Projects:
Bacula Projects Roadmap
- 09 September 2005
+ Status updated 04 February 2009
-Below, you will find more information on future projects:
+Summary:
+Item 2: Allow FD to initiate a backup
+Item 6: Deletion of disk Volumes when pruned
+Item 7: Implement Base jobs
+Item 9: Scheduling syntax that permits more flexibility and options
+Item 10: Message mailing based on backup types
+Item 11: Cause daemons to use a specific IP address to source communications
+Item 14: Add an override in Schedule for Pools based on backup types
+Item 15: Implement more Python events and functions --- Abandoned for plugins
+Item 16: Allow inclusion/exclusion of files in a fileset by creation/mod times
+Item 17: Automatic promotion of backup levels based on backup size
+Item 19: Automatic disabling of devices
+Item 20: An option to operate on all pools with update vol parameters
+Item 21: Include timestamp of job launch in "stat clients" output
+Item 22: Implement Storage daemon compression
+Item 23: Improve Bacula's tape and drive usage and cleaning management
+Item 24: Multiple threads in file daemon for the same job
+Item 25: Archival (removal) of User Files to Tape
-Item 1: Implement Base jobs.
- Status: Voted by users not to be implemented in 1.37
+
+Item 2: 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 6: Deletion of disk Volumes when pruned
+ Date: Nov 25, 2005
+ Origin: Ross Boylan <RossBoylan at stanfordalumni dot org> (edited
+ by Kern)
+ Status:
+
+ 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: This would allow users more control over their Volumes and
+ prevent disk based volumes from consuming too much space.
+
+ Notes: The following two directives might do the trick:
+
+ Volume Data Retention = <time period>
+ Remove Volume After = <time period>
+
+ The migration project should also remove a Volume that is
+ migrated. This might also work for tape Volumes.
+
+Item 7: Implement Base jobs
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin: Kern
+ Status:
What: A base job is sort of like a Full save except that you
will want the FileSet to contain only files that are
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 2: Add Plug-ins to the FileSet Include statements.
- Status: In progress in 1.37 using Python scripting.
-
- 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).
-
- 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.
-
-Item 3: Implement a Migration job type that will move the job
- data from one device to another.
- Status: Partially coded in 1.37 -- much more to do.
-
- What: The ability to copy, move, or archive data that is on a
- device to another device is very important.
-
- Why: An ISP might want to backup to disk, but after 30 days
- migrate the data to tape backup and delete it from
- disk. Bacula should be able to handle this
- automatically. It needs to know what was put where,
- and when, and what to migrate -- it is a bit like
- retention periods. Doing so would allow space to be
- freed up for current backups while maintaining older
- data on tape drives.
-
- Notes: Migration could be triggered by:
- Number of Jobs
- Number of Volumes
- Age of Jobs
- Highwater size (keep total size)
- Lowwater mark
-
-Item 9: Implement data encryption (as opposed to communications
- encryption)
- Status: Landon Fuller has agreed to work on 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.
-
- Why: Large sites require this.
-
-
-Items completed for release 1.38.0:
-#4 Embedded Python Scripting (implemented in all Daemons)
-#5 Events that call a Python program (Implemented in all
- daemons, but more cleanup work to be done).
-#6 Select one from among Multiple Storage Devices for Job.
- This is already implemented in 1.37.
-#7 Single Job Writing to Multiple Storage Devices. This is
- currently implemented with a Clone feature.
-#- Full multiple drive Autochanger support (mostly implemented).
-#- We will have built in support for communications
- encryption (TLS) done by Landon Fuller.
-# We will most likely have support for Unicode characters
- (via UTF-8) on Win32 machines thanks to Thorsten Engle.
-Item 8: Break the one-to-one Relationship between a Job and a
- Specific Storage Device (or Devices if #10 is implemented).
-
-Completed items from last year's list:
-Item 1: Multiple simultaneous Jobs. (done)
-Item 3: Write the bscan program -- also write a bcopy program (done).
-Item 5: Implement Label templates (done).
