3 \chapter{The Restore Command}
5 \index[general]{Command!Console Restore}
6 \index[general]{Console Restore Command}
9 \index[general]{General }
11 Below, we will discuss restoring files with the Console {\bf restore} command,
12 which is the recommended way of doing restoring files. It is not possible
13 to restore files by automatically starting a job as you do with Backup,
14 Verify, ... jobs. However, in addition to the console restore command,
15 there is a standalone program named {\bf bextract}, which also permits
16 restoring files. For more information on this program, please see the
17 \borgxrlink{bextract}{bextract}{utility}{command} in the \utilityman{}. We
18 don't particularly recommend the {\bf bextract} program because it
19 lacks many of the features of the normal Bacula restore, such as the
20 ability to restore Win32 files to Unix systems, and the ability to
21 restore access control lists (ACL). As a consequence, we recommend,
22 wherever possible to use Bacula itself for restores as described below.
24 You may also want to look at the {\bf bls} program in the same chapter,
25 which allows you to list the contents of your Volumes. Finally, if you
26 have an old Volume that is no longer in the catalog, you can restore the
27 catalog entries using the program named {\bf bscan}, documented in the same
28 \borgxrlink{bscan}{bscan}{utility}{command} in the \utilityman{}.
30 In general, to restore a file or a set of files, you must run a {\bf restore}
31 job. That is a job with {\bf Type = Restore}. As a consequence, you will need
32 a predefined {\bf restore} job in your {\bf bacula-dir.conf} (Director's
33 config) file. The exact parameters (Client, FileSet, ...) that you define are
34 not important as you can either modify them manually before running the job or
35 if you use the {\bf restore} command, explained below, Bacula will
36 automatically set them for you. In fact, you can no longer simply run a restore
37 job. You must use the restore command.
39 Since Bacula is a network backup program, you must be aware that when you
40 restore files, it is up to you to ensure that you or Bacula have selected the
41 correct Client and the correct hard disk location for restoring those files.
42 {\bf Bacula} will quite willingly backup client A, and restore it by sending
43 the files to a different directory on client B. Normally, you will want to
44 avoid this, but assuming the operating systems are not too different in their
45 file structures, this should work perfectly well, if so desired.
46 By default, Bacula will restore data to the same Client that was backed
47 up, and those data will be restored not to the original places but to
48 {\bf /tmp/bacula-restores}. You may modify any of these defaults when the
49 restore command prompts you to run the job by selecting the {\bf mod}
53 \section{The Restore Command}
54 \index[general]{Command!Restore}
55 \index[general]{Restore Command}
57 Since Bacula maintains a catalog of your files and on which Volumes (disk or
58 tape), they are stored, it can do most of the bookkeeping work, allowing you
59 simply to specify what kind of restore you want (current, before a particular
60 date), and what files to restore. Bacula will then do the rest.
62 This is accomplished using the {\bf restore} command in the Console. First you
63 select the kind of restore you want, then the JobIds are selected,
64 the File records for those Jobs are placed in an internal Bacula directory
65 tree, and the restore enters a file selection mode that allows you to
66 interactively walk up and down the file tree selecting individual files to be
67 restored. This mode is somewhat similar to the standard Unix {\bf restore}
68 program's interactive file selection mode.
70 If a Job's file records have been pruned from the catalog, the {\bf restore}
71 command will be unable to find any files to restore. Bacula will ask if you
72 want to restore all of them or if you want to use a regular expression to
73 restore only a selection while reading media. See \ilink{FileRegex option}{FileRegex} and below for more details on this.
75 Within the Console program, after entering the {\bf restore} command, you are
76 presented with the following selection prompt:
80 First you select one or more JobIds that contain files
81 to be restored. You will be presented several methods
82 of specifying the JobIds. Then you will be allowed to
83 select which files from those JobIds are to be restored.
84 To select the JobIds, you have the following choices:
85 1: List last 20 Jobs run
86 2: List Jobs where a given File is saved
87 3: Enter list of comma separated JobIds to select
88 4: Enter SQL list command
89 5: Select the most recent backup for a client
90 6: Select backup for a client before a specified time
91 7: Enter a list of files to restore
92 8: Enter a list of files to restore before a specified time
93 9: Find the JobIds of the most recent backup for a client
94 10: Find the JobIds for a backup for a client before a specified time
95 11: Enter a list of directories to restore for found JobIds
101 There are a lot of options, and as a point of reference, most people will
102 want to slect item 5 (the most recent backup for a client). The details
103 of the above options are:
106 \item Item 1 will list the last 20 jobs run. If you find the Job you want,
107 you can then select item 3 and enter its JobId(s).
109 \item Item 2 will list all the Jobs where a specified file is saved. If you
110 find the Job you want, you can then select item 3 and enter the JobId.
112 \item Item 3 allows you the enter a list of comma separated JobIds whose
113 files will be put into the directory tree. You may then select which
114 files from those JobIds to restore. Normally, you would use this option
115 if you have a particular version of a file that you want to restore and
116 you know its JobId. The most common options (5 and 6) will not select
117 a job that did not terminate normally, so if you know a file is
118 backed up by a Job that failed (possibly because of a system crash), you
119 can access it through this option by specifying the JobId.
121 \item Item 4 allows you to enter any arbitrary SQL command. This is
122 probably the most primitive way of finding the desired JobIds, but at
123 the same time, the most flexible. Once you have found the JobId(s), you
124 can select item 3 and enter them.
126 \item Item 5 will automatically select the most recent Full backup and all
127 subsequent incremental and differential backups for a specified Client.
128 These are the Jobs and Files which, if reloaded, will restore your
129 system to the most current saved state. It automatically enters the
130 JobIds found into the directory tree in an optimal way such that only
131 the most recent copy of any particular file found in the set of Jobs
132 will be restored. This is probably the most convenient of all the above
133 options to use if you wish to restore a selected Client to its most
136 There are two important things to note. First, this automatic selection
137 will never select a job that failed (terminated with an error status).
138 If you have such a job and want to recover one or more files from it,
139 you will need to explicitly enter the JobId in item 3, then choose the
142 If some of the Jobs that are needed to do the restore have had their
143 File records pruned, the restore will be incomplete. Bacula currently
144 does not correctly detect this condition. You can however, check for
145 this by looking carefully at the list of Jobs that Bacula selects and
146 prints. If you find Jobs with the JobFiles column set to zero, when
147 files should have been backed up, then you should expect problems.
