5 \label{NewFeaturesChapter}
6 \index[general]{New Features}
8 This chapter presents the new features added to the development 2.5.x
9 versions to be released as Bacula version 3.0.0 near the end of 2008.
12 \index[general]{Accurate Backup}
14 As with most other backup programs, Bacula decides what files to backup for
15 Incremental and Differental backup by comparing the change (st\_ctime) and
16 modification (st\_mtime) times of the file to the time the last backup
17 completed. If one of those two times is different than from last backup time,
18 then the file will be backed up. This does not, however, permit tracking what
19 files have been deleted and will miss any file with an old time that may have
20 been restored or moved on the client filesystem.
22 \subsection{Accurate = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}}
23 If the {\bf Accurate = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}} directive is enabled (default no) in
24 the Job resource, the job will be run as an Accurate Job. For a {\bf Full}
25 backup, there is no difference, but for {\bf Differential} and {\bf
26 Incremental} backups, the Director will send a list of all previous files
27 backed up, and the File daemon will use that list to determine if any new files
28 have been added or or moved and if any files have been deleted. This allows
29 Bacula to make an accurate backup of your system to that point in time so that
30 if you do a restore, it will restore your system exactly. One note of caution
31 about using Accurate backup is that it requires more resources (CPU and memory)
32 on both the Director and the Client machines to create the list of previous
33 files backed up, to send that list to the File daemon, for the File daemon to
34 keep the list (possibly very big) in memory, and for the File daemon to do
35 comparisons between every file in the FileSet and the list.
39 \index[general]{Copy Jobs}
40 A new {\bf Copy} job type has been implemented. It is essentially
41 identical to the existing Migration feature with the exception that
42 the Job that is copied is left unchanged. This essentially creates
43 two identical copies of the same backup. The Copy Job runs without
44 using the File daemon by copying the data from the old backup Volume to
45 a different Volume in a different Pool. See the Migration documentation
46 for additional details.
48 \section{Virtual Backup (Vbackup)}
49 \index[general]{Virtual Backup}
50 \index[general]{Vbackup}
52 Bacula's virtual backup feature is often called Synthetic Backup or
53 Consolidation in other backup products. It permits you to consolidate
54 the previous Full backup plus the most recent Differential backup and any
55 subsequent Incremental backups into a new Full backup. This is accomplished
56 without contacting the client by reading the previous backup data and
57 writing it to a volume in a different pool.
59 In some respects the Vbackup feature works similar to a Migration job, in
60 that Bacula normally reads the data from the pool specified in the
61 Job resource, and writes it to the {\bf Next Pool} specified in the
62 Job resource. The input Storage resource and the Output Storage resource
65 The Vbackup is enabled on a Job by Job in the Job resource by specifying
66 a level of {\bf VirtualFull}.
68 A typical Job resource definition might look like the following:
82 # Default pool definition
86 Recycle = yes # Automatically recycle Volumes
87 AutoPrune = yes # Prune expired volumes
88 Volume Retention = 365d # one year
96 Recycle = yes # Automatically recycle Volumes
97 AutoPrune = yes # Prune expired volumes
98 Volume Retention = 365d # one year
102 # Definition of file storage device
109 Maximum Concurrent Jobs = 5
112 # Definition of DDS Virtual tape disk storage device
115 Address = localhost # N.B. Use a fully qualified name here
118 Media Type = DiskChangerMedia
119 Maximum Concurrent Jobs = 4
124 Then in bconsole or via a Run schedule, you would run the job as:
127 run job=MyBackup level=Full
128 run job=MyBackup level=Incremental
129 run job=MyBackup level=Differential
130 run job=MyBackup level=Incremental
131 run job=MyBackup level=Incremental
134 So providing there were changes between each of those jobs, you would end up
135 with a Full backup, a Differential, which includes the first Incremental
136 backup, then two Incremental backups. All the above jobs would be written to
137 the {\bf Default} pool.
139 To consolidate those backups into a new Full backup, you would run the
143 run job=MyBackup level=VirtualFull
146 And it would produce a new Full backup without using the client, and the output
147 would be written to the {\bf Full} Pool which uses the Diskchanger Storage.
149 If the Virtual Full is run, and there are no prior Jobs, the Virtual Full will
152 \section{Duplicate Job Control}
153 \index[general]{Duplicate Jobs}
154 The new version of Bacula provides four new directives that
155 give additional control over what Bacula does if duplicate jobs
156 are started. A duplicate job in the sense we use it here means
157 a second or subsequent job with the same name starts. This
158 happens most frequently when the first job runs longer than expected because no
161 The four directives each take as an argument a {\bf yes} or {\bf no} value and
162 are specified in the Job resource.
166 \subsection{Allow Duplicate Jobs = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}}
167 If this directive is enabled duplicate jobs will be run. If
168 the directive is set to {\bf no} (default) then only one job of a given name
169 may run at one time, and the action that Bacula takes to ensure only
170 one job runs is determined by the other directives (see below).