-Item 6: Write a regression script (done)
-Item 9: Add SSL to daemon communications (For now, implement with
- stunnel)
-Item 10: Define definitive tape format (done)
-Item 3: GUI for interactive restore. Partially Implemented in 1.34
- Note, there is now a complete Webmin plugin, a partial
- GNOME console, and an excellent wx-console GUI.
-Item 4: GUI for interactive backup
-Item 2: Job Data Spooling.
- Done: Regular expression matching.
-Item 10: New daemon communication protocol (this has been dropped).
+
+Item 9: Scheduling syntax that permits more flexibility and options
+ Date: 15 December 2006
+ Origin: Gregory Brauer (greg at wildbrain dot com) and
+ Florian Schnabel <florian.schnabel at docufy dot de>
+ 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.
+
+ An easy option to skip a certain job on a certain date.
+
+
+ Why: Rotated backups done at weekly intervals are useful, and Bacula
+ cannot currently do them without extensive hacking.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+ 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
+ }
+ }
+ }
+
+ Notes: Kern: I have merged the previously separate project of skipping
+ jobs (via Schedule syntax) into this.
+
+
+Item 10: 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
+ }
+
+ Notes: Kern: This should be rather trivial to implement.
+
+
+Item 11: 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.
+
+
+Item 14: Add an override in Schedule for Pools based on 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 devices 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 15: Implement more Python events and functions
+ Date: 28 October 2005
+ Origin: Kern
+ Status: Project abandoned in favor of plugins.
+
+ What: Allow Python scripts to be called at more places
+ within Bacula and provide additional access to Bacula
+ internal variables.
+
+ Implement an interface for Python scripts to access the
+ catalog through Bacula.
+
+ 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).
+
+
+ to start the appropriate job.
+
+
+Item 16: 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 17: Automatic promotion of backup levels based on backup size
+ Date: 19 January 2006
+ Origin: Adam Thornton <athornton@sinenomine.net>
+ Status:
+
+ 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 19: 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 20: An option to operate on all pools with update vol parameters
+ Origin: Dmitriy Pinchukov <absh@bossdev.kiev.ua>
+ Date: 16 August 2006
+ Status: Patch made by Nigel Stepp
+
+ 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 21: 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 22: Implement Storage daemon compression
+ Date: 18 December 2006
+ Origin: Vadim A. Umanski , e-mail umanski@ext.ru
+ Status:
+ What: The ability to compress backup data on the SD 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 23: 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 24: Multiple threads in file daemon for the same job
+ Date: 27 November 2005
+ Origin: Ove Risberg (Ove.Risberg at octocode dot com)
+ Status:
+
+ What: I want the file daemon to start multiple threads for a backup
+ job so the fastest possible backup can be made.
+
+ The file daemon could parse the FileSet information and start
+ one thread for each File entry located on a separate
+ filesystem.
+
+ A confiuration option in the job section should be used to
+ enable or disable this feature. The confgutration option could
+ specify the maximum number of threads in the file daemon.
+
+ If the theads could spool the data to separate spool files
+ the restore process will not be much slower.
+
+ Why: Multiple concurrent backups of a large fileserver with many
+ disks and controllers will be much faster.
+
+Item 25: Archival (removal) of User Files to Tape
+ Date: Nov. 24/2005
+ Origin: Ray Pengelly [ray at biomed dot queensu dot ca
+ Status:
+
+ 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.
+
+
+========= New Items since the last vote =================
+
+Item 26: Add a new directive to bacula-dir.conf which permits inclusion of all subconfiguration files in a given directory
+Date: 18 October 2008
+Origin: Database, Lda. Maputo, Mozambique
+Contact:Cameron Smith / cameron.ord@database.co.mz
+Status: New request
+
+What: A directive something like "IncludeConf = /etc/bacula/subconfs" Every
+ time Bacula Director restarts or reloads, it will walk the given
+ directory (non-recursively) and include the contents of any files
+ therein, as though they were appended to bacula-dir.conf
+
+Why: Permits simplified and safer configuration for larger installations with
+ many client PCs. Currently, through judicious use of JobDefs and
+ similar directives, it is possible to reduce the client-specific part of
+ a configuration to a minimum. The client-specific directives can be
+ prepared according to a standard template and dropped into a known
+ directory. However it is still necessary to add a line to the "master"
+ (bacula-dir.conf) referencing each new file. This exposes the master to
+ unnecessary risk of accidental mistakes and makes automation of adding
+ new client-confs, more difficult (it is easier to automate dropping a
+ file into a dir, than rewriting an existing file). Ken has previously
+ made a convincing argument for NOT including Bacula's core configuration
+ in an RDBMS, but I believe that the present request is a reasonable
+ extension to the current "flat-file-based" configuration philosophy.
