3 % TODO: maybe merge all this FAQ in with the appropriate section?
4 % TODO: and use detailed indexing to help reader
6 \chapter{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions}
8 \index[general]{Questions!Bacula Frequently Asked }
9 \index[general]{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions }
11 These are questions that have been submitted over time by the
12 Bacula users. The following
13 FAQ is very useful, but it is not always up to date
14 with newer information, so after reading it, if you don't find what you
15 want, you might try the Bacula wiki maintained by Frank Sweetser, which
16 contains more than just a FAQ:
17 \elink{http://wiki.bacula.org}{\url{http://wiki.bacula.org}}
18 or go directly to the FAQ at:
19 \elink{http://wiki.bacula.org/doku.php?id=faq}
20 {\url{http://wiki.bacula.org/doku.php?id=faq}}.
23 \ilink{the bugs section}{BugsChapter} of this document for a list
24 of known bugs and solutions.
28 \section{What is Bacula?}
29 \item [What is {\bf Bacula}? ]
30 \index[general]{What is Bacula? }
31 {\bf Bacula} is a network backup and restore program.
33 \section{Does Bacula support Windows?}
34 \item [Does Bacula support Windows?]
35 \index[general]{Does Bacula support Windows? }
36 Yes, Bacula compiles and runs on Windows machines (Win98, WinMe, WinXP,
37 WinNT, Win2003, and Win2000). We provide a binary version of the Client
38 (bacula-fd), but have not tested the Director nor the Storage daemon.
39 Note, Win95 is no longer supported because it doesn't have the
40 GetFileAttributesExA API call.
44 \section{What language is Bacula written in?}
45 \item [What language is Bacula written in?]
46 \index[general]{What language is Bacula written in? }
47 It is written in C++, but it is mostly C code using only a limited set of
48 the C++ extensions over C. Thus Bacula is completely compiled using the
49 C++ compiler. There are several modules, including the Win32 interface, that
50 are written using the object oriented C++ features. Over time, we are slowly
51 adding a larger subset of C++.
54 \section{On what machines does Bacula run?}
55 \item [On what machines does Bacula run? ]
56 \index[general]{On what machines does Bacula run? }
57 {\bf Bacula} builds and executes on Red Hat Linux (versions RH7.1-RHEL
58 4.0, Fedora, SuSE, Gentoo, Debian, Mandriva, ...), FreeBSD, Solaris,
59 Alpha, SGI (client), NetBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS X (client), and Win32.
61 Bacula has been my only backup tool for over seven years backing up 8
62 machines nightly (6 Linux boxes running SuSE, previously
63 Red Hat and Fedora, a WinXP machine, and a WinNT machine).
67 \section{Is Bacula Stable?}
68 \item [Is Bacula Stable? ]
69 \index[general]{Is Bacula Stable? }
70 Yes, it is remarkably stable, but remember, there are still a lot of
71 unimplemented or partially implemented features. With a program of this
72 size (150,000+ lines of C++ code not including the SQL programs) there
73 are bound to be bugs. The current test environment (a twisted pair
74 local network and a HP DLT backup tape) is not exactly ideal, so
75 additional testing on other sites is necessary. The File daemon has
76 never crashed -- running months at a time with no intervention. The
77 Storage daemon is remarkably stable with most of the problems arising
78 during labeling or switching tapes. Storage daemon crashes are rare
79 but running multiple drives and simultaneous jobs sometimes (rarely)
81 The Director, given the multitude of functions it fulfills is also
82 relatively stable. In a production environment, it rarely if ever
83 crashes. Of the three daemons, the Director is the most prone to having
84 problems. Still, it frequently runs several months with no problems.
86 There are a number of reasons for this stability.
89 \item The program is constantly checking the chain of allocated
90 memory buffers to ensure that no overruns have occurred. \\
91 \item All memory leaks (orphaned buffers) are reported each time the
93 \item Any signal (segmentation fault, ...) generates a
94 traceback that is emailed to the developer. This permits quick
95 resolution of bugs even if they only show up rarely in a production
97 \item There is a reasonably comprehensive set of regression tests
98 that avoids re-creating the most common errors in new versions of
102 \label{AuthorizationErrors}
103 \section{I'm Getting Authorization Errors. What is Going On? }
104 \item [I'm Getting Authorization Errors. What is Going On? ]
105 \index[general]{Authorization Errors}
106 \index[general]{Concurrent Jobs}
107 For security reasons, Bacula requires that both the File daemon and the
108 Storage daemon know the name of the Director as well as its password. As a
109 consequence, if you change the Director's name or password, you must make
110 the corresponding change in the Storage daemon's and in the File daemon's
113 During the authorization process, the Storage daemon and File daemon
114 also require that the Director authenticates itself, so both ends
115 require the other to have the correct name and password.
