in the catalog, you will not be able to use the Console {\bf
2422 restore} command nor any other command that references File entries.
2424 \label{PoolAutoPrune}
2425 \item [AutoPrune = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2426 \index[dir]{AutoPrune}
2427 \index[dir]{Directive!AutoPrune}
2428 If AutoPrune is set to {\bf yes} (default), Bacula (version 1.20 or
2429 greater) will automatically apply the Volume Retention period when new
2430 Volume is needed and no appendable Volumes exist in the Pool. Volume
2431 pruning causes expired Jobs (older than the {\bf Volume Retention}
2432 period) to be deleted from the Catalog and permits possible recycling of
2435 \label{VolRetention}
2436 \item [Volume Retention = \lt{}time-period-specification\gt{}]
2437 \index[dir]{Volume Retention}
2438 \index[dir]{Directive!Volume Retention}
2439 The Volume Retention directive defines the length of time that {\bf
2440 Bacula} will keep Job and Files records associated with the Volume in
2441 the Catalog database after the End time of each Job written to the
2442 Volume. When this time period expires, and if {\bf AutoPrune} is set to
2443 {\bf yes} Bacula may prune (remove) Job records that are older than the
2444 specified Volume Retention period if it is necessary to free up a
2445 Volume. Recycling will not occur until it is absolutely necessary to
2446 free up a volume. All File records associated with pruned Jobs are also
2447 pruned. The time may be specified as seconds, minutes, hours, days,
2448 weeks, months, quarters, or years. The {\bf Volume Retention} is
2449 applied independently of the {\bf Job Retention} and the {\bf File
2450 Retention} periods defined in the Client resource. This means that all
2451 the retentions periods are applied in turn and that the shorter period
2452 is the one that effectively takes precedence. Note, that when the {\bf
2453 Volume Retention} period has been reached, and it is necessary to obtain
2454 a new volume, Bacula will prune both the Job and the File records. This
2455 pruning could also occur during a {\bf status dir} command because it
2456 uses similar algorithms for finding the next available Volume.
2458 It is important to know that when the Volume Retention period expires,
2459 Bacula does not automatically recycle a Volume. It attempts to keep the
2460 Volume data intact as long as possible before over writing the Volume.
2462 The default Volume retention period is 365 days. Note, this directive
2463 sets the default value for each Volume entry in the Catalog when the
2464 Volume is created. The value in the catalog may be later individually
2465 changed for each Volume using the Console program.
2467 By defining multiple Pools with different Volume Retention periods, you
2468 may effectively have a set of tapes that is recycled weekly, another
2469 Pool of tapes that is recycled monthly and so on. However, one must
2470 keep in mind that if your {\bf Volume Retention} period is too short, it
2471 may prune the last valid Full backup, and hence until the next Full
2472 backup is done, you will not have a complete backup of your system, and
2473 in addition, the next Incremental or Differential backup will be
2474 promoted to a Full backup. As a consequence, the minimum {\bf Volume
2475 Retention} period should be at twice the interval of your Full backups.
2476 This means that if you do a Full backup once a month, the minimum Volume
2477 retention period should be two months.
2479 Please note that the value defined by this directive in the bacula-dir.conf
2480 file is the default value used when a Volume is created. Once the volume is
2481 created, changing the value in the bacula-dir.conf file will not change what
2482 is stored for the Volume. To change the value for an existing Volume you
2483 must use the {\bf update} command in the Console.
2486 \item [Recycle = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2487 \index[dir]{Recycle}
2488 \index[dir]{Directive!Recycle}
2489 This directive specifies whether or not Purged Volumes may be recycled.
2490 If it is set to {\bf yes} (default) and Bacula needs a volume but finds
2491 none that are appendable, it will search for and recycle (reuse) Purged
2492 Volumes (i.e. volumes with all the Jobs and Files expired and thus
2493 deleted from the Catalog). If the Volume is recycled, all previous data
2494 written to that Volume will be overwritten. If Recycle is set to {\bf
2495 no}, the Volume will not be recycled, and hence, the data will remain
2496 valid. If you want to reuse (re-write) the Volume, and the recycle flag
2497 is no (0 in the catalog), you may manually set the recycle flag (update
2498 command) for a Volume to be reused.
