+
+Item 25: Add a scheduling syntax that permits weekly rotations
+ Date: 15 December 2006
+ Origin: Gregory Brauer (greg at wildbrain dot com)
+ Status:
+
+ What: Currently, Bacula only understands how to deal with weeks of the
+ month or weeks of the year in schedules. This makes it impossible
+ to do a true weekly rotation of tapes. There will always be a
+ discontinuity that will require disruptive manual intervention at
+ least monthly or yearly because week boundaries never align with
+ month or year boundaries.
+
+ A solution would be to add a new syntax that defines (at least)
+ a start timestamp, and repetition period.
+
+ Why: Rotated backups done at weekly intervals are useful, and Bacula
+ cannot currently do them without extensive hacking.
+
+ Notes: Here is an example syntax showing a 3-week rotation where full
+ Backups would be performed every week on Saturday, and an
+ incremental would be performed every week on Tuesday. Each
+ set of tapes could be removed from the loader for the following
+ two cycles before coming back and being reused on the third
+ week. Since the execution times are determined by intervals
+ from a given point in time, there will never be any issues with
+ having to adjust to any sort of arbitrary time boundary. In
+ the example provided, I even define the starting schedule
+ as crossing both a year and a month boundary, but the run times
+ would be based on the "Repeat" value and would therefore happen
+ weekly as desired.
+
+
+ Schedule {
+ Name = "Week 1 Rotation"
+ #Saturday. Would run Dec 30, Jan 20, Feb 10, etc.
+ Run {
+ Options {
+ Type = Full
+ Start = 2006-12-30 01:00
+ Repeat = 3w
+ }
+ }
+ #Tuesday. Would run Jan 2, Jan 23, Feb 13, etc.
+ Run {
+ Options {
+ Type = Incremental
+ Start = 2007-01-02 01:00
+ Repeat = 3w
+ }
+ }
+ }
+
+ Schedule {
+ Name = "Week 2 Rotation"
+ #Saturday. Would run Jan 6, Jan 27, Feb 17, etc.
+ Run {
+ Options {
+ Type = Full
+ Start = 2007-01-06 01:00
+ Repeat = 3w
+ }
+ }
+ #Tuesday. Would run Jan 9, Jan 30, Feb 20, etc.
+ Run {
+ Options {
+ Type = Incremental
+ Start = 2007-01-09 01:00
+ Repeat = 3w
+ }
+ }
+ }
+
+ Schedule {
+ Name = "Week 3 Rotation"
+ #Saturday. Would run Jan 13, Feb 3, Feb 24, etc.
+ Run {
+ Options {
+ Type = Full
+ Start = 2007-01-13 01:00
+ Repeat = 3w
+ }
+ }
+ #Tuesday. Would run Jan 16, Feb 6, Feb 27, etc.
+ Run {
+ Options {
+ Type = Incremental
+ Start = 2007-01-16 01:00
+ Repeat = 3w
+ }
+ }
+ }
+
+
+Item 26: Improve Bacula's tape and drive usage and cleaning management.
+ Date: 8 November 2005, November 11, 2005
+ Origin: Adam Thornton <athornton at sinenomine dot net>,
+ Arno Lehmann <al at its-lehmann dot de>
+ Status:
+
+ What: Make Bacula manage tape life cycle information, tape reuse
+ times and drive cleaning cycles.
+
+ Why: All three parts of this project are important when operating
+ backups.
+ We need to know which tapes need replacement, and we need to
+ make sure the drives are cleaned when necessary. While many
+ tape libraries and even autoloaders can handle all this
+ automatically, support by Bacula can be helpful for smaller
+ (older) libraries and single drives. Limiting the number of
+ times a tape is used might prevent tape errors when using
+ tapes until the drives can't read it any more. Also, checking
+ drive status during operation can prevent some failures (as I
+ [Arno] had to learn the hard way...)