+
+Notes: There is NO need for any special syntax to these files. They should
+ contain standard directives which are simply "inlined" to the parent
+ file as already happens when you explicitly reference an external file.
+
+Notes: (kes) this can already be done with scripting
+ From: John Jorgensen <jorgnsn@lcd.uregina.ca>
+ The bacula-dir.conf at our site contains these lines:
+
+ #
+ # Include subfiles associated with configuration of clients.
+ # They define the bulk of the Clients, Jobs, and FileSets.
+ #
+ @|"sh -c 'for f in /etc/bacula/clientdefs/*.conf ; do echo @${f} ; done'"
+
+ and when we get a new client, we just put its configuration into
+ a new file called something like:
+
+ /etc/bacula/clientdefs/clientname.conf
+
+
+ Item n: List inChanger flag when doing restore.
+ Origin: Jesper Krogh<jesper@krogh.cc>
+ Date: 17 oct. 2008
+ Status:
+
+ What: When doing a restore the restore selection dialog ends by telling stuff
+ like this:
+ The job will require the following
+ Volume(s) Storage(s) SD Device(s)
+ ===========================================================================
+ 000741L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+ 000866L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+ 000765L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+ 000764L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+ 000756L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+ 001759L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+ 001763L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+ 001762L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+ 001767L3 LTO-4 LTO3
+
+ When having an autochanger, it would be really nice with an inChanger
+ column so the operator knew if this restore job would stop waiting for
+ operator intervention. This is done just by selecting the inChanger flag
+ from the catalog and printing it in a seperate column.
+
+
+ Why: This would help getting large restores through minimizing the
+ time spent waiting for operator to drop by and change tapes in the library.
+
+ Notes: [Kern] I think it would also be good to have the Slot as well,
+ or some indication that Bacula thinks the volume is in the autochanger
+ because it depends on both the InChanger flag and the Slot being
+ valid.
+
+
+Item 1: Implement an interface between Bacula and Amazon's S3.
+ Date: 25 August 2008
+ Origin: Soren Hansen <soren@ubuntu.com>
+ Status: Not started.
+ What: Enable the storage daemon to store backup data on Amazon's
+ S3 service.
+
+ Why: Amazon's S3 is a cheap way to store data off-site. Current
+ ways to integrate Bacula and S3 involve storing all the data
+ locally and syncing them to S3, and manually fetching them
+ again when they're needed. This is very cumbersome.
+
+
+Item 1: enable/disable compression depending on storage device (disk/tape)
+ Origin: Ralf Gross ralf-lists@ralfgross.de
+ Date: 2008-01-11
+ Status: Initial Request
+
+ What: Add a new option to the storage resource of the director. Depending
+ on this option, compression will be enabled/disabled for a device.
+
+ Why: If different devices (disks/tapes) are used for full/diff/incr
+ backups, software compression will be enabled for all backups
+ because of the FileSet compression option. For backup to tapes
+ wich are able to do hardware compression this is not desired.
+
+
+ Notes:
+ http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.sysutils.backup.bacula.devel/cutoff=11124
+ It must be clear to the user, that the FileSet compression option
+ must still be enabled use compression for a backup job at all.
+ Thus a name for the new option in the director must be
+ well-defined.
+
+ Notes: KES I think the Storage definition should probably override what
+ is in the Job definition or vice-versa, but in any case, it must
+ be well defined.
+
+
+Item 1: Backup and Restore of Windows Encrypted Files through raw encryption
+ functions
+
+ Origin: Michael Mohr, SAG Mohr.External@infineon.com
+
+ Date: 22 February 2008
+
+ Status:
+
+ What: Make it possible to backup and restore Encypted Files from and to
+ Windows systems without the need to decrypt it by using the raw
+ encryption functions API (see:
+ http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363783.aspx)
+
+ that is provided for that reason by Microsoft.
