Projects:
Bacula Projects Roadmap
- 24 November 2005
+ Prioritized by user vote 07 December 2005
+ Status updated 30 July 2006
+
+Summary:
+Item 1: Implement data encryption (as opposed to comm encryption)
+Item 2: Implement Migration that moves Jobs from one Pool to another.
+Item 3: Accurate restoration of renamed/deleted files from
+Item 4: Implement a Bacula GUI/management tool using Python.
+Item 5: Implement Base jobs.
+Item 6: Allow FD to initiate a backup
+Item 7: Improve Bacula's tape and drive usage and cleaning management.
+Item 8: Implement creation and maintenance of copy pools
+Item 9: Implement new {Client}Run{Before|After}Job feature.
+Item 10: Merge multiple backups (Synthetic Backup or Consolidation).
+Item 11: Deletion of Disk-Based Bacula Volumes
+Item 12: Directive/mode to backup only file changes, not entire file
+Item 13: Multiple threads in file daemon for the same job
+Item 14: Implement red/black binary tree routines.
+Item 15: Add support for FileSets in user directories CACHEDIR.TAG
+Item 16: Implement extraction of Win32 BackupWrite data.
+Item 17: Implement a Python interface to the Bacula catalog.
+Item 18: Archival (removal) of User Files to Tape
+Item 19: Add Plug-ins to the FileSet Include statements.
+Item 20: Implement more Python events in Bacula.
+Item 21: Quick release of FD-SD connection after backup.
+Item 22: Permit multiple Media Types in an Autochanger
+Item 23: Allow different autochanger definitions for one autochanger.
+Item 24: Automatic disabling of devices
+Item 25: Implement huge exclude list support using hashing.
+
Below, you will find more information on future projects:
-Item 1: Implement a Migration job type that will move the job
- data from one device to another.
- Origin: Sponsored by Riege Sofware International GmbH. Contact:
+Item 1: Implement data encryption (as opposed to comm encryption)
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin: Sponsored by Landon and 13 contributors to EFF.
+ Status: Done: Landon Fuller has implemented this in 1.39.x.
+
+ What: Currently the data that is stored on the Volume is not
+ encrypted. For confidentiality, encryption of data at
+ the File daemon level is essential.
+ Data encryption encrypts the data in the File daemon and
+ decrypts the data in the File daemon during a restore.
+
+ Why: Large sites require this.
+
+Item 2: Implement Migration that moves Jobs from one Pool to another.
+ Origin: Sponsored by Riege Software International GmbH. Contact:
Daniel Holtkamp <holtkamp at riege dot com>
Date: 28 October 2005
- Status: Partially coded in 1.37 -- much more to do. Assigned to
+ Status: 90% complete: Working in 1.39, more to do. Assigned to
Kern.
What: The ability to copy, move, or archive data that is on a
Number of Jobs
Number of Volumes
+Item 3: Accurate restoration of renamed/deleted files from
+ Incremental/Differential backups
+ Date: 28 November 2005
+ Origin: Martin Simmons (martin at lispworks dot com)
+ Status:
-Item 2: Implement extraction of Win32 BackupWrite data.
- Origin: Thorsten Engel <thorsten.engel at matrix-computer dot com>
- Date: 28 October 2005
- Status: Assigned to Thorsten. Implemented in current CVS
+ What: When restoring a fileset for a specified date (including "most
+ recent"), Bacula should give you exactly the files and directories
+ that existed at the time of the last backup prior to that date.
- What: This provides the Bacula File daemon with code that
- can pick apart the stream output that Microsoft writes
- for BackupWrite data, and thus the data can be read
- and restored on non-Win32 machines.
+ Currently this only works if the last backup was a Full backup.
+ When the last backup was Incremental/Differential, files and
+ directories that have been renamed or deleted since the last Full
+ backup are not currently restored correctly. Ditto for files with
+ extra/fewer hard links than at the time of the last Full backup.
- Why: BackupWrite data is the portable=no option in Win32
- FileSets, and in previous Baculas, this data could
- only be extracted using a Win32 FD. With this new code,
- the Windows data can be extracted and restored on
- any OS.
+ Why: Incremental/Differential would be much more useful if this worked.
+
+ Notes: Item 14 (Merging of multiple backups into a single one) seems to
+ rely on this working, otherwise the merged backups will not be
+ truly equivalent to a Full backup.
+ Kern: notes shortened. This can be done without the need for
+ inodes. It is essentially the same as the current Verify job,
+ but one additional database record must be written, which does
+ not need any database change.
-Item 3: Implement a Bacula GUI/management tool using Python
- and Qt.
+ Kern: see if we can correct restoration of directories if
+ replace=ifnewer is set. Currently, if the directory does not
+ exist, a "dummy" directory is created, then when all the files
+ are updated, the dummy directory is newer so the real values
+ are not updated.
+Item 4: Implement a Bacula GUI/management tool using Python.
Origin: Kern
Date: 28 October 2005
- Status:
+ Status: Lucus is working on this for Python GTK+.
What: Implement a Bacula console, and management tools
- using Python and Qt.
+ using Python and Qt or GTK.
Why: Don't we already have a wxWidgets GUI? Yes, but
it is written in C++ and changes to the user interface
Python, which will give many more users easy (or easier)
access to making additions or modifications.