117 If you have edited the conf files and modified any name or any password,
118 and you are getting authentication errors, then your best bet is to go
119 back to the original conf files generated by the Bacula installation
120 process. Make only the absolutely necessary modifications to these
121 files -- e.g. add the correct email address. Then follow the
122 instructions in the \ilink{ Running Bacula}{TutorialChapter} chapter of
123 this manual. You will run a backup to disk and a restore. Only when
124 that works, should you begin customization of the conf files.
126 Another reason that you can get authentication errors is if you are
127 running Multiple Concurrent Jobs in the Director, but you have not set
128 them in the File daemon or the Storage daemon. Once you reach their
129 limit, they will reject the connection producing authentication (or
132 If you are having problems connecting to a Windows machine that
133 previously worked, you might try restarting the Bacula service since
134 Windows frequently encounters networking connection problems.
136 Some users report that authentication fails if there is not a proper
137 reverse DNS lookup entry for the machine. This seems to be a
138 requirement of gethostbyname(), which is what Bacula uses to translate
139 names into IP addresses. If you cannot add a reverse DNS entry, or you
140 don't know how to do so, you can avoid the problem by specifying an IP
141 address rather than a machine name in the appropriate Bacula conf file.
143 Here is a picture that indicates what names/passwords in which
144 files/Resources must match up:
146 \includegraphics{./Conf-Diagram.eps}
148 In the left column, you will find the Director, Storage, and Client
149 resources, with their names and passwords -- these are all in {\bf
150 bacula-dir.conf}. The right column is where the corresponding values
151 should be found in the Console, Storage daemon (SD), and File daemon (FD)
154 Another thing to check is to ensure that the Bacula component you are
155 trying to access has {\bf Maximum Concurrent Jobs} set large enough to
156 handle each of the Jobs and the Console that want to connect
157 simultaneously. Once the maximum connections has been reached, each
158 Bacula component will reject all new connections.
160 Finally, make sure you have no {\bf hosts.allow} or {\bf hosts.deny}
161 file that is not permitting access to the site trying to connect.
163 \label{AccessProblems}
164 \section{Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine.
166 \item [Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine.
168 \index[general]{Cannot Access a Client}
169 There are several reasons why Bacula could not contact a client on a
170 different machine. They are:
173 \item It is a Windows Client, and the client died because of an improper
174 configuration file. Check that the Bacula icon is in the system tray and the
175 the menu items work. If the client has died, the icon will disappear only
176 when you move the mouse over the icon.
177 \item The Client address or port is incorrect or not resolved by DNS. See if
178 you can ping the client machine using the same address as in the Client
180 \item You have a firewall, and it is blocking traffic on port 9102 between
181 the Director's machine and the Client's machine (or on port 9103 between the
182 Client and the Storage daemon machines).
183 \item Your password or names are not correct in both the Director and the
184 Client machine. Try configuring everything identical to how you run the
185 client on the same machine as the Director, but just change the Address. If
186 that works, make the other changes one step at a time until it works.
187 \item You may also be having problems between your File daemon and your
188 Storage daemon. The name you use in the Storage resource of your
189 Director's conf file must be known (resolvable) by the File daemon,
190 because it is passed symbolically to the File daemon, which then
191 resolves it to get an IP address used to contact the Storage daemon.
192 \item You may have a {\bf hosts.allow} or {\bf hosts.deny} file that is
193 not permitting access.
197 \section{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over?}
198 \item [My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? ]
199 \index[general]{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? }
200 If you are using MySQL do the following:
204 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats
211 If you are using SQLite, do the following:
215 Delete bacula.db from your working directory.
216 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats
223 Then write an EOF on each tape you used with {\bf Bacula} using:
227 mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
232 where you need to adjust the device name for your system.
235 \section{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?}
236 \item [I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?]
