4 \section*{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions}
5 \label{_ChapterStart48}
6 \index[general]{Questions!Bacula Frequently Asked }
7 \index[general]{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions }
8 \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions}
10 These are questions that have been submitted over time by the
14 \ilink{the bugs section}{_ChapterStart4} of this document for a list
15 of known bugs and solutions.
19 \subsection*{What is Bacula?}
20 \item [What is {\bf Bacula}? ]
21 \index[general]{What is Bacula? }
22 {\bf Bacula} is a network backup and restore program.
24 \subsection*{Does Bacula support Windows?}
25 \item [Does Bacula support Windows?]
26 \index[general]{Does Bacula support Windows? }
27 Yes, Bacula compiles and runs on Windows machines (Win98, WinMe, WinXP,
28 WinNT, and Win2000). We provide a binary version of the Client (bacula-fd),
29 but have not tested the Director nor the Storage daemon. Note, Win95 is no
30 longer supported because it doesn't have the GetFileAttributesExA API call.
34 \subsection*{What language is Bacula written in?}
35 \item [What language is Bacula written in?]
36 \index[general]{What language is Bacula written in? }
37 It is written in C++, but it is mostly C code using only a limited set of
38 the C++ extensions over C. Thus Bacula is completely compiled using the
39 C++ compiler. There are several modules, including the Win32 interface, that
40 are written using the object oriented C++ features. Over time, we are slowly
41 adding a larger subset of C++.
44 \subsection*{On what machines does Bacula run?}
45 \item [On what machines does Bacula run? ]
46 \index[general]{On what machines does Bacula run? }
47 {\bf Bacula} builds and executes on RedHat Linux (versions RH7.1-RHEL 3.0,
48 SuSE, Gentoo, Debian, Mandriva, ...), FreeBSD, Solaris, Alpha, SGI (client),
49 NetBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS X (client), and Win32 (client).
51 Bacula has been my only backup tool for over four years backing up 5
52 machines nightly (3 Linux boxes running RedHat, a WinXP machine, and a WinNT
57 \subsection*{Is Bacula Stable?}
58 \item [Is Bacula Stable? ]
59 \index[general]{Is Bacula Stable? }
60 Yes, it is remarkably stable, but remember, there are still a lot of
61 unimplemented or partially implemented features. With a program of this size
62 (100,000+ lines of C++ code not including the SQL programs) there are bound
63 to be bugs. The current test environment (a twisted pair local network and a
64 HP DLT backup tape) is not exactly ideal, so additional testing on other
66 necessary. The File daemon has never crashed -- running months at a time
68 no intervention. The Storage daemon is remarkably stable with most of the
69 problems arising during labeling or switching tapes. Storage daemon crashes
70 are rare. The Director, given the multitude of functions it fulfills is
72 relatively stable. In a production environment, it rarely if ever crashes. Of
73 the three daemons, the Director is the most prone to having problems. Still,
75 frequently runs several months with no problems.
77 There are a number of reasons for this stability.
80 \item The program was largely written by one person to date
82 \item The program is constantly checking the chain of allocated
83 memory buffers to ensure that no overruns have occurred. \\
84 \item All memory leaks (orphaned buffers) are reported each time the
86 \item Any signal (segmentation fault, ...) generates a
87 traceback that is emailed to the developer. This permits quick resolution
89 bugs even if they only show up rarely in a production system.\\
90 \item There is a reasonably comprehensive set of regression tests
91 that avoids re-creating the most common errors in new versions of
95 \label{AuthorizationErrors}
96 \subsection*{I'm Getting Authorization Errors. What is Going On? }
97 \item [I'm Getting Authorization Errors. What is Going On? ]
98 \index[general]{Authorization Errors}
99 \index[general]{Concurrent Jobs}
100 For security reasons, Bacula requires that both the File daemon and the
101 Storage daemon know the name of the Director as well as its password. As a
102 consequence, if you change the Director's name or password, you must make
103 the corresponding change in the Storage daemon's and in the File daemon's
106 During the authorization process, the Storage daemon and File daemon
107 also require that the Director authenticates itself, so both ends
108 require the other to have the correct name and password.