+ If a file ist encrypted could be examined by evaluating the
+ FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ENCRYTED flag of the GetFileAttributes
+ function.
+
+ Why: Without the usage of this interface the fd-daemon running
+ under the system account can't read encypted Files because
+ the key needed for the decrytion is missed by them. As a result
+ actually encrypted files are not backed up
+ by bacula and also no error is shown while missing these files.
+
+ Notes: ./.
+
+ Item 1: Possibilty to schedule Jobs on last Friday of the month
+ Origin: Carsten Menke <bootsy52 at gmx dot net>
+ Date: 02 March 2008
+ Status:
+
+ What: Currently if you want to run your monthly Backups on the last
+ Friday of each month this is only possible with workarounds (e.g
+ scripting) (As some months got 4 Fridays and some got 5 Fridays)
+ The same is true if you plan to run your yearly Backups on the
+ last Friday of the year. It would be nice to have the ability to
+ use the builtin scheduler for this.
+
+ Why: In many companies the last working day of the week is Friday (or
+ Saturday), so to get the most data of the month onto the monthly
+ tape, the employees are advised to insert the tape for the
+ monthly backups on the last friday of the month.
+
+ Notes: To give this a complete functionality it would be nice if the
+ "first" and "last" Keywords could be implemented in the
+ scheduler, so it is also possible to run monthy backups at the
+ first friday of the month and many things more. So if the syntax
+ would expand to this {first|last} {Month|Week|Day|Mo-Fri} of the
+ {Year|Month|Week} you would be able to run really flexible jobs.
+
+ To got a certain Job run on the last Friday of the Month for example one could
+ then write
+
+ Run = pool=Monthly last Fri of the Month at 23:50
+
+ ## Yearly Backup
+
+ Run = pool=Yearly last Fri of the Year at 23:50
+
+ ## Certain Jobs the last Week of a Month
+
+ Run = pool=LastWeek last Week of the Month at 23:50
+
+ ## Monthly Backup on the last day of the month
+
+ Run = pool=Monthly last Day of the Month at 23:50
+
+ Date: 20 March 2008
+
+ Origin: Frank Sweetser <fs@wpi.edu>
+
+ What: Add a new SD directive, "minimum spool size" (or similar). This
+ directive would specify a minimum level of free space available for
+ spooling. If the unused spool space is less than this level, any
+ new spooling requests would be blocked as if the "maximum spool
+ size" threshold had bee reached. Already spooling jobs would be
+ unaffected by this directive.
+
+ Why: I've been bitten by this scenario a couple of times:
+
+ Assume a maximum spool size of 100M. Two concurrent jobs, A and B,
+ are both running. Due to timing quirks and previously running jobs,
+ job A has used 99.9M of space in the spool directory. While A is
+ busy despooling to disk, B is happily using the remaining 0.1M of
+ spool space. This ends up in a spool/despool sequence every 0.1M of
+ data. In addition to fragmenting the data on the volume far more
+ than was necessary, in larger data sets (ie, tens or hundreds of
+ gigabytes) it can easily produce multi-megabyte report emails!
+
+ Item n?: Expand the Verify Job capability to verify Jobs older than the
+ last one. For VolumeToCatalog Jobs
+ Date: 17 Januar 2008
+ Origin: portrix.net Hamburg, Germany.
+ Contact: Christian Sabelmann
+ Status: 70% of the required Code is part of the Verify function since v. 2.x
+
+ What:
+ The ability to tell Bacula which Job should verify instead of
+ automatically verify just the last one.
+
+ Why:
+ It is sad that such a powerfull feature like Verify Jobs
+ (VolumeToCatalog) is restricted to be used only with the last backup Job
+ of a client. Actual users who have to do daily Backups are forced to
+ also do daily Verify Jobs in order to take advantage of this useful
+ feature. This Daily Verify after Backup conduct is not always desired
+ and Verify Jobs have to be sometimes scheduled. (Not necessarily
+ scheduled in Bacula). With this feature Admins can verify Jobs once a
+ Week or less per month, selecting the Jobs they want to verify. This
+ feature is also not to difficult to implement taking in account older bug
+ reports about this feature and the selection of the Job to be verified.