-Item 4: Implement a Python interface to the Bacula catalog.
- Date: 28 October 2005
- Origin: Kern
- Status:
+ Notes: This is currently being implemented using Python-GTK by
+ Lucas Di Pentima <lucas at lunix dot com dot ar>
- What: Implement an interface for Python scripts to access
- the catalog through Bacula.
-
- Why: This will permit users to customize Bacula through
- Python scripts.
-
-Item 5: Implement more Python events in Bacula.
- Date: 28 October 2005
- Origin:
- Status:
-
- What: Allow Python scripts to be called at more places
- within Bacula and provide additional access to Bacula
- internal variables.
-
- Why: This will permit users to customize Bacula through
- Python scripts.
-
- Notes: Recycle event
- Scratch pool event
- NeedVolume event
- MediaFull event
-
- Also add a way to get a listing of currently running
- jobs (possibly also scheduled jobs).
-
-
-Item 6: Implement Base jobs.
+Item 5: Implement Base jobs.
Date: 28 October 2005
Origin: Kern
Status:
pulled in where necessary.
Why: This is something none of the competition does, as far as
- we know (except perhpas BackupPC, which is a Perl program that
+ we know (except perhaps BackupPC, which is a Perl program that
saves to disk only). It is big win for the user, it
makes Bacula stand out as offering a unique
optimization that immediately saves time and money.
FD a list of files/attribs, and the FD must search the
list and compare it for each file to be saved.
-Item 7: Add Plug-ins to the FileSet Include statements.
- Date: 28 October 2005
- Origin:
- Status: Partially coded in 1.37 -- much more to do.
+Item 6: Allow FD to initiate a backup
+ Origin: Frank Volf (frank at deze dot org)
+ Date: 17 November 2005
+ Status:
- What: Allow users to specify wild-card and/or regular
- expressions to be matched in both the Include and
- Exclude directives in a FileSet. At the same time,
- allow users to define plug-ins to be called (based on
- regular expression/wild-card matching).
+ 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: This would give the users the ultimate ability to control
- how files are backed up/restored. A user could write a
- plug-in knows how to backup his Oracle database without
- stopping/starting it, for example.
+ Why: Makes backup of laptops much easier.
-Item 8: Implement huge exclude list support using hashing.
- Date: 28 October 2005
- Origin: Kern
- Status:
+Item 7: 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: Allow users to specify very large exclude list (currently
- more than about 1000 files is too many).
+ 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 8: Implement creation and maintenance of copy pools
+ Date: 27 November 2005
+ Origin: David Boyes (dboyes at sinenomine dot net)
+ Status:
- Why: This would give the users the ability to exclude all
- files that are loaded with the OS (e.g. using rpms
- or debs). If the user can restore the base OS from
- CDs, there is no need to backup all those files. A
- complete restore would be to restore the base OS, then
- do a Bacula restore. By excluding the base OS files, the
- backup set will be *much* smaller.
+ What: I would like Bacula to have the capability to write copies
+ of backed-up data on multiple physical volumes selected
+ from different pools without transferring the data
+ multiple times, and to accept any of the copy volumes
+ as valid for restore.
+
+ Why: In many cases, businesses are required to keep offsite
+ copies of backup volumes, or just wish for simple
+ protection against a human operator dropping a storage
+ volume and damaging it. The ability to generate multiple
+ volumes in the course of a single backup job allows
+ customers to simple check out one copy and send it
+ offsite, marking it as out of changer or otherwise
+ unavailable. Currently, the library and magazine
+ management capability in Bacula does not make this process
+ simple.
+
+ Restores would use the copy of the data on the first
+ available volume, in order of copy pool chain definition.
+
+ This is also a major scalability issue -- as the number of
+ clients increases beyond several thousand, and the volume
+ of data increases, transferring the data multiple times to
+ produce additional copies of the backups will become
+ physically impossible due to transfer speed
+ issues. Generating multiple copies at server side will
+ become the only practical option.
+
+ How: I suspect that this will require adding a multiplexing
+ SD that appears to be a SD to a specific FD, but 1-n FDs
+ to the specific back end SDs managing the primary and copy
+ pools. Storage pools will also need to acquire parameters
+ to define the pools to be used for copies.
+
+ Notes: I would commit some of my developers' time if we can agree
+ on the design and behavior.
+
+Item 9: Implement new {Client}Run{Before|After}Job feature.
+ Date: 26 September 2005
+ Origin: Phil Stracchino
+ Status: Done. This has been implemented by Eric Bollengier
+ What: Some time ago, there was a discussion of RunAfterJob and
+ ClientRunAfterJob, and the fact that they do not run after failed
+ jobs. At the time, there was a suggestion to add a
+ RunAfterFailedJob directive (and, presumably, a matching
+ ClientRunAfterFailedJob directive), but to my knowledge these
+ were never implemented.
-Item 9: Implement data encryption (as opposed to communications
- encryption)
- Date: 28 October 2005
- Origin: Sponsored by Landon and 13 contributors to EFF.
- Status: Landon Fuller is currently implementing this.
-
- What: Currently the data that is stored on the Volume is not
- encrypted. For confidentiality, encryption of data at
- the File daemon level is essential.
