4 \section*{The Current State of Bacula}
6 \index[general]{Current State of Bacula }
7 \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Current State of Bacula}
9 In other words, what is and what is not currently implemented and functional.
11 \subsection*{What is Implemented}
12 \index[general]{Implemented!What}
13 \index[general]{What is Implemented}
14 \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{What is Implemented}
19 \item Network backup/restore with centralized Director.
20 \item Internal scheduler for automatic
21 \ilink{Job}{JobDef} execution.
22 \item Scheduling of multiple Jobs at the same time.
23 \item You may run one Job at a time or multiple simultaneous Jobs.
24 \item Job sequencing using priorities.
25 \item \ilink{Console}{UADef} interface to the Director allowing complete
26 control. A shell, GNOME GUI and wxWidgets GUI versions of the Console program
27 are available. Note, the GNOME GUI program currently offers very few
28 additional features over the shell program.
33 \item Verification of files previously cataloged, permitting a Tripwire like
34 capability (system break-in detection).
35 \item CRAM-MD5 password authentication between each component (daemon).
37 \ilink{TLS (SSL) communications encryption}{CommEncryption} between each component.
39 \ilink{Data (on Volume) encryption}{DataEncryption}
40 on a Client by Client basis.
41 \item Computation of MD5 or SHA1 signatures of the file data if requested.
45 \item Restore Features
47 \item Restore of one or more files selected interactively either for the
48 current backup or a backup prior to a specified time and date.
49 \item Restore of a complete system starting from bare metal. This is mostly
50 automated for Linux systems and partially automated for Solaris. See
51 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{_ChapterRescue}. This is also
52 reported to work on Win2K/XP systems.
53 \item Listing and Restoration of files using stand-alone {\bf bls} and {\bf
54 bextract} tool programs. Among other things, this permits extraction of files
55 when Bacula and/or the catalog are not available. Note, the recommended way
56 to restore files is using the restore command in the Console. These programs
57 are designed for use as a last resort.
58 \item Ability to restore the catalog database rapidly by using bootstrap
59 files (previously saved).
60 \item Ability to recreate the catalog database by scanning backup Volumes
61 using the {\bf bscan} program.
66 \item Catalog database facility for remembering Volumes, Pools, Jobs, and
68 \item Support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite Catalog databases.
69 \item User extensible queries to the MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite databases.
72 \item Advanced Volume and Pool Management
74 \item Labeled Volumes, preventing accidental overwriting (at least by
76 \item Any number of Jobs and Clients can be backed up to a single Volume.
77 That is, you can backup and restore Linux, Unix, Sun, and Windows machines to
79 \item Multi-volume saves. When a Volume is full, {\bf Bacula} automatically
80 requests the next Volume and continues the backup.
82 \ilink{Pool and Volume}{PoolResource} library management
83 providing Volume flexibility (e.g. monthly, weekly, daily Volume sets, Volume
84 sets segregated by Client, ...).
85 \item Machine independent Volume data format. Linux, Solaris, and Windows
86 clients can all be backed up to the same Volume if desired.
87 \item The Volume data format is upwards compatible so that old Volumes
90 \ilink{ message}{MessageResource} handler including routing
91 of messages from any daemon back to the Director and automatic email
93 \item Data spooling to disk during backup with subsequent write to tape from
94 the spooled disk files. This prevents tape "shoe shine" during
95 Incremental/Differential backups.
98 \item Advanced Support for most Storage Devices
100 \item Autochanger support using a simple shell interface that can interface
101 to virtually any autoloader program. A script for {\bf mtx} is provided.
102 \item Support for autochanger barcodes -- automatic tape labeling from
104 \item Automatic support for multiple autochanger magazines either using
105 barcodes or by reading the tapes.
106 \item Support for multiple drive autochangers.
107 \item Raw device backup/restore. Restore must be to the same device.
108 \item All Volume blocks (approx 64K bytes) contain a data checksum.
109 \item Migration support -- move data from one Pool to another or
110 one Volume to another.
113 \item Multi-Operating System Support
115 \item Programmed to handle arbitrarily long filenames and messages.
116 \item GZIP compression on a file by file basis done by the Client program if
117 requested before network transit.
118 \item Saves and restores POSIX ACLs on most OSes if enabled.
119 \item Access control lists for Consoles that permit restricting user access
121 \item Support for save/restore of files larger than 2GB.
122 \item Support for 64 bit machines, e.g. amd64, Sparc.
