4 \chapter{Critical Items to Implement Before Production}
5 \label{CriticalChapter}
6 \index[general]{Production!Critical Items to Implement Before }
7 \index[general]{Critical Items to Implement Before Production }
9 We recommend you take your time before implementing a production a Bacula
10 backup system since Bacula is a rather complex program, and if you make a
11 mistake, you may suddenly find that you cannot restore your files in case
12 of a disaster. This is especially true if you have not previously used a
15 If you follow the instructions in this chapter, you will have covered most of
16 the major problems that can occur. It goes without saying that if you ever
17 find that we have left out an important point, please inform us, so
18 that we can document it to the benefit of everyone.
21 \section{Critical Items}
23 \index[general]{Critical Items }
24 \index[general]{Items!Critical }
26 The following assumes that you have installed Bacula, you more or less
27 understand it, you have at least worked through the tutorial or have
28 equivalent experience, and that you have set up a basic production
29 configuration. If you haven't done the above, please do so and then come back
30 here. The following is a sort of checklist that points with perhaps a brief
31 explanation of why you should do it. In most cases, you will find the
32 details elsewhere in the manual. The order is more or less the order you
33 would use in setting up a production system (if you already are in
34 production, use the checklist anyway).
37 \item Test your tape drive for compatibility with Bacula by using the test
38 command in the See the \bsysxrlink{btape}{btape}{utility}{section} of the \utilityman{}.
39 \item Better than doing the above is to walk through the nine steps in the
40 \bsysxrlink{Tape Testing}{TapeTestingChapter}{problems}{chapter} of the \problemsman{}. It
41 may take you a bit of time, but it will eliminate surprises.
42 \item Test the end of tape handling of your tape drive by using the
43 \texttt{fill} command in the \bsysxrlink{btape program}{btape}{utility}{section} (Part of the \utilityman{})
44 \item If you are using a Linux 2.4 kernel, make sure that /lib/tls is disabled. Bacula
45 does not work with this library. See the second point under
46 \ilink{ Supported Operating Systems.}{SupportedOSes}
47 \item Do at least one restore of files. If you backup multiple OS types
48 (Linux, Solaris, HP, MacOS, FreeBSD, Win32, ...),
49 restore files from each system type. The
50 \ilink{Restoring Files}{RestoreChapter} chapter shows you how.
51 \item Write a bootstrap file to a separate system for each backup job. The
52 Write Bootstrap directive is described in the
53 \ilink{Director Configuration}{writebootstrap} chapter of the
54 manual, and more details are available in the
55 \ilink{Bootstrap File}{BootstrapChapter} chapter. Also, the default
56 bacula-dir.conf comes with a Write Bootstrap directive defined. This allows
57 you to recover the state of your system as of the last backup.
58 \item Backup your catalog. An example of this is found in the default
59 bacula-dir.conf file. The backup script is installed by default and
60 should handle any database, though you may want to make your own local
61 modifications. See also \ilink{Backing Up Your Bacula Database -
62 Security Considerations }{BackingUpBaculaSecurityConsiderations} for more
64 \item Write a bootstrap file for the catalog. An example of this is found in
65 the default bacula-dir.conf file. This will allow you to quickly restore your
66 catalog in the event it is wiped out -- otherwise it is many excruciating
68 \item Make a copy of the bacula-dir.conf, bacula-sd.conf, and
69 bacula-fd.conf files that you are using on your server. Put it in a safe
70 place (on another machine) as these files can be difficult to
71 reconstruct if your server dies.
72 \item Make a Bacula Rescue CDROM! See the
73 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using a Bacula Rescue
74 CDROM}{RescueChapter} chapter. It is trivial to make such a CDROM,
75 and it can make system recovery in the event of a lost hard disk infinitely
77 \item Bacula assumes all filenames are in UTF-8 format. This is important
78 when saving the filenames to the catalog. For Win32 machine, Bacula will
79 automatically convert from Unicode to UTF-8, but on Unix, Linux, *BSD,
80 and MacOS X machines, you must explicitly ensure that your locale is set
81 properly. Typically this means that the {bf LANG} environment variable
82 must end in {\bf .UTF-8}. An full example is {\bf en\_US.UTF-8}. The
83 exact syntax may vary a bit from OS to OS, and exactly how you define it
86 On most modern Win32 machines, you can edit the conf files with {\bf
87 notepad} and choose output encoding UTF-8.
90 \section{Recommended Items}
91 \index[general]{Items!Recommended }
92 \index[general]{Recommended Items }
94 Although these items may not be critical, they are recommended and will help
98 \item Read the \ilink{Quick Start Guide to Bacula}{QuickStartChapter}
99 \item After installing and experimenting with Bacula, read and work carefully
100 through the examples in the
101 \ilink{Tutorial}{TutorialChapter} chapter of this manual.
102 \item Learn what each of the \bsysxrlinkdocument{Bacula Utility Programs}{_UtilityChapter}{utility}{chapter}
104 \item Set up reasonable retention periods so that your catalog does not grow
105 to be too big. See the following three chapters:
107 \item \ilink{Recycling your Volumes}{RecyclingChapter},
108 \item \ilink{Basic Volume Management}{DiskChapter},
109 \item \ilink{Using Pools to Manage Volumes}{PoolsChapter}.
111 \item Perform a bare metal recovery using the Bacula Rescue CDROM. See the
112 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using a Bacula Rescue CDROM}{RescueChapter}
116 If you absolutely must implement a system where you write a different
117 tape each night and take it offsite in the morning. We recommend that you do
120 \item Write a bootstrap file of your backed up data and a bootstrap file
121 of your catalog backup to a floppy disk or a CDROM, and take that with
122 the tape. If this is not possible, try to write those files to another
123 computer or offsite computer, or send them as email to a friend. If none
124 of that is possible, at least print the bootstrap files and take that
125 offsite with the tape. Having the bootstrap files will make recovery
127 \item It is better not to force Bacula to load a particular tape each day.
128 Instead, let Bacula choose the tape. If you need to know what tape to
129 mount, you can print a list of recycled and appendable tapes daily, and
130 select any tape from that list. Bacula may propose a particular tape
131 for use that it considers optimal, but it will accept any valid tape
132 from the correct pool.