172 \subsection{Allow Higher Duplicates = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}}
173 If this directive is set to {\bf yes} (default) the job with a higher
174 priority (lower priority number) will be permitted to run. If the
175 priorities of the two jobs are the same, the outcome is determined by
176 other directives (see below).
178 \subsection{Cancel Queued Duplicates = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}}
179 If this directive is set to {\bf yes} (default) any job that is
180 already queued to run but not yet running will be canceled.
182 \subsection{Cancel Running Duplicates = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}}
183 If this directive is set to {\bf yes} any job that is already running
184 will be canceled. The default is {\bf no}.
187 \section{TLS Authentication}
188 \index[general]{TLS Authentication}
189 In Bacula version 2.5.x and later, in addition to the normal Bacula
190 CRAM-MD5 authentication that is used to authenticate each Bacula
191 connection, you can specify that you want TLS Authentication as well,
192 which will provide more secure authentication.
194 This new feature uses Bacula's existing TLS code (normally used for
195 communications encryption) to do authentication. To use it, you must
196 specify all the TLS directives normally used to enable communications
197 encryption (TLS Enable, TLS Verify Peer, TLS Certificate, ...) and
200 \subsection{TLS Authenticate = yes}
202 TLS Authenticate = yes
205 in the main daemon configuration resource (Director for the Director,
206 Client for the File daemon, and Storage for the Storage daemon).
208 When {\bf TLS Authenticate} is enabled, after doing the CRAM-MD5
209 authentication, Bacula will do the normal TLS authentication, then TLS
210 encryption will be turned off.
212 If you want to encrypt communications data, do not turn on {\bf TLS
215 \section{bextract non-portable Win32 data}
216 \index[general]{bextract handles Win32 non-portable data}
217 {\bf bextract} has been enhanced to be able to restore
218 non-portable Win32 data to any OS. Previous versions were
219 unable to restore non-portable Win32 data to machines that
220 did not have the Win32 BackupRead and BackupWrite API calls.
222 \section{State File updated at Job Termination}
223 \index[general]{State File}
224 In previous versions of Bacula, the state file, which provides a
225 summary of previous jobs run in the {\bf status} command output was
226 updated only when Bacula terminated, thus if the daemon crashed, the
227 state file might not contain all the run data. This version of
228 the Bacula daemons updates the state file on each job termination.
230 \section{MaxFullInterval = \lt{}time-interval\gt{}}
231 \index[general]{MaxFullInterval}
232 The new Job resource directive {\bf Max Full Interval = \lt{}time-interval\gt{}}
233 can be used to specify the maximum time interval between {\bf Full} backup
234 jobs. When a job starts, if the time since the last Full backup is
235 greater than the specified interval, and the job would normally be an
236 {\bf Incremental} or {\bf Differential}, it will be automatically
237 upgraded to a {\bf Full} backup.
239 \section{MaxDiffInterval = \lt{}time-interval\gt{}}
240 \index[general]{MaxDiffInterval}
241 The new Job resource directive {\bf Max Diff Interval = \lt{}time-interval\gt{}}
242 can be used to specify the maximum time interval between {\bf Differential} backup
243 jobs. When a job starts, if the time since the last Differential backup is
244 greater than the specified interval, and the job would normally be an
245 {\bf Incremental}, it will be automatically
246 upgraded to a {\bf Differential} backup.
248 \section{Honor No Dump Flag = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}}
249 \index[general]{MaxDiffInterval}
250 On FreeBSD systems, each file has a {\bf no dump flag} that can be set
251 by the user, and when it is set it is an indication to backup programs
252 to not backup that particular file. This version of Bacula contains a
253 new Options directive within a FileSet resource, which instructs Bacula to
254 obey this flag. The new directive is:
257 Honor No Dump Flag = yes|no
260 The default value is {\bf no}.
263 \section{Exclude Dirs Containing = \lt{}filename-string\gt{}}
264 \index[general]{IgnoreDir}
265 The {\bf ExcludeDirsContaining = \lt{}filename\gt{}} is a new directive that can be added to the Include
266 section of the FileSet resource. If the specified
267 filename is found on the Client in any directory to be backed up,
268 the whole directory will be ignored (not backed up).
272 # List of files to be backed up
280 Exclude Dirs Containing = .excludeme
285 But in /home, there may be hundreds of directories of users and some
286 people want to indicate that they don't want to have certain
287 directories backed up. For example, with the above FileSet, if
288 the user or sysadmin creates a file named {\bf .excludeme} in
289 specific directories, such as
292 /home/user/www/cache/.excludeme
293 /home/user/temp/.excludeme
296 then Bacula will not backup the two directories named:
303 NOTE: subdirectories will not be backed up. That is, the directive
304 applies to the two directories in question and any children (be they
305 files, directories, etc).
309 \section{Bacula Plugins}
310 \index[general]{Plugin}
311 Support for shared object plugins has been implemented in the Linux
312 (and Unix) File daemon. The API will be documented separately in
313 the Developer's Guide or in a new document. For the moment, there is
314 a single plugin named {\bf bpipe} that allows an external program to
315 get control to backup and restore a file.
