4 \chapter{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions}
6 \index[general]{Questions!Bacula Frequently Asked }
7 \index[general]{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions }
9 These are questions that have been submitted over time by the
13 \ilink{the bugs section}{_ChapterStart4} of this document for a list
14 of known bugs and solutions.
18 \subsection*{What is Bacula?}
19 \item [What is {\bf Bacula}? ]
20 \index[general]{What is Bacula? }
21 {\bf Bacula} is a network backup and restore program.
23 \subsection*{Does Bacula support Windows?}
24 \item [Does Bacula support Windows?]
25 \index[general]{Does Bacula support Windows? }
26 Yes, Bacula compiles and runs on Windows machines (Win98, WinMe, WinXP,
27 WinNT, and Win2000). We provide a binary version of the Client (bacula-fd),
28 but have not tested the Director nor the Storage daemon. Note, Win95 is no
29 longer supported because it doesn't have the GetFileAttributesExA API call.
33 \subsection*{What language is Bacula written in?}
34 \item [What language is Bacula written in?]
35 \index[general]{What language is Bacula written in? }
36 It is written in C++, but it is mostly C code using only a limited set of
37 the C++ extensions over C. Thus Bacula is completely compiled using the
38 C++ compiler. There are several modules, including the Win32 interface, that
39 are written using the object oriented C++ features. Over time, we are slowly
40 adding a larger subset of C++.
43 \subsection*{On what machines does Bacula run?}
44 \item [On what machines does Bacula run? ]
45 \index[general]{On what machines does Bacula run? }
46 {\bf Bacula} builds and executes on RedHat Linux (versions RH7.1-RHEL 3.0,
47 SuSE, Gentoo, Debian, Mandriva, ...), FreeBSD, Solaris, Alpha, SGI (client),
48 NetBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS X (client), and Win32 (client).
50 Bacula has been my only backup tool for over four years backing up 5
51 machines nightly (3 Linux boxes running RedHat, a WinXP machine, and a WinNT
56 \subsection*{Is Bacula Stable?}
57 \item [Is Bacula Stable? ]
58 \index[general]{Is Bacula Stable? }
59 Yes, it is remarkably stable, but remember, there are still a lot of
60 unimplemented or partially implemented features. With a program of this size
61 (100,000+ lines of C++ code not including the SQL programs) there are bound
62 to be bugs. The current test environment (a twisted pair local network and a
63 HP DLT backup tape) is not exactly ideal, so additional testing on other
65 necessary. The File daemon has never crashed -- running months at a time
67 no intervention. The Storage daemon is remarkably stable with most of the
68 problems arising during labeling or switching tapes. Storage daemon crashes
69 are rare. The Director, given the multitude of functions it fulfills is
71 relatively stable. In a production environment, it rarely if ever crashes. Of
72 the three daemons, the Director is the most prone to having problems. Still,
74 frequently runs several months with no problems.
76 There are a number of reasons for this stability.
79 \item The program was largely written by one person to date
81 \item The program is constantly checking the chain of allocated
82 memory buffers to ensure that no overruns have occurred. \\
83 \item All memory leaks (orphaned buffers) are reported each time the
85 \item Any signal (segmentation fault, ...) generates a
86 traceback that is emailed to the developer. This permits quick resolution
88 bugs even if they only show up rarely in a production system.\\
89 \item There is a reasonably comprehensive set of regression tests
90 that avoids re-creating the most common errors in new versions of
94 \label{AuthorizationErrors}
95 \subsection*{I'm Getting Authorization Errors. What is Going On? }
96 \item [I'm Getting Authorization Errors. What is Going On? ]
97 \index[general]{Authorization Errors}
98 \index[general]{Concurrent Jobs}
99 For security reasons, Bacula requires that both the File daemon and the
100 Storage daemon know the name of the Director as well as its password. As a
101 consequence, if you change the Director's name or password, you must make
102 the corresponding change in the Storage daemon's and in the File daemon's
105 During the authorization process, the Storage daemon and File daemon
106 also require that the Director authenticates itself, so both ends
107 require the other to have the correct name and password.