110 If you have edited the conf files and modified any name or any password,
111 and you are getting authentication errors, then your best bet is to go
112 back to the original conf files generated by the Bacula installation
113 process. Make only the absolutely necessary modifications to these
114 files -- e.g. add the correct email address. Then follow the
115 instructions in the \ilink{ Running Bacula}{_ChapterStart1} chapter of
116 this manual. You will run a backup to disk and a restore. Only when
117 that works, should you begin customization of the conf files.
119 Another reason that you can get authentication errors is if you are
120 running Multiple Concurrent Jobs in the Director, but you have not set
121 them in the File daemon or the Storage daemon. Once you reach their
122 limit, they will reject the connection producing authentication (or
125 If you are having problems connecting to a Windows machine that
126 previously worked, you might try restarting the Bacula service since
127 Windows frequently encounters networking connection problems.
129 Some users report that authentication fails if there is not a proper
130 reverse DNS lookup entry for the machine. This seems to be a
131 requirement of gethostbyname(), which is what Bacula uses to translate
132 names into IP addresses. If you cannot add a reverse DNS entry, or you
133 don't know how to do so, you can avoid the problem by specifying an IP
134 address rather than a machine name in the appropriate Bacula conf file.
136 Here is a picture that indicates what names/passwords in which
137 files/Resources must match up:
139 \includegraphics{./Conf-Diagram.eps}
141 In the left column, you will find the Director, Storage, and Client
142 resources, with their names and passwords -- these are all in {\bf
143 bacula-dir.conf}. The right column is where the corresponding values
144 should be found in the Console, Storage daemon (SD), and File daemon (FD)
147 Another thing to check is to ensure that the Bacula component you are
148 trying to access has {\bf Maximum Concurrent Jobs} set large enough to
149 handle each of the Jobs and the Console that want to connect
150 simultaneously. Once the maximum connections has been reached, each
151 Bacula component will reject all new connections.
153 Finally, make sure you have no {\bf hosts.allow} or {\bf hosts.deny}
154 file that is not permitting access to the site trying to connect.
156 \label{AccessProblems}
157 \subsection*{Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine.
159 \item [Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine.
161 \index[general]{Cannot Access a Client}
162 There are several reasons why Bacula could not contact a client on a
163 different machine. They are:
166 \item It is a Windows Client, and the client died because of an improper
167 configuration file. Check that the Bacula icon is in the system tray and the
168 the menu items work. If the client has died, the icon will disappear only
169 when you move the mouse over the icon.
170 \item The Client address or port is incorrect or not resolved by DNS. See if
171 you can ping the client machine using the same address as in the Client
173 \item You have a firewall, and it is blocking traffic on port 9102 between
174 the Director's machine and the Client's machine (or on port 9103 between the
175 Client and the Storage daemon machines).
176 \item Your password or names are not correct in both the Director and the
177 Client machine. Try configuring everything identical to how you run the
178 client on the same machine as the Director, but just change the Address. If
179 that works, make the other changes one step at a time until it works.
180 \item You may also be having problems betwen your File daemon and your
181 Storage daemon. The name you use in the Storage resource of your
182 Director's conf file must be known (resolvable) by the File daemon,
183 because it is passed symbolically to the File daemon, which then
184 resolves it to get an IP address used to contact the Storage daemon.
185 \item You may have a {\bf hosts.allow} or {\bf hosts.deny} file that is
186 not permitting access.
190 \subsection*{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over?}
191 \item [My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? ]
192 \index[general]{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? }
193 If you are using MySQL do the following:
197 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats
204 If you are using SQLite, do the following:
208 Delete bacula.db from your working directory.
209 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats
216 Then write an EOF on each tape you used with {\bf Bacula} using:
220 mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
225 where you need to adjust the device name for your system.
228 \subsection*{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?}
229 \item [I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?]
230 \index[general]{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do? }
231 On Bacula version 1.25 and prior, it expects you to have the correct tape
232 mounted prior to a restore. On Bacula version 1.26 and higher, it will ask
233 you for the tape, and if the wrong one is mounted, it will inform you.
235 If you have previously done an {\bf unmount} command, all Storage daemon
236 sessions (jobs) will be completely blocked from using the drive unmounted,
238 be sure to do a {\bf mount} after your unmount. If in doubt, do a second
239 {\bf mount}, it won't cause any harm.
