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 \label{AccessProblems}
154 \subsection*{Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine.
156 \item [Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine.
158 \index[general]{Cannot Access a Client}
159 There are several reasons why Bacula could not contact a client on a
160 different machine. They are:
163 \item It is a Windows Client, and the client died because of an improper
164 configuration file. Check that the Bacula icon is in the system tray and the
165 the menu items work. If the client has died, the icon will disappear only
166 when you move the mouse over the icon.
167 \item The Client address or port is incorrect or not resolved by DNS. See if
168 you can ping the client machine using the same address as in the Client
170 \item You have a firewall, and it is blocking traffic on port 9102 between
171 the Director's machine and the Client's machine (or on port 9103 between the
172 Client and the Storage daemon machines).
173 \item Your password or names are not correct in both the Director and the
174 Client machine. Try configuring everything identical to how you run the
175 client on the same machine as the Director, but just change the Address. If
176 that works, make the other changes one step at a time until it works.
177 \item You may also be having problems betwen your File daemon and your
178 Storage daemon. The name you use in the Storage resource of your
179 Director's conf file must be known (resolvable) by the File daemon,
180 because it is passed symbolically to the File daemon, which then
181 resolves it to get an IP address used to contact the Storage daemon.
185 \subsection*{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over?}
186 \item [My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? ]
187 \index[general]{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? }
188 If you are using MySQL do the following:
192 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats
199 If you are using SQLite, do the following:
203 Delete bacula.db from your working directory.
204 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats
211 Then write an EOF on each tape you used with {\bf Bacula} using:
215 mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
220 where you need to adjust the device name for your system.
223 \subsection*{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?}
224 \item [I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?]
225 \index[general]{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do? }
226 On Bacula version 1.25 and prior, it expects you to have the correct tape
227 mounted prior to a restore. On Bacula version 1.26 and higher, it will ask
228 you for the tape, and if the wrong one is mounted, it will inform you.
230 If you have previously done an {\bf unmount} command, all Storage daemon
231 sessions (jobs) will be completely blocked from using the drive unmounted,
233 be sure to do a {\bf mount} after your unmount. If in doubt, do a second
234 {\bf mount}, it won't cause any harm.
237 \subsection*{I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? }
238 \item [I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? ]
239 \index[general]{I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? }
240 You are probably having one of two problems: either the Client is dying due
241 to an incorrect configuration file, or you didn't do the Installation
242 commands necessary to install it as a Windows Service.
244 For the first problem, see the next FAQ question. For the second problem,
246 \ilink{ Windows Installation instructions}{_ChapterStart7} in this
250 \subsection*{My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It}
251 \item [My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It ]
252 \index[general]{My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It }
253 The most common problem is either that the configuration file is not where it
254 expects it to be, or that there is an error in the configuration file. You
255 must have the configuration file in {\bf
256 c:\textbackslash{}bacula\textbackslash{}bin\textbackslash{}bacula-fd.conf}.
258 To {\bf see} what is going on when the File daemon starts on Windows, do the
263 Start a DOS shell Window.
265 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf
270 This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current
271 directory, which you can examine and thereby determine the problem.
274 \item [When I Start the Console, the Error Messages Fly By. How can I see
276 \index[general]{When I Start the Console, the Error Messages Fly By. How can
278 Either use a shell window with a scroll bar, or use the gnome-console. In
280 case, you probably should be logging all output to a file, and then you can
281 simply view the file using an editor or the {\bf less} program. To log all
282 output, I have the following in my Director's Message resource definition:
286 append = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/log" = all, !skipped
291 Obviously you will want to change the filename to be appropriate for your
295 \subsection*{My backups are not working on my Windows
296 Client. What should I do?}
298 \item [I didn't realize that the backups were not working on my Windows
299 Client. What should I do? ]
300 \index[general]{I didn't realize that the backups were not working on my Windows
301 Client. What should I do? }
302 You should be sending yourself an email message for each job. This will avoid
303 the possibility of not knowing about a failed backup. To do so put something
308 Mail = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped
313 in your Director's message resource. You should then receive one email for
314 each Job that ran. When you are comfortable with what is going on (it took me
315 9 months), you might change that to:
319 MailOnError = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped
324 then you only get email messages when a Job errors as is the case for your
327 You should also be logging the Director's messages, please see the previous
328 FAQ for how to do so.
331 \subsection*{All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause
333 \item [All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause
335 \index[general]{Schedule problems}
336 No, not at all. Bacula will schedule all the Jobs at the same time, but will
337 run them one after another unless you have increased the number of
338 simultaneous jobs in the configuration files for the Director, the File
339 daemon, and the Storage daemon. The appropriate configuration record is {\bf
340 Maximum Concurrent Jobs = nn}. At the current time, we recommend that you
341 leave this set to {\bf 1} for the Director.
344 \subsection*{Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape?}
345 \item [Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape? ]
346 \index[general]{Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape? }
347 Yes, in principle, Bacula can backup to any storage medium as long as you
348 have correctly defined that medium in the Storage daemon's Device resource.
349 For an example of how to backup to files, please see the
350 \ilink{Pruning Example}{PruningExample} in the Recycling
351 chapter of this manual. Also, there is a whole chapter devoted to
352 \ilink{Basic Volume Management}{_ChapterStart39}. This chapter was
353 originally written to explain how to write to disk, but was expanded
354 to include volume management. It is, however, still quite a good
358 \subsection*{Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Greater than 2 Gigabytes?}
359 \item [Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Greater than 2 Gigabytes in
361 \index[general]{Large file support}
362 If your operating system permits it, and you are running Bacula version 1.26
363 or later, the answer is yes. To the best of our knowledge all client system
364 supported by Bacula can handle files larger than 2 Gigabytes.
367 \subsection*{I want to stop a job. Is
368 there a better way than {\bf ./bacula stop} to stop it?}
369 \item [I Started A Job then Decided I Really Did Not Want to Run It. Is
370 there a better way than {\bf ./bacula stop} to stop it?]
371 \index[general]{Cancelling jobs}
373 you normally should use the Console command {\bf cancel} to cancel a Job
374 that is either scheduled or running. If the Job is scheduled, it will
375 be marked for cancellation and will be canceled when it is scheduled to
376 start. If it is running, it will normally terminate after a few
377 minutes. If the Job is waiting on a tape mount, you may need to do a
378 {\bf mount} command before it will be canceled.
381 \subsection*{Why have You Trademarked the Name
382 Bacula\raisebox{.6ex}{{\footnotesize \textsuperscript{\textregistered}}}?}
383 \item [Why have You Trademarked the Name
384 Bacula\raisebox{.6ex}{{\footnotesize \textsuperscript{\textregistered}}}?]
385 \index[general]{Bacula Trademark}
386 We have trademarked the name Bacula to ensure that all media written by any
387 program named Bacula will always be compatible. Anyone may use the name
388 Bacula, even in a derivative product as long as it remains totally compatible
389 in all respects with the program defined here.
392 \subsection*{Why is Your Online Document for Version 1.37 but the Released Version is 1.36?}
393 \item [Why is Your Online Document for Version 1.37 of Bacula when the
394 Currently Release Version is 1.36?]
395 \index[general]{Multiple manuals}
396 As Bacula is being developed, the document is also being enhanced, more often
397 than not it has clarifications of existing features that can be very useful
398 to our users, so we publish the very latest document. Fortunately it is rare
399 that there are confusions with new features.
401 If you want to read a document that pertains only to a specific version,
402 please use the one distributed in the source code.
405 \subsection*{Does Bacula really save and restore all files?}
406 \item [How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores All Files? ]
407 \index[general]{How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores
408 All Files? } It is really quite simple, but took me a while to figure
409 out how to "prove" it. First make a Bacula Rescue disk, see the
410 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{_ChapterStart38} of this manual.