109 If you have edited the conf files and modified any name or any password,
110 and you are getting authentication errors, then your best bet is to go
111 back to the original conf files generated by the Bacula installation
112 process. Make only the absolutely necessary modifications to these
113 files -- e.g. add the correct email address. Then follow the
114 instructions in the \ilink{ Running Bacula}{_ChapterStart1} chapter of
115 this manual. You will run a backup to disk and a restore. Only when
116 that works, should you begin customization of the conf files.
118 Another reason that you can get authentication errors is if you are
119 running Multiple Concurrent Jobs in the Director, but you have not set
120 them in the File daemon or the Storage daemon. Once you reach their
121 limit, they will reject the connection producing authentication (or
124 If you are having problems connecting to a Windows machine that
125 previously worked, you might try restarting the Bacula service since
126 Windows frequently encounters networking connection problems.
128 Some users report that authentication fails if there is not a proper
129 reverse DNS lookup entry for the machine. This seems to be a
130 requirement of gethostbyname(), which is what Bacula uses to translate
131 names into IP addresses. If you cannot add a reverse DNS entry, or you
132 don't know how to do so, you can avoid the problem by specifying an IP
133 address rather than a machine name in the appropriate Bacula conf file.
135 Here is a picture that indicates what names/passwords in which
136 files/Resources must match up:
138 \includegraphics{./Conf-Diagram.eps}
140 In the left column, you will find the Director, Storage, and Client
141 resources, with their names and passwords -- these are all in {\bf
142 bacula-dir.conf}. The right column is where the corresponding values
143 should be found in the Console, Storage daemon (SD), and File daemon (FD)
146 Another thing to check is to ensure that the Bacula component you are
147 trying to access has {\bf Maximum Concurrent Jobs} set large enough to
148 handle each of the Jobs and the Console that want to connect
149 simultaneously. Once the maximum connections has been reached, each
150 Bacula component will reject all new connections.
152 Finally, make sure you have no {\bf hosts.allow} or {\bf hosts.deny}
153 file that is not permitting access to the site trying to connect.
155 \label{AccessProblems}
156 \subsection*{Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine.
158 \item [Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine.
160 \index[general]{Cannot Access a Client}
161 There are several reasons why Bacula could not contact a client on a
162 different machine. They are:
165 \item It is a Windows Client, and the client died because of an improper
166 configuration file. Check that the Bacula icon is in the system tray and the
167 the menu items work. If the client has died, the icon will disappear only
168 when you move the mouse over the icon.
169 \item The Client address or port is incorrect or not resolved by DNS. See if
170 you can ping the client machine using the same address as in the Client
172 \item You have a firewall, and it is blocking traffic on port 9102 between
173 the Director's machine and the Client's machine (or on port 9103 between the
174 Client and the Storage daemon machines).
175 \item Your password or names are not correct in both the Director and the
176 Client machine. Try configuring everything identical to how you run the
177 client on the same machine as the Director, but just change the Address. If
178 that works, make the other changes one step at a time until it works.
179 \item You may also be having problems betwen your File daemon and your
180 Storage daemon. The name you use in the Storage resource of your
181 Director's conf file must be known (resolvable) by the File daemon,
182 because it is passed symbolically to the File daemon, which then
183 resolves it to get an IP address used to contact the Storage daemon.
184 \item You may have a {\bf hosts.allow} or {\bf hosts.deny} file that is
185 not permitting access.
189 \subsection*{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over?}
190 \item [My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? ]
191 \index[general]{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? }
192 If you are using MySQL do the following:
196 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats
203 If you are using SQLite, do the following:
207 Delete bacula.db from your working directory.
208 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats
215 Then write an EOF on each tape you used with {\bf Bacula} using:
219 mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
224 where you need to adjust the device name for your system.
227 \subsection*{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?}
228 \item [I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?]
229 \index[general]{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do? }
230 On Bacula version 1.25 and prior, it expects you to have the correct tape
231 mounted prior to a restore. On Bacula version 1.26 and higher, it will ask
232 you for the tape, and if the wrong one is mounted, it will inform you.
234 If you have previously done an {\bf unmount} command, all Storage daemon
235 sessions (jobs) will be completely blocked from using the drive unmounted,
237 be sure to do a {\bf mount} after your unmount. If in doubt, do a second
238 {\bf mount}, it won't cause any harm.
