4 \chapter{Messages Resource}
5 \label{MessagesChapter}
6 \index[general]{Resource!Messages}
7 \index[general]{Messages Resource}
9 The Messages resource defines how messages are to be handled and destinations
10 to which they should be sent.
12 Even though each daemon has a full message handler, within the File daemon and
13 the Storage daemon, you will normally choose to send all the appropriate
14 messages back to the Director. This permits all the messages associated with
15 a single Job to be combined in the Director and sent as a single email message
16 to the user, or logged together in a single file.
18 Each message that Bacula generates (i.e. that each daemon generates) has an
19 associated type such as INFO, WARNING, ERROR, FATAL, etc. Using the message
20 resource, you can specify which message types you wish to see and where they
21 should be sent. In addition, a message may be sent to multiple destinations.
22 For example, you may want all error messages both logged as well as sent to
23 you in an email. By defining multiple messages resources, you can have
24 different message handling for each type of Job (e.g. Full backups versus
27 In general, messages are attached to a Job and are included in the Job report.
28 There are some rare cases, where this is not possible, e.g. when no job is
29 running, or if a communications error occurs between a daemon and the
30 director. In those cases, the message may remain in the system, and should be
31 flushed at the end of the next Job. However, since such messages are not
32 attached to a Job, any that are mailed will be sent to {\bf
33 /usr/lib/sendmail}. On some systems, such as FreeBSD, if your sendmail is in a
34 different place, you may want to link it to the the above location.
36 The records contained in a Messages resource consist of a {\bf destination}
37 specification followed by a list of {\bf message-types} in the format:
41 \item [destination = message-type1, message-type2, message-type3, ... ]
42 \index[dir]{destination}
45 or for those destinations that need and address specification (e.g. email):
49 \item [destination = address = message-type1, message-type2,
51 \index[dir]{destination}
53 Where {\bf destination} is one of a predefined set of keywords that define
54 where the message is to be sent ({\bf stdout}, {\bf file}, ...), {\bf
55 message-type} is one of a predefined set of keywords that define the type of
56 message generated by {\bf Bacula} ({\bf ERROR}, {\bf WARNING}, {\bf FATAL},
57 ...), and {\bf address} varies according to the {\bf destination} keyword, but
58 is typically an email address or a filename.
61 The following are the list of the possible record definitions that can be used
62 in a message resource.
68 Start of the Messages records.
70 \item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
72 The name of the Messages resource. The name you specify here will be used to
73 tie this Messages resource to a Job and/or to the daemon.
76 \item [MailCommand = \lt{}command\gt{}]
77 \index[dir]{MailCommand}
78 In the absence of this resource, Bacula will send all mail using the
81 {\bf mail -s "Bacula Message" \lt{}recipients\gt{}}
83 In many cases, depending on your machine, this command may not work.
84 However, by using the {\bf MailCommand}, you can specify exactly how to
85 send the mail. During the processing of the {\bf command} part, normally
86 specified as a quoted string, the following substitutions will be used:
90 \item \%c = Client's name
91 \item \%d = Director's name
92 \item \%e = Job Exit code (OK, Error, ...)
94 \item \%j = Unique Job name
97 \item \%r = Recipients
98 \item \%t = Job type (e.g. Backup, ...)
101 Please note: any {\bf MailCommand} directive must be specified
102 in the {\bf Messages} resource {\bf before} the desired
103 {\bf Mail}, {\bf MailOnSuccess}, or {\bf MailOnError}
104 directive. In fact, each of those directives may be preceded by
105 a different {\bf MailCommand}.
107 The following is the command I (Kern) use. Note, the whole command should
108 appear on a single line in the configuration file rather than split as is
109 done here for presentation:
111 {\bf mailcommand = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com -f
112 \textbackslash{}"\textbackslash{}(Bacula\textbackslash{})
113 \%r\textbackslash{}" -s \textbackslash{}"Bacula: \%t \%e of \%c
114 \%l\textbackslash{}" \%r"}
116 The {\bf bsmtp} program is provided as part of {\bf Bacula}. For
117 additional details, please see the
118 \ilink{ bsmtp -- Customizing Your Email Messages}{bsmtp} section of
119 the Bacula Utility Programs chapter of this manual. Please test any {\bf
120 mailcommand} that you use to ensure that your bsmtp gateway accepts the
121 addressing form that you use. Certain programs such as Exim can be very
122 selective as to what forms are permitted particularly in the from part.