317 Plugins are also planned (partially implemented) in the Director and the
318 Storage daemon. The code is also implemented to work on Win32 machines,
319 but it has not yet been tested.
321 \subsection{Plugin Directory}
322 Each daemon (DIR, FD, SD) has a new {\bf Plugin Directory} directive that may
323 be added to the daemon definition resource. The directory takes a quoted
324 string argument, which is the name of the directory in which the daemon can
325 find the Bacula plugins. If this directive is not specified, Bacula will not
326 load any plugins. Since each plugin has a distinctive name, all the daemons
327 can share the same plugin directory.
331 \subsection{Plugin Options}
332 The {\bf Plugin Options} directive takes a quoted string
333 arguement (after the equal sign) and may be specified in the
334 Job resource. The options specified will be passed to the plugin
335 when it is run. The value defined in the Job resource can be modified
336 by the user when he runs a Job via the {\bf bconsole} command line
339 Note: this directive may be specified, but it is not yet passed to
340 the plugin (i.e. not fully implemented).
342 \subsection{Plugin Options ACL}
343 The {\bf Plugin Options ACL} directive may be specified in the
344 Director's Console resource. It functions as all the other ACL commands
345 do by permitting users running restricted consoles to specify a
346 {\bf Plugin Options} that overrides the one specified in the Job
347 definition. Without this directive restricted consoles may not modify
350 \subsection{Plugin = \lt{}plugin-command-string\gt{}}
351 The {\bf Plugin} directive is specified in the Include section of
352 a FileSet resource where you put your {\bf File = xxx} directives.
368 In the above example, when the File daemon is processing the directives
369 in the Include section, it will first backup all the files in {\bf /home}
370 then it will load the plugin named {\bf bpipe} (actually bpipe-dir.so) from
371 the Plugin Directory. The syntax and semantics of the Plugin directive
372 require the first part of the string up to the colon (:) to be the name
373 of the plugin. Everything after the first colon is ignored by the File daemon but
374 is passed to the plugin. Thus the plugin writer may define the meaning of the
375 rest of the string as he wishes.
377 Please see the next section for information about the {\bf bpipe} Bacula
380 \section{The bpipe Plugin}
381 The {\bf bpipe} plugin is provided in the directory src/plugins/fd/bpipe-fd.c of
382 the Bacula source distribution. When the plugin is compiled and linking into
383 the resulting dynamic shared object (DSO), it will have the name {\bf bpipe-fd.so}.
385 The purpose of the plugin is to provide an interface to any system program for
386 backup and restore. As specified above the {\bf bpipe} plugin is specified in
387 the Include section of your Job's FileSet resource. The full syntax of the
388 plugin directive as interpreted by the {\bf bpipe} plugin (each plugin is free
389 to specify the sytax as it wishes) is:
392 Plugin = "<field1>:<field2>:<field3>:<field4>"
397 \item {\bf field1} is the name of the plugin with the trailing {\bf -fd.so}
398 stripped off, so in this case, we would put {\bf bpipe} in this field.
400 \item {\bf field2} specifies the namespace, which for {\bf bpipe} is the
401 pseudo path and filename under which the backup will be saved. This pseudo
402 path and filename will be seen by the user in the restore file tree.
403 For example, if the value is {\bf /MYSQL/regress.sql}, the data
404 backed up by the plugin will be put under that "pseudo" path and filename.
405 You must be careful to choose a naming convention that is unique to avoid
406 a conflict with a path and filename that actually exists on your system.
408 \item {\bf field3} for the {\bf bpipe} plugin
409 specifies the "reader" program that is called by the plugin during
410 backup to read the data. {\bf bpipe} will call this program by doing a
413 \item {\bf field4} for the {\bf bpipe} plugin
414 specifies the "writer" program that is called by the plugin during
415 restore to write the data back to the filesystem.
418 Putting it all together, the full plugin directive line might look
422 Plugin = "bpipe:/MYSQL/regress.sql:mysqldump -f
423 --opt --databases bacula:mysql"
426 The directive has been split into two lines, but within the {\bf bacula-dir.conf} file
427 would be written on a single line.
429 This causes the File daemon to call the {\bf bpipe} plugin, which will write
430 its data into the "pseudo" file {\bf /MYSQL/regress.sql} by calling the
431 program {\bf mysqldump -f --opt --database bacula} to read the data during
432 backup. The mysqldump command outputs all the data for the database named
433 {\bf bacula}, which will be read by the plugin and stored in the backup.
434 During restore, the data that was backed up will be sent to the program
435 specified in the last field, which in this case is {\bf mysql}. When
436 {\bf mysql} is called, it will read the data sent to it by the plugn
437 then write it back to the same database from which it came ({\bf bacula}
440 The {\bf bpipe} plugin is a generic pipe program, that simply transmits
441 the data from a specified program to Bacula for backup, and then from Bacula to
442 a specified program for restore.
