\addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{What is Implemented}
\begin{itemize}
-\item Network backup/restore with centralized Director.
-\item Internal scheduler for automatic
- \ilink{Job}{JobDef} execution.
-\item Scheduling of multiple Jobs at the same time.
-\item You may run one Job at a time or multiple simultaneous Jobs.
-\item Job sequencing using priorities.
-\item Restore of one or more files selected interactively either for the
- current backup or a backup prior to a specified time and date.
-\item Restore of a complete system starting from bare metal. This is mostly
- automated for Linux systems and partially automated for Solaris. See
- \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{_ChapterRescue}. This is also
- reported to work on Win2K/XP systems.
-\item Listing and Restoration of files using stand-alone {\bf bls} and {\bf
- bextract} tool programs. Among other things, this permits extraction of files
- when Bacula and/or the catalog are not available. Note, the recommended way
- to restore files is using the restore command in the Console. These programs
- are designed for use as a last resort.
-\item Ability to recreate the catalog database by scanning backup Volumes
- using the {\bf bscan} program.
-\item
- \ilink{Console}{UADef} interface to the Director allowing complete
- control. A shell, GNOME GUI and wxWidgets GUI versions of the Console program
- are available. Note, the GNOME GUI program currently offers very few
- additional features over the shell program.
-\item Verification of files previously cataloged, permitting a Tripwire like
- capability (system break-in detection).
-\item CRAM-MD5 password authentication between each component (daemon).
-\item Configurable
- \ilink{TLS (ssl) encryption}{_ChapterStart61} between each component.
-\item A comprehensive and extensible
- \ilink{configuration file}{_ChapterStart40} for each daemon.
-\item Catalog database facility for remembering Volumes, Pools, Jobs, and
- Files backed up.
-\item Support for SQLite, PostgreSQL, and MySQL Catalog databases.
-\item User extensible queries to the SQLite, PostgreSQL and MySQL databases.
-\item Labeled Volumes, preventing accidental overwriting (at least by
- Bacula).
-\item Any number of Jobs and Clients can be backed up to a single Volume.
- That is, you can backup and restore Linux, Unix, Sun, and Windows machines to
- the same Volume.
-\item Multi-volume saves. When a Volume is full, {\bf Bacula} automatically
- requests the next Volume and continues the backup.
-\item
- \ilink{Pool and Volume}{PoolResource} library management
- providing Volume flexibility (e.g. monthly, weekly, daily Volume sets, Volume
- sets segregated by Client, ...).
-\item Machine independent Volume data format. Linux, Solaris, and Windows
- clients can all be backed up to the same Volume if desired.
-\item A flexible
- \ilink{ message}{MessageResource} handler including routing
- of messages from any daemon back to the Director and automatic email
- reporting.
-\item Multi-threaded implementation.
-\item Programmed to handle arbitrarily long filenames and messages.
-\item GZIP compression on a file by file basis done by the Client program if
- requested before network transit.
-\item Computation of MD5 or SHA1 signatures of the file data if requested.
-\item Saves and restores POSIX ACLs on most OSes if enabled.
-\item Autochanger support using a simple shell interface that can interface
- to virtually any autoloader program. A script for {\bf mtx} is provided.
-\item Support for autochanger barcodes -- automatic tape labeling from
- barcodes.
-\item Automatic support for multiple autochanger magazines either using
- barcodes or by reading the tapes.
-\item Support for multiple drive autochangers.
-\item Raw device backup/restore. Restore must be to the same device.
-\item All Volume blocks (approx 64K bytes) contain a data checksum.
-\item Access control lists for Consoles that permit restricting user access
- to only their data.
-\item Data spooling to disk during backup with subsequent write to tape from
- the spooled disk files. This prevents tape "shoe shine" during
- Incremental/Differential backups.
-\item Support for save/restore of files larger than 2GB.
-\item Support for 64 bit machines, e.g. amd64.
-\item Ability to encrypt communications between daemons using stunnel.
-\item Support ANSI and IBM tape labels.
-\item Support for Unicode filenames (e.g. Chinese) on Win32 machines on
- version 1.37.28 and greater.
-\item Consistent backup of open files on Win32 systems (WinXP, Win2003),
- but not Win2000, using Volume Shadow Copy (VSS).