149 If all the File records have been pruned, Bacula will realize that there
150 are no file records in any of the JobIds chosen and will inform you. It
151 will then propose doing a full restore (non-selective) of those JobIds.
152 This is possible because Bacula still knows where the beginning of the
153 Job data is on the Volumes, even if it does not know where particular
154 files are located or what their names are.
156 \item Item 6 allows you to specify a date and time, after which Bacula will
157 automatically select the most recent Full backup and all subsequent
158 incremental and differential backups that started before the specified date
161 \item Item 7 allows you to specify one or more filenames (complete path
162 required) to be restored. Each filename is entered one at a time or if you
163 prefix a filename with the less-than symbol (\lt{}) Bacula will read that
164 file and assume it is a list of filenames to be restored. If you
165 prefix the filename with a question mark (?), then the filename will
166 be interpreted as an SQL table name, and Bacula will include the rows
167 of that table in the list to be restored. The table must contain the
168 JobId in the first column and the FileIndex in the second column.
169 This table feature is intended for external programs that want to build
170 their own list of files to be restored.
171 The filename entry mode is terminated by entering a blank line.
173 \item Item 8 allows you to specify a date and time before entering the
174 filenames. See Item 7 above for more details.
176 \item Item 9 allows you find the JobIds of the most recent backup for
177 a client. This is much like option 5 (it uses the same code), but
178 those JobIds are retained internally as if you had entered them
179 manually. You may then select item 11 (see below) to restore one
182 \item Item 10 is the same as item 9, except that it allows you to enter
183 a before date (as with item 6). These JobIds will then be retained
186 \index[general]{Restore Directories}
187 \item Item 11 allows you to enter a list of JobIds from which you can
188 select directories to be restored. The list of JobIds can have been
189 previously created by using either item 9 or 10 on the menu. You
190 may then enter a full path to a directory name or a filename preceded
191 by a less than sign (\lt{}). The filename should contain a list
192 of directories to be restored. All files in those directories will
193 be restored, but if the directory contains subdirectories, nothing
194 will be restored in the subdirectory unless you explicitly enter its
197 \item Item 12 allows you to cancel the restore command.
200 As an example, suppose that we select item 5 (restore to most recent state).
201 If you have not specified a client=xxx on the command line, it
202 it will then ask for the desired Client, which on my system, will print all
203 the Clients found in the database as follows:
217 Select Client (File daemon) resource (1-9):
221 You will probably have far fewer Clients than this example, and if you have
222 only one Client, it will be automatically selected. In this case, I enter
223 {\bf Rufus} to select the Client. Then Bacula needs to know what FileSet is
224 to be restored, so it prompts with:
228 The defined FileSet resources are:
231 Select FileSet resource (1-2):
235 If you have only one FileSet defined for the Client, it will be selected
236 automatically. I choose item 1, which is my full backup. Normally, you
237 will only have a single FileSet for each Job, and if your machines are
238 similar (all Linux) you may only have one FileSet for all your Clients.
240 At this point, {\bf Bacula} has all the information it needs to find the most
241 recent set of backups. It will then query the database, which may take a bit
242 of time, and it will come up with something like the following. Note, some of
243 the columns are truncated here for presentation:
247 +-------+------+----------+-------------+-------------+------+-------+------------+
248 | JobId | Levl | JobFiles | StartTime | VolumeName | File | SesId |VolSesTime |
249 +-------+------+----------+-------------+-------------+------+-------+------------+
250 | 1,792 | F | 128,374 | 08-03 01:58 | DLT-19Jul02 | 67 | 18 | 1028042998 |
251 | 1,792 | F | 128,374 | 08-03 01:58 | DLT-04Aug02 | 0 | 18 | 1028042998 |
252 | 1,797 | I | 254 | 08-04 13:53 | DLT-04Aug02 | 5 | 23 | 1028042998 |
253 | 1,798 | I | 15 | 08-05 01:05 | DLT-04Aug02 | 6 | 24 | 1028042998 |
254 +-------+------+----------+-------------+-------------+------+-------+------------+
255 You have selected the following JobId: 1792,1792,1797
256 Building directory tree for JobId 1792 ...
257 Building directory tree for JobId 1797 ...
258 Building directory tree for JobId 1798 ...
264 Depending on the number of {\bf JobFiles} for each JobId, the {\bf Building
265 directory tree ..."} can take a bit of time. If you notice ath all the
266 JobFiles are zero, your Files have probably been pruned and you will not be
267 able to select any individual files -- it will be restore everything or
270 In our example, Bacula found four Jobs that comprise the most recent backup of
271 the specified Client and FileSet. Two of the Jobs have the same JobId because
272 that Job wrote on two different Volumes. The third Job was an incremental
273 backup to the previous Full backup, and it only saved 254 Files compared to
274 128,374 for the Full backup. The fourth Job was also an incremental backup
277 Next Bacula entered those Jobs into the directory tree, with no files marked
278 to be restored as a default, tells you how many files are in the tree, and
279 tells you that the current working directory ({\bf cwd}) is /. Finally, Bacula
280 prompts with the dollar sign (\$) to indicate that you may enter commands to
281 move around the directory tree and to select files.
283 If you want all the files to automatically be marked when the directory
284 tree is built, you could have entered the command {\bf restore all}, or
285 at the \$ prompt, you can simply enter {\bf mark *}.
287 Instead of choosing item 5 on the first menu (Select the most recent backup
288 for a client), if we had chosen item 3 (Enter list of JobIds to select) and we
289 had entered the JobIds {\bf 1792,1797,1798} we would have arrived at the same
292 One point to note, if you are manually entering JobIds, is that you must enter
293 them in the order they were run (generally in increasing JobId order). If you
294 enter them out of order and the same file was saved in two or more of the
295 Jobs, you may end up with an old version of that file (i.e. not the most
298 Directly entering the JobIds can also permit you to recover data from
299 a Job that wrote files to tape but that terminated with an error status.