411 Second, you run a full backup of all your files on all partitions.
412 Third, you run an Verify InitCatalog Job on the same FileSet, which
413 effectively makes a record of all the files on your system. Fourth, you
414 run a Verify Catalog job and assure yourself that nothing has changed
415 (well, between an InitCatalog and Catalog one doesn't expect anything).
416 Then do the unthinkable, write zeros on your MBR (master boot record)
417 wiping out your hard disk. Now, restore your whole system using your
418 Bacula Rescue disk and the Full backup you made, and finally re-run the
419 Verify Catalog job. You will see that with the exception of the
420 directory modification and access dates and the files changed during the
421 boot, your system is identical to what it was before you wiped your hard
423 Alternatively you could do the wiping and restoring to another computer
427 \subsection*{I want an Incremental but Bacula runs it as a Full backup. Why?}
428 \item [I did a Full backup last week, but now in running an Incremental,
429 Bacula says it did not find a FULL backup, so it did a FULL backup. Why?]
430 \index[general]{I did a Full backup last week, but now in running an
431 Incremental, Bacula says it did not find a FULL backup, so it did a
432 FULL backup. Why? } Before doing an Incremental or a Differential
433 backup, Bacula checks to see if there was a prior Full backup of the
434 same Job that terminated successfully. If so, it uses the date that
435 full backup started as the time for comparing if files have changed. If
436 Bacula does not find a successful full backup, it proceeds to do one.
437 Perhaps you canceled the full backup, or it terminated in error. In
438 such cases, the full backup will not be successful. You can check by
439 entering {\bf list jobs} and look to see if there is a prior Job with
440 the same Name that has Level F and JobStatus T (normal termination).
442 Another reason why Bacula may not find a suitable Full backup is that
443 every time you change the FileSet, Bacula will require a new Full
444 backup. This is necessary to ensure that all files are properly backed
445 up in the case where you have added more files to the FileSet.
446 Beginning with version 1.31, the FileSets are also dated when they are
447 created, and this date is displayed with the name when you are listing
448 or selecting a FileSet. For more on backup levels see below.
450 \label{filenamelengths}
451 \subsection*{Do you really handle unlimited path lengths?}
452 \item [How Can You Claim to Handle Unlimited Path and Filename Lengths
453 when All Other Programs Have Fixed Limits?]
454 \index[general]{How Can You Claim to Handle Unlimited Path and Filename
455 Lengths when All Other Programs Have Fixed Limits? } Most of those
456 other programs have been around for a long time, in fact since the
457 beginning of Unix, which means that they were designed for rather small
458 fixed length path and filename lengths. Over the years, these
459 restrictions have been relaxed allowing longer names. Bacula on the
460 other hand was designed in 2000, and so from the start, Path and
461 Filenames have been kept in buffers that start at 256 bytes in length,
462 but can grow as needed to handle any length. Most of the work is
463 carried out by lower level routines making the coding rather easy.
465 Note that due to limitations Win32 path and filenames cannot exceed
466 260 characters. By using Win32 Unicode functions, we will remove this
467 restriction in later versions of Bacula.
470 \subsection*{What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?}
471 \item [What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?]
472 \index[general]{What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula? } Well, it
473 is hard to come up with unique features when backup programs for Unix
474 machines have been around since the 1960s. That said, I believe that
475 Bacula is the first and only program to use a standard SQL interface to
476 catalog its database. Although this adds a bit of complexity and
477 possibly overhead, it provides an amazingly rich set of features that
478 are easy to program and enhance. The current code has barely scratched
479 the surface in this regard (version 1.31).
481 The second feature, which gives a lot of power and flexibility to Bacula
482 is the Bootstrap record definition.
484 The third unique feature, which is currently (1.30) unimplemented, and
485 thus can be called vaporware :-), is Base level saves. When
486 implemented, this will enormously reduce tape usage.