+
+ Notes: For the verify Job, the user could select the Job to be verified
+ from a List of the latest Jobs of a client. It would also be possible to
+ verify a certain volume. All of these would naturaly apply only for
+ Jobs whose file information are still in the catalog.
+
+Item X: Add EFS support on Windows
+ Origin: Alex Ehrlich (Alex.Ehrlich-at-mail.ee)
+ Date: 05 August 2008
+ Status:
+
+ What: For each file backed up or restored by FD on Windows, check if
+ the file is encrypted; if so then use OpenEncryptedFileRaw,
+ ReadEncryptedFileRaw, WriteEncryptedFileRaw,
+ CloseEncryptedFileRaw instead of BackupRead and BackupWrite
+ API calls.
+
+ Why: Many laptop users utilize the EFS functionality today; so do.
+ some non-laptop ones, too.
+ Currently files encrypted by means of EFS cannot be backed up.
+ It means a Windows boutique cannot rely on Bacula as its
+ backup solution, at least when using Windows 2K, XPP,
+ "better" Vista etc on workstations, unless EFS is
+ forbidden by policies.
+ The current situation might result into "false sense of
+ security" among the end-users.
+
+ Notes: Using xxxEncryptedFileRaw API would allow to backup and
+ restore EFS-encrypted files without decrypting their data.
+ Note that such files cannot be restored "portably" (at least,
+ easily) but they would be restoreable to a different (or
+ reinstalled) Win32 machine; the restore would require setup
+ of a EFS recovery agent in advance, of course, and this shall
+ be clearly reflected in the documentation, but this is the
+ normal Windows SysAdmin's business.
+ When "portable" backup is requested the EFS-encrypted files
+ shall be clearly reported as errors.
+ See MSDN on the "Backup and Restore of Encrypted Files" topic:
+ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363783.aspx
+ Maybe the EFS support requires a new flag in the database for
+ each file, too?
+ Unfortunately, the implementation is not as straightforward as
+ 1-to-1 replacement of BackupRead with ReadEncryptedFileRaw,
+ requiring some FD code rewrite to work with
+ encrypted-file-related callback functions.
+
+Item n: Data encryption on storage daemon
+ Origin: Tobias Barth <tobias.barth at web-arts.com>
+ Date: 04 February 2009
+ Status: new
+
+ What: The storage demon should be able to do the data encryption that can currently be done by the file daemon.
+
+ Why: This would have 2 advantages: 1) one could encrypt the data of unencrypted tapes by doing a migration job, and 2) the storage daemon would be the only machine that would have to keep the encryption keys.
+
+
+Item 1: "Maximum Concurrent Jobs" for drives when used with changer device
+ Origin: Ralf Gross ralf-lists <at> ralfgross.de
+ Date: 2008-12-12
+ Status: Initial Request
+
+ What: respect the "Maximum Concurrent Jobs" directive in the _drives_
+ Storage section in addition to the changer section
+
+ Why: I have a 3 drive changer where I want to be able to let 3 concurrent
+ jobs run in parallel. But only one job per drive at the same time.
+ Right now I don't see how I could limit the number of concurrent jobs
+ per drive in this situation.
+
+ Notes: Using different priorities for these jobs lead to problems that other
+ jobs are blocked. On the user list I got the advice to use the "Prefer Mounted
+ Volumes" directive, but Kern advised against using "Prefer Mounted
+ Volumes" in an other thread:
+ http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.sysutils.backup.bacula.devel/11876/
+
+ In addition I'm not sure if this would be the same as respecting the
+ drive's "Maximum Concurrent Jobs" setting.
+
+ Example:
+
+ Storage {
+ Name = Neo4100
+ Address = ....
+ SDPort = 9103
+ Password = "wiped"
+ Device = Neo4100
+ Media Type = LTO4
+ Autochanger = yes
+ Maximum Concurrent Jobs = 3
+ }
+
+ Storage {
+ Name = Neo4100-LTO4-D1
+ Address = ....