- Data encryption encrypts the data in the File daemon and
- decrypts the data in the File daemon during a restore.
+ The current implementation doesn't permit to add new feature easily.
- Why: Large sites require this.
+ An alternate way of approaching the problem has just occurred to
+ me. Suppose the RunBeforeJob and RunAfterJob directives were
+ expanded in a manner like this example:
-Item 10: Permit multiple Media Types in an Autochanger
- Origin:
- Status:
+ RunScript {
+ Command = "/opt/bacula/etc/checkhost %c"
+ RunsOnClient = No # default
+ AbortJobOnError = Yes # default
+ RunsWhen = Before
+ }
+ RunScript {
+ Command = c:/bacula/systemstate.bat
+ RunsOnClient = yes
+ AbortJobOnError = No
+ RunsWhen = After
+ RunsOnFailure = yes
+ }
- What: Modify the Storage daemon so that multiple Media Types
- can be specified in an autochanger. This would be somewhat
- of a simplistic implementation in that each drive would
- still be allowed to have only one Media Type. However,
- the Storage daemon will ensure that only a drive with
- the Media Type that matches what the Director specifies
- is chosen.
+ RunScript {
+ Command = c:/bacula/deletestatefile.bat
+ Target = rico-fd
+ RunsWhen = Always
+ }
- Why: This will permit user with several different drive types
- to make full use of their autochangers.
+ It's now possible to specify more than 1 command per Job.
+ (you can stop your database and your webserver without a script)
+
+ ex :
+ Job {
+ Name = "Client1"
+ JobDefs = "DefaultJob"
+ Write Bootstrap = "/tmp/bacula/var/bacula/working/Client1.bsr"
+ FileSet = "Minimal"
+
+ RunBeforeJob = "echo test before ; echo test before2"
+ RunBeforeJob = "echo test before (2nd time)"
+ RunBeforeJob = "echo test before (3rd time)"
+ RunAfterJob = "echo test after"
+ ClientRunAfterJob = "echo test after client"
+
+ RunScript {
+ Command = "echo test RunScript in error"
+ Runsonclient = yes
+ RunsOnSuccess = no
+ RunsOnFailure = yes
+ RunsWhen = After # never by default
+ }
+ RunScript {
+ Command = "echo test RunScript on success"
+ Runsonclient = yes
+ RunsOnSuccess = yes # default
+ RunsOnFailure = no # default
+ RunsWhen = After
+ }
+ }
-Item 11: Allow two different autochanger definitions that refer
- to the same autochanger.
- Date: 28 October 2005
- Origin: Kern
- Status:
+ Why: It would be a significant change to the structure of the
+ directives, but allows for a lot more flexibility, including
+ RunAfter commands that will run regardless of whether the job
+ succeeds, or RunBefore tasks that still allow the job to run even
+ if that specific RunBefore fails.
- What: Currently, the autochanger script is locked based on
- the autochanger. That is, if multiple drives are being
- simultaneously used, the Storage daemon ensures that only
- one drive at a time can access the mtx-changer script.
- This change would base the locking on the control device,
- rather than the autochanger. It would then permit two autochanger
- definitions for the same autochanger, but with different
- drives. Logically, the autochanger could then be "partitioned"
- for different jobs, clients, or class of jobs, and if the locking
- is based on the control device (e.g. /dev/sg0) the mtx-changer
- script will be locked appropriately.
+ Notes: (More notes from Phil, Kern, David and Eric)
+ I would prefer to have a single new Resource called
+ RunScript.
- Why: This will permit users to partition autochangers for specific
- use. It would also permit implementation of multiple Media
- Types with no changes to the Storage daemon.
+ RunsWhen = After|Before|Always
+ RunsAtJobLevels = All|Full|Diff|Inc # not yet implemented
-Item 12: Implement red/black binary tree routines.
- Date: 28 October 2005
- Origin: Kern
- Status:
+ The AbortJobOnError, RunsOnSuccess and RunsOnFailure directives
+ could be optional, and possibly RunWhen as well.
- What: Implement a red/black binary tree class. This could
- then replace the current binary insert/search routines
- used in the restore in memory tree. This could significantly
- speed up the creation of the in memory restore tree.
+ AbortJobOnError would be ignored unless RunsWhen was set to Before
+ and would default to Yes if omitted.
+ If AbortJobOnError was set to No, failure of the script
+ would still generate a warning.
- Why: Performance enhancement.
+ RunsOnSuccess would be ignored unless RunsWhen was set to After
+ (or RunsBeforeJob set to No), and default to Yes.
-Item 13L Improve Baculas tape and drive usage 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:
+ RunsOnFailure would be ignored unless RunsWhen was set to After,
+ and default to No.
- 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 assistence 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 protocoll,
- so I'd only consider this worth implementing if it would
- actually be used or even needed by many people.
-
- Implemention of these projects could happen in three distinct
- sub-projects: Measuring Tape and Drive usage, retiring
- volumes, and handling drive cleaning and TAPEALERTs.
-
-
-Item 14: Merging of multiple backups into a single one. (Also called Synthetic
- Backup or Consolidation).
+ Allow having the before/after status on the script command
+ line so that the same script can be used both before/after.
+Item 10: Merge multiple backups (Synthetic Backup or Consolidation).