241 \subsection*{I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? }
242 \item [I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? ]
243 \index[general]{I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? }
244 You are probably having one of two problems: either the Client is dying due
245 to an incorrect configuration file, or you didn't do the Installation
246 commands necessary to install it as a Windows Service.
248 For the first problem, see the next FAQ question. For the second problem,
250 \ilink{ Windows Installation instructions}{_ChapterStart7} in this
254 \subsection*{My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It}
255 \item [My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It ]
256 \index[general]{My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It }
257 The most common problem is either that the configuration file is not where it
258 expects it to be, or that there is an error in the configuration file. You
259 must have the configuration file in {\bf
260 c:\textbackslash{}bacula\textbackslash{}bin\textbackslash{}bacula-fd.conf}.
262 To {\bf see} what is going on when the File daemon starts on Windows, do the
267 Start a DOS shell Window.
269 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf
274 This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current
275 directory, which you can examine and thereby determine the problem.
278 \item [When I Start the Console, the Error Messages Fly By. How can I see
280 \index[general]{When I Start the Console, the Error Messages Fly By. How can
282 Either use a shell window with a scroll bar, or use the gnome-console. In
284 case, you probably should be logging all output to a file, and then you can
285 simply view the file using an editor or the {\bf less} program. To log all
286 output, I have the following in my Director's Message resource definition:
290 append = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/log" = all, !skipped
295 Obviously you will want to change the filename to be appropriate for your
299 \subsection*{My backups are not working on my Windows
300 Client. What should I do?}
302 \item [I didn't realize that the backups were not working on my Windows
303 Client. What should I do? ]
304 \index[general]{I didn't realize that the backups were not working on my Windows
305 Client. What should I do? }
306 You should be sending yourself an email message for each job. This will avoid
307 the possibility of not knowing about a failed backup. To do so put something
312 Mail = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped
317 in your Director's message resource. You should then receive one email for
318 each Job that ran. When you are comfortable with what is going on (it took me
319 9 months), you might change that to:
323 MailOnError = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped
328 then you only get email messages when a Job errors as is the case for your
331 You should also be logging the Director's messages, please see the previous
332 FAQ for how to do so.
335 \subsection*{All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause
337 \item [All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause
339 \index[general]{Schedule problems}
340 No, not at all. Bacula will schedule all the Jobs at the same time, but will
341 run them one after another unless you have increased the number of
342 simultaneous jobs in the configuration files for the Director, the File
343 daemon, and the Storage daemon. The appropriate configuration record is {\bf
344 Maximum Concurrent Jobs = nn}. At the current time, we recommend that you
345 leave this set to {\bf 1} for the Director.
348 \subsection*{Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape?}
349 \item [Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape? ]
350 \index[general]{Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape? }
351 Yes, in principle, Bacula can backup to any storage medium as long as you
352 have correctly defined that medium in the Storage daemon's Device resource.
353 For an example of how to backup to files, please see the
354 \ilink{Pruning Example}{PruningExample} in the Recycling
355 chapter of this manual. Also, there is a whole chapter devoted to
356 \ilink{Basic Volume Management}{_ChapterStart39}. This chapter was
357 originally written to explain how to write to disk, but was expanded
358 to include volume management. It is, however, still quite a good
362 \subsection*{Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Greater than 2 Gigabytes?}
363 \item [Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Greater than 2 Gigabytes in
365 \index[general]{Large file support}
366 If your operating system permits it, and you are running Bacula version 1.26
367 or later, the answer is yes. To the best of our knowledge all client system
368 supported by Bacula can handle files larger than 2 Gigabytes.
371 \subsection*{I want to stop a job. Is
372 there a better way than {\bf ./bacula stop} to stop it?}
373 \item [I Started A Job then Decided I Really Did Not Want to Run It. Is
374 there a better way than {\bf ./bacula stop} to stop it?]
375 \index[general]{Cancelling jobs}
377 you normally should use the Console command {\bf cancel} to cancel a Job
378 that is either scheduled or running. If the Job is scheduled, it will
379 be marked for cancellation and will be canceled when it is scheduled to
380 start. If it is running, it will normally terminate after a few
381 minutes. If the Job is waiting on a tape mount, you may need to do a
382 {\bf mount} command before it will be canceled.