444 By using different command lines to {\bf bpipe},
445 you can backup any kind of data (ASCII or binary) depending
446 on the program called.
448 \section{Microsoft Exchange Server 2003/2007 Plugin}
450 \subsection{Concepts}
452 Although it is possible to backup Exchange using Bacula VSS the Exchange
453 plugin adds a good deal of functionality, because while Bacula VSS
454 completes a full backup (snapshot) of Exchange, it does
455 not support Incremental or Differential backups, restoring is more
456 complicated, and a single database restore is not possible.
458 Microsoft Exchange organises its storage into Storage Groups with
459 Databases inside them. A default installation of Exchange will have a
460 single Storage Group called 'First Storage Group', with two Databases
461 inside it, "Mailbox Store (SERVER NAME)" and
462 "Public Folder Store (SERVER NAME)",
463 which hold user email and public folders respectively.
465 In the default configuration, Exchange logs everything that happens to
466 log files, such that if you have a backup, and all the log files since,
467 you can restore to the present time. Each Storage Group has its own set
468 of log files and operates independently of any other Storage Groups. At
469 the Storage Group level, the logging can be turned off by enabling a
470 function called "Enable circular logging". At this time the Exchange
471 plugin will not function if this option is enabled.
473 The plugin allows backing up of entire storage groups, and the restoring
474 of entire storage groups or individual databases. Backing up and
475 restoring at the individual mailbox or email item is not supported but
476 can be simulated by use of the "Recovery" Storage Group (see below).
478 \subsection{Installing}
480 The Exchange plugin requires a DLL that is shipped with Microsoft
481 Exchanger Server called {\bf esebcli2.dll}. Assuming Exchange is installed
482 correctly the Exchange plugin should find this automatically and run
483 without any additional installation.
485 If the DLL can not be found automatically it will need to be copied into
486 the Bacula installation
487 directory (eg C:\verb+\+Program Files\verb+\+Bacula\verb+\+bin). The Exchange API DLL is
488 named esebcli2.dll and is found in C:\verb+\+Program Files\verb+\+Exchsrvr\verb+\+bin on a
489 default Exchange installation.
491 \subsection{Backup up}
493 To back up an Exchange server the Fileset definition must contain at
494 least {\bf Plugin = "exchange:/@EXCHANGE/Microsoft Information Store"} for
495 the backup to work correctly. The 'exchange:' bit tells Bacula to look
496 for the exchange plugin, the '@EXCHANGE' bit makes sure all the backed
497 up files are prefixed with something that isn't going to share a name
498 with something outside the plugin, and the 'Microsoft Information Store'
499 bit is required also. It is also possible to add the name of a storage
500 group to the "Plugin =" line, eg \\
501 {\bf Plugin = "exchange:/@EXCHANGE/Microsoft Information Store/First Storage Group"} \\
502 if you want only a single storage group backed up.
504 Additionally, you can suffix the 'Plugin =' directive with
505 ":notrunconfull" which will tell the plugin not to truncate the Exchange
506 database at the end of a full backup.
508 An Incremental or Differential backup will backup only the database logs
509 for each Storage Group by inspecting the "modified date" on each
510 physical log file. Because of the way the Exchange API works, the last
511 logfile backed up on each backup will always be backed up by the next
512 Incremental or Differential backup too. This adds 5MB to each
513 Incremental or Differential backup size but otherwise does not cause any
516 By default, a normal VSS fileset containing all the drive letters will
517 also back up the Exchange databases using VSS. This will interfere with
518 the plugin and Exchange's shared ideas of when the last full backup was
519 done, and may also truncate log files incorrectly. It is important,
520 therefore, that the Exchange database files be excluded from the backup,
521 although the folders the files are in should be included, or they will
522 have to be recreated manually if a baremetal restore is done.
527 File = C:/Program Files/Exchsrvr/mdbdata
528 Plugin = "exchange:..."
531 File = C:/Program Files/Exchsrvr/mdbdata/E00.chk
532 File = C:/Program Files/Exchsrvr/mdbdata/E00.log
533 File = C:/Program Files/Exchsrvr/mdbdata/E000000F.log
534 File = C:/Program Files/Exchsrvr/mdbdata/E0000010.log
535 File = C:/Program Files/Exchsrvr/mdbdata/E0000011.log
536 File = C:/Program Files/Exchsrvr/mdbdata/E00tmp.log
537 File = C:/Program Files/Exchsrvr/mdbdata/priv1.edb
542 The advantage of excluding the above files is that you can significantly
543 reduce the size of your backup since all the important Exchange files
544 will be properly saved by the Plugin.
547 \subsection{Restoring}
549 The restore operation is much the same as a normal Bacula restore, with
550 the following provisos:
553 \item The {\bf Where} restore option must not be specified
554 \item Each Database directory must be marked as a whole. You cannot just
555 select (say) the .edb file and not the others.