Origin: Marc Cousin and Eric Bollengier
Date: 15 November 2005
- Status: Depends on first implementing project Item 1 (Migration).
+ Status: Waiting implementation. Depends on first implementing
+ project Item 2 (Migration).
What: A merged backup is a backup made without connecting to the Client.
It would be a Merge of existing backups into a single backup.
In effect, it is like a restore but to the backup medium.
- For instance, say that last sunday we made a full backup. Then
+ For instance, say that last Sunday we made a full backup. Then
all week long, we created incremental backups, in order to do
- them fast. Now comes sunday again, and we need another full.
+ them fast. Now comes Sunday again, and we need another full.
The merged backup makes it possible to do instead an incremental
backup (during the night for instance), and then create a merged
backup during the day, by using the full and incrementals from
the week. The merged backup will be exactly like a full made
- sunday night on the tape, but the production interruption on the
+ Sunday night on the tape, but the production interruption on the
Client will be minimal, as the Client will only have to send
incrementals.
data can then be pruned (or not) from the catalog, possibly
allowing older volumes to be recycled
-Item 15: Automatic disabling of devices
- Date: 2005-11-11
- Origin: Peter Eriksson <peter at ifm.liu dot se>
- Status:
+Item 11: Deletion of Disk-Based Bacula Volumes
+ Date: Nov 25, 2005
+ Origin: Ross Boylan <RossBoylan at stanfordalumni dot org> (edited
+ by Kern)
+ 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.
+ What: Provide a way for Bacula to automatically remove Volumes
+ from the filesystem, or optionally to truncate them.
+ Obviously, the Volume must be pruned prior removal.
- 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 occured.
+ Why: This would allow users more control over their Volumes and
+ prevent disk based volumes from consuming too much space.
- 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.
+ Notes: The following two directives might do the trick:
+ Volume Data Retention = <time period>
+ Remove Volume After = <time period>
-Item 16: Directive/mode to backup only file changes, not entire file
+ The migration project should also remove a Volume that is
+ migrated. This might also work for tape Volumes.
+
+Item 12: 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: RFC
+ 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
Notes: This would require the usage of disk-based volumes as comparing
files would not be feasible using a tape drive.
-Item 17: Quick release of FD-SD connection
- Origin: Frank Volf (frank at deze dot org)
- Date: 17 november 2005
+Item 13: Multiple threads in file daemon for the same job
+ Date: 27 November 2005
+ Origin: Ove Risberg (Ove.Risberg at octocode dot com)
Status:
- What: In the bacula implementation a backup is finished after all data
- and attributes are succesfully written to storage. When using a
- tape backup it is very annoying that a backup can take a day,
- simply because the current tape (or whatever) is full and the
- administrator has not put a new one in. During that time the
- system cannot be taken off-line, because there is still an open
- session between the storage daemon and the file daemon on the
- client.
+ What: I want the file daemon to start multiple threads for a backup
+ job so the fastest possible backup can be made.
- Although this is a very good strategey for making "safe backups"
- This can be annoying for e.g. laptops, that must remain
- connected until the bacukp is completed.
+ The file daemon could parse the FileSet information and start
+ one thread for each File entry located on a separate
+ filesystem.
- Using a new feature called "migration" it will be possible to
- spool first to harddisk (using a special 'spool' migration
- scheme) and then migrate the backup to tape.
+ A configuration option in the job section should be used to
+ enable or disable this feature. The configuration option could
+ specify the maximum number of threads in the file daemon.
- There is still the problem of getting the attributes committed.
- If it takes a very long time to do, with the current code, the
- job has not terminated, and the File daemon is not freed up. The
- Storage daemon should release the File daemon as soon as all the
- file data and all the attributes have been sent to it (the SD).
- Currently the SD waits until everything is on tape and all the
- attributes are transmitted to the Director before signalling
- completion to the FD. I don't think I would have any problem
- changing this. The reason is that even if the FD reports back to
- the Dir that all is OK, the job will not terminate until the SD
- has done the same thing -- so in a way keeping the SD-FD link
- open to the very end is not really very productive ...
+ If the theads could spool the data to separate spool files
+ the restore process will not be much slower.
- Why: Makes backup of laptops much easier.
+ Why: Multiple concurrent backups of a large fileserver with many
+ disks and controllers will be much faster.
+ Notes: I am willing to try to implement this but I will probably
+ need some help and advice. (No problem -- Kern)
-Item 18: Add support for CACHEDIR.TAG
+Item 14: Implement red/black binary tree routines.
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin: Kern
+ Status: Class code is complete. Code needs to be integrated into
+ restore tree code.
+
+ What: Implement a red/black binary tree class. This could
+ then replace the current binary insert/search routines
+ used in the restore in memory tree. This could significantly
+ speed up the creation of the in memory restore tree.
+
+ Why: Performance enhancement.
+
+Item 15: Add support for FileSets in user directories CACHEDIR.TAG
Origin: Norbert Kiesel <nkiesel at tbdnetworks dot com>
Date: 21 November 2005
- Status:
+ Status: (I think this is better done using a Python event that I
+ will implement in version 1.39.x).