489 \subsection*{How can I force one job to run after another?}
490 \item [If I Run Multiple Simultaneous Jobs, How Can I Force One
491 Particular Job to Run After Another Job? ]
492 \index[general]{If I Run Multiple Simultaneous Jobs, How Can I Force One
493 Particular Job to Run After Another Job? }
494 Yes, you can set Priorities on your jobs so that they run in the order you
496 \ilink{the Priority record}{Priority} in the Job resource.
499 \subsection*{I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? }
500 \item [I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? ]
502 \index[general]{I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? }
503 The most common problem is that you have not specified a fully qualified
504 email address and your bsmtp server is rejecting the mail. The next most
505 common problem is that your bsmtp server doesn't like the syntax on the From
506 part of the message. For more details on this and other problems, please see
508 \ilink{ Getting Email Notification to Work}{email} section of the
509 Tips chapter of this manual. The section
510 \ilink{ Getting Notified of Job Completion}{notification} of the Tips
511 chapter may also be useful. For more information on the {\bf bsmtp} mail
513 \ilink{bsmtp in the Volume Utility Tools chapter}{bsmtp} of this
517 \subsection*{My retention periods don't work}
518 \item [I Change Recycling, Retention Periods, or File Sizes in my Pool
519 Resource and they Still Don't Work.]
520 \index[general]{Recycling}
521 \index[general]{Retention Periods}
522 \index[general]{Pool changes}
523 The different variables associated with a Pool are defined in the Pool
524 Resource, but are actually read by Bacula from the Catalog database. On
525 Bacula versions prior to 1.30, after changing your Pool Resource, you must
526 manually update the corresponding values in the Catalog by using the {\bf
527 update pool} command in the Console program. In Bacula version 1.30, Bacula
528 does this for you automatically every time it starts.
530 When Bacula creates a Media record (Volume), it uses many default values from
531 the Pool record. If you subsequently change the Pool record, the new values
532 will be used as a default for the next Volume that is created, but if you
533 want the new values to apply to existing Volumes, you must manually update
534 the Volume Catalog entry using the {\bf update volume} command in the Console
537 \label{CompressionNotWorking}
538 \subsection*{Why aren't my files compressed?}
539 \item [I Have Configured Compression On, But None of My Files Are
541 \index[general]{Compression}
542 There are two kinds of compression. One is tape compression. This is done by
543 the tape drive hardware, and you either enable or disable it with system
544 tools such as {\bf mt}. This compression works independently of Bacula.
546 Bacula also has compression code, which is normally used only when backing
548 to file Volumes. There are two conditions for this "software" to become
552 \item You must have the zip development libraries loaded on your system when
553 building Bacula and Bacula must find this library, normally {\bf
554 /usr/lib/libz.a}. On RedHat systems, this library is provided by the {\bf
557 If the library is found by Bacula during the {\bf ./configure} it will be
558 mentioned in the {\bf config.out} line by:
567 \item You must add the {\bf compression=gzip} option on your Include
568 statement in the Director's configuration file.
572 \item [Bacula is Asking for a New Tape After 2 GB of Data but My Tape
574 \index[general]{Tape capacity}
575 There are several reasons why Bacula will request a new tape.
578 \item There is an I/O error on the tape. Bacula prints an error message and
579 requests a new tape. Bacula does not attempt to continue writing after an
582 \item Bacula encounters and end of medium on the tape. This is not always
583 distinguishable from an I/O error.
584 \item You have specifically set some size limitation on the tape. For example
585 the {\bf Maximum Volume Bytes} or {\bf Maximum Volume Files} in the
586 Director's Pool resource, or {\bf Maximum Volume Size} in the Storage
587 daemon's Device resource.
590 \label{LevelChanging}
591 \subsection*{Incremental backups are not working}
592 \item [Bacula is Not Doing the Right Thing When I Request an Incremental
594 \index[general]{Incremental backups}
595 As explained in one of the previous questions, Bacula will automatically
596 upgrade an Incremental or Differential job to a Full backup if it cannot
598 a prior Full backup or a suitable Full backup. For the gory details on
599 how/when Bacula decides to upgrade levels please see the
600 \ilink{Level record}{Level} in the Director's configuration
601 chapter of this manual.