242 \subsection*{I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? }
243 \item [I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? ]
244 \index[general]{I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? }
245 You are probably having one of two problems: either the Client is dying due
246 to an incorrect configuration file, or you didn't do the Installation
247 commands necessary to install it as a Windows Service.
249 For the first problem, see the next FAQ question. For the second problem,
251 \ilink{ Windows Installation instructions}{_ChapterStart7} in this
255 \subsection*{My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It}
256 \item [My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It ]
257 \index[general]{My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It }
258 The most common problem is either that the configuration file is not where it
259 expects it to be, or that there is an error in the configuration file. You
260 must have the configuration file in {\bf
261 c:\textbackslash{}bacula\textbackslash{}bin\textbackslash{}bacula-fd.conf}.
263 To {\bf see} what is going on when the File daemon starts on Windows, do the
268 Start a DOS shell Window.
270 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf
275 This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current
276 directory, which you can examine and thereby determine the problem.
279 \item [When I Start the Console, the Error Messages Fly By. How can I see
281 \index[general]{When I Start the Console, the Error Messages Fly By. How can
283 Either use a shell window with a scroll bar, or use the gnome-console. In
285 case, you probably should be logging all output to a file, and then you can
286 simply view the file using an editor or the {\bf less} program. To log all
287 output, I have the following in my Director's Message resource definition:
291 append = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/log" = all, !skipped
296 Obviously you will want to change the filename to be appropriate for your
300 \subsection*{My backups are not working on my Windows
301 Client. What should I do?}
303 \item [I didn't realize that the backups were not working on my Windows
304 Client. What should I do? ]
305 \index[general]{I didn't realize that the backups were not working on my Windows
306 Client. What should I do? }
307 You should be sending yourself an email message for each job. This will avoid
308 the possibility of not knowing about a failed backup. To do so put something
313 Mail = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped
318 in your Director's message resource. You should then receive one email for
319 each Job that ran. When you are comfortable with what is going on (it took me
320 9 months), you might change that to:
324 MailOnError = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped
329 then you only get email messages when a Job errors as is the case for your
332 You should also be logging the Director's messages, please see the previous
333 FAQ for how to do so.
336 \subsection*{All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause
338 \item [All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause
340 \index[general]{Schedule problems}
341 No, not at all. Bacula will schedule all the Jobs at the same time, but will
342 run them one after another unless you have increased the number of
343 simultaneous jobs in the configuration files for the Director, the File
344 daemon, and the Storage daemon. The appropriate configuration record is {\bf
345 Maximum Concurrent Jobs = nn}. At the current time, we recommend that you
346 leave this set to {\bf 1} for the Director.
349 \subsection*{Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape?}
350 \item [Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape? ]
351 \index[general]{Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape? }
352 Yes, in principle, Bacula can backup to any storage medium as long as you
353 have correctly defined that medium in the Storage daemon's Device resource.
354 For an example of how to backup to files, please see the
355 \ilink{Pruning Example}{PruningExample} in the Recycling
356 chapter of this manual. Also, there is a whole chapter devoted to
357 \ilink{Basic Volume Management}{_ChapterStart39}. This chapter was
358 originally written to explain how to write to disk, but was expanded
359 to include volume management. It is, however, still quite a good
363 \subsection*{Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Greater than 2 Gigabytes?}
364 \item [Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Greater than 2 Gigabytes in
366 \index[general]{Large file support}
367 If your operating system permits it, and you are running Bacula version 1.26
368 or later, the answer is yes. To the best of our knowledge all client system
369 supported by Bacula can handle files larger than 2 Gigabytes.
372 \subsection*{I want to stop a job. Is
373 there a better way than {\bf ./bacula stop} to stop it?}
374 \item [I Started A Job then Decided I Really Did Not Want to Run It. Is
375 there a better way than {\bf ./bacula stop} to stop it?]
376 \index[general]{Cancelling jobs}
378 you normally should use the Console command {\bf cancel} to cancel a Job
379 that is either scheduled or running. If the Job is scheduled, it will
380 be marked for cancellation and will be canceled when it is scheduled to
381 start. If it is running, it will normally terminate after a few
382 minutes. If the Job is waiting on a tape mount, you may need to do a
383 {\bf mount} command before it will be canceled.