+ SDPort = 9103
+ Password = "wiped"
+ Device = ULTRIUM-TD4-D1
+ Media Type = LTO4
+ Maximum Concurrent Jobs = 1
+ }
+
+ [2 more drives]
+
+ The "Maximum Concurrent Jobs = 1" directive in the drive's section is ignored.
+
+ Item n: Add MaxVolumeSize/MaxVolumeBytes statement to Storage resource
+ Origin: Bastian Friedrich <bastian.friedrich@collax.com>
+ Date: 2008-07-09
+ Status: -
+
+ What: SD has a "Maximum Volume Size" statement, which is deprecated
+ and superseded by the Pool resource statement "Maximum Volume Bytes". It
+ would be good if either statement could be used in Storage resources.
+
+ Why: Pools do not have to be restricted to a single storage
+ type/device; thus, it may be impossible to define Maximum Volume Bytes in
+ the Pool resource. The old MaxVolSize statement is deprecated, as it is
+ SD side only.
+ I am using the same pool for different devices.
+
+ Notes: State of idea currently unknown. Storage resources in the dir
+ config currently translate to very slim catalog entries; these entries
+ would require extensions to implement what is described here. Quite
+ possibly, numerous other statements that are currently available in Pool
+ resources could be used in Storage resources too quite well.
+
+Item 1: Start spooling even when waiting on tape
+ Origin: Tobias Barth <tobias.barth@web-arts.com>
+ Date: 25 April 2008
+ Status:
+
+ What: If a job can be spooled to disk before writing it to tape, it
+should be spooled immediately.
+ Currently, bacula waits until the correct tape is inserted
+into the drive.
+
+ Why: It could save hours. When bacula waits on the operator who
+must insert the correct tape (e.g. a new
+ tape or a tape from another media pool), bacula could already
+prepare the spooled data in the
+ spooling directory and immediately start despooling when the
+tape was inserted by the operator.
+
+ 2nd step: Use 2 or more spooling directories. When one directory is
+currently despooling, the next (on different
+ disk drives) could already be spooling the next data.
+
+ Notes: I am using bacula 2.2.8, which has none of those features
+implemented.
+
+Item 1: enable persistent naming/number of SQL queries
+
+ Date: 24 Jan, 2007
+ Origin: Mark Bergman
+ Status:
+
+ What:
+ Change the parsing of the query.sql file and the query command so that
+ queries are named/numbered by a fixed value, not their order in the
+ file.
+
+
+ Why:
+ One of the real strengths of bacula is the ability to query the
+ database, and the fact that complex queries can be saved and
+ referenced from a file is very powerful. However, the choice
+ of query (both for interactive use, and by scripting input
+ to the bconsole command) is completely dependent on the order
+ within the query.sql file. The descriptve labels are helpful for
+ interactive use, but users become used to calling a particular
+ query "by number", or may use scripts to execute queries. This
+ presents a problem if the number or order of queries in the file
+ changes.
+
+ If the query.sql file used the numeric tags as a real value (rather
+ than a comment), then users could have a higher confidence that they
+ are executing the intended query, that their local changes wouldn't
+ conflict with future bacula upgrades.
+
+ For scripting, it's very important that the intended query is
+ what's actually executed. The current method of parsing the
+ query.sql file discourages scripting because the addition or
+ deletion of queries within the file will require corresponding
+ changes to scripts. It may not be obvious to users that deleting
+ query "17" in the query.sql file will require changing all
+ references to higher numbered queries. Similarly, when new
+ bacula distributions change the number of "official" queries,
+ user-developed queries cannot simply be appended to the file
+ without also changing any references to those queries in scripts
+ or procedural documentation, etc.
+
+ In addition, using fixed numbers for queries would encourage more
+ user-initiated development of queries, by supporting conventions
+ such as:
+
+ queries numbered 1-50 are supported/developed/distributed by
+ with official bacula releases
+
+ queries numbered 100-200 are community contributed, and are
+ related to media management
+
+ queries numbered 201-300 are community contributed, and are
+ related to checksums, finding duplicated files across
+ different backups, etc.