385 \subsection*{Why have You Trademarked the Name
386 Bacula\raisebox{.6ex}{{\footnotesize \textsuperscript{\textregistered}}}?}
387 \item [Why have You Trademarked the Name
388 Bacula\raisebox{.6ex}{{\footnotesize \textsuperscript{\textregistered}}}?]
389 \index[general]{Bacula Trademark}
390 We have trademarked the name Bacula to ensure that all media written by any
391 program named Bacula will always be compatible. Anyone may use the name
392 Bacula, even in a derivative product as long as it remains totally compatible
393 in all respects with the program defined here.
396 \subsection*{Why is Your Online Document for Version 1.37 but the Released Version is 1.36?}
397 \item [Why is Your Online Document for Version 1.37 of Bacula when the
398 Currently Release Version is 1.36?]
399 \index[general]{Multiple manuals}
400 As Bacula is being developed, the document is also being enhanced, more often
401 than not it has clarifications of existing features that can be very useful
402 to our users, so we publish the very latest document. Fortunately it is rare
403 that there are confusions with new features.
405 If you want to read a document that pertains only to a specific version,
406 please use the one distributed in the source code.
409 \subsection*{Does Bacula really save and restore all files?}
410 \item [How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores All Files? ]
411 \index[general]{How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores
412 All Files? } It is really quite simple, but took me a while to figure
413 out how to "prove" it. First make a Bacula Rescue disk, see the
414 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{_ChapterStart38} of this manual.
415 Second, you run a full backup of all your files on all partitions.
416 Third, you run an Verify InitCatalog Job on the same FileSet, which
417 effectively makes a record of all the files on your system. Fourth, you
418 run a Verify Catalog job and assure yourself that nothing has changed
419 (well, between an InitCatalog and Catalog one doesn't expect anything).
420 Then do the unthinkable, write zeros on your MBR (master boot record)
421 wiping out your hard disk. Now, restore your whole system using your
422 Bacula Rescue disk and the Full backup you made, and finally re-run the
423 Verify Catalog job. You will see that with the exception of the
424 directory modification and access dates and the files changed during the
425 boot, your system is identical to what it was before you wiped your hard
427 Alternatively you could do the wiping and restoring to another computer
431 \subsection*{I want an Incremental but Bacula runs it as a Full backup. Why?}
432 \item [I did a Full backup last week, but now in running an Incremental,
433 Bacula says it did not find a FULL backup, so it did a FULL backup. Why?]
434 \index[general]{I did a Full backup last week, but now in running an
435 Incremental, Bacula says it did not find a FULL backup, so it did a
436 FULL backup. Why? } Before doing an Incremental or a Differential
437 backup, Bacula checks to see if there was a prior Full backup of the
438 same Job that terminated successfully. If so, it uses the date that
439 full backup started as the time for comparing if files have changed. If
440 Bacula does not find a successful full backup, it proceeds to do one.
441 Perhaps you canceled the full backup, or it terminated in error. In
442 such cases, the full backup will not be successful. You can check by
443 entering {\bf list jobs} and look to see if there is a prior Job with
444 the same Name that has Level F and JobStatus T (normal termination).
446 Another reason why Bacula may not find a suitable Full backup is that
447 every time you change the FileSet, Bacula will require a new Full
448 backup. This is necessary to ensure that all files are properly backed
449 up in the case where you have added more files to the FileSet.
450 Beginning with version 1.31, the FileSets are also dated when they are
451 created, and this date is displayed with the name when you are listing
452 or selecting a FileSet. For more on backup levels see below.
454 \label{filenamelengths}
455 \subsection*{Do you really handle unlimited path lengths?}
456 \item [How Can You Claim to Handle Unlimited Path and Filename Lengths
457 when All Other Programs Have Fixed Limits?]
458 \index[general]{How Can You Claim to Handle Unlimited Path and Filename
459 Lengths when All Other Programs Have Fixed Limits? } Most of those
460 other programs have been around for a long time, in fact since the
461 beginning of Unix, which means that they were designed for rather small
462 fixed length path and filename lengths. Over the years, these
463 restrictions have been relaxed allowing longer names. Bacula on the
464 other hand was designed in 2000, and so from the start, Path and
465 Filenames have been kept in buffers that start at 256 bytes in length,
466 but can grow as needed to handle any length. Most of the work is
467 carried out by lower level routines making the coding rather easy.