237 \index[general]{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do? }
238 On Bacula version 1.25 and prior, it expects you to have the correct
239 tape mounted prior to a restore. On Bacula version 1.26 and higher, it
240 will ask you for the tape, and if the wrong one is mounted, it will
243 If you have previously done an {\bf unmount} command, all Storage daemon
244 sessions (jobs) will be completely blocked from using the drive
245 unmounted, so be sure to do a {\bf mount} after your unmount. If in
246 doubt, do a second {\bf mount}, it won't cause any harm.
249 \section{I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? }
250 \item [I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? ]
251 \index[general]{Windows Auto Start}
252 You are probably having one of two problems: either the Client is dying
253 due to an incorrect configuration file, or you didn't do the
254 Installation commands necessary to install it as a Windows Service.
256 For the first problem, see the next FAQ question. For the second
257 problem, please review the \ilink{ Windows Installation
258 instructions}{Win32Chapter} in this manual.
261 \section{My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It}
262 \item [My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It]
263 \index[general]{Windows Client Dies}
264 The most common problem is either that the configuration file is not where
265 it expects it to be, or that there is an error in the configuration file.
266 You must have the configuration file in {\bf
267 c:\textbackslash{}bacula\textbackslash{}bin\textbackslash{}bacula-fd.conf}.
269 To {\bf see} what is going on when the File daemon starts on Windows, do the
274 Start a DOS shell Window.
276 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf
281 This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current
282 directory, which you can examine and thereby determine the problem.
285 \item [When I Start the Console, the Error Messages Fly By. How can I see
287 \index[general]{Error Messages}
288 Either use a shell window with a scroll bar, or use the gnome-console.
289 In any case, you probably should be logging all output to a file, and
290 then you can simply view the file using an editor or the {\bf less}
291 program. To log all output, I have the following in my Director's
292 Message resource definition:
296 append = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/log" = all, !skipped
301 Obviously you will want to change the filename to be appropriate for your
305 \section{My backups are not working on my Windows
306 Client. What should I do?}
307 \item [I didn't realize that the backups were not working on my Windows
308 Client. What should I do? ]
309 \index[general]{Backups Failing}
310 You should be sending yourself an email message for each job. This will avoid
311 the possibility of not knowing about a failed backup. To do so put something
316 Mail = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped
321 in your Director's message resource. You should then receive one email for
322 each Job that ran. When you are comfortable with what is going on (it took
323 me 9 months), you might change that to:
327 MailOnError = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped
332 then you only get email messages when a Job errors as is the case for your
335 You should also be logging the Director's messages, please see the previous
336 FAQ for how to do so.
339 \section{All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause
341 \item [All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause
343 \index[general]{Schedule problems}
344 No, not at all. Bacula will schedule all the Jobs at the same time, but
345 will run them one after another unless you have increased the number of
346 simultaneous jobs in the configuration files for the Director, the File
347 daemon, and the Storage daemon. The appropriate configuration record is
348 {\bf Maximum Concurrent Jobs = nn}. At the current time, we recommend
349 that you leave this set to {\bf 1} for the Director.
352 \section{Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape?}
353 \item [Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape? ]
354 \index[general]{Backup to Disk}
355 Yes, in principle, Bacula can backup to any storage medium as long as
356 you have correctly defined that medium in the Storage daemon's Device
357 resource. For an example of how to backup to files, please see the
358 \ilink{Pruning Example}{PruningExample} in the Recycling chapter of this
359 manual. Also, there is a whole chapter devoted to \ilink{Basic Volume
360 Management}{DiskChapter}. This chapter was originally written to
361 explain how to write to disk, but was expanded to include volume
362 management. It is, however, still quite a good chapter to read.
365 \section{Can I use a dummy device to test the backup?}
366 Yes, to have a {\sl Virtual} device which just consumes data, you can use a
367 FIFO device (see \ilink{Stored configuration}{SetupFifo}).
368 It's useful to test a backup.
375 Archive Device = /dev/null
387 \section{Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Bigger than 2 Gigabytes?}
388 \item [Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Bigger than 2 Gigabytes?]
389 \index[general]{Large file support}
390 If your operating system permits it, and you are running Bacula version
391 1.26 or later, the answer is yes. To the best of our knowledge all client
392 system supported by Bacula can handle files bigger 2 Gigabytes.
395 \section{I want to stop a job.}
396 %% Is there a better way than "./bacula stop" to stop it?}
397 \item [I Started A Job then Decided I Really Did Not Want to Run It. Is
398 there a better way than {\bf ./bacula stop} to stop it?]
