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:
92 %d = Daemon's name (Such as host-dir or host-fd)
93 %D = Director's name (Also valid on file daemon)
95 %f = Job FileSet (Only on director side)
102 %p = Pool name (Only on director side)
103 %P = Current PID process
106 %t = Job type (Backup, ...)
107 %v = Volume name (Only on director side)
108 %w = Storage name (Only on director side)
109 %x = Spooling enabled? ("yes" or "no")
112 Please note: any {\bf MailCommand} directive must be specified
113 in the {\bf Messages} resource {\bf before} the desired
114 {\bf Mail}, {\bf MailOnSuccess}, or {\bf MailOnError}
115 directive. In fact, each of those directives may be preceded by
116 a different {\bf MailCommand}.
118 The following is an exampl. Note, the whole command should
119 appear on a single line in the configuration file rather than split as is
120 done here for presentation:
122 {\bf mailcommand = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com -f
123 \textbackslash{}"\textbackslash{}(Bacula\textbackslash{})
124 \%r\textbackslash{}" -s \textbackslash{}"Bacula: \%t \%e of \%c
125 \%l\textbackslash{}" \%r"}
127 The {\bf bsmtp} program is provided as part of {\bf Bacula}. For
128 additional details, please see the
129 \borgxrlink{bsmtp -- Customizing Your Email Messages}{bsmtp}{utility}{section} of
130 the Bacula Utility Programs chapter of this manual. Please test any {\bf
131 mailcommand} that you use to ensure that your bsmtp gateway accepts the
132 addressing form that you use. Certain programs such as Exim can be very
133 selective as to what forms are permitted particularly in the from part.
135 \item [OperatorCommand = \lt{}command\gt{}]
136 \index[fd]{OperatorCommand}
137 This resource specification is similar to the {\bf MailCommand} except that
138 it is used for Operator messages. The substitutions performed for the {\bf
139 MailCommand} are also done for this command. Normally, you will set this
140 command to the same value as specified for the {\bf MailCommand}.
141 The {\bf OperatorCommand} directive must appear in the {\bf Messages}
142 resource before the {\bf Operator} directive.
144 \item [\lt{}destination\gt{} = \lt{}message-type1\gt{},
145 \lt{}message-type2\gt{}, ...]
146 \index[fd]{\lt{}destination\gt{}}
148 Where {\bf destination} may be one of the following:
154 Send the message to standard output.
158 Send the message to standard error.
161 \index[console]{console}
162 Send the message to the console (Bacula Console). These messages are held
163 until the console program connects to the Director.
166 \item {\bf \lt{}destination\gt{} = \lt{}address\gt{} =
167 \lt{}message-type1\gt{}, \lt{}message-type2\gt{}, ...}
168 \index[console]{\lt{}destination\gt{}}
170 Where {\bf address} depends on the {\bf destination}.
172 The {\bf destination} may be one of the following:
177 \index[dir]{director}
178 \index[general]{director}
179 Send the message to the Director whose name is given in the {\bf address}
180 field. Note, in the current implementation, the Director Name is ignored, and
181 the message is sent to the Director that started the Job.
185 \index[general]{file}
186 Send the message to the filename given in the {\bf address} field. If the
187 file already exists, it will be overwritten.
191 \index[general]{append}
192 Append the message to the filename given in the {\bf address} field. If the
193 file already exists, it will be appended to. If the file does not exist, it
197 \index[general]{syslog}
198 Send the message to the system log (syslog) using the facility specified in
199 the {\bf address} field. Note, for the moment, the {\bf address} field is
200 ignored and the message is always sent to the LOG\_DAEMON facility with
201 level LOG\_ERR. See {\bf man 3 syslog} for more details. Example:
204 syslog = all, !skipped
207 Although the {\bf syslog} destination is not used in the default Bacula
208 config files, in certain cases where Bacula encounters errors in trying
209 to deliver a message, as a last resort, it will send it to the system
210 {\bf syslog} to prevent loss of the message, so you might occassionally
211 check the {\bf syslog} for Bacula output (normally {\bf
215 \index[general]{mail}
216 Send the message to the email addresses that are given as a comma
217 separated list in the {\bf address} field. Mail messages are grouped
218 together during a job and then sent as a single email message when the
219 job terminates. The advantage of this destination is that you are
220 notified about every Job that runs. However, if you backup five or ten
221 machines every night, the volume of email messages can be important.