What: CACHDIR.TAG is a proposal for identifying directories which
should be ignored for archiving/backup. It works by ignoring
Why: It's a nice alternative to "exclude" patterns for directories
which don't have regular pathnames. Also, it allows users to
- control backup for themself. Implementation should be pretty
+ control backup for themselves. Implementation should be pretty
simple. GNU tar >= 1.14 or so supports it, too.
Notes: I envision this as an optional feature to a fileset
specification.
-Item 19: Implement new {Client}Run{Before|After}Job feature.
- Date: 26 September 2005
- Origin: Phil Stracchino <phil.stracchino at speakeasy dot net>
+
+Item 16: Implement extraction of Win32 BackupWrite data.
+ Origin: Thorsten Engel <thorsten.engel at matrix-computer dot com>
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Status: Done. Assigned to Thorsten. Implemented in current CVS
+
+ What: This provides the Bacula File daemon with code that
+ can pick apart the stream output that Microsoft writes
+ for BackupWrite data, and thus the data can be read
+ and restored on non-Win32 machines.
+
+ Why: BackupWrite data is the portable=no option in Win32
+ FileSets, and in previous Baculas, this data could
+ only be extracted using a Win32 FD. With this new code,
+ the Windows data can be extracted and restored on
+ any OS.
+
+
+Item 18: Implement a Python interface to the Bacula catalog.
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin: Kern
Status:
- What: Some time ago, there was a discussion of RunAfterJob and
- ClientRunAfterJob, and the fact that they do not run after failed
- jobs. At the time, there was a suggestion to add a
- RunAfterFailedJob directive (and, presumably, a matching
- ClientRunAfterFailedJob directive), but to my knowledge these
- were never implemented.
+ What: Implement an interface for Python scripts to access
+ the catalog through Bacula.
- An alternate way of approaching the problem has just occurred to
- me. Suppose the RunBeforeJob and RunAfterJob directives were
- expanded in a manner something like this example:
+ Why: This will permit users to customize Bacula through
+ Python scripts.
- RunBeforeJob {
- Command = "/opt/bacula/etc/checkhost %c"
- RunsOnClient = No
- RunsAtJobLevels = All # All, Full, Diff, Inc
- AbortJobOnError = Yes
- }
- RunBeforeJob {
- Command = c:/bacula/systemstate.bat
- RunsOnClient = yes
- RunsAtJobLevels = All # All, Full, Diff, Inc
- AbortJobOnError = No
- }
+Item 18: Archival (removal) of User Files to Tape
- RunAfterJob {
- Command = c:/bacula/deletestatefile.bat
- RunsOnClient = Yes
- RunsAtJobLevels = All # All, Full, Diff, Inc
- RunsOnSuccess = Yes
- RunsOnFailure = Yes
- }
- RunAfterJob {
- Command = c:/bacula/somethingelse.bat
- RunsOnClient = Yes
- RunsAtJobLevels = All
- RunsOnSuccess = No
- RunsOnFailure = Yes
- }
- RunAfterJob {
- Command = "/opt/bacula/etc/checkhost -v %c"
- RunsOnClient = No
- RunsAtJobLevels = All
- RunsOnSuccess = No
- RunsOnFailure = Yes
- }
+ Date: Nov. 24/2005
+ Origin: Ray Pengelly [ray at biomed dot queensu dot ca
+ Status:
- Why: It would be a significant change to the structure of the
- directives, but allows for a lot more flexibility, including
- RunAfter commands that will run regardless of whether the job
- succeeds, or RunBefore tasks that still allow the job to run even
- if that specific RunBefore fails.
+ What: The ability to archive data to storage based on certain parameters
+ such as age, size, or location. Once the data has been written to
+ storage and logged it is then pruned from the originating
+ filesystem. Note! We are talking about user's files and not
+ Bacula Volumes.
+
+ Why: This would allow fully automatic storage management which becomes
+ useful for large datastores. It would also allow for auto-staging
+ from one media type to another.
+
+ Example 1) Medical imaging needs to store large amounts of data.
+ They decide to keep data on their servers for 6 months and then put
+ it away for long term storage. The server then finds all files
+ older than 6 months writes them to tape. The files are then removed
+ from the server.
+
+ Example 2) All data that hasn't been accessed in 2 months could be
+ moved from high-cost, fibre-channel disk storage to a low-cost
+ large-capacity SATA disk storage pool which doesn't have as quick of
+ access time. Then after another 6 months (or possibly as one
+ storage pool gets full) data is migrated to Tape.
+
+Item 19: Add Plug-ins to the FileSet Include statements.
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin:
+ Status: Partially coded in 1.37 -- much more to do.
- Notes: By Kern: I would prefer to have a single new Resource called
- RunScript. More notes from Phil:
+ What: Allow users to specify wild-card and/or regular
+ expressions to be matched in both the Include and
+ Exclude directives in a FileSet. At the same time,
+ allow users to define plug-ins to be called (based on
+ regular expression/wild-card matching).
- RunBeforeJob = yes|no
- RunAfterJob = yes|no
- RunsAtJobLevels = All|Full|Diff|Inc
+ Why: This would give the users the ultimate ability to control
+ how files are backed up/restored. A user could write a
+ plug-in knows how to backup his Oracle database without
+ stopping/starting it, for example.
- The AbortJobOnError, RunsOnSuccess and RunsOnFailure directives
- could be optional, and possibly RunsWhen as well.
