4 \section*{Critical Items to Implement Before Going Production}
5 \label{_ChapterStart32}
6 \index[general]{Production!Critical Items to Implement Before Going }
7 \index[general]{Critical Items to Implement Before Going Production }
8 \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Critical Items to Implement Before Going
12 \index[general]{General }
13 \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{General}
15 We recommend you take your time before implementing a Bacula backup system
16 since Bacula is a rather complex program, and if you make a mistake, you may
17 suddenly find that you cannot restore your files in case of a disaster.
18 This is especially true if you have not previously used a major backup
21 If you follow the instructions in this chapter, you will have covered most of
22 the major problems that can occur. It goes without saying that if you ever
23 find that we have left out an important point, please inform us, so
24 that we can document it to the benefit of everyone.
27 \subsection*{Critical Items}
28 \index[general]{Critical Items }
29 \index[general]{Items!Critical }
30 \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Critical Items}
32 The following assumes that you have installed Bacula, you more or less
33 understand it, you have at least worked through the tutorial or have
34 equivalent experience, and that you have set up a basic production
35 configuration. If you haven't done the above, please do so and then come back
36 here. The following is a sort of checklist that points with perhaps a brief
37 explanation of why you should do it. You will find the details elsewhere in the
38 manual. The order is more or less the order you would use in setting up a
39 production system (if you already are in production, use the checklist anyway).
42 \item Test your tape drive for compatibility with Bacula by using the test
43 command in the \ilink{btape}{btape} program.
44 \item Better than doing the above is to walk through the nine steps in the
45 \ilink{Tape Testing}{_ChapterStart27} chapter of the manual. It
46 may take you a bit of time, but it will eliminate surprises.
47 \item Test your the end of tape handling of your tape drive by using the
48 fill command in the \ilink{btape}{btape} program.
49 \item If you are using a 2.4 kernel, make sure that /lib/tls is disabled. Bacula
50 does not work with this library. See the second point under
51 \ilink{ Supported Operating Systems.}{SupportedOSes}
52 \item Do at least one restore of files. If you backup both Unix and Win32
53 systems, restore files from each system type. The
54 \ilink{Restoring Files}{_ChapterStart13} chapter shows you how.
55 \item Write a bootstrap file to a separate system for each backup job. The
56 Write Bootstrap directive is described in the
57 \ilink{Director Configuration}{writebootstrap} chapter of the
58 manual, and more details are available in the
59 \ilink{Bootstrap File}{_ChapterStart43} chapter. Also, the default
60 bacula-dir.conf comes with a Write Bootstrap directive defined. This allows
61 you to recover the state of your system as of the last backup.
62 \item Backup your catalog. An example of this is found in the default
63 bacula-dir.conf file. The backup script is installed by default and should
64 handle any database, though you may want to make your own local
66 \item Write a bootstrap file for the catalog. An example of this is found in
67 the default bacula-dir.conf file. This will allow you to quickly restore your
68 catalog in the event it is wiped out -- otherwise it is many excruciating
70 \item Make a Bacula Rescue CDROM! See the
71 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using a Bacula Rescue
72 CDROM}{_ChapterStart38} chapter. It is trivial to make such a CDROM,
73 and it can make system recovery in the event of a lost hard disk infinitely
75 \item After doing your first backup restore some or all the data. Do this for
76 at least one client on each different OS (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Win32).
79 \subsection*{Recommended Items}
80 \index[general]{Items!Recommended }
81 \index[general]{Recommended Items }
82 \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Recommended Items}
84 Although these items may not be critical, they are recommended and will help
88 \item Read the \ilink{Quick Start Guide to Bacula}{_ChapterStart37}
89 \item After installing and experimenting with Bacula, read and work carefully
90 through the examples in the
91 \ilink{Tutorial}{_ChapterStart1} chapter of this manual.
92 \item Learn what each of the \ilink{Bacula Utility Programs}{_ChapterStart9}
94 \item Set up reasonable retention periods so that your catalog does not grow
95 to be too big. See the following three chapters:\\
96 \ilink{Recycling your Volumes}{_ChapterStart22},\\
97 \ilink{Basic Volume Management}{_ChapterStart39},\\
98 \ilink{Using Pools to Manage Volumes}{_ChapterStart11}.
99 \item Perform a bare metal recovery using the Bacula Rescue CDROM. See the
100 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using a Bacula Rescue CDROM}{_ChapterStart38}
104 If you absolutely must implement a system where you write a different
105 tape each night and take it offsite in the morning. We recommend that you do
108 \item Write a bootstrap file of your backed up data and a bootstrap file
109 of your catalog backup to a floppy disk or a CDROM, and take that with
110 the tape. If this is not possible, try to write those files to another
111 computer or offsite computer, or send them as email to a friend. If none
112 of that is possible, at least print the bootstrap files and take that
113 offsite with the tape. Having the bootstrap files will make recovery
115 \item It is better not to force Bacula to load a particular tape each day.
116 Instead, let Bacula choose the tape. If you need to know what tape to
117 mount, you can print a list of recycled and appendable tapes daily, and
118 select any tape from that list. Bacula may propose a particular tape
119 for use that it considers optimal, but it will accept any valid tape
120 from the correct pool.