2500 Please note that the value defined by this directive in the
2501 bacula-dir.conf file is the default value used when a Volume is created.
2502 Once the volume is created, changing the value in the bacula-dir.conf
2503 file will not change what is stored for the Volume. To change the value
2504 for an existing Volume you must use the {\bf update} command in the
2507 When all Job and File records have been pruned or purged from the
2508 catalog for a particular Volume, if that Volume is marked as
2509 Append, Full, Used, or Error, it will then be marked as Purged. Only
2510 Volumes marked as Purged will be considered to be converted to the
2511 Recycled state if the {\bf Recycle} directive is set to {\bf yes}.
2514 \label{RecycleOldest}
2515 \item [Recycle Oldest Volume = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2516 \index[dir]{Recycle Oldest Volume}
2517 \index[dir]{Directive!Recycle Oldest Volume}
2518 This directive instructs the Director to search for the oldest used
2519 Volume in the Pool when another Volume is requested by the Storage
2520 daemon and none are available. The catalog is then {\bf pruned}
2521 respecting the retention periods of all Files and Jobs written to this
2522 Volume. If all Jobs are pruned (i.e. the volume is Purged), then the
2523 Volume is recycled and will be used as the next Volume to be written.
2524 This directive respects any Job, File, or Volume retention periods that
2525 you may have specified, and as such it is {\bf much} better to use this
2526 directive than the Purge Oldest Volume.
2528 This directive can be useful if you have a fixed number of Volumes in the
2529 Pool and you want to cycle through them and you have specified the correct
2532 However, if you use this directive and have only one
2533 Volume in the Pool, you will immediately recycle your Volume if you fill
2534 it and Bacula needs another one. Thus your backup will be totally invalid.
2535 Please use this directive with care. The default is {\bf no}.
2537 \label{RecycleCurrent}
2539 \item [Recycle Current Volume = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2540 \index[dir]{Recycle Current Volume}
2541 \index[dir]{Directive!Recycle Current Volume}
2542 If Bacula needs a new Volume, this directive instructs Bacula to Prune
2543 the volume respecting the Job and File retention periods. If all Jobs
2544 are pruned (i.e. the volume is Purged), then the Volume is recycled and
2545 will be used as the next Volume to be written. This directive respects
2546 any Job, File, or Volume retention periods that you may have specified,
2547 and thus it is {\bf much} better to use it rather than the Purge Oldest
2550 This directive can be useful if you have: a fixed number of Volumes in
2551 the Pool, you want to cycle through them, and you have specified
2552 retention periods that prune Volumes before you have cycled through the
2555 However, if you use this directive and have only one Volume in the Pool,
2556 you will immediately recycle your Volume if you fill it and Bacula needs
2557 another one. Thus your backup will be totally invalid. Please use this
2558 directive with care. The default is {\bf no}.
2562 \item [Purge Oldest Volume = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2563 \index[dir]{Purge Oldest Volume}
2564 \index[dir]{Directive!Purge Oldest Volume}
2565 This directive instructs the Director to search for the oldest used
2566 Volume in the Pool when another Volume is requested by the Storage
2567 daemon and none are available. The catalog is then {\bf purged}
2568 irrespective of retention periods of all Files and Jobs written to this
2569 Volume. The Volume is then recycled and will be used as the next Volume
2570 to be written. This directive overrides any Job, File, or Volume
2571 retention periods that you may have specified.
2573 This directive can be useful if you have a fixed number of Volumes in
2574 the Pool and you want to cycle through them and reusing the oldest one
2575 when all Volumes are full, but you don't want to worry about setting
2576 proper retention periods. However, by using this option you risk losing
2579 Please be aware that {\bf Purge Oldest Volume} disregards all retention
2580 periods. If you have only a single Volume defined and you turn this
2581 variable on, that Volume will always be immediately overwritten when it
2582 fills! So at a minimum, ensure that you have a decent number of Volumes
2583 in your Pool before running any jobs. If you want retention periods to
2584 apply do not use this directive. To specify a retention period, use the
2585 {\bf Volume Retention} directive (see above).