123 \item Support ANSI and IBM tape labels.
124 \item Support for Unicode filenames (e.g. Chinese) on Win32 machines on
125 version 1.37.28 and greater.
126 \item Consistent backup of open files on Win32 systems (WinXP, Win2003),
127 but not Win2000, using Volume Shadow Copy (VSS).
128 \item Support for path/filename lengths of up to 64K on Win32 machines
129 (unlimited on Unix/Linux machines).
134 \item Multi-threaded implementation.
135 \item A comprehensive and extensible
136 \ilink{configuration file}{_ChapterStart40} for each daemon.
140 \subsection*{Advantages of Bacula Over Other Backup Programs}
141 \index[general]{Advantages of Bacula Over Other Backup Programs }
142 \index[general]{Programs!Advantages of Bacula Over Other Backup }
143 \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Advantages of Bacula Over Other Backup
147 \item Since there is a client for each machine, you can backup
148 and restore clients of any type ensuring that all attributes
149 of files are properly saved and restored.
150 \item It is also possible to backup clients without any client
151 software by using NFS or Samba. However, if possible, we
152 recommend running a Client File daemon on each machine to be
154 \item Bacula handles multi-volume backups.
155 \item A full comprehensive SQL standard database of all files backed up. This
156 permits online viewing of files saved on any particular Volume.
157 \item Automatic pruning of the database (removal of old records) thus
158 simplifying database administration.
159 \item Any SQL database engine can be used making Bacula very flexible.
160 Drivers currently exist for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.
161 \item The modular but integrated design makes Bacula very scalable.
162 \item Since Bacula uses client file servers, any database or
163 other application can be properly shutdown by Bacula using the
164 native tools of the system, backed up, then restarted (all
165 within a Bacula Job).
166 \item Bacula has a built-in Job scheduler.
167 \item The Volume format is documented and there are simple C programs to
169 \item Bacula uses well defined (IANA registered) TCP/IP ports -- no rpcs, no
171 \item Bacula installation and configuration is relatively simple compared to
172 other comparable products.
173 \item According to one user Bacula is as fast as the big major commercial
175 \item According to another user Bacula is four times as fast as another
176 commercial application, probably because that application stores its catalog
177 information in a large number of individual files rather than an SQL database
179 \item Aside from a GUI administrative interface, Bacula has a
180 comprehensive shell administrative interface, which allows the
181 administrator to use tools such as ssh to administrate any part of
182 Bacula from anywhere (even from home).
183 \item Bacula has a Rescue CD for Linux systems with the following features:
185 \item You build it on your own system from scratch with one simple command:
186 make -- well, then make burn.
187 \item It uses your kernel
188 \item It captures your current disk parameters and builds scripts that allow
189 you to automatically repartition a disk and format it to put it back to what
191 \item It has a script that will restart your networking (with the right IP
193 \item It has a script to automatically mount your hard disks.
194 \item It has a full Bacula FD statically linked
195 \item You can easily add additional data/programs, ... to the disk.
200 \subsection*{Current Implementation Restrictions}
201 \index[general]{Current Implementation Restrictions }
202 \index[general]{Restrictions!Current Implementation }
203 \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Current Implementation Restrictions}
206 \item If you have over 4 billion file entries stored in your database, the
207 database FileId is likely to overflow. This is a monster database, but still
208 possible. Bacula's FileId fields have been modified so that they can be
209 upgraded from 32 to 64 bits in version 1.39, but this has never been
211 \item Files deleted after a Full save will be included in a restoration. This
212 is typical for most similar backup programs (we have a project to
214 \item Bacula's Differential and Incremental backups are based on
215 time stamps. Consequently, if you move files into an existing directory or
216 move a whole directory into the backup fileset after a Full backup, those
217 files will probably not be backed up by an Incremental save because they
218 will have old dates. You must explicitly update the date/time stamp on all
219 moved files (we have a project to correct this).
220 \item File System Modules (configurable routines for saving/restoring special
221 files) are not yet implemented.
224 \subsection*{Design Limitations or Restrictions}
225 \index[general]{Restrictions!Design Limitations or }
226 \index[general]{Design Limitations or Restrictions }
227 \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Design Limitations or Restrictions}
230 \item Names (resource names, Volume names, and such) defined in Bacula
231 configuration files are limited to a fixed number of
232 characters. Currently the limit is defined as 127 characters. Note,
233 this does not apply to filenames, which may be arbitrarily long.