+
+ Notes: First, Bacula could (and even does, to some limited extent)
+ record tape and drive usage. For tapes, the number of mounts,
+ the amount of data, and the time the tape has actually been
+ running could be recorded. Data fields for Read and Write
+ time and Number of mounts already exist in the catalog (I'm
+ not sure if VolBytes is the sum of all bytes ever written to
+ that volume by Bacula). This information can be important
+ when determining which media to replace. The ability to mark
+ Volumes as "used up" after a given number of write cycles
+ should also be implemented so that a tape is never actually
+ worn out. For the tape drives known to Bacula, similar
+ information is interesting to determine the device status and
+ expected life time: Time it's been Reading and Writing, number
+ of tape Loads / Unloads / Errors. This information is not yet
+ recorded as far as I [Arno] know. A new volume status would
+ be necessary for the new state, like "Used up" or "Worn out".
+ Volumes with this state could be used for restores, but not
+ for writing. These volumes should be migrated first (assuming
+ migration is implemented) and, once they are no longer needed,
+ could be moved to a Trash pool.
+
+ The next step would be to implement a drive cleaning setup.
+ Bacula already has knowledge about cleaning tapes. Once it
+ has some information about cleaning cycles (measured in drive
+ run time, number of tapes used, or calender days, for example)
+ it can automatically execute tape cleaning (with an
+ autochanger, obviously) or ask for operator assistance loading
+ a cleaning tape.
+
+ The final step would be to implement TAPEALERT checks not only
+ when changing tapes and only sending the information to the
+ administrator, but rather checking after each tape error,
+ checking on a regular basis (for example after each tape
+ file), and also before unloading and after loading a new tape.
+ Then, depending on the drives TAPEALERT state and the known
+ drive cleaning state Bacula could automatically schedule later
+ cleaning, clean immediately, or inform the operator.
+
+ Implementing this would perhaps require another catalog change
+ and perhaps major changes in SD code and the DIR-SD protocol,
+ so I'd only consider this worth implementing if it would
+ actually be used or even needed by many people.
+
+ Implementation of these projects could happen in three distinct
+ sub-projects: Measuring Tape and Drive usage, retiring
+ volumes, and handling drive cleaning and TAPEALERTs.
+
+Item 27: Implement support for stacking arbitrary stream filters, sinks.
+Date: 23 November 2006
+Origin: Landon Fuller <landonf@threerings.net>
+Status: Planning. Assigned to landonf.
+
+What:
+ Implement support for the following:
+ - Stacking arbitrary stream filters (eg, encryption, compression,
+ sparse data handling))
+ - Attaching file sinks to terminate stream filters (ie, write out
+ the resultant data to a file)
+ - Refactor the restoration state machine accordingly
+
+Why:
+ The existing stream implementation suffers from the following:
+ - All state (compression, encryption, stream restoration), is
+ global across the entire restore process, for all streams. There are
+ multiple entry and exit points in the restoration state machine, and
+ thus multiple places where state must be allocated, deallocated,
+ initialized, or reinitialized. This results in exceptional complexity
+ for the author of a stream filter.
+ - The developer must enumerate all possible combinations of filters
+ and stream types (ie, win32 data with encryption, without encryption,
+ with encryption AND compression, etc).
+
+Notes:
+ This feature request only covers implementing the stream filters/
+ sinks, and refactoring the file daemon's restoration implementation
+ accordingly. If I have extra time, I will also rewrite the backup
+ implementation. My intent in implementing the restoration first is to
+ solve pressing bugs in the restoration handling, and to ensure that
+ the new restore implementation handles existing backups correctly.
+
+ I do not plan on changing the network or tape data structures to
+ support defining arbitrary stream filters, but supporting that
+ functionality is the ultimate goal.
+
+ Assistance with either code or testing would be fantastic.
+
+Item 28: Allow FD to initiate a backup
+ Origin: Frank Volf (frank at deze dot org)
+ Date: 17 November 2005
+ Status:
+
+ What: Provide some means, possibly by a restricted console that
+ allows a FD to initiate a backup, and that uses the connection
+ established by the FD to the Director for the backup so that
+ a Director that is firewalled can do the backup.