603 If after reading the above mentioned section, you believe that Bacula is not
604 correctly handling the level (Differential/Incremental), please send us the
605 following information for analysis:
608 \item Your Director's configuration file.
609 \item The output from {\bf list jobs} covering the period where you are
611 \item The Job report output from the prior Full save (not critical).
612 \item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the prior Full save.
614 \item The Job report output from the save that is doing the wrong thing (not
616 \item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the job that was not
618 \item An explanation of what job went wrong and why you think it did.
621 The above information can allow us to analyze what happened, without it,
622 there is not much we can do.
625 \subsection*{I am waiting forever for a backup of an offsite machine}
626 \item [I am Backing Up an Offsite Machine with an Unreliable Connection.
627 The Director Waits Forever for the Client to Contact the SD. What Can I
629 \index[general]{I am Backing Up an Offsite Machine with an Unreliable
631 The Director Waits Forever for the Client to Contact the SD. What Can I Do?}
632 Bacula was written on the assumption that it will have a good TCP/IP
633 connection between all the daemons. As a consequence, the current Bacula
634 doesn't deal with faulty connections very well. This situation is slowly
638 There are several things you can do to improve the situation.
641 \item Upgrade to version 1.32 and use the new SDConnectTimeout record. For
646 SD Connect Timeout = 5 min
651 in the FileDaemon resource.
652 \item Run these kinds of jobs after all other jobs.
656 \subsection*{SSH hangs forever after starting Bacula}
657 \item [When I ssh into a machine and start Bacula then attempt to exit,
659 \index[general]{When I ssh into a machine and start Bacula then attempt to
662 This happens because Bacula leaves stdin, stdout, and stderr open for debug
663 purposes. To avoid it, the simplest thing to do is to redirect the output of
664 those files to {\bf /dev/null} or another file in your startup script (the
665 RedHat autostart scripts do this automatically). For example, you start the
670 bacula-dir -c bacula-dir.conf ... 0>\&1 2>\&1 >/dev/null
675 and likewise for the other daemons.
677 \label{RetentionPeriods}
678 \subsection*{I'm confused by retention periods}
679 \item [I'm confused by the different Retention periods: File Retention,
680 Job Retention, Volume Retention. Why are there so many?]
681 \index[general]{I'm confused by the different Retention periods: File
683 Job Retention, Volume Retention. Why are there so many? }
684 Yes, this certainly can be confusing. The basic reason for so many is to
685 allow flexibility. The File records take quite a lot of space in the
687 so they are typically records you want to remove rather quickly. The Job
688 records, take very little space, and they can be useful even without the
690 records to see what Jobs actually ran and when. One must understand that if
691 the File records are removed from the catalog, you cannot use the {\bf
692 restore} command to restore an individual file since Bacula no longer knows
693 where it is. However, as long as the Volume Retention period has not
695 the data will still be on the tape, and can be recovered from the tape.
697 For example, I keep a 30 day retention period for my Files to keep my
699 from getting too big, but I keep my tapes for a minimum of one year, just in
702 \label{MaxVolumeSize}
703 \subsection*{MaxVolumeSize is ignored}
704 \item [Why Does Bacula Ignore the MaxVolumeSize Set in my Pool?]
705 \index[general]{Why Does Bacula Ignore the MaxVolumeSize Set in my Pool? }
706 The MaxVolumeSize that Bacula uses comes from the Media record, so most
707 likely you changed your Pool, which is used as the default for creating
709 records, {\bf after} you created your Volume. Check what is in the Media
718 If it doesn't have the right value, you can use:
728 \label{ConnectionRefused}
729 \subsection*{I get a Connection refused when connecting to my Client}
730 \item [In connecting to my Client, I get "ERR:Connection Refused. Packet
731 Size too big from File daemon:192.168.1.4:9102" Why?]
732 \index[general]{In connecting to my Client, I get "ERR:Connection
734 Packet Size too big from File daemon:192.168.1.4:9102" Why? }
735 This is typically a communications error resulting from one of the
740 \item Old versions of Bacula, usually a Win32 client, where two threads were
741 using the same I/O packet. Fixed in more recent versions. Please upgrade.