556 \item If a Storage Group is restored, the directory of the Storage Group
558 \item It is possible to restore only a subset of the available log files,
559 but they {\bf must} be contiguous. Exchange will fail to restore correctly
560 if a log file is missing from the sequence of log files
561 \item Each database to be restored must be dismounted and marked as "Can be
562 overwritten by restore"
563 \item If an entire Storage Group is to be restored (eg all databases and
564 logs in the Storage Group), then it is best to manually delete the
565 database files from the server (eg C:\verb+\+Program Files\verb+\+Exchsrvr\verb+\+mdbdata\verb+\+*)
566 as Exchange can get confused by stray log files lying around.
569 \subsection{Restoring to the Recovery Storage Group}
571 The concept of the Recovery Storage Group is well documented by
573 \elink{http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824126}{http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824126},
574 but to briefly summarize...
576 Microsoft Exchange allows the creation of an additional Storage Group
577 called the Recovery Storage Group, which is used to restore an older
578 copy of a database (e.g. before a mailbox was deleted) into without
579 messing with the current live data. This is required as the Standard and
580 Small Business Server versions of Exchange can not ordinarily have more
581 than one Storage Group.
583 To create the Recovery Storage Group, drill down to the Server in
584 Exchange System Manager, right click, and select
585 {\bf "New -> Recovery Storage Group..."}. Accept or change the file locations and click OK. On
586 the Recovery Storage Group, right click and select
587 {\bf "Add Database to Recover..."} and select the database you will be restoring.
589 In Bacula, select the Database and the log files, making sure to mark
590 the Storage Group directory itself too. Once you have selected the files
591 to back up, use the RegexWhere clause to remove the prefix of
592 "/@EXCHANGE/Microsoft Information Store/\lt{}storage group name\gt{}/" and
593 replace it with "/@EXCHANGE/Microsoft Information Store/Recovery Storage Group/".
594 Then run the restore.
598 This plugin is still being developed, so you should consider it
599 currently in BETA test, and thus use in a production environment
600 should be done only after very careful testing.
602 The "Enable Circular Logging" option cannot be enabled or the plugin
605 Exchange insists that a successful Full backup must have taken place if
606 an Incremental or Differential backup is desired, and the plugin will
607 fail if this is not the case. If a restore is done, Exchange will
608 require that a Full backup be done before an Incremental or Differential
611 The plugin will most likely not work well if another backup application
612 (eg NTBACKUP) is backing up the Exchange database, especially if the
613 other backup application is truncating the log files.
615 The Exchange plugin has not been tested with the {\bf Accurate} option, so
616 we recommend either carefully testing or that you avoid this option for
619 The Exchange plugin is not called during processing the bconsole {\bf estimate} command,
620 and so anything that would be backed up by the plugin will not be added
621 to the estimate total that is displayed.
624 \section{libdbi Framework}
625 As a general guideline, Bacula has support for a few catalog database drivers
626 (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite)
627 coded natively by the Bacula team. With the libdbi implementation, which is a
628 Bacula driver that uses libdbi to access the catalog, we have an open field to
629 use many different kinds database engines following the needs of users.
631 The according to libdbi (http://libdbi.sourceforge.net/) project: libdbi
632 implements a database-independent abstraction layer in C, similar to the
633 DBI/DBD layer in Perl. Writing one generic set of code, programmers can
634 leverage the power of multiple databases and multiple simultaneous database
635 connections by using this framework.
637 Currently the libdbi driver in Bacula project only supports the same drivers
638 natively coded in Bacula. However the libdbi project has support for many
639 others database engines. You can view the list at
640 http://libdbi-drivers.sourceforge.net/. In the future all those drivers can be
641 supported by Bacula, however, they must be tested properly by the Bacula team.
643 Some of benefits of using libdbi are:
645 \item The possibility to use proprietary databases engines in which your
646 proprietary licenses prevent the Bacula team from developing the driver.
647 \item The possibility to use the drivers written for the libdbi project.
648 \item The possibility to use other database engines without recompiling Bacula
649 to use them. Just change one line in bacula-dir.conf
650 \item Abstract Database access, this is, unique point to code and profiling
651 catalog database access.
654 The following drivers have been tested:
656 \item PostgreSQL, with and without batch insert
657 \item Mysql, with and without batch insert
662 In the future, we will test and approve to use others databases engines
663 (proprietary or not) like DB2, Oracle, Microsoft SQL.
665 To compile Bacula to support libdbi we need to configure the code with the
666 --with-dbi and --with-dbi-driver=[database] ./configure options, where
667 [database] is the database engine to be used with Bacula (of course we can
668 change the driver in file bacula-dir.conf, see below). We must configure the
669 access port of the database engine with the option --with-db-port, because the
670 libdbi framework doesn't know the default access port of each database.
672 The next phase is checking (or configuring) the bacula-dir.conf, example:
676 dbdriver = dbi:mysql; dbaddress = 127.0.0.1; dbport = 3306
677 dbname = regress; user = regress; password = ""
681 The parameter {\bf dbdriver} indicates that we will use the driver dbi with a
682 mysql database. Currently the drivers supported by Bacula are: postgresql,
683 mysql, sqlite, sqlite3; these are the names that may be added to string "dbi:".