2587 We {\bf highly} recommend against using this directive, because it is
2588 sure that some day, Bacula will recycle a Volume that contains current
2589 data. The default is {\bf no}.
2591 \item [Cleaning Prefix = \lt{}string\gt{}]
2592 \index[dir]{Cleaning Prefix}
2593 \index[dir]{Directive!Cleaning Prefix}
2594 This directive defines a prefix string, which if it matches the
2595 beginning of a Volume name during labeling of a Volume, the Volume will
2596 be defined with the VolStatus set to {\bf Cleaning} and thus Bacula will
2597 never attempt to use this tape. This is primarily for use with
2598 autochangers that accept barcodes where the convention is that barcodes
2599 beginning with {\bf CLN} are treated as cleaning tapes.
2602 \item [Label Format = \lt{}format\gt{}]
2603 \index[dir]{Label Format}
2604 \index[dir]{Directive!Label Format}
2605 This directive specifies the format of the labels contained in this
2606 pool. The format directive is used as a sort of template to create new
2607 Volume names during automatic Volume labeling.
2609 The {\bf format} should be specified in double quotes, and consists of
2610 letters, numbers and the special characters hyphen ({\bf -}), underscore
2611 ({\bf \_}), colon ({\bf :}), and period ({\bf .}), which are the legal
2612 characters for a Volume name. The {\bf format} should be enclosed in
2615 In addition, the format may contain a number of variable expansion
2616 characters which will be expanded by a complex algorithm allowing you to
2617 create Volume names of many different formats. In all cases, the
2618 expansion process must resolve to the set of characters noted above that
2619 are legal Volume names. Generally, these variable expansion characters
2620 begin with a dollar sign ({\bf \$}) or a left bracket ({\bf [}). If you
2621 specify variable expansion characters, you should always enclose the
2622 format with double quote characters ({\bf "}). For more details on
2623 variable expansion, please see the \ilink{Variable
2624 Expansion}{VarsChapter} Chapter of this manual.
2626 If no variable expansion characters are found in the string, the Volume
2627 name will be formed from the {\bf format} string appended with the
2628 number of volumes in the pool plus one, which will be edited as four
2629 digits with leading zeros. For example, with a {\bf Label Format =
2630 "File-"}, the first volumes will be named {\bf File-0001}, {\bf
2633 With the exception of Job specific variables, you can test your {\bf
2634 LabelFormat} by using the \ilink{ var command}{var} the Console Chapter
2637 In almost all cases, you should enclose the format specification (part
2638 after the equal sign) in double quotes. Please note that this directive
2639 is deprecated and is replaced in version 1.37 and greater with a Python
2640 script for creating volume names.
2644 In order for a Pool to be used during a Backup Job, the Pool must have at
2645 least one Volume associated with it. Volumes are created for a Pool using
2646 the {\bf label} or the {\bf add} commands in the {\bf Bacula Console},
2647 program. In addition to adding Volumes to the Pool (i.e. putting the
2648 Volume names in the Catalog database), the physical Volume must be labeled
2649 with a valid Bacula software volume label before {\bf Bacula} will accept
2650 the Volume. This will be automatically done if you use the {\bf label}
2651 command. Bacula can automatically label Volumes if instructed to do so,
2652 but this feature is not yet fully implemented.
2654 The following is an example of a valid Pool resource definition:
2666 \subsection{The Scratch Pool}
2667 \index[general]{Scratch Pool}
2668 In general, you can give your Pools any name you wish, but there is one
2669 important restriction: the Pool named {\bf Scratch}, if it exists behaves
2670 like a scratch pool of Volumes in that when Bacula needs a new Volume for
2671 writing and it cannot find one, it will look in the Scratch pool, and if
2672 it finds an available Volume, it will move it out of the Scratch pool into
2673 the Pool currently being used by the job.