+Item 20: Implement more Python events in Bacula.
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin:
+ Status:
- AbortJobOnError would be ignored unless RunsWhen was set to Before
- (or RunsBefore Job set to Yes), and would default to Yes if
- omitted. If AbortJobOnError was set to No, failure of the script
- would still generate a warning.
+ What: Allow Python scripts to be called at more places
+ within Bacula and provide additional access to Bacula
+ internal variables.
- RunsOnSuccess would be ignored unless RunsWhen was set to After
- (or RunsBeforeJob set to No), and default to Yes.
+ Why: This will permit users to customize Bacula through
+ Python scripts.
- RunsOnFailure would be ignored unless RunsWhen was set to After,
- and default to No.
+ Notes: Recycle event
+ Scratch pool event
+ NeedVolume event
+ MediaFull event
+
+ Also add a way to get a listing of currently running
+ jobs (possibly also scheduled jobs).
- Allow having the before/after status on the script command
- line so that the same script can be used both before/after.
- David Boyes.
-Item 20: Allow FD to initiate a backup
+Item 21: Quick release of FD-SD connection after backup.
Origin: Frank Volf (frank at deze dot org)
- Date: 17 november 2005
+ 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.
+ What: In the Bacula implementation a backup is finished after all data
+ and attributes are successfully written to storage. When using a
+ tape backup it is very annoying that a backup can take a day,
+ simply because the current tape (or whatever) is full and the
+ administrator has not put a new one in. During that time the
+ system cannot be taken off-line, because there is still an open
+ session between the storage daemon and the file daemon on the
+ client.
+
+ Although this is a very good strategy for making "safe backups"
+ This can be annoying for e.g. laptops, that must remain
+ connected until the backup is completed.
+
+ Using a new feature called "migration" it will be possible to
+ spool first to harddisk (using a special 'spool' migration
+ scheme) and then migrate the backup to tape.
+
+ There is still the problem of getting the attributes committed.
+ If it takes a very long time to do, with the current code, the
+ job has not terminated, and the File daemon is not freed up. The
+ Storage daemon should release the File daemon as soon as all the
+ file data and all the attributes have been sent to it (the SD).
+ Currently the SD waits until everything is on tape and all the
+ attributes are transmitted to the Director before signaling
+ completion to the FD. I don't think I would have any problem
+ changing this. The reason is that even if the FD reports back to
+ the Dir that all is OK, the job will not terminate until the SD
+ has done the same thing -- so in a way keeping the SD-FD link
+ open to the very end is not really very productive ...
Why: Makes backup of laptops much easier.
+Item 22: Permit multiple Media Types in an Autochanger
+ Origin: Kern
+ Status: Done. Implemented in 1.38.9 (I think).
+
+ What: Modify the Storage daemon so that multiple Media Types
+ can be specified in an autochanger. This would be somewhat
+ of a simplistic implementation in that each drive would
+ still be allowed to have only one Media Type. However,
+ the Storage daemon will ensure that only a drive with
+ the Media Type that matches what the Director specifies
+ is chosen.
+
+ Why: This will permit user with several different drive types
+ to make full use of their autochangers.
+
+Item 23: Allow different autochanger definitions for one autochanger.
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin: Kern
+ Status:
+
+ What: Currently, the autochanger script is locked based on
+ the autochanger. That is, if multiple drives are being
+ simultaneously used, the Storage daemon ensures that only
+ one drive at a time can access the mtx-changer script.
+ This change would base the locking on the control device,
+ rather than the autochanger. It would then permit two autochanger
+ definitions for the same autochanger, but with different
+ drives. Logically, the autochanger could then be "partitioned"
+ for different jobs, clients, or class of jobs, and if the locking
+ is based on the control device (e.g. /dev/sg0) the mtx-changer
+ script will be locked appropriately.
+
+ Why: This will permit users to partition autochangers for specific
+ use. It would also permit implementation of multiple Media
+ Types with no changes to the Storage daemon.
+
+Item 24: 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 25: Implement huge exclude list support using hashing.
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin: Kern
+ Status:
+
+ What: Allow users to specify very large exclude list (currently
+ more than about 1000 files is too many).
+
+ Why: This would give the users the ability to exclude all
+ files that are loaded with the OS (e.g. using rpms
+ or debs). If the user can restore the base OS from
+ CDs, there is no need to backup all those files. A
+ complete restore would be to restore the base OS, then
+ do a Bacula restore. By excluding the base OS files, the
+ backup set will be *much* smaller.
+
============= Empty Feature Request form ===========
Item n: One line summary ...
Notes: Additional notes or features (omit if not used)
============== End Feature Request form ==============
+
+
+===============================================
+Feature requests submitted after cutoff for December 2005 vote
+ and not yet discussed.
+===============================================
+Item n: Allow skipping execution of Jobs
+ Date: 29 November 2005
+ Origin: Florian Schnabel <florian.schnabel at docufy dot de>
+ Status:
+
+ What: An easy option to skip a certain job on a certain date.
+ Why: You could then easily skip tape backups on holidays. Especially
+ if you got no autochanger and can only fit one backup on a tape
+ that would be really handy, other jobs could proceed normally
+ and you won't get errors that way.