+
+ Why: Makes backup of laptops much easier.
+
+Item 29: Directive/mode to backup only file changes, not entire file
+ Date: 11 November 2005
+ Origin: Joshua Kugler <joshua dot kugler at uaf dot edu>
+ Marek Bajon <mbajon at bimsplus dot com dot pl>
+ Status:
+
+ What: Currently when a file changes, the entire file will be backed up in
+ the next incremental or full backup. To save space on the tapes
+ it would be nice to have a mode whereby only the changes to the
+ file would be backed up when it is changed.
+
+ Why: This would save lots of space when backing up large files such as
+ logs, mbox files, Outlook PST files and the like.
+
+ Notes: This would require the usage of disk-based volumes as comparing
+ files would not be feasible using a tape drive.
+
+Item 30: Automatic disabling of devices
+ Date: 2005-11-11
+ Origin: Peter Eriksson <peter at ifm.liu dot se>
+ Status:
+
+ What: After a configurable amount of fatal errors with a tape drive
+ Bacula should automatically disable further use of a certain
+ tape drive. There should also be "disable"/"enable" commands in
+ the "bconsole" tool.
+
+ Why: On a multi-drive jukebox there is a possibility of tape drives
+ going bad during large backups (needing a cleaning tape run,
+ tapes getting stuck). It would be advantageous if Bacula would
+ automatically disable further use of a problematic tape drive
+ after a configurable amount of errors has occurred.
+
+ An example: I have a multi-drive jukebox (6 drives, 380+ slots)
+ where tapes occasionally get stuck inside the drive. Bacula will
+ notice that the "mtx-changer" command will fail and then fail
+ any backup jobs trying to use that drive. However, it will still
+ keep on trying to run new jobs using that drive and fail -
+ forever, and thus failing lots and lots of jobs... Since we have
+ many drives Bacula could have just automatically disabled
+ further use of that drive and used one of the other ones
+ instead.
+
+Item 31: Incorporation of XACML2/SAML2 parsing
+ Date: 19 January 2006
+ Origin: Adam Thornton <athornton@sinenomine.net>
+ Status: Blue sky
+
+ What: XACML is "eXtensible Access Control Markup Language" and
+ "SAML is the "Security Assertion Markup Language"--an XML standard
+ for making statements about identity and authorization. Having these
+ would give us a framework to approach ACLs in a generic manner, and
+ in a way flexible enough to support the four major sorts of ACLs I
+ see as a concern to Bacula at this point, as well as (probably) to
+ deal with new sorts of ACLs that may appear in the future.
+
+ Why: Bacula is beginning to need to back up systems with ACLs
+ that do not map cleanly onto traditional Unix permissions. I see
+ four sets of ACLs--in general, mutually incompatible with one
+ another--that we're going to need to deal with. These are: NTFS
+ ACLs, POSIX ACLs, NFSv4 ACLS, and AFS ACLS. (Some may question the
+ relevance of AFS; AFS is one of Sine Nomine's core consulting
+ businesses, and having a reputable file-level backup and restore
+ technology for it (as Tivoli is probably going to drop AFS support
+ soon since IBM no longer supports AFS) would be of huge benefit to
+ our customers; we'd most likely create the AFS support at Sine Nomine
+ for inclusion into the Bacula (and perhaps some changes to the
+ OpenAFS volserver) core code.)
+
+ Now, obviously, Bacula already handles NTFS just fine. However, I
+ think there's a lot of value in implementing a generic ACL model, so
+ that it's easy to support whatever particular instances of ACLs come
+ down the pike: POSIX ACLS (think SELinux) and NFSv4 are the obvious
+ things arriving in the Linux world in a big way in the near future.
+ XACML, although overcomplicated for our needs, provides this
+ framework, and we should be able to leverage other people's
+ implementations to minimize the amount of work *we* have to do to get
+ a generic ACL framework. Basically, the costs of implementation are
+ high, but they're largely both external to Bacula and already sunk.
