[bacula/docs] / docs / manual / messagesres.tex

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\section*{Messages Resource}
\label{_ChapterStart15}
\index[general]{Resource!Messages }
\index[general]{Messages Resource }
\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Messages Resource}

\subsection*{The Messages Resource}
\label{MessageResource}
\index[general]{Resource!Messages }
\index[general]{Messages Resource }
\addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Messages Resource}

The Messages resource defines how messages are to be handled and destinations
to which they should be sent. 

Even though each daemon has a full message handler, within the File daemon and
the Storage daemon, you will normally choose to send all the appropriate
messages back to the Director. This permits all the messages associated with a
single Job to be combined in the Director and sent as a single email message
to the user, or logged together in a single file. 

Each message that Bacula generates (i.e. that each daemon generates) has an
associated type such as INFO, WARNING, ERROR, FATAL, etc. Using the message
resource, you can specify which message types you wish to see and where they
should be sent. In addition, a message may be sent to multiple destinations.
For example, you may want all error messages both logged as well as sent to
you in an email. By defining multiple messages resources, you can have
different message handling for each type of Job (e.g. Full backups versus
Incremental backups). 

In general, messages are attached to a Job and are included in the Job report.
There are some rare cases, where this is not possible, e.g. when no job is
running, or if a communications error occurs between a daemon and the
director. In those cases, the message may remain in the system, and should be
flushed at the end of the next Job. However, since such messages are not
attached to a Job, any that are mailed will be sent to {\bf
/usr/lib/sendmail}. On some systems, such as FreeBSD, if your sendmail is in a
different place, you may want to link it to the the above location. 

The records contained in a Messages resource consist of a {\bf destination}
specification followed by a list of {\bf message-types} in the format: 

\begin{description}

\item [destination = message-type1, message-type2, message-type3, ...  ]
   \index[dir]{destination  }
   \end{description}

or for those destinations that need and address specification (e.g. email): 

\begin{description}

\item [destination = address = message-type1, message-type2,
   message-type3, ...  ]
   \index[dir]{destination  }

Where {\bf destination} is one of a predefined set of keywords that define
where the message is to be sent ({\bf stdout}, {\bf file}, ...), {\bf
message-type} is one of a predefined set of keywords that define the type of
message generated by {\bf Bacula} ({\bf ERROR}, {\bf WARNING}, {\bf FATAL},
...), and {\bf address} varies according to the {\bf destination} keyword, but
is typically an email address or a filename. 
\end{description}

The following are the list of the possible record definitions that can be used
in a message resource. 

\begin{description}

\item [Messages]
   \index[dir]{Messages }
   Start of the Messages records.  

\item [Name = \lt{}name\gt{}]
   \index[dir]{Name  }
   The name of the Messages resource.  The name you specify here will be used to
tie this Messages  resource to a Job and/or to the daemon.  
\label{mailcommand}

\item [MailCommand = \lt{}command\gt{}]
   \index[dir]{MailCommand  }
   In the absence of this resource,  Bacula will send all mail using the
following command:  

{\bf mail -s ``Bacula Message'' \lt{}recipients\gt{}}  

In many cases, depending on your machine, this command may not work.  Using
the {\bf MailCommand}, you can specify exactly how to send  the mail. During
the processing of the {\bf command}, normally  specified as a quoted string,
the following substitutions will be  used:  

\begin{itemize}
\item \%\% = \%  
\item \%c = Client's name  
\item \%d = Director's name  
\item \%e = Job Exit code (OK, Error, ...)  
\item \%i = Job Id  
\item \%j = Unique Job name  
\item \%l = Job level  
\item \%n = Job name  
\item \%r = Recipients  
\item \%t = Job type (e.g. Backup, ...)  
   \end{itemize}

The following is the command I (Kern) use. Note, the whole  command should
appear on a single line in the configuration file  rather than split as is
done here for presentation:  

{\bf mailcommand = ``/home/kern/bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com -f
\textbackslash{}''\textbackslash{}(Bacula\textbackslash{})
\%r\textbackslash{}`` -s \textbackslash{}''Bacula: \%t \%e of \%c
\%l\textbackslash{}`` \%r''  }

Note, the {\bf bsmtp} program is provided as part of {\bf Bacula}.  For
additional details, please see the 
\ilink{ bsmtp -- Customizing Your Email Messages}{bsmtp} section of
the  Bacula Utility Programs chapter of this manual. Please test any  {\bf
mailcommand} that you use to ensure that your bsmtp gateway accepts  the
addressing form that you use. Certain programs such as Exim can be very 
selective as to what forms are permitted particularly in the from part.  

\item [OperatorCommand = \lt{}command\gt{}]
   \index[fd]{OperatorCommand  }
   This resource specification is  similar to the {\bf MailCommand} except that
it is used for Operator  messages. The substitutions performed for the {\bf
MailCommand} are  also done for this command. Normally, you will set this
command to the  same value as specified for the {\bf MailCommand}. 

\item [Debug = \lt{}debug-level\gt{}]
   \index[fd]{Debug  }
   This sets the debug message level  to the debug level, which is an integer.
Higher debug levels cause more  debug information to be produced. You are
requested not to use this  record since it will be deprecated. 

\item [\lt{}destination\gt{} = \lt{}message-type1\gt{},
   \lt{}message-type2\gt{}, ...]
   \index[fd]{\lt{}destination\gt{}  }

Where {\bf destination} may be one of the following:  

\begin{description}

\item [stdout]
   \index[fd]{stdout }
   Send the message to standard output.  

\item [stderr]
   \index[fd]{stderr }
   Send the message to standard error.  