301 While in file selection mode, you can enter {\bf help} or a question mark (?)
302 to produce a summary of the available commands:
308 cd change current directory
309 count count marked files in and below the cd
310 dir long list current directory, wildcards allowed
311 done leave file selection mode
312 estimate estimate restore size
313 exit same as done command
314 find find files, wildcards allowed
316 ls list current directory, wildcards allowed
317 lsmark list the marked files in and below the cd
318 mark mark dir/file to be restored recursively in dirs
319 markdir mark directory name to be restored (no files)
320 pwd print current working directory
321 unmark unmark dir/file to be restored recursively in dir
322 unmarkdir unmark directory name only no recursion
323 quit quit and do not do restore
328 As a default no files have been selected for restore (unless you
329 added {\bf all} to the command line. If you want to restore
330 everything, at this point, you should enter {\bf mark *}, and then {\bf done}
331 and {\bf Bacula} will write the bootstrap records to a file and request your
332 approval to start a restore job.
334 If you do not enter the above mentioned {\bf mark *} command, you will start
335 with an empty slate. Now you can simply start looking at the tree and {\bf
336 mark} particular files or directories you want restored. It is easy to make
337 a mistake in specifying a file to mark or unmark, and Bacula's error handling
338 is not perfect, so please check your work by using the {\bf ls} or {\bf dir}
339 commands to see what files are actually selected. Any selected file has its
340 name preceded by an asterisk.
342 To check what is marked or not marked, enter the {\bf count} command, which
347 128401 total files. 128401 marked to be restored.
352 Each of the above commands will be described in more detail in the next
353 section. We continue with the above example, having accepted to restore all
354 files as Bacula set by default. On entering the {\bf done} command, Bacula
359 Bootstrap records written to /home/kern/bacula/working/restore.bsr
360 The job will require the following
361 Volume(s) Storage(s) SD Device(s)
362 ===========================================================================
364 DLT-19Jul02 Tape DLT8000
365 DLT-04Aug02 Tape DLT8000
367 128401 files selected to restore.
369 JobName: kernsrestore
370 Bootstrap: /home/kern/bacula/working/restore.bsr
371 Where: /tmp/bacula-restores
376 When: 2006-12-11 18:20:33
379 OK to run? (yes/mod/no):
384 Please examine each of the items very carefully to make sure that they are
385 correct. In particular, look at {\bf Where}, which tells you where in the
386 directory structure the files will be restored, and {\bf Client}, which
387 tells you which client will receive the files. Note that by default the
388 Client which will receive the files is the Client that was backed up.
389 These items will not always be completed with the correct values depending
390 on which of the restore options you chose. You can change any of these
391 default items by entering {\bf mod} and responding to the prompts.
393 The above assumes that you have defined a {\bf Restore} Job resource in your
394 Director's configuration file. Normally, you will only need one Restore Job
395 resource definition because by its nature, restoring is a manual operation,
396 and using the Console interface, you will be able to modify the Restore Job to
399 An example Restore Job resource definition is given below.
401 Returning to the above example, you should verify that the Client name is
402 correct before running the Job. However, you may want to modify some of the
403 parameters of the restore job. For example, in addition to checking the Client
404 it is wise to check that the Storage device chosen by Bacula is indeed
405 correct. Although the {\bf FileSet} is shown, it will be ignored in restore.
406 The restore will choose the files to be restored either by reading the {\bf
407 Bootstrap} file, or if not specified, it will restore all files associated
408 with the specified backup {\bf JobId} (i.e. the JobId of the Job that
409 originally backed up the files).
411 Finally before running the job, please note that the default location for
412 restoring files is {\bf not} their original locations, but rather the directory
413 {\bf /tmp/bacula-restores}. You can change this default by modifying your {\bf
414 bacula-dir.conf} file, or you can modify it using the {\bf mod} option. If you
415 want to restore the files to their original location, you must have {\bf
416 Where} set to nothing or to the root, i.e. {\bf /}.
418 If you now enter {\bf yes}, Bacula will run the restore Job. The Storage
419 daemon will first request Volume {\bf DLT-19Jul02} and after the appropriate
420 files have been restored from that volume, it will request Volume {\bf
423 \subsection{Restore a pruned job using a pattern}
424 During a restore, if all File records are pruned from the catalog
425 for a Job, normally Bacula can restore only all files saved. That
426 is there is no way using the catalog to select individual files.
427 With this new feature, Bacula will ask if you want to specify a Regex
428 expression for extracting only a part of the full backup.
431 Building directory tree for JobId(s) 1,3 ...
432 There were no files inserted into the tree, so file selection
433 is not possible.Most likely your retention policy pruned the files
435 Do you want to restore all the files? (yes|no): no
437 Regexp matching files to restore? (empty to abort): /tmp/regress/(bin|tests)/
438 Bootstrap records written to /tmp/regress/working/zog4-dir.restore.1.bsr
441 See also \ilink{FileRegex bsr option}{FileRegex} for more information.
443 \section{Selecting Files by Filename}
444 \index[general]{Selecting Files by Filename }
445 \index[general]{Filename!Selecting Files by }
447 If you have a small number of files to restore, and you know the filenames,
448 you can either put the list of filenames in a file to be read by Bacula, or
449 you can enter the names one at a time. The filenames must include the full
450 path and filename. No wild cards are used.
452 To enter the files, after the {\bf restore}, you select item number 7 from the
457 To select the JobIds, you have the following choices:
458 1: List last 20 Jobs run
459 2: List Jobs where a given File is saved
460 3: Enter list of comma separated JobIds to select
461 4: Enter SQL list command
462 5: Select the most recent backup for a client
463 6: Select backup for a client before a specified time
464 7: Enter a list of files to restore
465 8: Enter a list of files to restore before a specified time
466 9: Find the JobIds of the most recent backup for a client
467 10: Find the JobIds for a backup for a client before a specified time
468 11: Enter a list of directories to restore for found JobIds
474 which then prompts you for the client name:
482 Select the Client (1-3): 3
486 Of course, your client list will be different, and if you have only one
487 client, it will be automatically selected. And finally, Bacula requests you to
496 At this point, you can enter the full path and filename
500 Enter filename: /home/kern/bacula/k/Makefile.in
505 as you can see, it took the filename. If Bacula cannot find a copy of the
506 file, it prints the following:
510 Enter filename: junk filename
511 No database record found for: junk filename
516 If you want Bacula to read the filenames from a file, you simply precede the
517 filename with a less-than symbol (\lt{}). When you have entered all the
518 filenames, you enter a blank line, and Bacula will write the bootstrap file,
519 tells you what tapes will be used, and proposes a Restore job to be run:
524 Automatically selected Storage: DDS-4
525 Bootstrap records written to /home/kern/bacula/working/restore.bsr
526 The restore job will require the following Volumes:
529 1 file selected to restore.