+
+
+Item 32: Clustered file-daemons
+ Origin: Alan Brown ajb2 at mssl dot ucl dot ac dot uk
+ Date: 24 July 2006
+ Status:
+ What: A "virtual" filedaemon, which is actually a cluster of real ones.
+
+ Why: In the case of clustered filesystems (SAN setups, GFS, or OCFS2, etc)
+ multiple machines may have access to the same set of filesystems
+
+ For performance reasons, one may wish to initate backups from
+ several of these machines simultaneously, instead of just using
+ one backup source for the common clustered filesystem.
+
+ For obvious reasons, normally backups of $A-FD/$PATH and
+ B-FD/$PATH are treated as different backup sets. In this case
+ they are the same communal set.
+
+ Likewise when restoring, it would be easier to just specify
+ one of the cluster machines and let bacula decide which to use.
+
+ This can be faked to some extent using DNS round robin entries
+ and a virtual IP address, however it means "status client" will
+ always give bogus answers. Additionally there is no way of
+ spreading the load evenly among the servers.
+
+ What is required is something similar to the storage daemon
+ autochanger directives, so that Bacula can keep track of
+ operating backups/restores and direct new jobs to a "free"
+ client.
+
+ Notes:
+
+Item 33: Commercial database support
+ Origin: Russell Howe <russell_howe dot wreckage dot org>
+ Date: 26 July 2006
+ Status:
+
+ What: It would be nice for the database backend to support more
+ databases. I'm thinking of SQL Server at the moment, but I guess Oracle,
+ DB2, MaxDB, etc are all candidates. SQL Server would presumably be
+ implemented using FreeTDS or maybe an ODBC library?
+
+ Why: We only really have one database server, which is MS SQL Server
+ 2000. Maintaining a second one for the backup software (we grew out of
+ SQLite, which I liked, but which didn't work so well with our database
+ size). We don't really have a machine with the resources to run
+ postgres, and would rather only maintain a single DBMS. We're stuck with
+ SQL Server because pretty much all the company's custom applications
+ (written by consultants) are locked into SQL Server 2000. I can imagine
+ this scenario is fairly common, and it would be nice to use the existing
+ properly specced database server for storing Bacula's catalog, rather
+ than having to run a second DBMS.
+
+
+Item 34: Archive data
+ Date: 15/5/2006
+ Origin: calvin streeting calvin at absentdream dot com
+ Status:
+
+ What: The abilty to archive to media (dvd/cd) in a uncompressed format
+ for dead filing (archiving not backing up)
+
+ Why: At my works when jobs are finished and moved off of the main file
+ servers (raid based systems) onto a simple linux file server (ide based
+ system) so users can find old information without contacting the IT
+ dept.
+
+ So this data dosn't realy change it only gets added to,
+ But it also needs backing up. At the moment it takes
+ about 8 hours to back up our servers (working data) so
+ rather than add more time to existing backups i am trying
+ to implement a system where we backup the acrhive data to
+ cd/dvd these disks would only need to be appended to
+ (burn only new/changed files to new disks for off site
+ storage). basialy understand the differnce between
+ achive data and live data.
+
+ Notes: Scan the data and email me when it needs burning divide
+ into predifind chunks keep a recored of what is on what
+ disk make me a label (simple php->mysql=>pdf stuff) i
+ could do this bit ability to save data uncompresed so
+ it can be read in any other system (future proof data)
+ save the catalog with the disk as some kind of menu
+ system
+
+Item 35: Filesystem watch triggered backup.
+ Date: 31 August 2006
+ Origin: Jesper Krogh <jesper@krogh.cc>
+ Status: Unimplemented, depends probably on "client initiated backups"
+
+ What: With inotify and similar filesystem triggeret notification
+ systems is it possible to have the file-daemon to monitor
+ filesystem changes and initiate backup.
+
+ Why: There are 2 situations where this is nice to have.
+ 1) It is possible to get a much finer-grained backup than
+ the fixed schedules used now.. A file created and deleted
+ a few hours later, can automatically be caught.
+
+ 2) The introduced load on the system will probably be
+ distributed more even on the system.