386 \subsection*{Why have You Trademarked the Name
387 Bacula\raisebox{.6ex}{{\footnotesize \textsuperscript{\textregistered}}}?}
388 \item [Why have You Trademarked the Name
389 Bacula\raisebox{.6ex}{{\footnotesize \textsuperscript{\textregistered}}}?]
390 \index[general]{Bacula Trademark}
391 We have trademarked the name Bacula to ensure that all media written by any
392 program named Bacula will always be compatible. Anyone may use the name
393 Bacula, even in a derivative product as long as it remains totally compatible
394 in all respects with the program defined here.
397 \subsection*{Why is Your Online Document for Version 1.37 but the Released Version is 1.36?}
398 \item [Why is Your Online Document for Version 1.37 of Bacula when the
399 Currently Release Version is 1.36?]
400 \index[general]{Multiple manuals}
401 As Bacula is being developed, the document is also being enhanced, more often
402 than not it has clarifications of existing features that can be very useful
403 to our users, so we publish the very latest document. Fortunately it is rare
404 that there are confusions with new features.
406 If you want to read a document that pertains only to a specific version,
407 please use the one distributed in the source code.
410 \subsection*{Does Bacula really save and restore all files?}
411 \item [How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores All Files? ]
412 \index[general]{How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores
413 All Files? } It is really quite simple, but took me a while to figure
414 out how to "prove" it. First make a Bacula Rescue disk, see the
415 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{_ChapterRescue} chapter
417 Second, you run a full backup of all your files on all partitions.
418 Third, you run an Verify InitCatalog Job on the same FileSet, which
419 effectively makes a record of all the files on your system. Fourth, you
420 run a Verify Catalog job and assure yourself that nothing has changed
421 (well, between an InitCatalog and Catalog one doesn't expect anything).
422 Then do the unthinkable, write zeros on your MBR (master boot record)
423 wiping out your hard disk. Now, restore your whole system using your
424 Bacula Rescue disk and the Full backup you made, and finally re-run the
425 Verify Catalog job. You will see that with the exception of the
426 directory modification and access dates and the files changed during the
427 boot, your system is identical to what it was before you wiped your hard
429 Alternatively you could do the wiping and restoring to another computer
433 \subsection*{I want an Incremental but Bacula runs it as a Full backup. Why?}
434 \item [I did a Full backup last week, but now in running an Incremental,
435 Bacula says it did not find a FULL backup, so it did a FULL backup. Why?]
436 \index[general]{I did a Full backup last week, but now in running an
437 Incremental, Bacula says it did not find a FULL backup, so it did a
438 FULL backup. Why? } Before doing an Incremental or a Differential
439 backup, Bacula checks to see if there was a prior Full backup of the
440 same Job that terminated successfully. If so, it uses the date that
441 full backup started as the time for comparing if files have changed. If
442 Bacula does not find a successful full backup, it proceeds to do one.
443 Perhaps you canceled the full backup, or it terminated in error. In
444 such cases, the full backup will not be successful. You can check by
445 entering {\bf list jobs} and look to see if there is a prior Job with
446 the same Name that has Level F and JobStatus T (normal termination).
448 Another reason why Bacula may not find a suitable Full backup is that
449 every time you change the FileSet, Bacula will require a new Full
450 backup. This is necessary to ensure that all files are properly backed
451 up in the case where you have added more files to the FileSet.
452 Beginning with version 1.31, the FileSets are also dated when they are
453 created, and this date is displayed with the name when you are listing
454 or selecting a FileSet. For more on backup levels see below.
456 \label{filenamelengths}
457 \subsection*{Do you really handle unlimited path lengths?}
458 \item [How Can You Claim to Handle Unlimited Path and Filename Lengths
459 when All Other Programs Have Fixed Limits?]
460 \index[general]{How Can You Claim to Handle Unlimited Path and Filename
461 Lengths when All Other Programs Have Fixed Limits? } Most of those
462 other programs have been around for a long time, in fact since the
463 beginning of Unix, which means that they were designed for rather small
464 fixed length path and filename lengths. Over the years, these
465 restrictions have been relaxed allowing longer names. Bacula on the
466 other hand was designed in 2000, and so from the start, Path and
467 Filenames have been kept in buffers that start at 256 bytes in length,
468 but can grow as needed to handle any length. Most of the work is
469 carried out by lower level routines making the coding rather easy.