531 JobName: kernsrestore
532 Bootstrap: /home/kern/bacula/working/restore.bsr
533 Where: /tmp/bacula-restores
538 When: 2003-09-11 10:20:53
540 OK to run? (yes/mod/no):
544 It is possible to automate the selection by file by putting your list of files
545 in say {\bf /tmp/file-list}, then using the following command:
549 restore client=Rufus file=</tmp/file-list
553 If in modifying the parameters for the Run Restore job, you find that Bacula
554 asks you to enter a Job number, this is because you have not yet specified
555 either a Job number or a Bootstrap file. Simply entering zero will allow you
556 to continue and to select another option to be modified.
560 \section{Replace Options}
562 When restoring, you have the option to specify a Replace option. This
563 directive determines the action to be taken when restoring a file or
564 directory that already exists. This directive can be set by selecting
565 the {\bf mod} option. You will be given a list of parameters to choose
566 from. Full details on this option can be found in the Job Resource section
567 of the Director documentation.
569 \label{CommandArguments}
571 \section{Command Line Arguments}
572 \index[general]{Arguments!Command Line }
573 \index[general]{Command Line Arguments }
575 If all the above sounds complicated, you will probably agree that it really
576 isn't after trying it a few times. It is possible to do everything that was
577 shown above, with the exception of selecting the FileSet, by using command
578 line arguments with a single command by entering:
582 restore client=Rufus select current all done yes
586 The {\bf client=Rufus} specification will automatically select Rufus as the
587 client, the {\bf current} tells Bacula that you want to restore the system to
588 the most current state possible, and the {\bf yes} suppresses the final {\bf
589 yes/mod/no} prompt and simply runs the restore.
591 The full list of possible command line arguments are:
594 \item {\bf all} -- select all Files to be restored.
595 \item {\bf select} -- use the tree selection method.
596 \item {\bf done} -- do not prompt the user in tree mode.
597 \item {\bf current} -- automatically select the most current set of backups
598 for the specified client.
599 \item {\bf client=xxxx} -- initially specifies the client from which the
600 backup was made and the client to which the restore will be make. See also
601 "restoreclient" keyword.
602 \item {\bf restoreclient=xxxx} -- if the keyword is specified, then the
603 restore is written to that client.
604 \item {\bf jobid=nnn} -- specify a JobId or comma separated list of JobIds to
606 \item {\bf before=YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS} -- specify a date and time to which
607 the system should be restored. Only Jobs started before the specified
608 date/time will be selected, and as is the case for {\bf current} Bacula will
609 automatically find the most recent prior Full save and all Differential and
610 Incremental saves run before the date you specify. Note, this command is not
611 too user friendly in that you must specify the date/time exactly as shown.
612 \item {\bf file=filename} -- specify a filename to be restored. You must
613 specify the full path and filename. Prefixing the entry with a less-than
615 (\lt{}) will cause Bacula to assume that the filename is on your system and
616 contains a list of files to be restored. Bacula will thus read the list from
617 that file. Multiple file=xxx specifications may be specified on the command
619 \item {\bf jobid=nnn} -- specify a JobId to be restored.
620 \item {\bf pool=pool-name} -- specify a Pool name to be used for selection of
621 Volumes when specifying options 5 and 6 (restore current system, and restore
622 current system before given date). This permits you to have several Pools,
623 possibly one offsite, and to select the Pool to be used for restoring.
624 \item {\bf where=/tmp/bacula-restore} -- restore files in {\bf where} directory.
625 \item {\bf yes} -- automatically run the restore without prompting for
626 modifications (most useful in batch scripts).
627 \item {\bf strip\_prefix=/prod} -- remove a part of the filename when restoring.
628 \item {\bf add\_prefix=/test} -- add a prefix to all files when restoring (like
629 where) (can't be used with {\bf where=}).
630 \item {\bf add\_suffix=.old} -- add a suffix to all your files.
631 \item {\bf regexwhere=!a.pdf!a.bkp.pdf!} -- do complex filename manipulation
632 like with sed unix command. Will overwrite other filename manipulation.
633 \item {\bf restorejob=jobname} -- Pre-chooses a restore job. Bacula can be
634 configured with multiple restore jobs ("Type = Restore" in the job
635 definition). This allows the specification of different restore properties,
636 including a set of RunScripts. When more than one job of this type is
637 configured, during restore, Bacula will ask for a user selection
638 interactively, or use the given restorejob.
641 \label{restorefilerelocation}
642 \section{Using File Relocation}
643 \index[general]{Using File Relocation}
644 \label{filerelocation}
646 \subsection{Introduction}
648 The \textbf{where=} option is simple, but not very powerful. With file
649 relocation, Bacula can restore a file to the same directory, but with a
650 different name, or in an other directory without recreating the full path.
652 You can also do filename and path manipulations, implemented in Bacula
653 2.1.8 or later, such as adding a suffix to all your files, renaming files
654 or directories, etc. Theses options will overwrite {\bf where=} option.
657 For example, many users use OS snapshot features so that file
658 \texttt{/home/eric/mbox} will be backed up from the directory
659 \texttt{/.snap/home/eric/mbox}, which can complicate restores. If you use
660 \textbf{where=/tmp}, the file will be restored to
661 \texttt{/tmp/.snap/home/eric/mbox} and you will have to move the file to
662 \texttt{/home/eric/mbox.bkp} by hand.
664 However, case, you could use the
665 \textbf{strip\_prefix=/.snap} and \textbf{add\_suffix=.bkp} options and
666 Bacula will restore the file to its original location -- that is
667 \texttt{/home/eric/mbox}.
669 To use this feature, there are command line options as described in
670 the \ilink{restore section}{restorefilerelocation} of this manual;
671 you can modify your restore job before running it; or you can
672 add options to your restore job in as described in
673 \ilink{bacula-dir.conf}{confaddprefix}.