+
+ Notes: This can be combined with configration that specifies
+ something like: "at most every 15 minutes or when changes
+ consumed XX MB".
+
+Kern Notes: I would rather see this implemented by an external program
+ that monitors the Filesystem changes, then uses the console
+ to start the appropriate job.
+
+Item 36: Implement multiple numeric backup levels as supported by dump
+Date: 3 April 2006
+Origin: Daniel Rich <drich@employees.org>
+Status:
+What: Dump allows specification of backup levels numerically instead of just
+ "full", "incr", and "diff". In this system, at any given level, all
+ files are backed up that were were modified since the last backup of a
+ higher level (with 0 being the highest and 9 being the lowest). A
+ level 0 is therefore equivalent to a full, level 9 an incremental, and
+ the levels 1 through 8 are varying levels of differentials. For
+ bacula's sake, these could be represented as "full", "incr", and
+ "diff1", "diff2", etc.
+
+Why: Support of multiple backup levels would provide for more advanced backup
+ rotation schemes such as "Towers of Hanoi". This would allow better
+ flexibility in performing backups, and can lead to shorter recover
+ times.
+
+Notes: Legato Networker supports a similar system with full, incr, and 1-9 as
+ levels.
+Item 1: Implement a server-side compression feature
+ Date: 18 December 2006
+ Origin: Vadim A. Umanski , e-mail umanski@ext.ru
+ Status:
+ What: The ability to compress backup data on server receiving data
+ instead of doing that on client sending data.
+ Why: The need is practical. I've got some machines that can send
+ data to the network 4 or 5 times faster than compressing
+ them (I've measured that). They're using fast enough SCSI/FC
+ disk subsystems but rather slow CPUs (ex. UltraSPARC II).
+ And the backup server has got a quite fast CPUs (ex. Dual P4
+ Xeons) and quite a low load. When you have 20, 50 or 100 GB
+ of raw data - running a job 4 to 5 times faster - that
+ really matters. On the other hand, the data can be
+ compressed 50% or better - so losing twice more space for
+ disk backup is not good at all. And the network is all mine
+ (I have a dedicated management/provisioning network) and I
+ can get as high bandwidth as I need - 100Mbps, 1000Mbps...
+ That's why the server-side compression feature is needed!
+ Notes:
+
+Item 1: Cause daemons to use a specific IP address to source communications
+ Origin: Bill Moran <wmoran@collaborativefusion.com>
+ Date: 18 Dec 2006
+ Status:
+ What: Cause Bacula daemons (dir, fd, sd) to always use the ip address
+ specified in the [DIR|DF|SD]Addr directive as the source IP
+ for initiating communication.
+ Why: On complex networks, as well as extremely secure networks, it's
+ not unusual to have multiple possible routes through the network.
+ Often, each of these routes is secured by different policies
+ (effectively, firewalls allow or deny different traffic depending
+ on the source address)
+ Unfortunately, it can sometimes be difficult or impossible to
+ represent this in a system routing table, as the result is
+ excessive subnetting that quickly exhausts available IP space.
+ The best available workaround is to provide multiple IPs to
+ a single machine that are all on the same subnet. In order
+ for this to work properly, applications must support the ability
+ to bind outgoing connections to a specified address, otherwise
+ the operating system will always choose the first IP that
+ matches the required route.
+ Notes: Many other programs support this. For example, the following
+ can be configured in BIND:
+ query-source address 10.0.0.1;
+ transfer-source 10.0.0.2;
+ Which means queries from this server will always come from
+ 10.0.0.1 and zone transfers will always originate from
+ 10.0.0.2.
+
+Kern notes: I think this would add very little functionality, but a *lot* of
+ additional overhead to Bacula.
+
+
+
+============= Empty Feature Request form ===========
+Item n: One line summary ...
+ Date: Date submitted
+ Origin: Name and email of originator.
+ Status:
+
+ What: More detailed explanation ...
+
+ Why: Why it is important ...
+
+ Notes: Additional notes or features (omit if not used)
+============== End Feature Request form ==============