471 Note that due to limitations Win32 path and filenames cannot exceed
472 260 characters. By using Win32 Unicode functions, we will remove this
473 restriction in later versions of Bacula.
476 \subsection*{What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?}
477 \item [What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?]
478 \index[general]{What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula? } Well, it
479 is hard to come up with unique features when backup programs for Unix
480 machines have been around since the 1960s. That said, I believe that
481 Bacula is the first and only program to use a standard SQL interface to
482 catalog its database. Although this adds a bit of complexity and
483 possibly overhead, it provides an amazingly rich set of features that
484 are easy to program and enhance. The current code has barely scratched
485 the surface in this regard (version 1.31).
487 The second feature, which gives a lot of power and flexibility to Bacula
488 is the Bootstrap record definition.
490 The third unique feature, which is currently (1.30) unimplemented, and
491 thus can be called vaporware :-), is Base level saves. When
492 implemented, this will enormously reduce tape usage.
495 \subsection*{How can I force one job to run after another?}
496 \item [If I Run Multiple Simultaneous Jobs, How Can I Force One
497 Particular Job to Run After Another Job? ]
498 \index[general]{If I Run Multiple Simultaneous Jobs, How Can I Force One
499 Particular Job to Run After Another Job? }
500 Yes, you can set Priorities on your jobs so that they run in the order you
502 \ilink{the Priority record}{Priority} in the Job resource.
505 \subsection*{I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? }
506 \item [I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? ]
508 \index[general]{I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? }
509 The most common problem is that you have not specified a fully qualified
510 email address and your bsmtp server is rejecting the mail. The next most
511 common problem is that your bsmtp server doesn't like the syntax on the From
512 part of the message. For more details on this and other problems, please see
514 \ilink{ Getting Email Notification to Work}{email} section of the
515 Tips chapter of this manual. The section
516 \ilink{ Getting Notified of Job Completion}{notification} of the Tips
517 chapter may also be useful. For more information on the {\bf bsmtp} mail
519 \ilink{bsmtp in the Volume Utility Tools chapter}{bsmtp} of this
523 \subsection*{My retention periods don't work}
524 \item [I Change Recycling, Retention Periods, or File Sizes in my Pool
525 Resource and they Still Don't Work.]
526 \index[general]{Recycling}
527 \index[general]{Retention Periods}
528 \index[general]{Pool changes}
529 The different variables associated with a Pool are defined in the Pool
530 Resource, but are actually read by Bacula from the Catalog database. On
531 Bacula versions prior to 1.30, after changing your Pool Resource, you must
532 manually update the corresponding values in the Catalog by using the {\bf
533 update pool} command in the Console program. In Bacula version 1.30, Bacula
534 does this for you automatically every time it starts.
536 When Bacula creates a Media record (Volume), it uses many default values from
537 the Pool record. If you subsequently change the Pool record, the new values
538 will be used as a default for the next Volume that is created, but if you
539 want the new values to apply to existing Volumes, you must manually update
540 the Volume Catalog entry using the {\bf update volume} command in the Console
543 \label{CompressionNotWorking}
544 \subsection*{Why aren't my files compressed?}
545 \item [I Have Configured Compression On, But None of My Files Are
547 \index[general]{Compression}
548 There are two kinds of compression. One is tape compression. This is done by
549 the tape drive hardware, and you either enable or disable it with system
550 tools such as {\bf mt}. This compression works independently of Bacula.
552 Bacula also has compression code, which is normally used only when backing
554 to file Volumes. There are two conditions for this "software" to become
558 \item You must have the zip development libraries loaded on your system when
559 building Bacula and Bacula must find this library, normally {\bf
560 /usr/lib/libz.a}. On RedHat systems, this library is provided by the {\bf
563 If the library is found by Bacula during the {\bf ./configure} it will be
564 mentioned in the {\bf config.out} line by:
573 \item You must add the {\bf compression=gzip} option on your Include
574 statement in the Director's configuration file.
578 \item [Bacula is Asking for a New Tape After 2 GB of Data but My Tape
580 \index[general]{Tape capacity}
581 There are several reasons why Bacula will request a new tape.
584 \item There is an I/O error on the tape. Bacula prints an error message and
585 requests a new tape. Bacula does not attempt to continue writing after an
588 \item Bacula encounters and end of medium on the tape. This is not always
589 distinguishable from an I/O error.