2676 \section{The Catalog Resource}
2677 \label{CatalogResource}
2678 \index[general]{Resource!Catalog}
2679 \index[general]{Catalog Resource}
2681 The Catalog Resource defines what catalog to use for the current job.
2682 Currently, Bacula can only handle a single database server (SQLite, MySQL,
2683 PostgreSQL) that is defined when configuring {\bf Bacula}. However, there
2684 may be as many Catalogs (databases) defined as you wish. For example, you
2685 may want each Client to have its own Catalog database, or you may want
2686 backup jobs to use one database and verify or restore jobs to use another
2692 \index[dir]{Catalog}
2693 \index[dir]{Directive!Catalog}
2694 Start of the Catalog resource. At least one Catalog resource must be
2698 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
2700 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
2701 The name of the Catalog. No necessary relation to the database server
2702 name. This name will be specified in the Client resource directive
2703 indicating that all catalog data for that Client is maintained in this
2704 Catalog. This directive is required.
2706 \item [password = \lt{}password\gt{}]
2707 \index[dir]{password}
2708 \index[dir]{Directive!password}
2709 This specifies the password to use when logging into the database. This
2710 directive is required.
2712 \item [DB Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
2713 \index[dir]{DB Name}
2714 \index[dir]{Directive!DB Name}
2715 This specifies the name of the database. If you use multiple catalogs
2716 (databases), you specify which one here. If you are using an external
2717 database server rather than the internal one, you must specify a name
2718 that is known to the server (i.e. you explicitly created the Bacula
2719 tables using this name. This directive is required.
2721 \item [user = \lt{}user\gt{}]
2723 \index[dir]{Directive!user}
2724 This specifies what user name to use to log into the database. This
2725 directive is required.
2727 \item [DB Socket = \lt{}socket-name\gt{}]
2728 \index[dir]{DB Socket}
2729 \index[dir]{Directive!DB Socket}
2730 This is the name of a socket to use on the local host to connect to the
2731 database. This directive is used only by MySQL and is ignored by SQLite.
2732 Normally, if neither {\bf DB Socket} or {\bf DB Address} are specified, MySQL
2733 will use the default socket.
2735 \item [DB Address = \lt{}address\gt{}]
2736 \index[dir]{DB Address}
2737 \index[dir]{Directive!DB Address}
2738 This is the host address of the database server. Normally, you would specify
2739 this instead of {\bf DB Socket} if the database server is on another machine.
2740 In that case, you will also specify {\bf DB Port}. This directive is used
2741 only by MySQL and is ignored by SQLite if provided. This directive is
2744 \item [DB Port = \lt{}port\gt{}]
2745 \index[dir]{DB Port}
2746 \index[dir]{Directive!DB Port}
2747 This defines the port to be used in conjunction with {\bf DB Address} to
2748 access the database if it is on another machine. This directive is used only
2749 by MySQL and is ignored by SQLite if provided. This directive is optional.
2751 %% \item [Multiple Connections = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}]
2752 %% \index[dir]{Multiple Connections}
2753 %% \index[dir]{Directive!Multiple Connections}
2754 %% By default, this directive is set to no. In that case, each job that uses
2756 %% same Catalog will use a single connection to the catalog. It will be shared,
2757 %% and Bacula will allow only one Job at a time to communicate. If you set this
2758 %% directive to yes, Bacula will permit multiple connections to the database,
2759 %% and the database must be multi-thread capable. For SQLite and PostgreSQL,
2760 %% this is no problem. For MySQL, you must be *very* careful to have the
2761 %% multi-thread version of the client library loaded on your system. When this
2762 %% directive is set yes, each Job will have a separate connection to the
2763 %% database, and the database will control the interaction between the
2765 %% Jobs. This can significantly speed up the database operations if you are
2766 %% running multiple simultaneous jobs. In addition, for SQLite and PostgreSQL,
2767 %% Bacula will automatically enable transactions. This can significantly speed
2768 %% up insertion of attributes in the database either for a single Job or
2769 %% multiple simultaneous Jobs.
2771 %% This directive has not been tested. Please test carefully before running it
2772 %% in production and report back your results.