399 \index[general]{Cancelling jobs}
400 Yes, you normally should use the Console command {\bf cancel} to cancel
401 a Job that is either scheduled or running. If the Job is scheduled, it
402 will be marked for cancellation and will be canceled when it is
403 scheduled to start. If it is running, it will normally terminate after
404 a few minutes. If the Job is waiting on a tape mount, you may need to
405 do a {\bf mount} command before it will be canceled.
408 \section{Why have You Trademarked the Name Bacula?}
409 \item [Why have You Trademarked the Name
410 Bacula\raisebox{.6ex}{{\footnotesize \textsuperscript{\textregistered}}}?]
411 \index[general]{Bacula Trademark}
412 We have trademarked the name Bacula to ensure that all media written by any
413 program named Bacula will always be compatible. Anyone may use the name
414 Bacula, even in a derivative product as long as it remains totally compatible
415 in all respects with the program defined here.
418 \section{Why is the Online Document for Version 1.39 but the Released Version is 1.38?}
419 \item [Why is the Online Document for Version 1.39 of Bacula when the
420 Current Version is 1.38?]
421 \index[general]{Multiple manuals}
422 As Bacula is being developed, the document is also being enhanced, more
423 often than not it has clarifications of existing features that can be very
424 useful to our users, so we publish the very latest document. Fortunately
425 it is rare that there are confusions with new features.
427 If you want to read a document that pertains only to a specific version,
428 please use the one distributed in the source code. The web site also has
429 online versions of both the released manual and the current development
433 \section{Does Bacula really save and restore all files?}
434 \item [How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores All Files? ]
435 \index[general]{Checking Restores}
436 It is really quite simple, but took me a while to figure
437 out how to "prove" it. First make a Bacula Rescue disk, see the
438 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{RescueChapter} chapter
440 Second, you run a full backup of all your files on all partitions.
441 Third, you run an Verify InitCatalog Job on the same FileSet, which
442 effectively makes a record of all the files on your system. Fourth, you
443 run a Verify Catalog job and assure yourself that nothing has changed
444 (well, between an InitCatalog and Catalog one doesn't expect anything).
445 Then do the unthinkable, write zeros on your MBR (master boot record)
446 wiping out your hard disk. Now, restore your whole system using your
447 Bacula Rescue disk and the Full backup you made, and finally re-run the
448 Verify Catalog job. You will see that with the exception of the
449 directory modification and access dates and the files changed during the
450 boot, your system is identical to what it was before you wiped your hard
452 Alternatively you could do the wiping and restoring to another computer
456 \section{I want an Incremental but Bacula runs it as a Full backup. Why?}
457 \item [I did a Full backup last week, but now in running an Incremental,
458 Bacula says it did not find a FULL backup, so it did a FULL backup. Why?]
459 \index[general]{FULL backup not found}
460 Before doing an Incremental or a Differential
461 backup, Bacula checks to see if there was a prior Full backup of the
462 same Job that terminated successfully. If so, it uses the date that
463 full backup started as the time for comparing if files have changed. If
464 Bacula does not find a successful full backup, it proceeds to do one.
465 Perhaps you canceled the full backup, or it terminated in error. In
466 such cases, the full backup will not be successful. You can check by
467 entering {\bf list jobs} and look to see if there is a prior Job with
468 the same Name that has Level F and JobStatus T (normal termination).
470 Another reason why Bacula may not find a suitable Full backup is that
471 every time you change the FileSet, Bacula will require a new Full
472 backup. This is necessary to ensure that all files are properly backed
473 up in the case where you have added more files to the FileSet.
474 Beginning with version 1.31, the FileSets are also dated when they are
475 created, and this date is displayed with the name when you are listing
476 or selecting a FileSet. For more on backup levels see below.
478 See also {\bf Ignore FileSet Changes} in the
479 \ilink{FileSet Resource definition}{FileSetResource} in the Director
480 chapter of this document.
482 \label{filenamelengths}
483 \section{Do you really handle unlimited path lengths?}
484 \item [How Can You Claim to Handle Unlimited Path and Filename Lengths
485 when All Other Programs Have Fixed Limits?]
486 \index[general]{Path and Filename Lengths}
487 Most of those other programs have been around for a long time, in fact
488 since the beginning of Unix, which means that they were designed for
489 rather small fixed length path and filename lengths. Over the years,
490 these restrictions have been relaxed allowing longer names. Bacula on
491 the other hand was designed in 2000, and so from the start, Path and
492 Filenames have been kept in buffers that start at 256 bytes in length,
493 but can grow as needed to handle any length. Most of the work is
494 carried out by lower level routines making the coding rather easy.