742 \item Some other program such as an HP Printer using the same port (9102 in
746 If it is neither of the above, please submit a bug report at
747 \elink{bugs.bacula.org}{http://bugs.bacula.org}.
749 Another solution might be to run the daemon with the debug option by:
753 Start a DOS shell Window.
755 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf
760 This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current
761 directory, which you can examine to determine the problem.
763 \subsection*{Long running jobs die with Pipe Error}
764 \item [During long running jobs my File daemon dies with Pipe Error, or
765 some other communications error. Why?]
766 \index[general]{Communications Errors}
767 \index[general]{Pipe Errors}
768 There are a number of reasons why a connection might break.
769 Most often, it is a router between your two computers that times out
770 inactive lines (not respecting the keepalive feature that Bacula uses).
771 In that case, you can use the {\bf Heartbeat Interval} directive in
772 both the Storage daemon and the File daemon.
774 In at least one case, the problem has been a bad driver for a Win32
775 NVidia NForce 3 ethernet card with driver (4.4.2 17/05/2004).
776 In this case, a good driver is (4.8.2.0 06/04/2005). Moral of
777 the story, make sure you have the latest ethernet drivers
778 loaded, or use the following workaround as suggested by Thomas
779 Simmons for Win32 machines:
782 Start \gt{} Control Panel \gt{} Network Connections
784 Right click the connection for the nvidia adapter and select properties.
785 Under the General tab, click "Configure...". Under the Advanced tab set
786 "Checksum Offload" to disabled and click OK to save the change.
788 Lack of communications, or communications that get interrupted can
789 also be caused by Linux firewalls where you have a rule that throttles
790 connections or traffic. For example, if you have:
794 iptables -t filter -A INPUT -m limit --limit 3/second --limit-burst 3 -j DROP
798 you will want to add the following rules {\bf before} the above rule:
801 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9101 -j ACCEPT
802 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9102 -j ACCEPT
803 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9103 -j ACCEPT
806 This will ensure that any Bacula traffic will not get terminated because
809 \subsection*{How to I tell the Job which Volume to use?}
810 \item[I can't figure out how to tell the job which volume to use]
811 \index[general]{What tape to mount}
812 This is an interesting statement. I now see that a number of people new to
813 Bacula have the same problem as you, probably from using programs like tar.
815 In fact, you do not tell Bacula what tapes to use. It is the inverse. Bacula
816 tells you want tapes it wants. You put tapes at its disposition and it
819 Now, if you *really* want to be tricky and try to tell Bacula what to do, it
820 will be reasonable if for example you mount a valid tape that it can use on a
821 drive, it will most likely go ahead and use it. It also has a documented
822 algorithm for choosing tapes -- but you are asking for problems ...
824 So, the trick is to invert your concept of things and put Bacula in charge of
825 handling the tapes. Once you do that, you will be fine. If you want to
826 anticipate what it is going to do, you can generally figure it out correctly
827 and get what you want.
829 If you start with the idea that you are going to force or tell Bacula to use
830 particular tapes or you insist on trying to run in that kind of mode, you will
831 probably not be too happy.
833 I don't want to worry about what tape has what data. That is what Bacula is
836 If you have an application where you *really* need to remove a tape each day
837 and insert a new one, it can be done the directives exist to accomplish that.
838 In such a case, one little "trick" to knowing what tape Bacula will want at
839 2am while you are asleep is to run a tiny job at 4pm while you are still at
840 work that backs up say one directory, or even one file. You will quickly find
841 out what tape it wants, and you can mount it before you go home ...