676 Parameters to modify:
682 Select parameter to modify (1-12):
685 This will replace your current Where value
690 5: Test filename manipulation
692 Select parameter to modify (1-6):
696 \subsection{RegexWhere Format}
698 The format is very close to that used by sed or Perl (\texttt{s/replace this/by
699 that/}) operator. A valid regexwhere expression has three fields :
701 \item a search expression (with optionnal submatch)
702 \item a replacement expression (with optionnal back references \$1 to \$9)
703 \item a set of search options (only case-insensitive ``i'' at this time)
706 Each field is delimited by a separator specified by the user as the first
707 character of the expression. The separator can be one of the following:
709 <separator-keyword> = / ! ; % : , ~ # = &
712 You can use several expressions separated by a commas.
714 \subsection*{Examples}
717 \LTXtable{\linewidth}{table_regexp}
719 %\subsubsection{Using group}
721 %Like with Perl or Sed, you can make submatch with \texttt{()},
723 %\subsubsection*{Examples}
726 %\subsubsection{Options}
728 % i Do case-insensitive pattern matching.
730 \section{Restoring Directory Attributes}
731 \index[general]{Attributes!Restoring Directory }
732 \index[general]{Restoring Directory Attributes }
734 Depending how you do the restore, you may or may not get the directory entries
735 back to their original state. Here are a few of the problems you can
736 encounter, and for same machine restores, how to avoid them.
739 \item You backed up on one machine and are restoring to another that is
740 either a different OS or doesn't have the same users/groups defined. Bacula
741 does the best it can in these situations. Note, Bacula has saved the
742 user/groups in numeric form, which means on a different machine, they
743 may map to different user/group names.
745 \item You are restoring into a directory that is already created and has
746 file creation restrictions. Bacula tries to reset everything but
747 without walking up the full chain of directories and modifying them all
748 during the restore, which Bacula does and will not do, getting
749 permissions back correctly in this situation depends to a large extent
752 \item You are doing a recursive restore of a directory tree. In this case
753 Bacula will restore a file before restoring the file's parent directory
754 entry. In the process of restoring the file Bacula will create the
755 parent directory with open permissions and ownership of the file being
756 restored. Then when Bacula tries to restore the parent directory Bacula
757 sees that it already exists (Similar to the previous situation). If you
758 had set the Restore job's "Replace" property to "never" then Bacula will
759 not change the directory's permissions and ownerships to match what it
760 backed up, you should also notice that the actual number of files
761 restored is less then the expected number. If you had set the Restore
762 job's "Replace" property to "always" then Bacula will change the
763 Directory's ownership and permissions to match what it backed up, also
764 the actual number of files restored should be equal to the expected
767 \item You selected one or more files in a directory, but did not select the
768 directory entry to be restored. In that case, if the directory is not
769 on disk Bacula simply creates the directory with some default attributes
770 which may not be the same as the original. If you do not select a
771 directory and all its contents to be restored, you can still select
772 items within the directory to be restored by individually marking those
773 files, but in that case, you should individually use the "markdir"
774 command to select all higher level directory entries (one at a time) to
775 be restored if you want the directory entries properly restored.
777 \item The {\bf bextract} program does not restore access control lists
778 (ACLs) to Unix machines.
782 \section{Restoring on Windows}
783 \index[general]{Restoring on Windows }
784 \index[general]{Windows!Restoring on }
786 If you are restoring on WinNT/2K/XP systems, Bacula will restore the files
787 with the original ownerships and permissions as would be expected. This is
788 also true if you are restoring those files to an alternate directory (using
789 the Where option in restore). However, if the alternate directory does not
790 already exist, the Bacula File daemon (Client) will try to create it. In
791 some cases, it may not create the directories, and if it does since the
792 File daemon runs under the SYSTEM account, the directory will be created
793 with SYSTEM ownership and permissions. In this case, you may have problems
794 accessing the newly restored files.
796 To avoid this problem, you should create any alternate directory before
797 doing the restore. Bacula will not change the ownership and permissions of
798 the directory if it is already created as long as it is not one of the
799 directories being restored (i.e. written to tape).
801 The default restore location is {\bf /tmp/bacula-restores/} and if you are
802 restoring from drive {\bf E:}, the default will be
803 {\bf /tmp/bacula-restores/e/}, so you should ensure that this directory
804 exists before doing the restore, or use the {\bf mod} option to
805 select a different {\bf where} directory that does exist.
807 Some users have experienced problems restoring files that participate in
808 the Active Directory. They also report that changing the userid under which
809 Bacula (bacula-fd.exe) runs, from SYSTEM to a Domain Admin userid, resolves
813 \section{Restoring Files Can Be Slow}
814 \index[general]{Slow!Restoring Files Can Be }
815 \index[general]{Restoring Files Can Be Slow }
817 Restoring files is generally {\bf much} slower than backing them up for several
818 reasons. The first is that during a backup the tape is normally already
819 positioned and Bacula only needs to write. On the other hand, because restoring
820 files is done so rarely, Bacula keeps only the start file and block on the
821 tape for the whole job rather than on a file by file basis which would use
822 quite a lot of space in the catalog.
824 Bacula will forward space to the correct file mark on the tape for the Job,
825 then forward space to the correct block, and finally sequentially read each
826 record until it gets to the correct one(s) for the file or files you want to
827 restore. Once the desired files are restored, Bacula will stop reading the
830 Finally, instead of just reading a file for backup, during the restore, Bacula
831 must create the file, and the operating system must allocate disk space for
832 the file as Bacula is restoring it.
834 For all the above reasons the restore process is generally much slower than
835 backing up (sometimes it takes three times as long).
837 \section{Problems Restoring Files}
838 \index[general]{Files!Problems Restoring }
839 \index[general]{Problems Restoring Files }
841 The most frequent problems users have restoring files are error messages such
846 04-Jan 00:33 z217-sd: RestoreFiles.2005-01-04_00.31.04 Error:
847 block.c:868 Volume data error at 20:0! Short block of 512 bytes on
848 device /dev/tape discarded.
856 04-Jan 00:33 z217-sd: RestoreFiles.2005-01-04_00.31.04 Error:
857 block.c:264 Volume data error at 20:0! Wanted ID: "BB02", got ".".