222 Some users use filter programs such as {\bf procmail} to automatically
223 file this email based on the Job termination code (see {\bf
226 \item [mail on error]
227 \index[general]{mail on error}
228 Send the message to the email addresses that are given as a comma
229 separated list in the {\bf address} field if the Job terminates with an
230 error condition. MailOnError messages are grouped together during a job
231 and then sent as a single email message when the job terminates. This
232 destination differs from the {\bf mail} destination in that if the Job
233 terminates normally, the message is totally discarded (for this
234 destination). If the Job terminates in error, it is emailed. By using
235 other destinations such as {\bf append} you can ensure that even if the
236 Job terminates normally, the output information is saved.
238 \item [mail on success]
239 \index[general]{mail on success}
240 Send the message to the email addresses that are given as a comma
241 separated list in the {\bf address} field if the Job terminates
242 normally (no error condition). MailOnSuccess messages are grouped
243 together during a job and then sent as a single email message when the
244 job terminates. This destination differs from the {\bf mail}
245 destination in that if the Job terminates abnormally, the message is
246 totally discarded (for this destination). If the Job terminates
247 normally, it is emailed.
250 \index[general]{operator}
251 Send the message to the email addresses that are specified as a comma
252 separated list in the {\bf address} field. This is similar to {\bf
253 mail} above, except that each message is sent as received. Thus there
254 is one email per message. This is most useful for {\bf mount} messages
258 \index[general]{console}
259 Send the message to the Bacula console.
262 \index[general]{stdout}
263 Send the message to the standard output (normally not used).
266 \index[general]{stderr}
267 Send the message to the standard error output (normally not used).
270 \index[general]{catalog}
271 Send the message to the Catalog database. The message will be
272 written to the table named {\bf Log} and a timestamp field will
273 also be added. This permits Job Reports and other messages to
274 be recorded in the Catalog so that they can be accessed by
275 reporting software. Bacula will prune the Log records associated
276 with a Job when the Job records are pruned. Otherwise, Bacula
277 never uses these records internally, so this destination is only
278 used for special purpose programs (e.g. {\bf bweb}).
282 For any destination, the {\bf message-type} field is a comma separated
283 list of the following types or classes of messages:
288 \index[general]{info}
289 General information messages.
292 \index[general]{warning}
293 Warning messages. Generally this is some unusual condition but not expected
297 \index[general]{error}
298 Non-fatal error messages. The job continues running. Any error message should
299 be investigated as it means that something went wrong.
302 \index[general]{fatal}
303 Fatal error messages. Fatal errors cause the job to terminate.
306 \index[general]{terminate}
307 Message generated when the daemon shuts down.
311 \index[general]{notsaved}
312 Files not saved because of some error. Usually because the file cannot be
313 accessed (i.e. it does not exist or is not mounted).
317 \index[general]{skipped}
318 Files that were skipped because of a user supplied option such as an
319 incremental backup or a file that matches an exclusion pattern. This is
320 not considered an error condition such as the files listed for the {\bf
321 notsaved} type because the configuration file explicitly requests these
322 types of files to be skipped. For example, any unchanged file during an
323 incremental backup, or any subdirectory if the no recursion option is
328 \index[general]{mount}
329 Volume mount or intervention requests from the Storage daemon. These
330 requests require a specific operator intervention for the job to
335 \index[general]{restored}
336 The {\bf ls} style listing generated for each file restored is sent to
344 \index[general]{security}
345 Security info/warning messages principally from unauthorized
349 \index[general]{alert}
350 Alert messages. These are messages generated by tape alerts.
353 \index[general]{volmgmt}
354 Volume management messages. Currently there are no volume mangement
360 The following is an example of a valid Messages resource definition, where
361 all messages except files explicitly skipped or daemon termination messages
362 are sent by email to enforcement@sec.com. In addition all mount messages
363 are sent to the operator (i.e. emailed to enforcement@sec.com). Finally
364 all messages other than explicitly skipped files and files saved are sent
371 mail = enforcement@sec.com = all, !skipped, !terminate
372 operator = enforcement@sec.com = mount
373 console = all, !skipped, !saved
378 With the exception of the email address (changed to avoid junk mail from
379 robot's), an example Director's Messages resource is as follows. Note, the {\bf
380 mailcommand} and {\bf operatorcommand} are on a single line -- they had to be
381 split for this manual:
387 mailcommand = "bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com \
388 -f \"\(Bacula\) %r\" -s \"Bacula: %t %e of %c %l\" %r"
389 operatorcommand = "bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com \
390 -f \"\(Bacula\) %r\" -s \"Bacula: Intervention needed \
392 MailOnError = security@example.com = all, !skipped, \
394 append = "bacula/bin/log" = all, !skipped, !terminate
395 operator = security@example.com = mount
396 console = all, !skipped, !saved