124 \item [OperatorCommand = \lt{}command\gt{}]
125 \index[fd]{OperatorCommand}
126 This resource specification is similar to the {\bf MailCommand} except that
127 it is used for Operator messages. The substitutions performed for the {\bf
128 MailCommand} are also done for this command. Normally, you will set this
129 command to the same value as specified for the {\bf MailCommand}.
130 The {\bf OperatorCommand} directive must appear in the {\bf Messages}
131 resource before the {\bf Operator} directive.
133 \item [\lt{}destination\gt{} = \lt{}message-type1\gt{},
134 \lt{}message-type2\gt{}, ...]
135 \index[fd]{\lt{}destination\gt{}}
137 Where {\bf destination} may be one of the following:
143 Send the message to standard output.
147 Send the message to standard error.
150 \index[console]{console}
151 Send the message to the console (Bacula Console). These messages are held
152 until the console program connects to the Director.
155 \item {\bf \lt{}destination\gt{} = \lt{}address\gt{} =
156 \lt{}message-type1\gt{}, \lt{}message-type2\gt{}, ...}
157 \index[console]{\lt{}destination\gt{}}
159 Where {\bf address} depends on the {\bf destination}.
161 The {\bf destination} may be one of the following:
166 \index[dir]{director}
167 \index[general]{director}
168 Send the message to the Director whose name is given in the {\bf address}
169 field. Note, in the current implementation, the Director Name is ignored, and
170 the message is sent to the Director that started the Job.
174 \index[general]{file}
175 Send the message to the filename given in the {\bf address} field. If the
176 file already exists, it will be overwritten.
180 \index[general]{append}
181 Append the message to the filename given in the {\bf address} field. If the
182 file already exists, it will be appended to. If the file does not exist, it
186 \index[general]{syslog}
187 Send the message to the system log (syslog) using the facility specified in
188 the {\bf address} field. Note, for the moment, the {\bf address} field is
189 ignored and the message is always sent to the LOG\_DAEMON facility with
190 level LOG\_ERR. See {\bf man 3 syslog} for more details. Example:
193 syslog = all, !skipped
196 Although the {\bf syslog} destination is not used in the default Bacula
197 config files, in certain cases where Bacula encounters errors in trying
198 to deliver a message, as a last resort, it will send it to the system
199 {\bf syslog} to prevent loss of the message, so you might occassionally
200 check the {\bf syslog} for Bacula output (normally {\bf
204 \index[general]{mail}
205 Send the message to the email addresses that are given as a comma
206 separated list in the {\bf address} field. Mail messages are grouped
207 together during a job and then sent as a single email message when the
208 job terminates. The advantage of this destination is that you are
209 notified about every Job that runs. However, if you backup five or ten
210 machines every night, the volume of email messages can be important.
211 Some users use filter programs such as {\bf procmail} to automatically
212 file this email based on the Job termination code (see {\bf
215 \item [mail on error]
216 \index[general]{mail on error}
217 Send the message to the email addresses that are given as a comma
218 separated list in the {\bf address} field if the Job terminates with an
219 error condition. MailOnError messages are grouped together during a job
220 and then sent as a single email message when the job terminates. This
221 destination differs from the {\bf mail} destination in that if the Job
222 terminates normally, the message is totally discarded (for this
223 destination). If the Job terminates in error, it is emailed. By using
224 other destinations such as {\bf append} you can ensure that even if the
225 Job terminates normally, the output information is saved.
227 \item [mail on success]
228 \index[general]{mail on success}
229 Send the message to the email addresses that are given as a comma
230 separated list in the {\bf address} field if the Job terminates
231 normally (no error condition). MailOnSuccess messages are grouped
232 together during a job and then sent as a single email message when the
233 job terminates. This destination differs from the {\bf mail}
234 destination in that if the Job terminates abnormally, the message is
235 totally discarded (for this destination). If the Job terminates
236 normally, it is emailed.