2776 The following is an example of a valid Catalog resource definition:
2785 password = "" # no password = no security
2790 or for a Catalog on another machine:
2800 DB Address = remote.acme.com
2806 \section{The Messages Resource}
2807 \label{MessagesResource2}
2808 \index[general]{Resource!Messages}
2809 \index[general]{Messages Resource}
2811 For the details of the Messages Resource, please see the
2812 \ilink{Messages Resource Chapter}{MessagesChapter} of this
2815 \section{The Console Resource}
2816 \label{ConsoleResource1}
2817 \index[general]{Console Resource}
2818 \index[general]{Resource!Console}
2820 As of Bacula version 1.33 and higher, there are three different kinds of
2821 consoles, which the administrator or user can use to interact with the
2822 Director. These three kinds of consoles comprise three different security
2826 \item The first console type is an {\bf anonymous} or {\bf default} console,
2827 which has full privileges. There is no console resource necessary for
2828 this type since the password is specified in the Director's resource and
2829 consequently such consoles do not have a name as defined on a {\bf Name
2830 =} directive. This is the kind of console that was initially
2831 implemented in versions prior to 1.33 and remains valid. Typically you
2832 would use it only for administrators.
2834 \item The second type of console, and new to version 1.33 and higher is a
2835 "named" console defined within a Console resource in both the Director's
2836 configuration file and in the Console's configuration file. Both the
2837 names and the passwords in these two entries must match much as is the
2838 case for Client programs.
2840 This second type of console begins with absolutely no privileges except
2841 those explicitly specified in the Director's Console resource. Thus you
2842 can have multiple Consoles with different names and passwords, sort of
2843 like multiple users, each with different privileges. As a default,
2844 these consoles can do absolutely nothing -- no commands whatsoever. You
2845 give them privileges or rather access to commands and resources by
2846 specifying access control lists in the Director's Console resource. The
2847 ACLs are specified by a directive followed by a list of access names.
2848 Examples of this are shown below.
2850 \item The third type of console is similar to the above mentioned one in that
2851 it requires a Console resource definition in both the Director and the
2852 Console. In addition, if the console name, provided on the {\bf Name =}
2853 directive, is the same as a Client name, that console is permitted to
2854 use the {\bf SetIP} command to change the Address directive in the
2855 Director's client resource to the IP address of the Console. This
2856 permits portables or other machines using DHCP (non-fixed IP addresses)
2857 to "notify" the Director of their current IP address.
2860 The Console resource is optional and need not be specified. The following
2861 directives are permitted within the Director's configuration resource:
2865 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
2867 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
2868 The name of the console. This name must match the name specified in the
2869 Console's configuration resource (much as is the case with Client
2872 \item [Password = \lt{}password\gt{}]
2873 \index[dir]{Password}
2874 \index[dir]{Directive!Password}
2875 Specifies the password that must be supplied for a named Bacula Console
2876 to be authorized. The same password must appear in the {\bf Console}
2877 resource of the Console configuration file. For added security, the
2878 password is never actually passed across the network but rather a
2879 challenge response hash code created with the password. This directive
2880 is required. If you have either {\bf /dev/random} {\bf bc} on your
2881 machine, Bacula will generate a random password during the configuration
2882 process, otherwise it will be left blank.
2884 \item [JobACL = \lt{}name-list\gt{}]
2886 \index[dir]{Directive!JobACL}
2887 This directive is used to specify a list of Job resource names that can
2888 be accessed by the console. Without this directive, the console cannot
2889 access any of the Director's Job resources. Multiple Job resource names
2890 may be specified by separating them with commas, and/or by specifying
2891 multiple JobACL directives. For example, the directive may be specified
2896 JobACL = kernsave, "Backup client 1", "Backup client 2"
2897 JobACL = "RestoreFiles"
2902 With the above specification, the console can access the Director's resources
2903 for the four jobs named on the JobACL directives, but for no others.
2905 \item [ClientACL = \lt{}name-list\gt{}]
2906 \index[dir]{ClientACL}
2907 \index[dir]{Directive!ClientACL}
2908 This directive is used to specify a list of Client resource names that can
2910 accessed by the console.