+\item Job Control
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Network backup/restore with centralized Director.
+ \item Internal scheduler for automatic
+ \ilink{Job}{JobDef} execution.
+ \item Scheduling of multiple Jobs at the same time.
+ \item You may run one Job at a time or multiple simultaneous Jobs.
+ \item Job sequencing using priorities.
+ \item \ilink{Console}{UADef} interface to the Director allowing complete
+ control. A shell, GNOME GUI and wxWidgets GUI versions of the Console program
+ are available. Note, the GNOME GUI program currently offers very few
+ additional features over the shell program.
+ \end{itemize}
+
+\item Security
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Verification of files previously cataloged, permitting a Tripwire like
+ capability (system break-in detection).
+ \item CRAM-MD5 password authentication between each component (daemon).
+ \item Configurable
+ \ilink{TLS (SSL) communications encryption}{CommEncryption} between each component.
+ \item Configurable
+ \ilink{Data (on Volume) encryption}{DataEncryption}
+ on a Client by Client basis.
+ \item Computation of MD5 or SHA1 signatures of the file data if requested.
+ \end{itemize}
+
+
+\item Restore Features
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Restore of one or more files selected interactively either for the
+ current backup or a backup prior to a specified time and date.
+ \item Restore of a complete system starting from bare metal. This is mostly
+ automated for Linux systems and partially automated for Solaris. See
+ \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{_ChapterRescue}. This is also
+ reported to work on Win2K/XP systems.
+ \item Listing and Restoration of files using stand-alone {\bf bls} and {\bf
+ bextract} tool programs. Among other things, this permits extraction of files
+ when Bacula and/or the catalog are not available. Note, the recommended way
+ to restore files is using the restore command in the Console. These programs
+ are designed for use as a last resort.
+ \item Ability to restore the catalog database rapidly by using bootstrap
+ files (previously saved).
+ \item Ability to recreate the catalog database by scanning backup Volumes
+ using the {\bf bscan} program.
+ \end{itemize}
+
+\item SQL Catalog
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Catalog database facility for remembering Volumes, Pools, Jobs, and
+ Files backed up.
+ \item Support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite Catalog databases.
+ \item User extensible queries to the MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite databases.
+ \end{itemize}
+
+\item Advanced Volume and Pool Management
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Labeled Volumes, preventing accidental overwriting (at least by
+ Bacula).
+ \item Any number of Jobs and Clients can be backed up to a single Volume.
+ That is, you can backup and restore Linux, Unix, Sun, and Windows machines to
+ the same Volume.
+ \item Multi-volume saves. When a Volume is full, {\bf Bacula} automatically
+ requests the next Volume and continues the backup.
+ \item
+ \ilink{Pool and Volume}{PoolResource} library management
+ providing Volume flexibility (e.g. monthly, weekly, daily Volume sets, Volume
+ sets segregated by Client, ...).
+ \item Machine independent Volume data format. Linux, Solaris, and Windows
+ clients can all be backed up to the same Volume if desired.
+ \item The Volume data format is upwards compatible so that old Volumes
+ can always be read.
+ \item A flexible
+ \ilink{ message}{MessageResource} handler including routing
+ of messages from any daemon back to the Director and automatic email
+ reporting.
+ \item Data spooling to disk during backup with subsequent write to tape from
+ the spooled disk files. This prevents tape "shoe shine" during
+ Incremental/Differential backups.
+ \end{itemize}
+
+\item Advanced Support for most Storage Devices
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Autochanger support using a simple shell interface that can interface
+ to virtually any autoloader program. A script for {\bf mtx} is provided.
+ \item Support for autochanger barcodes -- automatic tape labeling from
+ barcodes.
+ \item Automatic support for multiple autochanger magazines either using
+ barcodes or by reading the tapes.
+ \item Support for multiple drive autochangers.
+ \item Raw device backup/restore. Restore must be to the same device.
+ \item All Volume blocks (approx 64K bytes) contain a data checksum.
+ \item Migration support -- move data from one Pool to another or
+ one Volume to another.
+ \end{itemize}
+
+\item Multi-Operating System Support
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Programmed to handle arbitrarily long filenames and messages.
+ \item GZIP compression on a file by file basis done by the Client program if
+ requested before network transit.