\item [console]
   \index[console]{console }
   Send the message to the console (Bacula Console).  These messages are held
until the console program  connects to the Director.  
\end{description}

\item {\bf \lt{}destination\gt{} = \lt{}address\gt{} =
   \lt{}message-type1\gt{}, \lt{}message-type2\gt{}, ...}
   \index[console]{\lt{}destination\gt{}  }

Where {\bf address} depends on the {\bf destination}, which  may be one of the
following:  

\begin{description}

\item [director]
   \index[dir]{director }
   Send the message to the Director whose name  is given in the {\bf address}
field. Note, in the current  implementation, the Director Name is ignored, and
the message  is sent to the Director that started the Job.  

\item [file]
   \index[dir]{file }
   Send the message to the filename given in  the {\bf address} field. If the
file already exists, it will be  overwritten.  

\item [append]
   \index[dir]{append }
   Append the message to the filename given  in the {\bf address} field. If the
file already exists, it will  be appended to. If the file does not exist, it
will be created.  

\item [syslog]
   \index[fd]{syslog }
   Send the message to the system log (syslog)  using the facility specified in
the {\bf address} field.  Note, for the moment, the {\bf address} field is
ignored  and the message is always sent to the {\bf LOG\_ERR} facility.  

\item [mail]
   \index[fd]{mail }
   Send the message to the email addresses that are  given as a comma separated
list in the {\bf address} field.  Mail messages are grouped together during a
job and then  sent as a single email message when the job terminates.  The
advantage of this destination is that you are notified about  every Job that
runs. However, if you backup 5 or 10 machines every  night, the volume of
email messages can be important. Some users  use filter programs such as {\bf
procmail} to automatically file  this email based on the Job termination code
(see {\bf mailcommand}).  

\item [mail on error]
   \index[fd]{mail on error }
   Send the message to the email addresses  that are given as a comma separated
list in the {\bf address}  field if the Job terminates with an error
condition.  MailOnError messages are grouped together during a job and  then
sent as a single email message when the job terminates.  This destination
differs from the {\bf mail} destination in  that if the Job terminates
normally, the message is totally  discarded (for this destination). If the Job
terminates in  error, it is emailed. By using other destinations such as  {\bf
append} you can ensure that even if the Job terminates  normally, the output
information is saved.  

\item [operator]
   \index[fd]{operator }
   Send the message to the email addresses that  are specified as a comma
separated list in the {\bf address}  field. This is similar to {\bf mail}
above, except that each  message is sent as received. Thus there is one email
per message.  This is most useful for {\bf mount} messages (see below).  
\end{description}

For any destination, the {\bf message-type} field is a comma  separated list
of the following types or classes of messages:  

\begin{description}

\item [info]
   \index[fd]{info }
   General information messages.  

\item [warning]
   \index[fd]{warning }
   Warning messages. Generally this is some  unusual condition but not expected
to be serious. 

\item [error]
   \index[fd]{error }
   Non-fatal error messages. The job continues running.  Any error message should
be investigated as it means that something  went wrong.  

\item [fatal]
   \index[fd]{fatal }
   Fatal error messages. Fatal errors cause the  job to terminate.  

\item [terminate]
   \index[fd]{terminate }
   Message generated when the daemon shuts down.  

\item [saved]
   \index[fd]{saved }
   Files saved normally.  

\item [notsaved]
   \index[fd]{notsaved }
   Files not saved because of some error.  Usually because the file cannot be
accessed (i.e. it does not  exist or is not mounted).  

\item [skipped]
   \index[fd]{skipped }
   Files that were skipped because of a user  supplied option such as an
incremental backup or a file that  matches an exclusion pattern. This is not
considered an  error condition such as the files listed for the  {\bf
notsaved} type because the configuration file  explicitly requests these types
of files to be skipped. For  example, any unchanged file during an incremental
backup, or  any subdirectory if the no recursion option is  specified.  

\item [mount]
   \index[dir]{mount }
   Volume mount or intervention requests from the  Storage daemon. These requests
require a specific operator  intervention for the job to continue.  

\item [restored]
   \index[dir]{restored }
   The {\bf ls} style listing generated for each  file restored is sent to this
message class.  

\item [all]
   \index[fd]{all }
   All message types.  

\item [*security]
   \index[fd]{*security }
   Security info/warning messages (not currently  implemented).  
\end{description}

\end{description}

The following is an example of a valid Messages resource definition, where all
messages except files explicitly skipped or daemon termination messages are
sent by email to enforcement@sec.com. In addition all mount messages are sent
to the operator (i.e. emailed to enforcement@sec.com). Finally all messages
other than explicitly skipped files and files saved are sent to the console: 

\footnotesize
\begin{verbatim}
Messages {
  Name = Standard
  mail = enforcement@sec.com = all, !skipped, !terminate
  operator = enforcement@sec.com = mount
  console = all, !skipped, !saved
}
\end{verbatim}
\normalsize

With the exception of the email address (changed to avoid junk mail from
robot's), Kern's Director's Messages resource is as follows. Note, the {\bf
mailcommand} and {\bf operatorcommand} are on a single line -- they had to be
split for this manual: 

\footnotesize
\begin{verbatim}
Messages {
  Name = Standard
  mailcommand = "bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com \
    -f \"\(Bacula\) %r\" -s \"Bacula: %t %e of %c %l\" %r"
  operatorcommand = "bacula/bin/bsmtp -h mail.example.com \
    -f \"\(Bacula\) %r\" -s \"Bacula: Intervention needed \
        for %j\" %r"
  MailOnError = security@example.com = all, !skipped, \
                !terminate
  append = "bacula/bin/log" = all, !skipped, !terminate
  operator = security@example.com = mount
  console = all, !skipped, !saved
}
\end{verbatim}
\normalsize