685 The following limitations apply when Bacula is set to use the libdbi framework:
686 - Not tested on the Win32 platform
687 - A little performance is lost if comparing with native database driver.
688 The reason is bound with the database driver provided by libdbi and the
689 simple fact that one more layer of code was added.
691 It is important to remember, when compiling Bacula with libdbi, the
692 following packages are needed:
694 \item libdbi version 1.0.0, http://libdbi.sourceforge.net/
695 \item libdbi-drivers 1.0.0, http://libdbi-drivers.sourceforge.net/
698 You can download them and compile them on your system or install the packages
699 from your OS distribution.
702 \section{Display Autochanger Content}
703 \index[general]{StatusSlots}
705 The {\bf status slots storage=\lt{}storage-name\gt{}} command displays
710 Slot | Volume Name | Status | Media Type | Pool |
711 ------+---------------+----------+-------------------+------------|
712 1 | 00001 | Append | DiskChangerMedia | Default |
713 2 | 00002 | Append | DiskChangerMedia | Default |
714 3*| 00003 | Append | DiskChangerMedia | Scratch |
719 If you an asterisk ({\bf *}) appears after the slot number, you must run an
720 {\bf update slots} command to synchronize autochanger content with your
723 \section{Miscellaneous}
724 \index[general]{Misc New Features}
726 \subsection{Allow Mixed Priority = \lt{}yes|no\gt{}}
727 This directive is only implemented in version 2.5 and later. When
728 set to {\bf yes} (default {\bf no}), this job may run even if lower
729 priority jobs are already running. This means a high priority job
730 will not have to wait for other jobs to finish before starting.
731 The scheduler will only mix priorities when all running jobs have
734 Note that only higher priority jobs will start early. Suppose the
735 director will allow two concurrent jobs, and that two jobs with
736 priority 10 are running, with two more in the queue. If a job with
737 priority 5 is added to the queue, it will be run as soon as one of
738 the running jobs finishes. However, new priority 10 jobs will not
739 be run until the priority 5 job has finished.
741 \subsection{Bootstrap File Directive -- FileRegex}
742 {\bf FileRegex} is a new command that can be added to the bootstrap
743 (.bsr) file. The value is a regular expression. When specified, only
744 matching filenames will be restored.
746 During a restore, if all File records are pruned from the catalog
747 for a Job, normally Bacula can restore only all files saved. That
748 is there is no way using the catalog to select individual files.
749 With this new command, Bacula will ask if you want to specify a Regex
750 expression for extracting only a part of the full backup.
753 \subsection{Virtual Tape Emulation}
754 We now have a Virtual Tape emulator that allows us to run though 99.9\% of
755 the tape code but actually reading and writing to a disk file. Used with the
756 \textbf{disk-changer} script, you can now emulate an autochanger with 10 drives
757 and 700 slots. This feature is most useful in testing. It is enabled
758 by using {\bf Device Type = vtape} in the Storage daemon's Device
759 directive. This feature is only implemented on Linux machines.
761 \subsection{Bat Enhancements}
762 Bat (the Bacula Administration Tool) GUI program has been significantly
763 enhanced and stabilized. In particular, there are new table based status
764 commands; it can now be easily localized using Qt4 Linguist.
766 The Bat communications protocol has been significantly enhanced to improve
769 \subsection{RunScript Enhancements}
770 The {\bf RunScript} resource has been enhanced to permit multiple
771 commands per RunScript. Simply specify multiple {\bf Command} directives
778 Command = "/bin/echo test"
779 Command = "/bin/echo an other test"
780 Command = "/bin/echo 3 commands in the same runscript"
787 A new Client RunScript {\bf RunsWhen} keyword of {\bf AfterVSS} has been
788 implemented, which runs the command after the Volume Shadow Copy has been made.
790 Console commands can be specified within a RunScript by using:
791 {\bf Console = \lt{}command\gt{}}, however, this command has not been
792 carefully tested and debugged and is known to easily crash the Director.
793 We would appreciate feedback. Due to the recursive nature of this command, we
794 may remove it before the final release.
796 \subsection{Status Enhancements}
797 The bconsole {\bf status dir} output has been enhanced to indicate
798 Storage daemon job spooling and despooling activity.
800 \subsection{Connect Timeout}
801 The default connect timeout to the File
802 daemon has been set to 3 minutes. Previously it was 30 minutes.
804 \subsection{ftruncate for NFS Volumes}
805 If you write to a Volume mounted by NFS (say on a local file server),
806 in previous Bacula versions, when the Volume was recycled, it was not
807 properly truncated because NFS does not implement ftruncate (file
808 truncate). This is now corrected in the new version because we have
809 written code (actually a kind user) that deletes and recreates the Volume,
810 thus accomplishing the same thing as a truncate.