496 Note that due to limitations Win32 path and filenames cannot exceed
497 260 characters. By using Win32 Unicode functions, we will remove this
498 restriction in later versions of Bacula.
501 \section{What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?}
502 \item [What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?]
503 \index[general]{Unique Feature of Bacula}
504 Well, it is hard to come up with unique features when backup programs
505 for Unix machines have been around since the 1960s. That said, I
506 believe that Bacula is the first and only program to use a standard SQL
507 interface to catalog its database. Although this adds a bit of
508 complexity and possibly overhead, it provides an amazingly rich set of
509 features that are easy to program and enhance. The current code has
510 barely scratched the surface in this regard (version 1.38).
512 The second feature, which gives a lot of power and flexibility to Bacula
513 is the Bootstrap record definition.
515 The third unique feature, which is currently (1.30) unimplemented, and
516 thus can be called vaporware :-), is Base level saves. When
517 implemented, this will enormously reduce tape usage.
520 \section{How can I force one job to run after another?}
521 \item [If I Run Multiple Simultaneous Jobs, How Can I Force One
522 Particular Job to Run After Another Job? ]
523 \index[general]{Multiple Simultaneous Jobs}
524 Yes, you can set Priorities on your jobs so that they run in the order you
526 \ilink{the Priority record}{Priority} in the Job resource.
529 \section{I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? }
530 \item [I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? ]
531 \index[general]{No Email Notification}
532 The most common problem is that you have not specified a fully qualified
533 email address and your bsmtp server is rejecting the mail. The next
534 most common problem is that your bsmtp server doesn't like the syntax on
535 the From part of the message. For more details on this and other
536 problems, please see the \ilink{ Getting Email Notification to
537 Work}{email} section of the Tips chapter of this manual. The section
538 \ilink{ Getting Notified of Job Completion}{notification} of the Tips
539 chapter may also be useful. For more information on the {\bf bsmtp}
540 mail program, please see \ilink{bsmtp in the Volume Utility Tools
541 chapter}{bsmtp} of this manual.
544 \section{My retention periods don't work}
545 \item [I Change Recycling, Retention Periods, or File Sizes in my Pool
546 Resource and they Still Don't Work.]
547 \index[general]{Recycling}
548 \index[general]{Retention Periods}
549 \index[general]{Pool changes}
550 The different variables associated with a Pool are defined in the Pool
551 Resource, but are actually read by Bacula from the Catalog database. On
552 Bacula versions prior to 1.30, after changing your Pool Resource, you must
553 manually update the corresponding values in the Catalog by using the {\bf
554 update pool} command in the Console program. In Bacula version 1.30, Bacula
555 does this for you automatically every time it starts.
557 When Bacula creates a Media record (Volume), it uses many default values from
558 the Pool record. If you subsequently change the Pool record, the new values
559 will be used as a default for the next Volume that is created, but if you
560 want the new values to apply to existing Volumes, you must manually update
561 the Volume Catalog entry using the {\bf update volume} command in the Console
564 \label{CompressionNotWorking}
565 \section{Why aren't my files compressed?}
566 \item [I Have Configured Compression On, But None of My Files Are
568 \index[general]{Compression}
569 There are two kinds of compression. One is tape compression. This is done by
570 the tape drive hardware, and you either enable or disable it with system
571 tools such as {\bf mt}. This compression works independently of Bacula,
572 and when it is enabled, you should not use the Bacula software
575 Bacula also has software compression code in the File daemons, which you
576 normally need to enable only when backing up to file Volumes. There are
577 two conditions necessary to enable the Bacula software compression.
580 \item You must have the zip development libraries loaded on your system
581 when building Bacula and Bacula must find this library, normally {\bf
582 /usr/lib/libz.a}. On Red Hat systems, this library is provided by the
583 {\bf zlib-devel} rpm.
585 If the library is found by Bacula during the {\bf ./configure} it will
586 be mentioned in the {\bf config.out} line by:
595 \item You must add the {\bf compression=gzip} option on your Include
596 statement in the Director's configuration file.
600 \item [Bacula is Asking for a New Tape After 2 GB of Data but My Tape
602 \index[general]{Tape capacity}
603 There are several reasons why Bacula will request a new tape.
606 \item There is an I/O error on the tape. Bacula prints an error message and
607 requests a new tape. Bacula does not attempt to continue writing after an
609 \item Bacula encounters and end of medium on the tape. This is not always
610 distinguishable from an I/O error.