+
+ queries numbered 301-400 are community contributed, and are
+ related to backup statistics (average file size, size per
+ client per backup level, time for all clients by backup level,
+ storage capacity by media type, etc.)
+
+ queries numbered 500-999 are locally created
+
+ Notes:
+ Alternatively, queries could be called by keyword (tag), rather
+ than by number.
+
+Item 1: Implementation of running Job speed limit.
+Origin: Alex F, alexxzell at yahoo dot com
+Date: 29 January 2009
+
+What: I noticed the need for an integrated bandwidth limiter for
+ running jobs. It would be very useful just to specify another
+ field in bacula-dir.conf, like speed = how much speed you wish
+ for that specific job to run at
+
+Why: Because of a couple of reasons. First, it's very hard to implement a
+ traffic shaping utility and also make it reliable. Second, it is very
+ uncomfortable to have to implement these apps to, let's say 50 clients
+ (including desktops, servers). This would also be unreliable because you
+ have to make sure that the apps are properly working when needed; users
+ could also disable them (accidentally or not). It would be very useful
+ to provide Bacula this ability. All information would be centralized,
+ you would not have to go to 50 different clients in 10 different
+ locations for configuration; eliminating 3rd party additions help in
+ establishing efficiency. Would also avoid bandwidth congestion,
+ especially where there is little available.
+
+
+ encrypted-file-related callback functions.
+
+
+============= 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 ==============
+
+
+========== Items put on hold by Kern ============================
+
+Item h2: 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.
+
+ Notes: Kern: this project has a lot of merit, and we need to do it, but
+ it is really an issue for developers rather than a new feature
+ for users, so I have removed it from the voting list, but kept it
+ here, but at some point, it will be implemented.
+
+Item h3: Filesystem watch triggered backup.
+ Date: 31 August 2006
+ Origin: Jesper Krogh <jesper@krogh.cc>
+ Status:
+
+ 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
+
+
+Item h4: 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.
+
+ Notes: Kern: I don't know how to implement this. Put on hold until someone
+ provides a detailed implementation plan.
+
+
+Item h5: 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.
+
+Notes: Kern: I don't see the utility of this, and it would be a *huge*
+ modification to existing code.
+
+Item h6: Implement NDMP protocol support
+ Origin: Alan Davis
+ Date: 06 March 2007
+ Status:
+
+ What: Network Data Management Protocol is implemented by a number of
+ NAS filer vendors to enable backups using third-party
+ software.
+
+ Why: This would allow NAS filer backups in Bacula without incurring
+ the overhead of NFS or SBM/CIFS.
+
+ Notes: Further information is available:
+ http://www.ndmp.org
+ http://www.ndmp.org/wp/wp.shtml
+ http://www.traakan.com/ndmjob/index.html
+
+ There are currently no viable open-source NDMP
+ implementations. There is a reference SDK and example
+ app available from ndmp.org but it has problems
+ compiling on recent Linux and Solaris OS'. The ndmjob
+ reference implementation from Traakan is known to
+ compile on Solaris 10.
+
+ Notes: Kern: I am not at all in favor of this until NDMP becomes
+ an Open Standard or until there are Open Source libraries
+ that interface to it.
+
+Item h7: 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.
+
+ Notes: This might be nice, but someone other than me will probably need to
+ implement it, and at the moment, proprietary code cannot legally
+ be mixed with Bacula GPLed code. This would be possible only
+ providing the vendors provide GPLed (or OpenSource) interface
+ code.
+
+Item h8: 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.
+
+ Notes: As you indicate this is a bit of "blue sky" or in other words,
+ at the moment, it is a bit esoteric to consider for Bacula.
+
+Item h9: 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 work 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 predefined 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
+
+ Notes: Kern: I don't understand this item, and in any case, if it
+ is specific to DVD/CDs, which we do not recommend using,
+ it is unlikely to be implemented except as a user
+ submitted patch.
+
+
+Item h10: 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: Kern: I don't understand the request enough to be able to
+ implement it. A lot more design detail should be presented
+ before voting on this project.
+
+ Feature Request Form
projects / bacula / bacula / blobdiff