590 \item You have specifically set some size limitation on the tape. For example
591 the {\bf Maximum Volume Bytes} or {\bf Maximum Volume Files} in the
592 Director's Pool resource, or {\bf Maximum Volume Size} in the Storage
593 daemon's Device resource.
596 \label{LevelChanging}
597 \subsection*{Incremental backups are not working}
598 \item [Bacula is Not Doing the Right Thing When I Request an Incremental
600 \index[general]{Incremental backups}
601 As explained in one of the previous questions, Bacula will automatically
602 upgrade an Incremental or Differential job to a Full backup if it cannot
604 a prior Full backup or a suitable Full backup. For the gory details on
605 how/when Bacula decides to upgrade levels please see the
606 \ilink{Level record}{Level} in the Director's configuration
607 chapter of this manual.
609 If after reading the above mentioned section, you believe that Bacula is not
610 correctly handling the level (Differential/Incremental), please send us the
611 following information for analysis:
614 \item Your Director's configuration file.
615 \item The output from {\bf list jobs} covering the period where you are
617 \item The Job report output from the prior Full save (not critical).
618 \item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the prior Full save.
620 \item The Job report output from the save that is doing the wrong thing (not
622 \item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the job that was not
624 \item An explanation of what job went wrong and why you think it did.
627 The above information can allow us to analyze what happened, without it,
628 there is not much we can do.
631 \subsection*{I am waiting forever for a backup of an offsite machine}
632 \item [I am Backing Up an Offsite Machine with an Unreliable Connection.
633 The Director Waits Forever for the Client to Contact the SD. What Can I
635 \index[general]{I am Backing Up an Offsite Machine with an Unreliable
637 The Director Waits Forever for the Client to Contact the SD. What Can I Do?}
638 Bacula was written on the assumption that it will have a good TCP/IP
639 connection between all the daemons. As a consequence, the current Bacula
640 doesn't deal with faulty connections very well. This situation is slowly
644 There are several things you can do to improve the situation.
647 \item Upgrade to version 1.32 and use the new SDConnectTimeout record. For
652 SD Connect Timeout = 5 min
657 in the FileDaemon resource.
658 \item Run these kinds of jobs after all other jobs.
662 \subsection*{SSH hangs forever after starting Bacula}
663 \item [When I ssh into a machine and start Bacula then attempt to exit,
665 \index[general]{When I ssh into a machine and start Bacula then attempt to
668 This happens because Bacula leaves stdin, stdout, and stderr open for debug
669 purposes. To avoid it, the simplest thing to do is to redirect the output of
670 those files to {\bf /dev/null} or another file in your startup script (the
671 RedHat autostart scripts do this automatically). For example, you start the
676 bacula-dir -c bacula-dir.conf ... 0>\&1 2>\&1 >/dev/null
681 and likewise for the other daemons.
683 \label{RetentionPeriods}
684 \subsection*{I'm confused by retention periods}
685 \item [I'm confused by the different Retention periods: File Retention,
686 Job Retention, Volume Retention. Why are there so many?]
687 \index[general]{I'm confused by the different Retention periods: File
689 Job Retention, Volume Retention. Why are there so many? }
690 Yes, this certainly can be confusing. The basic reason for so many is to
691 allow flexibility. The File records take quite a lot of space in the
693 so they are typically records you want to remove rather quickly. The Job
694 records, take very little space, and they can be useful even without the
696 records to see what Jobs actually ran and when. One must understand that if
697 the File records are removed from the catalog, you cannot use the {\bf
698 restore} command to restore an individual file since Bacula no longer knows
699 where it is. However, as long as the Volume Retention period has not
701 the data will still be on the tape, and can be recovered from the tape.
703 For example, I keep a 30 day retention period for my Files to keep my
705 from getting too big, but I keep my tapes for a minimum of one year, just in
708 \label{MaxVolumeSize}
709 \subsection*{MaxVolumeSize is ignored}
710 \item [Why Does Bacula Ignore the MaxVolumeSize Set in my Pool?]