611 \item You have specifically set some size limitation on the tape. For example
612 the {\bf Maximum Volume Bytes} or {\bf Maximum Volume Files} in the
613 Director's Pool resource, or {\bf Maximum Volume Size} in the Storage
614 daemon's Device resource.
617 \label{LevelChanging}
618 \section{Incremental backups are not working}
619 \item [Bacula is Not Doing the Right Thing When I Request an Incremental
621 \index[general]{Incremental backups}
622 As explained in one of the previous questions, Bacula will automatically
623 upgrade an Incremental or Differential job to a Full backup if it cannot
624 find a prior Full backup or a suitable Full backup. For the gory
625 details on how/when Bacula decides to upgrade levels please see the
626 \ilink{Level record}{Level} in the Director's configuration chapter of
629 If after reading the above mentioned section, you believe that Bacula is not
630 correctly handling the level (Differential/Incremental), please send us the
631 following information for analysis:
634 \item Your Director's configuration file.
635 \item The output from {\bf list jobs} covering the period where you are
637 \item The Job report output from the prior Full save (not critical).
638 \item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the prior Full save.
640 \item The Job report output from the save that is doing the wrong thing (not
642 \item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the job that was not
644 \item An explanation of what job went wrong and why you think it did.
647 The above information can allow us to analyze what happened, without it,
648 there is not much we can do.
651 \section{I am waiting forever for a backup of an offsite machine}
652 \item [I am Backing Up an Offsite Machine with an Unreliable Connection.
653 The Director Waits Forever for the Client to Contact the SD. What Can I
655 \index[general]{Backing Up Offsite Machines}
656 Bacula was written on the assumption that it will have a good TCP/IP
657 connection between all the daemons. As a consequence, the current
658 Bacula doesn't deal with faulty connections very well. This situation
659 is slowly being corrected over time.
661 There are several things you can do to improve the situation.
664 \item Upgrade to version 1.32 and use the new SDConnectTimeout record. For
669 SD Connect Timeout = 5 min
674 in the FileDaemon resource.
675 \item Run these kinds of jobs after all other jobs.
679 \section{SSH hangs forever after starting Bacula}
680 \item [When I ssh into a machine and start Bacula then attempt to exit,
682 \index[general]{ssh hangs}
683 This happens because Bacula leaves stdin, stdout, and stderr open for
684 debug purposes. To avoid it, the simplest thing to do is to redirect
685 the output of those files to {\bf /dev/null} or another file in your
686 startup script (the Red Hat autostart scripts do this automatically).
687 For example, you start the Director with:
691 bacula-dir -c bacula-dir.conf ... >/dev/null 0>\&1 2>\&1
696 and likewise for the other daemons.
698 \label{RetentionPeriods}
699 \section{I'm confused by retention periods}
700 \item [I'm confused by the different Retention periods: File Retention,
701 Job Retention, Volume Retention. Why are there so many?]
702 \index[general]{Retention Periods}
703 Yes, this certainly can be confusing. The basic reason for so many is
704 to allow flexibility. The File records take quite a lot of space in the
705 catalog, so they are typically records you want to remove rather
706 quickly. The Job records, take very little space, and they can be
707 useful even without the File records to see what Jobs actually ran and
708 when. One must understand that if the File records are removed from the
709 catalog, you cannot use the {\bf restore} command to restore an
710 individual file since Bacula no longer knows where it is. However, as
711 long as the Volume Retention period has not expired, the data will still
712 be on the tape, and can be recovered from the tape.
714 For example, I keep a 30 day retention period for my Files to keep my
715 catalog from getting too big, but I keep my tapes for a minimum of one
718 \label{MaxVolumeSize}
719 \section{MaxVolumeSize is ignored}
720 \item [Why Does Bacula Ignore the MaxVolumeSize Set in my Pool?]
721 \index[general]{MaxVolumeSize}
722 The MaxVolumeSize that Bacula uses comes from the Media record, so most
723 likely you changed your Pool, which is used as the default for creating
724 Media records, {\bf after} you created your Volume. Check what is in
725 the Media record by doing:
733 If it doesn't have the right value, you can use:
743 \label{ConnectionRefused}
744 \section{I get a Connection refused when connecting to my Client}
745 \item [In connecting to my Client, I get "ERR:Connection Refused. Packet
746 Size too big from File daemon:192.168.1.4:9102" Why?]
747 \index[general]{ERR:Connection Refused}
748 This is typically a communications error resulting from one of the
753 \item Old versions of Bacula, usually a Win32 client, where two threads were
754 using the same I/O packet. Fixed in more recent versions. Please upgrade.