469 Note that due to limitations Win32 path and filenames cannot exceed
470 260 characters. By using Win32 Unicode functions, we will remove this
471 restriction in later versions of Bacula.
474 \subsection*{What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?}
475 \item [What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?]
476 \index[general]{What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula? } Well, it
477 is hard to come up with unique features when backup programs for Unix
478 machines have been around since the 1960s. That said, I believe that
479 Bacula is the first and only program to use a standard SQL interface to
480 catalog its database. Although this adds a bit of complexity and
481 possibly overhead, it provides an amazingly rich set of features that
482 are easy to program and enhance. The current code has barely scratched
483 the surface in this regard (version 1.31).
485 The second feature, which gives a lot of power and flexibility to Bacula
486 is the Bootstrap record definition.
488 The third unique feature, which is currently (1.30) unimplemented, and
489 thus can be called vaporware :-), is Base level saves. When
490 implemented, this will enormously reduce tape usage.
493 \subsection*{How can I force one job to run after another?}
494 \item [If I Run Multiple Simultaneous Jobs, How Can I Force One
495 Particular Job to Run After Another Job? ]
496 \index[general]{If I Run Multiple Simultaneous Jobs, How Can I Force One
497 Particular Job to Run After Another Job? }
498 Yes, you can set Priorities on your jobs so that they run in the order you
500 \ilink{the Priority record}{Priority} in the Job resource.
503 \subsection*{I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? }
504 \item [I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? ]
506 \index[general]{I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? }
507 The most common problem is that you have not specified a fully qualified
508 email address and your bsmtp server is rejecting the mail. The next most
509 common problem is that your bsmtp server doesn't like the syntax on the From
510 part of the message. For more details on this and other problems, please see
512 \ilink{ Getting Email Notification to Work}{email} section of the
513 Tips chapter of this manual. The section
514 \ilink{ Getting Notified of Job Completion}{notification} of the Tips
515 chapter may also be useful. For more information on the {\bf bsmtp} mail
517 \ilink{bsmtp in the Volume Utility Tools chapter}{bsmtp} of this
521 \subsection*{My retention periods don't work}
522 \item [I Change Recycling, Retention Periods, or File Sizes in my Pool
523 Resource and they Still Don't Work.]
524 \index[general]{Recycling}
525 \index[general]{Retention Periods}
526 \index[general]{Pool changes}
527 The different variables associated with a Pool are defined in the Pool
528 Resource, but are actually read by Bacula from the Catalog database. On
529 Bacula versions prior to 1.30, after changing your Pool Resource, you must
530 manually update the corresponding values in the Catalog by using the {\bf
531 update pool} command in the Console program. In Bacula version 1.30, Bacula
532 does this for you automatically every time it starts.
534 When Bacula creates a Media record (Volume), it uses many default values from
535 the Pool record. If you subsequently change the Pool record, the new values
536 will be used as a default for the next Volume that is created, but if you
537 want the new values to apply to existing Volumes, you must manually update
538 the Volume Catalog entry using the {\bf update volume} command in the Console
541 \label{CompressionNotWorking}
542 \subsection*{Why aren't my files compressed?}
543 \item [I Have Configured Compression On, But None of My Files Are
545 \index[general]{Compression}
546 There are two kinds of compression. One is tape compression. This is done by
547 the tape drive hardware, and you either enable or disable it with system
548 tools such as {\bf mt}. This compression works independently of Bacula.
550 Bacula also has compression code, which is normally used only when backing
552 to file Volumes. There are two conditions for this "software" to become
556 \item You must have the zip development libraries loaded on your system when
557 building Bacula and Bacula must find this library, normally {\bf
558 /usr/lib/libz.a}. On RedHat systems, this library is provided by the {\bf
561 If the library is found by Bacula during the {\bf ./configure} it will be
562 mentioned in the {\bf config.out} line by:
571 \item You must add the {\bf compression=gzip} option on your Include
572 statement in the Director's configuration file.
576 \item [Bacula is Asking for a New Tape After 2 GB of Data but My Tape
578 \index[general]{Tape capacity}
579 There are several reasons why Bacula will request a new tape.
582 \item There is an I/O error on the tape. Bacula prints an error message and
583 requests a new tape. Bacula does not attempt to continue writing after an
586 \item Bacula encounters and end of medium on the tape. This is not always
587 distinguishable from an I/O error.