+
+===================================================
+
+Item n: archive data
+
+ Origin: calvin streeting calvin at absentdream dot com
+ Date: 15/5/2006
+
+ What: The abilty to archive to media (dvd/cd) in a uncompressd 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 : Tray monitor window cleanups
+ Origin: Alan Brown ajb2 at mssl dot ucl dot ac dot uk
+ Date: 24 July 2006
+ Status:
+ What: Resizeable and scrollable windows in the tray monitor.
+
+ Why: With multiple clients, or with many jobs running, the displayed
+ window often ends up larger than the available screen, making
+ the trailing items difficult to read.
+
+ Notes:
+
+ Item : 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 : Tray monitor window cleanups
+ Origin: Alan Brown ajb2 at mssl dot ucl dot ac dot uk
+ Date: 24 July 2006
+ Status:
+ What: Resizeable and scrollable windows in the tray monitor.
+
+ Why: With multiple clients, or with many jobs running, the displayed
+ window often ends up larger than the available screen, making
+ the trailing items difficult to read.
+
+ Notes:
+
+Item: 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 n: Split documentation
+ Origin: Maxx <maxxatworkat gmail dot com>
+ Date: 27th July 2006
+ Status:
+
+ What: Split documentation in several books
+
+ Why: Bacula manual has now more than 600 pages, and looking for
+ implementation details is getting complicated. I think
+ it would be good to split the single volume in two or
+ maybe three parts:
+
+ 1) Introduction, requirements and tutorial, typically
+ are useful only until first installation time
+
+ 2) Basic installation and configuration, with all the
+ gory details about the directives supported 3)
+ Advanced Bacula: testing, troubleshooting, GUI and
+ ancillary programs, security managements, scripting,
+ etc.
+
+ Notes:
+
+Item n: Include an option to operate on all pools when doing
+ update vol parameters
+
+ Origin: Dmitriy Pinchukov <absh@bossdev.kiev.ua>
+ Date: 16 August 2006
+ Status:
+
+ What: When I do update -> Volume parameters -> All Volumes
+ from Pool, then I have to select pools one by one. I'd like
+ console to have an option like "0: All Pools" in the list of
+ defined pools.
+
+ Why: I have many pools and therefore unhappy with manually
+ updating each of them using update -> Volume parameters -> All
+ Volumes from Pool -> pool #.
+
+Item n: Automatic promotion of backup levels
+ Date: 19 January 2006
+ Origin: Adam Thornton <athornton@sinenomine.net>
+ Status: Blue sky
+
+ What: Amanda has a feature whereby it estimates the space that a
+ differential, incremental, and full backup would take. If the
+ difference in space required between the scheduled level and the next
+ level up is beneath some user-defined critical threshold, the backup
+ level is bumped to the next type. Doing this minimizes the number of
+ volumes necessary during a restore, with a fairly minimal cost in
+ backup media space.
+
+ Why: I know at least one (quite sophisticated and smart) user
+ for whom the absence of this feature is a deal-breaker in terms of
+ using Bacula; if we had it it would eliminate the one cool thing
+ Amanda can do and we can't (at least, the one cool thing I know of).
+
+
+
+
+Item n+1: 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 1: Add an over-ride in the Schedule configuration to use a
+ different pool for different backup types.
+
+Date: 19 Jan 2005
+Origin: Chad Slater <chad.slater@clickfox.com>
+Status:
+
+ What: Adding a FullStorage=BigTapeLibrary in the Schedule resource
+ would help those of us who use different storage devices for different
+ backup levels cope with the "auto-upgrade" of a backup.
+
+ Why: Assume I add several new device to be backed up, i.e. several
+ hosts with 1TB RAID. To avoid tape switching hassles, incrementals are
+ stored in a disk set on a 2TB RAID. If you add these devices in the
+ middle of the month, the incrementals are upgraded to "full" backups,
+ but they try to use the same storage device as requested in the
+ incremental job, filling up the RAID holding the differentials. If we
+ could override the Storage parameter for full and/or differential
+ backups, then the Full job would use the proper Storage device, which
+ has more capacity (i.e. a 8TB tape library.
+
+
+Item: 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.
+
+Kern notes: I think this would add very little functionality, but a *lot* of
+ additional overhead to Bacula.
+
+Item 1: include JobID in spool file name
+ Origin: Mark Bergman <mark.bergman@uphs.upenn.edu>
+ Date: Tue Aug 22 17:13:39 EDT 2006
+ Status:
+
+ What: Change the name of the spool file to include the JobID
+
+ Why: JobIDs are the common key used to refer to jobs, yet the
+ spoolfile name doesn't include that information. The date/time
+ stamp is useful (and should be retained).
+
+
+
+Item 2: include timestamp of job launch in "stat clients" output
+ Origin: Mark Bergman <mark.bergman@uphs.upenn.edu>
+ Date: Tue Aug 22 17:13:39 EDT 2006
+ Status:
+
+ What: The "stat clients" command doesn't include any detail on when
+ the active backup jobs were launched.
+
+ Why: Including the timestamp would make it much easier to decide whether
+ a job is running properly.
+
+ Notes: It may be helpful to have the output from "stat clients" formatted
+ more like that from "stat dir" (and other commands), in a column
+ format. The per-client information that's currently shown (level,
+ client name, JobId, Volume, pool, device, Files, etc.) is good, but
+ somewhat hard to parse (both programmatically and visually),
+ particularly when there are many active clients.