755 \item Some other program such as an HP Printer using the same port (9102 in
759 If it is neither of the above, please submit a bug report at
760 \elink{bugs.bacula.org}{http://bugs.bacula.org}.
762 Another solution might be to run the daemon with the debug option by:
766 Start a DOS shell Window.
768 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf
773 This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current
774 directory, which you can examine to determine the problem.
776 \section{Long running jobs die with Pipe Error}
777 \item [During long running jobs my File daemon dies with Pipe Error, or
778 some other communications error. Why?]
779 \index[general]{Communications Errors}
780 \index[general]{Pipe Errors}
781 \index[general]{slow}
782 \index[general]{Backups!slow}
783 There are a number of reasons why a connection might break.
784 Most often, it is a router between your two computers that times out
785 inactive lines (not respecting the keepalive feature that Bacula uses).
786 In that case, you can use the {\bf Heartbeat Interval} directive in
787 both the Storage daemon and the File daemon.
789 In at least one case, the problem has been a bad driver for a Win32
790 NVidia NForce 3 ethernet card with driver (4.4.2 17/05/2004).
791 In this case, a good driver is (4.8.2.0 06/04/2005). Moral of
792 the story, make sure you have the latest ethernet drivers
793 loaded, or use the following workaround as suggested by Thomas
794 Simmons for Win32 machines:
797 Start \gt{} Control Panel \gt{} Network Connections
799 Right click the connection for the nvidia adapter and select properties.
800 Under the General tab, click "Configure...". Under the Advanced tab set
801 "Checksum Offload" to disabled and click OK to save the change.
803 Lack of communications, or communications that get interrupted can
804 also be caused by Linux firewalls where you have a rule that throttles
805 connections or traffic. For example, if you have:
809 iptables -t filter -A INPUT -m limit --limit 3/second --limit-burst 3 -j DROP
813 you will want to add the following rules {\bf before} the above rule:
816 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9101 -j ACCEPT
817 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9102 -j ACCEPT
818 iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9103 -j ACCEPT
821 This will ensure that any Bacula traffic will not get terminated because
824 \section{How do I tell the Job which Volume to use?}
825 \item[I can't figure out how to tell the job which volume to use]
826 \index[general]{What tape to mount}
827 This is an interesting statement. I now see that a number of people new to
828 Bacula have the same problem as you, probably from using programs like tar.
830 In fact, you do not tell Bacula what tapes to use. It is the inverse. Bacula
831 tells you want tapes it wants. You put tapes at its disposition and it
834 Now, if you *really* want to be tricky and try to tell Bacula what to do, it
835 will be reasonable if for example you mount a valid tape that it can use on a
836 drive, it will most likely go ahead and use it. It also has a documented
837 algorithm for choosing tapes -- but you are asking for problems ...
839 So, the trick is to invert your concept of things and put Bacula in charge of
840 handling the tapes. Once you do that, you will be fine. If you want to
841 anticipate what it is going to do, you can generally figure it out correctly
842 and get what you want.
844 If you start with the idea that you are going to force or tell Bacula to use
845 particular tapes or you insist on trying to run in that kind of mode, you will
846 probably not be too happy.
848 I don't want to worry about what tape has what data. That is what Bacula is
851 If you have an application where you *really* need to remove a tape each day
852 and insert a new one, it can be done the directives exist to accomplish that.
853 In such a case, one little "trick" to knowing what tape Bacula will want at
854 2am while you are asleep is to run a tiny job at 4pm while you are still at
855 work that backs up say one directory, or even one file. You will quickly find
856 out what tape it wants, and you can mount it before you go home ...
858 \label{Password generation}
859 \section{Password generation}
860 \item [How do I generate a password?]
861 \index[general]{MaxVolumeSize}
863 Each daemon needs a password. This password occurs in the configuration
864 file for that daemon and in the bacula-dir.conf file. These passwords are
865 plain text. There is no special generation procedure. Most people just
868 Passwords are never sent over the wire in plain text. They are always
871 Security surrounding these passwords is best left security to your
872 operating system. Passwords are not encrypted within Bacula