588 \item You have specifically set some size limitation on the tape. For example
589 the {\bf Maximum Volume Bytes} or {\bf Maximum Volume Files} in the
590 Director's Pool resource, or {\bf Maximum Volume Size} in the Storage
591 daemon's Device resource.
594 \label{LevelChanging}
595 \subsection*{Incremental backups are not working}
596 \item [Bacula is Not Doing the Right Thing When I Request an Incremental
598 \index[general]{Incremental backups}
599 As explained in one of the previous questions, Bacula will automatically
600 upgrade an Incremental or Differential job to a Full backup if it cannot
602 a prior Full backup or a suitable Full backup. For the gory details on
603 how/when Bacula decides to upgrade levels please see the
604 \ilink{Level record}{Level} in the Director's configuration
605 chapter of this manual.
607 If after reading the above mentioned section, you believe that Bacula is not
608 correctly handling the level (Differential/Incremental), please send us the
609 following information for analysis:
612 \item Your Director's configuration file.
613 \item The output from {\bf list jobs} covering the period where you are
615 \item The Job report output from the prior Full save (not critical).
616 \item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the prior Full save.
618 \item The Job report output from the save that is doing the wrong thing (not
620 \item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the job that was not
622 \item An explanation of what job went wrong and why you think it did.
625 The above information can allow us to analyze what happened, without it,
626 there is not much we can do.
629 \subsection*{I am waiting forever for a backup of an offsite machine}
630 \item [I am Backing Up an Offsite Machine with an Unreliable Connection.
631 The Director Waits Forever for the Client to Contact the SD. What Can I
633 \index[general]{I am Backing Up an Offsite Machine with an Unreliable
635 The Director Waits Forever for the Client to Contact the SD. What Can I Do?}
636 Bacula was written on the assumption that it will have a good TCP/IP
637 connection between all the daemons. As a consequence, the current Bacula
638 doesn't deal with faulty connections very well. This situation is slowly
642 There are several things you can do to improve the situation.
645 \item Upgrade to version 1.32 and use the new SDConnectTimeout record. For
650 SD Connect Timeout = 5 min
655 in the FileDaemon resource.
656 \item Run these kinds of jobs after all other jobs.
660 \subsection*{SSH hangs forever after starting Bacula}
661 \item [When I ssh into a machine and start Bacula then attempt to exit,
663 \index[general]{When I ssh into a machine and start Bacula then attempt to
666 This happens because Bacula leaves stdin, stdout, and stderr open for debug
667 purposes. To avoid it, the simplest thing to do is to redirect the output of
668 those files to {\bf /dev/null} or another file in your startup script (the
669 RedHat autostart scripts do this automatically). For example, you start the
674 bacula-dir -c bacula-dir.conf ... 0>\&1 2>\&1 >/dev/null
679 and likewise for the other daemons.
681 \label{RetentionPeriods}
682 \subsection*{I'm confused by retention periods}
683 \item [I'm confused by the different Retention periods: File Retention,
684 Job Retention, Volume Retention. Why are there so many?]
685 \index[general]{I'm confused by the different Retention periods: File
687 Job Retention, Volume Retention. Why are there so many? }
688 Yes, this certainly can be confusing. The basic reason for so many is to
689 allow flexibility. The File records take quite a lot of space in the
691 so they are typically records you want to remove rather quickly. The Job
692 records, take very little space, and they can be useful even without the
694 records to see what Jobs actually ran and when. One must understand that if
695 the File records are removed from the catalog, you cannot use the {\bf
696 restore} command to restore an individual file since Bacula no longer knows
697 where it is. However, as long as the Volume Retention period has not
699 the data will still be on the tape, and can be recovered from the tape.
701 For example, I keep a 30 day retention period for my Files to keep my
703 from getting too big, but I keep my tapes for a minimum of one year, just in
706 \label{MaxVolumeSize}
707 \subsection*{MaxVolumeSize is ignored}
708 \item [Why Does Bacula Ignore the MaxVolumeSize Set in my Pool?]