2912 \item [StorageACL = \lt{}name-list\gt{}]
2913 \index[dir]{StorageACL}
2914 \index[dir]{Directive!StorageACL}
2915 This directive is used to specify a list of Storage resource names that can
2916 be accessed by the console.
2918 \item [ScheduleACL = \lt{}name-list\gt{}]
2919 \index[dir]{ScheduleACL}
2920 \index[dir]{Directive!ScheduleACL}
2921 This directive is used to specify a list of Schedule resource names that can
2922 be accessed by the console.
2924 \item [PoolACL = \lt{}name-list\gt{}]
2925 \index[dir]{PoolACL}
2926 \index[dir]{Directive!PoolACL}
2927 This directive is used to specify a list of Pool resource names that can be
2928 accessed by the console.
2930 \item [FileSetACL = \lt{}name-list\gt{}]
2931 \index[dir]{FileSetACL}
2932 \index[dir]{Directive!FileSetACL}
2933 This directive is used to specify a list of FileSet resource names that
2934 can be accessed by the console.
2936 \item [CatalogACL = \lt{}name-list\gt{}]
2937 \index[dir]{CatalogACL}
2938 \index[dir]{Directive!CatalogACL}
2939 This directive is used to specify a list of Catalog resource names that
2940 can be accessed by the console.
2942 \item [CommandACL = \lt{}name-list\gt{}]
2943 \index[dir]{CommandACL}
2944 \index[dir]{Directive!CommandACL}
2945 This directive is used to specify a list of of console commands that can
2946 be executed by the console.
2948 \item [WhereACL = \lt{}string\gt{}]
2949 \index[dir]{WhereACL}
2950 \index[dir]{Directive!WhereACL}
2951 This directive permits you to specify where a restricted console
2952 can restore files. If this directive is not specified, only the
2953 default restore location is permitted (normally {\bf
2954 /tmp/bacula-restores}. If {\bf *all*} is specified any path the
2955 user enters will be accepted (not very secure), any other
2956 value specified (there may be multiple WhereACL directives) will
2957 restrict the user to use that path. For example, on a Unix system,
2958 if you specify "/", the file will be restored to the original
2959 location. This directive is untested.
2963 Aside from Director resource names and console command names, the special
2964 keyword {\bf *all*} can be specified in any of the above access control lists.
2965 When this keyword is present, any resource or command name (which ever is
2966 appropriate) will be accepted. For an example configuration file, please see
2968 \ilink{Console Configuration}{ConsoleConfChapter} chapter of this
2971 \section{The Counter Resource}
2972 \label{CounterResource}
2973 \index[general]{Resource!Counter}
2974 \index[general]{Counter Resource}
2976 The Counter Resource defines a counter variable that can be accessed by
2977 variable expansion used for creating Volume labels with the {\bf LabelFormat}
2979 \ilink{LabelFormat}{Label} directive in this chapter for more
2985 \index[dir]{Counter}
2986 \index[dir]{Directive!Counter}
2987 Start of the Counter resource. Counter directives are optional.
2989 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
2991 \index[dir]{Directive!Name}
2992 The name of the Counter. This is the name you will use in the variable
2993 expansion to reference the counter value.
2995 \item [Minimum = \lt{}integer\gt{}]
2996 \index[dir]{Minimum}
2997 \index[dir]{Directive!Minimum}
2998 This specifies the minimum value that the counter can have. It also becomes
2999 the default. If not supplied, zero is assumed.
3001 \item [Maximum = \lt{}integer\gt{}]
3002 \index[dir]{Maximum}
3003 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum}
3004 \index[dir]{Directive!Maximum}
3005 This is the maximum value value that the counter can have. If not specified
3006 or set to zero, the counter can have a maximum value of 2,147,483,648 (2 to
3007 the 31 power). When the counter is incremented past this value, it is reset
3010 \item [*WrapCounter = \lt{}counter-name\gt{}]
3011 \index[dir]{*WrapCounter}
3012 \index[dir]{Directive!*WrapCounter}
3013 If this value is specified, when the counter is incremented past the
3015 and thus reset to the minimum, the counter specified on the {\bf WrapCounter}
3016 is incremented. (This is not currently implemented).