862 Both these kinds of messages indicate that you were probably running your tape
863 drive in fixed block mode rather than variable block mode. Fixed block mode
864 will work with any program that reads tapes sequentially such as tar, but
865 Bacula repositions the tape on a block basis when restoring files because this
866 will speed up the restore by orders of magnitude when only a few files are being
867 restored. There are several ways that you can attempt to recover from this
868 unfortunate situation.
870 Try the following things, each separately, and reset your Device resource to
871 what it is now after each individual test:
874 \item Set "Block Positioning = no" in your Device resource and try the
875 restore. This is a new directive and untested.
877 \item Set "Minimum Block Size = 512" and "Maximum Block Size = 512" and
878 try the restore. If you are able to determine the block size your drive
879 was previously using, you should try that size if 512 does not work.
880 This is a really horrible solution, and it is not at all recommended
881 to continue backing up your data without correcting this condition.
882 Please see the Tape Testing chapter for more on this.
884 \item Try editing the restore.bsr file at the Run xxx yes/mod/no prompt
885 before starting the restore job and remove all the VolBlock statements.
886 These are what causes Bacula to reposition the tape, and where problems
887 occur if you have a fixed block size set for your drive. The VolFile
888 commands also cause repositioning, but this will work regardless of the
891 \item Use bextract to extract the files you want -- it reads the Volume
892 sequentially if you use the include list feature, or if you use a .bsr
893 file, but remove all the VolBlock statements after the .bsr file is
894 created (at the Run yes/mod/no) prompt but before you start the restore.
897 \section{Restore Errors}
898 \index[general]{Errors!Restore}
899 \index[general]{Restore Errors}
901 There are a number of reasons why there may be restore errors or
902 warning messages. Some of the more common ones are:
906 \item [file count mismatch]
907 This can occur for the following reasons:
909 \item You requested Bacula not to overwrite existing or newer
911 \item A Bacula miscount of files/directories. This is an
912 on-going problem due to the complications of directories,
913 soft/hard link, and such. Simply check that all the files you
914 wanted were actually restored.
917 \item [file size error]
918 When Bacula restores files, it checks that the size of the
919 restored file is the same as the file status data it saved
920 when starting the backup of the file. If the sizes do not
921 agree, Bacula will print an error message. This size mismatch
922 most often occurs because the file was being written as Bacula
923 backed up the file. In this case, the size that Bacula
924 restored will be greater than the status size. This often
925 happens with log files.
927 If the restored size is smaller, then you should be concerned
928 about a possible tape error and check the Bacula output as
929 well as your system logs.
934 \section{Example Restore Job Resource}
935 \index[general]{Example Restore Job Resource }
936 \index[general]{Resource!Example Restore Job }
941 Name = "RestoreFiles"
944 FileSet = "Any-FileSet"
945 Storage = Any-storage
946 Where = /tmp/bacula-restores
953 If {\bf Where} is not specified, the default location for restoring files will
954 be their original locations.
957 \section{File Selection Commands}
958 \index[general]{Commands!File Selection }
959 \index[general]{File Selection Commands }
961 After you have selected the Jobs to be restored and Bacula has created the
962 in-memory directory tree, you will enter file selection mode as indicated by
963 the dollar sign ({\bf \$}) prompt. While in this mode, you may use the
964 commands listed above. The basic idea is to move up and down the in memory
965 directory structure with the {\bf cd} command much as you normally do on the
966 system. Once you are in a directory, you may select the files that you want
967 restored. As a default no files are marked to be restored. If you wish to
968 start with all files, simply enter: {\bf cd /} and {\bf mark *}. Otherwise
969 proceed to select the files you wish to restore by marking them with the {\bf
970 mark} command. The available commands are:
975 The {\bf cd} command changes the current directory to the argument specified.
976 It operates much like the Unix {\bf cd} command. Wildcard specifications are
979 Note, on Windows systems, the various drives (c:, d:, ...) are treated like a
980 directory within the file tree while in the file selection mode. As a
981 consequence, you must do a {\bf cd c:} or possibly in some cases a {\bf cd
982 C:} (note upper case) to get down to the first directory.
986 The {\bf dir} command is similar to the {\bf ls} command, except that it
987 prints it in long format (all details). This command can be a bit slower
988 than the {\bf ls} command because it must access the catalog database for
989 the detailed information for each file.
992 \index[dir]{estimate }
993 The {\bf estimate} command prints a summary of the total files in the tree,
994 how many are marked to be restored, and an estimate of the number of bytes
995 to be restored. This can be useful if you are short on disk space on the
996 machine where the files will be restored.
1000 The {\bf find} command accepts one or more arguments and displays all files
1001 in the tree that match that argument. The argument may have wildcards. It is
1002 somewhat similar to the Unix command {\bf find / -name arg}.
1005 The {\bf ls} command produces a listing of all the files contained in the
1006 current directory much like the Unix {\bf ls} command. You may specify an
1007 argument containing wildcards, in which case only those files will be
1010 Any file that is marked to be restored will have its name preceded by an
1011 asterisk ({\bf *}). Directory names will be terminated with a forward slash
1012 ({\bf /}) to distinguish them from filenames.
1016 The {\bf lsmark} command is the same as the {\bf ls} except that it will
1017 print only those files marked for extraction. The other distinction is that
1018 it will recursively descend into any directory selected.
1022 The {\bf mark} command allows you to mark files to be restored. It takes a
1023 single argument which is the filename or directory name in the current
1024 directory to be marked for extraction. The argument may be a wildcard
1025 specification, in which case all files that match in the current directory
1026 are marked to be restored. If the argument matches a directory rather than a
1027 file, then the directory and all the files contained in that directory
1028 (recursively) are marked to be restored. Any marked file will have its name
1029 preceded with an asterisk ({\bf *}) in the output produced by the {\bf ls}
1031 {\bf dir} commands. Note, supplying a full path on the mark command does not
1032 work as expected to select a file or directory in the current directory.
1033 Also, the {\bf mark} command works on the current and lower directories but
1034 does not touch higher level directories.
1036 After executing the {\bf mark} command, it will print a brief summary:
1045 If no files were marked, or:
1054 if some files are marked.
1057 \index[dir]{unmark }
1058 The {\bf unmark} is identical to the {\bf mark} command, except that it
1059 unmarks the specified file or files so that they will not be restored. Note:
1060 the {\bf unmark} command works from the current directory, so it does not
1061 unmark any files at a higher level. First do a {\bf cd /} before the {\bf
1062 unmark *} command if you want to unmark everything.