709 \index[general]{Why Does Bacula Ignore the MaxVolumeSize Set in my Pool? }
710 The MaxVolumeSize that Bacula uses comes from the Media record, so most
711 likely you changed your Pool, which is used as the default for creating
713 records, {\bf after} you created your Volume. Check what is in the Media
722 If it doesn't have the right value, you can use:
732 \label{ConnectionRefused}
733 \subsection*{I get a Connection refused when connecting to my Client}
734 \item [In connecting to my Client, I get "ERR:Connection Refused. Packet
735 Size too big from File daemon:192.168.1.4:9102" Why?]
736 \index[general]{In connecting to my Client, I get "ERR:Connection
738 Packet Size too big from File daemon:192.168.1.4:9102" Why? }
739 This is typically a communications error resulting from one of the
744 \item Old versions of Bacula, usually a Win32 client, where two threads were
745 using the same I/O packet. Fixed in more recent versions. Please upgrade.
746 \item Some other program such as an HP Printer using the same port (9102 in
750 If it is neither of the above, please submit a bug report at
751 \elink{bugs.bacula.org}{http://bugs.bacula.org}.
753 Another solution might be to run the daemon with the debug option by:
757 Start a DOS shell Window.
759 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf
764 This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current
765 directory, which you can examine to determine the problem.
767 \subsection*{Long running jobs die with Pipe Error}
768 \item [During long running jobs my File daemon dies with Pipe Error, or
769 some other communications error. Why?]
770 \index[general]{Communications Errors}
771 \index[general]{Pipe Errors}
772 There are a number of reasons why a connection might break.
773 Most often, it is a router between your two computers that times out
774 inactive lines (not respecting the keepalive feature that Bacula uses).
775 In that case, you can use the {\bf Heartbeat Interval} directive in
776 both the Storage daemon and the File daemon.
778 In at least one case, the problem has been a bad driver for a Win32
779 NVidia NForce 3 ethernet card with driver (4.4.2 17/05/2004).
780 In this case, a good driver is (4.8.2.0 06/04/2005). Moral of
781 the story, make sure you have the latest ethernet drivers
782 loaded, or use the following workaround as suggested by Thomas
783 Simmons for Win32 machines:
786 Start \gt{} Control Panel \gt{} Network Connections
788 Right click the connection for the nvidia adapter and select properties.
789 Under the General tab, click "Configure...". Under the Advanced tab set
790 "Checksum Offload" to disabled and click OK to save the change.
792 Lack of communications, or communications that get interrupted can
793 also be caused by Linux firewalls where you have a rule that throttles
794 connections or traffic. For example, if you have:
798 iptables -t filter -A INPUT -m limit --limit 3/second --limit-burst 3 -j DROP
802 you will want to add the following rules {\bf before} the above rule:
805 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9101 -j ACCEPT
806 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9102 -j ACCEPT
807 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9103 -j ACCEPT
810 This will ensure that any Bacula traffic will not get terminated because
813 \subsection*{How to I tell the Job which Volume to use?}
814 \item[I can't figure out how to tell the job which volume to use]
815 \index[general]{What tape to mount}
816 This is an interesting statement. I now see that a number of people new to
817 Bacula have the same problem as you, probably from using programs like tar.
819 In fact, you do not tell Bacula what tapes to use. It is the inverse. Bacula
820 tells you want tapes it wants. You put tapes at its disposition and it
823 Now, if you *really* want to be tricky and try to tell Bacula what to do, it
824 will be reasonable if for example you mount a valid tape that it can use on a
825 drive, it will most likely go ahead and use it. It also has a documented
826 algorithm for choosing tapes -- but you are asking for problems ...
828 So, the trick is to invert your concept of things and put Bacula in charge of
829 handling the tapes. Once you do that, you will be fine. If you want to
830 anticipate what it is going to do, you can generally figure it out correctly
831 and get what you want.
833 If you start with the idea that you are going to force or tell Bacula to use
834 particular tapes or you insist on trying to run in that kind of mode, you will
835 probably not be too happy.
837 I don't want to worry about what tape has what data. That is what Bacula is
840 If you have an application where you *really* need to remove a tape each day
841 and insert a new one, it can be done the directives exist to accomplish that.
842 In such a case, one little "trick" to knowing what tape Bacula will want at
843 2am while you are asleep is to run a tiny job at 4pm while you are still at
844 work that backs up say one directory, or even one file. You will quickly find
845 out what tape it wants, and you can mount it before you go home ...