3018 \item [Catalog = \lt{}catalog-name\gt{}]
3019 \index[dir]{Catalog}
3020 \index[dir]{Directive!Catalog}
3021 If this directive is specified, the counter and its values will be saved in
3022 the specified catalog. If this directive is not present, the counter will be
3023 redefined each time that Bacula is started.
3026 \section{Example Director Configuration File}
3027 \label{SampleDirectorConfiguration}
3028 \index[general]{File!Example Director Configuration}
3029 \index[general]{Example Director Configuration File}
3031 An example Director configuration file might be the following:
3036 # Default Bacula Director Configuration file
3038 # The only thing that MUST be changed is to add one or more
3039 # file or directory names in the Include directive of the
3042 # For Bacula release 1.15 (5 March 2002) -- redhat
3044 # You might also want to change the default email address
3045 # from root to your address. See the "mail" and "operator"
3046 # directives in the Messages resource.
3048 Director { # define myself
3050 QueryFile = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/query.sql"
3051 WorkingDirectory = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/working"
3052 PidDirectory = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/working"
3053 Password = "XkSfzu/Cf/wX4L8Zh4G4/yhCbpLcz3YVdmVoQvU3EyF/"
3055 # Define the backup Job
3057 Name = "NightlySave"
3059 Level = Incremental # default
3062 Schedule = "WeeklyCycle"
3072 Where = /tmp/bacula-restores
3078 # List of files to be backed up
3082 Options { signature=SHA1}
3084 # Put your list of files here, one per line or include an
3085 # external list with:
3089 # Note: / backs up everything
3094 # When to do the backups
3096 Name = "WeeklyCycle"
3097 Run = level=Full sun at 1:05
3098 Run = level=Incremental mon-sat at 1:05
3100 # Client (File Services) to backup
3105 Password = "MQk6lVinz4GG2hdIZk1dsKE/LxMZGo6znMHiD7t7vzF+"
3106 File Retention = 60d # sixty day file retention
3107 Job Retention = 1y # 1 year Job retention
3108 AutoPrune = yes # Auto apply retention periods
3110 # Definition of DLT tape storage device
3114 Password = "jMeWZvfikUHvt3kzKVVPpQ0ccmV6emPnF2cPYFdhLApQ"
3115 Device = "HP DLT 80" # same as Device in Storage daemon
3116 Media Type = DLT8000 # same as MediaType in Storage daemon
3118 # Definition for a DLT autochanger device
3122 Password = "jMeWZvfikUHvt3kzKVVPpQ0ccmV6emPnF2cPYFdhLApQ"
3123 Device = "Autochanger" # same as Device in Storage daemon
3124 Media Type = DLT-8000 # Different from DLTDrive
3127 # Definition of DDS tape storage device
3131 Password = "jMeWZvfikUHvt3kzKVVPpQ0ccmV6emPnF2cPYFdhLApQ"
3132 Device = SDT-10000 # same as Device in Storage daemon
3133 Media Type = DDS-4 # same as MediaType in Storage daemon
3135 # Definition of 8mm tape storage device
3139 Password = "jMeWZvfikUHvt3kzKVVPpQ0ccmV6emPnF2cPYFdhLApQ"
3140 Device = "Exabyte 8mm"
3143 # Definition of file storage device
3147 Password = "jMeWZvfikUHvt3kzKVVPpQ0ccmV6emPnF2cPYFdhLApQ"
3148 Device = FileStorage
3151 # Generic catalog service
3154 dbname = bacula; user = bacula; password = ""
3156 # Reasonable message delivery -- send most everything to
3157 # the email address and to the console
3160 mail = root@localhost = all, !skipped, !terminate
3161 operator = root@localhost = mount
3162 console = all, !skipped, !saved
3165 # Default pool definition
3173 # Restricted console used by tray-monitor to get the status of the director
3177 Password = "GN0uRo7PTUmlMbqrJ2Gr1p0fk0HQJTxwnFyE4WSST3MWZseR"
3178 CommandACL = status, .status