239 \index[general]{operator}
240 Send the message to the email addresses that are specified as a comma
241 separated list in the {\bf address} field. This is similar to {\bf
242 mail} above, except that each message is sent as received. Thus there
243 is one email per message. This is most useful for {\bf mount} messages
247 \index[general]{console}
248 Send the message to the Bacula console.
251 \index[general]{stdout}
252 Send the message to the standard output (normally not used).
255 \index[general]{stderr}
256 Send the message to the standard error output (normally not used).
259 \index[general]{catalog}
260 Send the message to the Catalog database. The message will be
261 written to the table named {\bf Log} and a timestamp field will
262 also be added. This permits Job Reports and other messages to
263 be recorded in the Catalog so that they can be accessed by
264 reporting software. Bacula will prune the Log records associated
265 with a Job when the Job records are pruned. Otherwise, Bacula
266 never uses these records internally, so this destination is only
267 used for special purpose programs (e.g. {\bf bweb}).
271 For any destination, the {\bf message-type} field is a comma separated
272 list of the following types or classes of messages:
277 \index[general]{info}
278 General information messages.
281 \index[general]{warning}
282 Warning messages. Generally this is some unusual condition but not expected
286 \index[general]{error}
287 Non-fatal error messages. The job continues running. Any error message should
288 be investigated as it means that something went wrong.
291 \index[general]{fatal}
292 Fatal error messages. Fatal errors cause the job to terminate.
295 \index[general]{terminate}
296 Message generated when the daemon shuts down.
300 \index[general]{notsaved}
301 Files not saved because of some error. Usually because the file cannot be
302 accessed (i.e. it does not exist or is not mounted).
306 \index[general]{skipped}
307 Files that were skipped because of a user supplied option such as an
308 incremental backup or a file that matches an exclusion pattern. This is
309 not considered an error condition such as the files listed for the {\bf
310 notsaved} type because the configuration file explicitly requests these
311 types of files to be skipped. For example, any unchanged file during an
312 incremental backup, or any subdirectory if the no recursion option is
317 \index[general]{mount}
318 Volume mount or intervention requests from the Storage daemon. These
319 requests require a specific operator intervention for the job to
324 \index[general]{restored}
325 The {\bf ls} style listing generated for each file restored is sent to
333 \index[general]{security}
334 Security info/warning messages principally from unauthorized
338 \index[general]{alert}
339 Alert messages. These are messages generated by tape alerts.
342 \index[general]{volmgmt}
343 Volume management messages. Currently there are no volume mangement
349 The following is an example of a valid Messages resource definition, where
350 all messages except files explicitly skipped or daemon termination messages
351 are sent by email to enforcement@sec.com. In addition all mount messages
352 are sent to the operator (i.e. emailed to enforcement@sec.com). Finally
353 all messages other than explicitly skipped files and files saved are sent
360 mail = enforcement@sec.com = all, !skipped, !terminate
361 operator = enforcement@sec.com = mount
362 console = all, !skipped, !saved
367 With the exception of the email address (changed to avoid junk mail from
368 robot's), an example Director's Messages resource is as follows. Note, the {\bf
369 mailcommand} and {\bf operatorcommand} are on a single line -- they had to be
370 split for this manual:
376 mailcommand = "bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com \
377 -f \"\(Bacula\) %r\" -s \"Bacula: %t %e of %c %l\" %r"
378 operatorcommand = "bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com \
379 -f \"\(Bacula\) %r\" -s \"Bacula: Intervention needed \
381 MailOnError = security@example.com = all, !skipped, \
383 append = "bacula/bin/log" = all, !skipped, !terminate
384 operator = security@example.com = mount
385 console = all, !skipped, !saved