1066 The {\bf pwd} command prints the current working directory. It accepts no
1071 The {\bf count} command prints the total files in the directory tree and the
1072 number of files marked to be restored.
1076 This command terminates file selection mode.
1080 This command terminates file selection mode (the same as done).
1084 This command terminates the file selection and does not run the restore
1090 This command prints a summary of the commands available.
1093 This command is the same as the {\bf help} command.
1096 If your filename contains some weird caracters, you can use \texttt{?},
1097 \texttt{*} or \textbackslash{}\textbackslash{}. For example, if your filename
1098 contains a \textbackslash{}, you can use
1099 \textbackslash{}\textbackslash{}\textbackslash{}\textbackslash{}.
1102 * mark weird_file\\\\with-backslash
1105 \label{database_restore}
1106 \section{Restoring When Things Go Wrong}
1107 \index[general]{Restoring When Things Go Wrong }
1108 \index[general]{Restoring Your Database}
1109 \index[general]{Database!Restoring}
1111 This and the following sections will try to present a few of the kinds of
1112 problems that can come up making restoring more difficult. We will try to
1113 provide a few ideas how to get out of these problem situations.
1114 In addition to what is presented here, there is more specific information
1115 on restoring a \ilink{Client}{restore_client} and your
1116 \ilink{Server}{restore_server} in the \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{RescueChapter} chapter of this manual.
1120 My database is broken.
1122 For SQLite, use the vacuum command to try to fix the database. For either
1123 MySQL or PostgreSQL, see the vendor's documentation. They have specific tools
1124 that check and repair databases, see the \ilink{database repair}{DatabaseRepair} sections of this manual for links to vendor
1127 Assuming the above does not resolve the problem, you will need to restore
1128 or rebuild your catalog. Note, if it is a matter of some
1129 inconsistencies in the Bacula tables rather than a broken database, then
1130 running the \borgxrlink{dbcheck}{dbcheck}{utility}{command}\footnote{\utilityman{}} might help, but you will need to ensure
1131 that your database indexes are properly setup. Please see
1132 the \ilink{Database Performance Issues}{DatabasePerformance} sections
1133 of this manual for more details.
1136 How do I restore my catalog?
1137 \item[Solution with a Catalog backup]
1138 If you have backed up your database nightly (as you should) and you
1139 have made a bootstrap file, you can immediately load back your
1140 database (or the ASCII SQL output). Make a copy of your current
1141 database, then re-initialize it, by running the following scripts:
1143 ./drop_bacula_tables
1144 ./make_bacula_tables
1146 After re-initializing the database, you should be able to run
1147 Bacula. If you now try to use the restore command, it will not
1148 work because the database will be empty. However, you can manually
1149 run a restore job and specify your bootstrap file. You do so
1150 by entering the {bf run} command in the console and selecting the
1151 restore job. If you are using the default bacula-dir.conf, this
1152 Job will be named {\bf RestoreFiles}. Most likely it will prompt
1153 you with something such as:
1158 JobName: RestoreFiles
1159 Bootstrap: /home/kern/bacula/working/restore.bsr
1160 Where: /tmp/bacula-restores
1165 When: 2005-07-10 17:33:40
1168 OK to run? (yes/mod/no):
1172 A number of the items will be different in your case. What you want to
1173 do is: to use the mod option to change the Bootstrap to point to your
1174 saved bootstrap file; and to make sure all the other items such as
1175 Client, Storage, Catalog, and Where are correct. The FileSet is not
1176 used when you specify a bootstrap file. Once you have set all the
1177 correct values, run the Job and it will restore the backup of your
1178 database, which is most likely an ASCII dump.
1180 You will then need to follow the instructions for your
1181 database type to recreate the database from the ASCII backup file.
1182 See the \ilink{Catalog Maintenance}{CatMaintenanceChapter} chapter of
1183 this manual for examples of the command needed to restore a
1184 database from an ASCII dump (they are shown in the Compacting Your
1185 XXX Database sections).
1187 Also, please note that after you restore your database from an ASCII
1188 backup, you do NOT want to do a {\bf make\_bacula\_tables} command, or
1189 you will probably erase your newly restored database tables.
1192 \item[Solution with a Job listing]
1193 If you did save your database but did not make a bootstrap file, then
1194 recovering the database is more difficult. You will probably need to
1195 use bextract to extract the backup copy. First you should locate the
1196 listing of the job report from the last catalog backup. It has
1197 important information that will allow you to quickly find your database
1198 file. For example, in the job report for the CatalogBackup shown below,
1199 the critical items are the Volume name(s), the Volume Session Id and the
1200 Volume Session Time. If you know those, you can easily restore your
1205 22-Apr 10:22 HeadMan: Start Backup JobId 7510,
1206 Job=CatalogBackup.2005-04-22_01.10.0
1207 22-Apr 10:23 HeadMan: Bacula 1.37.14 (21Apr05): 22-Apr-2005 10:23:06
1209 Job: CatalogBackup.2005-04-22_01.10.00
1212 FileSet: "CatalogFile" 2003-04-10 01:24:01
1215 Start time: 22-Apr-2005 10:21:00
1216 End time: 22-Apr-2005 10:23:06
1219 FD Bytes Written: 210,739,395
1220 SD Bytes Written: 210,739,521
1222 Software Compression: None
1223 Volume name(s): DLT-22Apr05
1224 Volume Session Id: 11
1225 Volume Session Time: 1114075126
1226 Last Volume Bytes: 1,428,240,465
1227 Non-fatal FD errors: 0
1229 FD termination status: OK
1230 SD termination status: OK
1231 Termination: Backup OK
1235 From the above information, you can manually create a bootstrap file,
1236 and then follow the instructions given above for restoring your database.
1237 A reconstructed bootstrap file for the above backup Job would look
1242 Volume="DLT-22Apr05"
1244 VolSessionTime=1114075126
1249 Where we have inserted the Volume name, Volume Session Id, and Volume
1250 Session Time that correspond to the values in the job report. We've also
1251 used a FileIndex of one, which will always be the case providing that
1252 there was only one file backed up in the job.