812 \subsection{Support for Ubuntu}
813 The new version of Bacula now recognizes the Ubuntu (and Kubuntu)
814 version of Linux, and thus now provides correct autostart routines.
815 Since Ubuntu officially supports Bacula, you can also obtain any
816 recent release of Bacula from the Ubuntu repositories.
818 \subsection{Recycle Pool = \lt{}pool-name\gt{}}
819 The new \textbf{RecyclePool} directive defines to which pool the Volume will
820 be placed (moved) when it is recycled. Without this directive, a Volume will
821 remain in the same pool when it is recycled. With this directive, it can be
822 moved automatically to any existing pool during a recycle. This directive is
823 probably most useful when defined in the Scratch pool, so that volumes will
824 be recycled back into the Scratch pool.
826 \subsection{FD Version}
827 The File daemon to Director protocol now includes a version
828 number, which although there is no visible change for users,
829 will help us in future versions automatically determine
830 if a File daemon is not compatible.
832 \subsection{Max Run Sched Time = \lt{}time-period-in-seconds\gt{}}
833 The time specifies the maximum allowed time that a job may run, counted from
834 when the job was scheduled. This can be useful to prevent jobs from running
835 during working hours. We can see it like \texttt{Max Start Delay + Max Run
838 \subsection{Max Wait Time = \lt{}time-period-in-seconds\gt{}}
840 Previous \textbf{MaxWaitTime} directives aren't working as expected, instead
841 of checking the maximum allowed time that a job may block for a resource,
842 those directives worked like \textbf{MaxRunTime}. Some users are reporting to
843 use \textbf{Incr/Diff/Full Max Wait Time} to control the maximum run time of
844 their job depending on the level. Now, they have to use
845 \textbf{Incr/Diff/Full Max Run Time}. \textbf{Incr/Diff/Full Max Wait Time}
846 directives are now deprecated.
848 \subsection{Incremental|Differential Max Wait Time = \lt{}time-period-in-seconds\gt{}}
849 Theses directives have been deprecated in favor of
850 \texttt{Incremental|Differential Max Run Time}.
852 \subsection{Max Run Time directives}
853 Using \textbf{Full/Diff/Incr Max Run Time}, it's now possible to specify the
854 maximum allowed time that a job can run depending on the level.
856 \addcontentsline{lof}{figure}{Job time control directives}
857 \includegraphics{\idir different_time.eps}
859 \subsection{Statistics Enhancements}
860 If you (or probably your boss) want to have statistics on your backups to
861 provide some \textit{Service Level Agreement} indicators, you could use a few
862 SQL queries on the Job table to report how many:
866 \item jobs have been successful
867 \item files have been backed up
871 However, these statistics are accurate only if your job retention is greater
872 than your statistics period. Ie, if jobs are purged from the catalog, you won't
875 Now, you can use the \textbf{update stats [days=num]} console command to fill
876 the JobHistory table with new Job records. If you want to be sure to take in
877 account only \textbf{good jobs}, ie if one of your important job has failed but
878 you have fixed the problem and restarted it on time, you probably want to
879 delete the first \textit{bad} job record and keep only the successful one. For
880 that simply let your staff do the job, and update JobHistory table after two or
881 three days depending on your organization using the \textbf{[days=num]} option.
883 These statistics records aren't used for restoring, but mainly for
884 capacity planning, billings, etc.
886 The Bweb interface provides a statistics module that can use this feature. You
887 can also use tools like Talend or extract information by yourself.
889 The {\textbf Statistics Retention = \lt{}time\gt{}} director directive defines
890 the length of time that Bacula will keep statistics job records in the Catalog
891 database after the Job End time. (In \texttt{JobHistory} table) When this time
892 period expires, and if user runs \texttt{prune stats} command, Bacula will
893 prune (remove) Job records that are older than the specified period.
895 You can use the following Job resource in your nightly \textbf{BackupCatalog}
896 job to maintain statistics.
902 Console = "update stats days=3"
903 Console = "prune stats yes"
910 \subsection{SpoolSize = \lt{}size-specification-in-bytes\gt{}}
911 A new job directive permits to specify the spool size per job. This is used
912 in advanced job tunning. {\bf SpoolSize={\it bytes}}
915 \section{Building Bacula Plugins}
916 There is currently one sample program {\bf example-plugin-fd.c} and
917 one working plugin {\bf bpipe-fd.c} that can be found in the Bacula
918 {\bf src/plugins/fd} directory. Both are built with the following:
922 ./configure <your-options>
930 After building Bacula and changing into the src/plugins/fd directory,
931 the {\bf make} command will build the {\bf bpipe-fd.so} plugin, which
932 is a very useful and working program.
934 The {\bf make test} command will build the {\bf example-plugin-fd.so}
935 plugin and a binary named {\bf main}, which is build from the source
936 code located in {\bf src/filed/fd\_plugins.c}.
938 If you execute {\bf ./main}, it will load and run the example-plugin-fd
939 plugin simulating a small number of the calling sequences that Bacula uses
940 in calling a real plugin. This allows you to do initial testing of
941 your plugin prior to trying it with Bacula.