711 \index[general]{Why Does Bacula Ignore the MaxVolumeSize Set in my Pool? }
712 The MaxVolumeSize that Bacula uses comes from the Media record, so most
713 likely you changed your Pool, which is used as the default for creating
715 records, {\bf after} you created your Volume. Check what is in the Media
724 If it doesn't have the right value, you can use:
734 \label{ConnectionRefused}
735 \subsection*{I get a Connection refused when connecting to my Client}
736 \item [In connecting to my Client, I get "ERR:Connection Refused. Packet
737 Size too big from File daemon:192.168.1.4:9102" Why?]
738 \index[general]{In connecting to my Client, I get "ERR:Connection
740 Packet Size too big from File daemon:192.168.1.4:9102" Why? }
741 This is typically a communications error resulting from one of the
746 \item Old versions of Bacula, usually a Win32 client, where two threads were
747 using the same I/O packet. Fixed in more recent versions. Please upgrade.
748 \item Some other program such as an HP Printer using the same port (9102 in
752 If it is neither of the above, please submit a bug report at
753 \elink{bugs.bacula.org}{http://bugs.bacula.org}.
755 Another solution might be to run the daemon with the debug option by:
759 Start a DOS shell Window.
761 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf
766 This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current
767 directory, which you can examine to determine the problem.
769 \subsection*{Long running jobs die with Pipe Error}
770 \item [During long running jobs my File daemon dies with Pipe Error, or
771 some other communications error. Why?]
772 \index[general]{Communications Errors}
773 \index[general]{Pipe Errors}
774 There are a number of reasons why a connection might break.
775 Most often, it is a router between your two computers that times out
776 inactive lines (not respecting the keepalive feature that Bacula uses).
777 In that case, you can use the {\bf Heartbeat Interval} directive in
778 both the Storage daemon and the File daemon.
780 In at least one case, the problem has been a bad driver for a Win32
781 NVidia NForce 3 ethernet card with driver (4.4.2 17/05/2004).
782 In this case, a good driver is (4.8.2.0 06/04/2005). Moral of
783 the story, make sure you have the latest ethernet drivers
784 loaded, or use the following workaround as suggested by Thomas
785 Simmons for Win32 machines:
788 Start \gt{} Control Panel \gt{} Network Connections
790 Right click the connection for the nvidia adapter and select properties.
791 Under the General tab, click "Configure...". Under the Advanced tab set
792 "Checksum Offload" to disabled and click OK to save the change.
794 Lack of communications, or communications that get interrupted can
795 also be caused by Linux firewalls where you have a rule that throttles
796 connections or traffic. For example, if you have:
800 iptables -t filter -A INPUT -m limit --limit 3/second --limit-burst 3 -j DROP
804 you will want to add the following rules {\bf before} the above rule:
807 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9101 -j ACCEPT
808 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9102 -j ACCEPT
809 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9103 -j ACCEPT
812 This will ensure that any Bacula traffic will not get terminated because
815 \subsection*{How to I tell the Job which Volume to use?}
816 \item[I can't figure out how to tell the job which volume to use]
817 \index[general]{What tape to mount}
818 This is an interesting statement. I now see that a number of people new to
819 Bacula have the same problem as you, probably from using programs like tar.
821 In fact, you do not tell Bacula what tapes to use. It is the inverse. Bacula
822 tells you want tapes it wants. You put tapes at its disposition and it
825 Now, if you *really* want to be tricky and try to tell Bacula what to do, it
826 will be reasonable if for example you mount a valid tape that it can use on a
827 drive, it will most likely go ahead and use it. It also has a documented
828 algorithm for choosing tapes -- but you are asking for problems ...
830 So, the trick is to invert your concept of things and put Bacula in charge of
831 handling the tapes. Once you do that, you will be fine. If you want to
832 anticipate what it is going to do, you can generally figure it out correctly
833 and get what you want.
835 If you start with the idea that you are going to force or tell Bacula to use
836 particular tapes or you insist on trying to run in that kind of mode, you will
837 probably not be too happy.
839 I don't want to worry about what tape has what data. That is what Bacula is
842 If you have an application where you *really* need to remove a tape each day
843 and insert a new one, it can be done the directives exist to accomplish that.
844 In such a case, one little "trick" to knowing what tape Bacula will want at
845 2am while you are asleep is to run a tiny job at 4pm while you are still at
846 work that backs up say one directory, or even one file. You will quickly find
847 out what tape it wants, and you can mount it before you go home ...