1254 The disadvantage of this bootstrap file compared to what is created when
1255 you ask for one to be written, is that there is no File and Block
1256 specified, so the restore code must search all data in the Volume to find
1257 the requested file. A fully specified bootstrap file would have the File
1258 and Blocks specified as follows:
1262 Volume="DLT-22Apr05"
1264 VolSessionTime=1114075126
1271 Once you have restored the ASCII dump of the database,
1272 you will then to follow the instructions for your
1273 database type to recreate the database from the ASCII backup file.
1274 See the \ilink{Catalog Maintenance}{CatMaintenanceChapter} chapter of
1275 this manual for examples of the command needed to restore a
1276 database from an ASCII dump (they are shown in the Compacting Your
1277 XXX Database sections).
1279 Also, please note that after you restore your database from an ASCII
1280 backup, you do NOT want to do a {\bf make\_bacula\_tables} command, or
1281 you will probably erase your newly restored database tables.
1283 \item [Solution without a Job Listing]
1284 If you do not have a job listing, then it is a bit more difficult.
1285 Either you use the \borgxrlink{bscan}{bscan}{utility}{program} to scan the contents
1286 of your tape into a database, which can be very time consuming
1287 depending on the size of the tape, or you can use the \borgxrlink{bls}{bls}{utility}{program}
1288 to list everything on the tape, and reconstruct a bootstrap
1289 file from the bls listing for the file or files you want following
1290 the instructions given above.
1292 There is a specific example of how to use {\bf bls} below.
1295 I try to restore the last known good full backup by specifying
1296 item 3 on the restore menu then the JobId to restore. Bacula
1304 and restores nothing.
1307 Most likely the File records were pruned from the database either due
1308 to the File Retention period expiring or by explicitly purging the
1309 Job. By using the "llist jobid=nn" command, you can obtain all the
1310 important information about the job:
1316 Job: save.2005-12-05_18.27.33
1324 SchedTime: 2005-12-05 18:27:32
1325 StartTime: 2005-12-05 18:27:35
1326 EndTime: 2005-12-05 18:27:37
1327 JobTDate: 1133803657
1329 VolSessionTime: 1133803624
1336 FileSet.FileSet: BackupSet
1340 Then you can find the Volume(s) used by doing:
1345 select VolumeName from JobMedia,Media where JobId=1 and JobMedia.MediaId=Media.MediaId;
1349 Finally, you can create a bootstrap file as described in the previous
1350 problem above using this information.
1352 If you are using Bacula version 1.38.0 or greater, when you select
1353 item 3 from the menu and enter the JobId, it will ask you if
1354 you would like to restore all the files in the job, and it will
1355 collect the above information and write the bootstrap file for
1359 You don't have a bootstrap file, and you don't have the Job report for
1360 the backup of your database, but you did backup the database, and you
1361 know the Volume to which it was backed up.
1364 Either bscan the tape (see below for bscanning), or better use {\bf bls}
1365 to find where it is on the tape, then use {\bf bextract} to
1366 restore the database. For example,
1371 ./bls -j -V DLT-22Apr05 /dev/nst0
1374 Might produce the following output:
1377 bls: butil.c:258 Using device: "/dev/nst0" for reading.
1378 21-Jul 18:34 bls: Ready to read from volume "DLT-22Apr05" on device "DLTDrive"
1380 Volume Record: File:blk=0:0 SessId=11 SessTime=1114075126 JobId=0 DataLen=164
1382 Begin Job Session Record: File:blk=118:0 SessId=11 SessTime=1114075126
1384 Job=CatalogBackup.2005-04-22_01.10.0 Date=22-Apr-2005 10:21:00 Level=F Type=B
1385 End Job Session Record: File:blk=118:4053 SessId=11 SessTime=1114075126
1387 Date=22-Apr-2005 10:23:06 Level=F Type=B Files=1 Bytes=210,739,395 Errors=0
1390 21-Jul 18:34 bls: End of Volume at file 201 on device "DLTDrive" (/dev/nst0),
1391 Volume "DLT-22Apr05"
1392 21-Jul 18:34 bls: End of all volumes.
1395 Of course, there will be many more records printed, but we have indicated
1396 the essential lines of output. From the information on the Begin Job and End
1397 Job Session Records, you can reconstruct a bootstrap file such as the one
1401 How can I find where a file is stored.
1403 Normally, it is not necessary, you just use the {\bf restore} command to
1404 restore the most recently saved version (menu option 5), or a version
1405 saved before a given date (menu option 8). If you know the JobId of the
1406 job in which it was saved, you can use menu option 3 to enter that JobId.
1408 If you would like to know the JobId where a file was saved, select
1409 restore menu option 2.
1411 You can also use the {\bf query} command to find information such as:
1416 1: List up to 20 places where a File is saved regardless of the
1418 2: List where the most recent copies of a file are saved
1419 3: List last 20 Full Backups for a Client
1420 4: List all backups for a Client after a specified time
1421 5: List all backups for a Client
1422 6: List Volume Attributes for a selected Volume
1423 7: List Volumes used by selected JobId
1424 8: List Volumes to Restore All Files
1425 9: List Pool Attributes for a selected Pool
1426 10: List total files/bytes by Job
1427 11: List total files/bytes by Volume
1428 12: List Files for a selected JobId
1429 13: List Jobs stored on a selected MediaId
1430 14: List Jobs stored for a given Volume name
1431 15: List Volumes Bacula thinks are in changer
1432 16: List Volumes likely to need replacement from age or errors
1433 Choose a query (1-16):
1438 I didn't backup my database. What do I do now?
1440 This is probably the worst of all cases, and you will probably have
1441 to re-create your database from scratch and then bscan in all your
1442 Volumes, which is a very long, painful, and inexact process.
1444 There are basically three steps to take:
1447 \item Ensure that your SQL server is running (MySQL or PostgreSQL)
1448 and that the Bacula database (normally bacula) exists. See the
1449 \ilink{Installation}{CreateDatabase} chapter of the manual.
1450 \item Ensure that the Bacula databases are created. This is also
1451 described at the above link.
1452 \item Start and stop the Bacula Director using the propriate
1453 bacula-dir.conf file so that it can create the Client and
1454 Storage records which are not stored on the Volumes. Without these
1455 records, scanning is unable to connect the Job records to the proper
1459 When the above is complete, you can begin bscanning your Volumes. Please
1460 see the \borgxrlink{bscan}{bscan}{utility}{section} of the \utilityman{}.