+ \item Saves and restores POSIX ACLs on most OSes if enabled.
+ \item Access control lists for Consoles that permit restricting user access
+ to only their data.
+ \item Support for save/restore of files larger than 2GB.
+ \item Support for 64 bit machines, e.g. amd64, Sparc.
+ \item Support ANSI and IBM tape labels.
+ \item Support for Unicode filenames (e.g. Chinese) on Win32 machines on
+ version 1.37.28 and greater.
+ \item Consistent backup of open files on Win32 systems (WinXP, Win2003),
+ but not Win2000, using Volume Shadow Copy (VSS).
+ \item Support for path/filename lengths of up to 64K on Win32 machines
+ (unlimited on Unix/Linux machines).
+ \end{itemize}
+
+\item Miscellaneous
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item Multi-threaded implementation.
+ \item A comprehensive and extensible
+ \ilink{configuration file}{_ChapterStart40} for each daemon.
+ \end{itemize}
\end{itemize}
\subsection*{Advantages of Bacula Over Other Backup Programs}
\item Automatic pruning of the database (removal of old records) thus
simplifying database administration.
\item Any SQL database engine can be used making Bacula very flexible.
+ Drivers currently exist for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.
\item The modular but integrated design makes Bacula very scalable.
\item Since Bacula uses client file servers, any database or
other application can be properly shutdown by Bacula using the
other comparable products.
\item According to one user Bacula is as fast as the big major commercial
applications.
-\item According to another user Bacula is four times as fast as another
+\item According to another user Bacula is four times as fast as another
commercial application, probably because that application stores its catalog
information in a large number of individual files rather than an SQL database
as Bacula does.
comprehensive shell administrative interface, which allows the
administrator to use tools such as ssh to administrate any part of
Bacula from anywhere (even from home).
-
\item Bacula has a Rescue CD for Linux systems with the following features:
\begin{itemize}
\item You build it on your own system from scratch with one simple command:
\addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Current Implementation Restrictions}
\begin{itemize}
-\item Path and filenames longer than 260 characters on Win32 systems are
- not supported. They will be backed up, but they cannot be restored. By
- using the {\bf Portable=yes} directive in your FileSet, files with
- long names can be restored to Unix and Linux systems.
-
- Long filenames for Win32 will be implemented in a later version.
\item If you have over 4 billion file entries stored in your database, the
database FileId is likely to overflow. This is a monster database, but still
- possible. At some point, Bacula's FileId fields will be upgraded from 32 bits
- to 64 bits and this problem will go away. In the mean time, a good workaround
- is to use multiple databases.
-\item Files deleted after a Full save will be included in a restoration.
+ possible. Bacula's FileId fields have been modified so that they can be
+ upgraded from 32 to 64 bits in version 1.39, but this has never been
+ tested.
+\item Files deleted after a Full save will be included in a restoration. This
+ is typical for most similar backup programs (we have a project to
+ correct this).
+\item Bacula's Differential and Incremental backups are based on
+ time stamps. Consequently, if you move files into an existing directory or
+ move a whole directory into the backup fileset after a Full backup, those
+ files will probably not be backed up by an Incremental save because they
+ will have old dates. You must explicitly update the date/time stamp on all
+ moved files (we have a project to correct this).
\item File System Modules (configurable routines for saving/restoring special
files) are not yet implemented.
-\item Data encryption of the Volume contents.
-\item Bacula cannot automatically restore files for a single Job
- from two or more different storage devices or different media types.
- That is, if you use more than one storage device or media type to
- backup a single job, the restore process will require some manual
- intervention.
\end{itemize}
\subsection*{Design Limitations or Restrictions}
\begin{itemize}
\item Names (resource names, Volume names, and such) defined in Bacula
- configuration files are limited to a fixed number of characters. Currently
- the limit is defined as 127 characters. Note, this does not apply to
- filenames, which may be arbitrarily long.
-\item On Win32 machines filenames are limited by the non-Unicode Windows
- API that we use to 260 characters. This is planned to be corrected in
- a future version by switching to the Unicode API.
+ configuration files are limited to a fixed number of
+ characters. Currently the limit is defined as 127 characters. Note,
+ this does not apply to filenames, which may be arbitrarily long.
\end{itemize}
projects / bacula / docs / blobdiff