+
+Item 1: Filesystemwatch 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".
+
+Item n: Message mailing based on backup types
+Origin: Evan Kaufman <evan.kaufman@gmail.com>
+ Date: January 6, 2006
+Status:
+
+ What: In the "Messages" resource definitions, allowing messages
+ to be mailed based on the type (backup, restore, etc.) and level
+ (full, differential, etc) of job that created the originating
+ message(s).
+
+Why: It would, for example, allow someone's boss to be emailed
+ automatically only when a Full Backup job runs, so he can
+ retrieve the tapes for offsite storage, even if the IT dept.
+ doesn't (or can't) explicitly notify him. At the same time, his
+ mailbox wouldnt be filled by notifications of Verifies, Restores,
+ or Incremental/Differential Backups (which would likely be kept
+ onsite).
+
+Notes:
+ One way this could be done is through additional message types, for example:
+
+ Messages {
+ # email the boss only on full system backups
+ Mail = boss@mycompany.com = full, !incremental, !differential, !restore,
+ !verify, !admin
+ # email us only when something breaks
+ MailOnError = itdept@mycompany.com = all
+ }
+
+
+Item n: Allow inclusion/exclusion of files in a fileset by creation/mod times
+ Origin: Evan Kaufman <evan.kaufman@gmail.com>
+ Date: January 11, 2006
+ Status:
+
+ What: In the vein of the Wild and Regex directives in a Fileset's
+ Options, it would be helpful to allow a user to include or exclude
+ files and directories by creation or modification times.
+
+ You could factor the Exclude=yes|no option in much the same way it
+ affects the Wild and Regex directives. For example, you could exclude
+ all files modified before a certain date:
+
+ Options {
+ Exclude = yes
+ Modified Before = ####
+ }
+
+ Or you could exclude all files created/modified since a certain date:
+
+ Options {
+ Exclude = yes
+ Created Modified Since = ####
+ }
+
+ The format of the time/date could be done several ways, say the number
+ of seconds since the epoch:
+ 1137008553 = Jan 11 2006, 1:42:33PM # result of `date +%s`
+
+ Or a human readable date in a cryptic form:
+ 20060111134233 = Jan 11 2006, 1:42:33PM # YYYYMMDDhhmmss
+
+ Why: I imagine a feature like this could have many uses. It would
+ allow a user to do a full backup while excluding the base operating
+ system files, so if I installed a Linux snapshot from a CD yesterday,
+ I'll *exclude* all files modified *before* today. If I need to
+ recover the system, I use the CD I already have, plus the tape backup.
+ Or if, say, a Windows client is hit by a particularly corrosive
+ virus, and I need to *exclude* any files created/modified *since* the
+ time of infection.
+
+ Notes: Of course, this feature would work in concert with other
+ in/exclude rules, and wouldnt override them (or each other).
+
+ Notes: The directives I'd imagine would be along the lines of
+ "[Created] [Modified] [Before|Since] = <date>".
+ So one could compare against 'ctime' and/or 'mtime', but ONLY 'before'
+ or 'since'.
+
+
+Item 1: Bacula support for a MailOnSuccess feature.
+ Origin: Jaime Ventura <jaimeventura at ipp dot pt>
+ Date: 15 November 2006
+ Status: for 1.38.11: coded(patch on attachment), compiled, tested
+ for 1.39.28: coded(patch on attachment), complied, NOT tested
+
+
+ What: be able to send a email message for a specified email address if (and only if) a job finishes successfully.
+ Its similar to the MailOnError feature.
+
+ Why: The importance is about the same as MailOnError feature.
+ Since its not possible to do it using bacula's message types(info, error,...)filter, this could be done using some kind of filter, right after the mail was sent.
+ But since there is a MailOnError feature, why not have a MailOnSuccess feature?
+
+
+Notes:
+
+ Why its not possible to do it using bacula's message types(info, error,...)?
+
+ Imagine I want bacula to send ONLY successful job reports/messages to baculaOK@domain.
+ When a job starts, bacula send the message : 10-Nov 17:37 bserver-dir: Start Backup JobId 1605, Job=Job.GSI04.2006-11-10_17.37.30
+ Since this is a info message (msgtype = M_INFO) the "bacula's messaging system" put it on the job messages (jcr->jcr_msgs) to be sent
+ to all dest that have the info type enabled (including baculaOK@domain).
+ But when/if the job fails, that message (10-Nov 17:37 bserver-dir: Start Backup JobId 1605, Job=Job.GSI04.2006-11-10_17.37.30) has already
+ been queued to be sent to baculaOK@domain, even though it refers to a unsuccessful backup.
+ So when its time to send all messages to emails, the "bacula's messaging system" send that message (10-Nov 17:37 bserver-dir: Start
+ Backup JobId 1605, Job=Job.GSI04.2006-11-10_17.37.30) to baculaOK@domain, but using the subject "bacula ERROR", because the job terminated unsuccessful.
+
+ This "problem" could also happen if I wanted bacula to send emails regarding unsuccessful backups, if i didnt use the MailOnError feature.
+ This feature is implemented so that if messages that where queued to be sent if the backup was unsuccessful, to be discarded if the backup is
+