943 You can get a good idea of how to write your own plugin by first
944 studying the example-plugin-fd, and actually running it. Then
945 it can also be instructive to read the bpipe-fd.c code as it is
946 a real plugin, which is still rather simple and small.
948 When actually writing your own plugin, you may use the example-plugin-fd.c
949 code as a template for your code.
955 \chapter{Bacula FD Plugin API}
956 To write a Bacula plugin, you create a dynamic shared object
957 program (or dll on Win32) with a particular name and two
958 exported entry points, place it in the {\bf Plugins Directory}, which is defined in the
959 {\bf bacula-fd.conf} file in the {\bf Client} resource, and when the FD
960 starts, it will load all the plugins that end with {\bf -fd.so} (or {\bf -fd.dll}
961 on Win32) found in that directory.
963 \section{Normal vs Command Plugins}
964 In general, there are two ways that plugins are called. The first way,
965 is when a particular event is detected in Bacula, it will transfer control
966 to each plugin that is loaded in turn informing the plugin of the event.
967 This is very similar to how a {\bf RunScript} works, and the events are very similar.
968 Once the plugin gets control, it can interact with Bacula by getting and
969 setting Bacula variables. In this way, it behaves much like a RunScript.
970 Currently very few Bacula variables are defined, but they will be implemented
971 as the need arrises, and it is very extensible.
973 We plan to have plugins register to receive events that they normally would
974 not receive, such as an event for each file examined for backup or restore.
975 This feature is not yet implemented.
977 The second type of plugin, which is more useful and fully implemented
978 in the current version is what we call a command plugin. As with all
979 plugins, it gets notified of important events as noted above (details described below),
980 but in addition, this kind of plugin can accept a command line, which
984 Plugin = <command-string>
987 directive that is placed in the Include section of a FileSet and is very
988 similar to the "File = " directive. When this Plugin directive is encountered
989 by Bacula during backup, it passes the "command" part of the Plugin directive
990 only to the plugin that is explicitly named in the first field of that command string.
991 This allows that plugin to backup any file or files on the system that it wants. It can
992 even create "virtual files" in the catalog that contain data to be restored but do
993 not necessarily correspond to actual files on the filesystem.
995 The important features of the command plugin entry points are:
997 \item It is triggered by a "Plugin =" directive in the FileSet
998 \item Only a single plugin is called that is named on the "Plugin =" directive.
999 \item The full command string after the "Plugin =" is passed to the plugin
1000 so that it can be told what to backup/restore.
1004 \section{Loading Plugins}
1005 Once the File daemon loads the plugins, it asks the OS for the
1006 two entry points (loadPlugin and unloadPlugin) then calls the
1007 {\bf loadPlugin} entry point (see below).
1009 Bacula passes information to the plugin through this call and it gets
1010 back information that it needs to use the plugin. Later, Bacula
1011 will call particular functions that are defined by the
1012 {\bf loadPlugin} interface.
1014 When Bacula is finished with the plugin
1015 (when Bacula is going to exit), it will call the {\bf unloadPlugin}
1018 The two entry points are:
1021 bRC loadPlugin(bInfo *lbinfo, bFuncs *lbfuncs, pInfo **pinfo, pFuncs **pfuncs)
1028 both these external entry points to the shared object are defined as C entry points
1029 to avoid name mangling complications with C++. However, the shared object
1030 can actually be written in any language (preferrably C or C++) providing that it
1031 follows C language calling conventions.
1033 The definitions for {\bf bRC} and the arguments are {\bf
1034 src/filed/fd-plugins.h} and so this header file needs to be included in
1035 your plugin. It along with {\bf src/lib/plugins.h} define basically the whole
1036 plugin interface. Within this header file, it includes the following
1040 #include <sys/types.h>
1042 #include "bc_types.h"
1043 #include "lib/plugins.h"
1044 #include <sys/stat.h>
1047 Aside from the {\bf bc\_types.h} and {\bf confit.h} headers, the plugin definition uses the
1048 minimum code from Bacula. The bc\_types.h file is required to ensure that
1049 the data type defintions in arguments correspond to the Bacula core code.
1051 The return codes are defined as:
1054 bRC_OK = 0, /* OK */
1055 bRC_Stop = 1, /* Stop calling other plugins */
1056 bRC_Error = 2, /* Some kind of error */
1057 bRC_More = 3, /* More files to backup */
1062 At a future point in time, we hope to make the Bacula libbac.a into a
1063 shared object so that the plugin can use much more of Bacula's
1064 infrastructure, but for this first cut, we have tried to minimize the
1065 dependence on Bacula.
1067 \section{loadPlugin}
1068 As previously mentioned, the {\bf loadPlugin} entry point in the plugin
1069 is called immediately after Bacula loads the plugin when the File daemon
1070 itself is first starting. This entry point is only called once during the
1071 execution of the File daemon. In calling the
1072 plugin, the first two arguments are information from Bacula that
1073 is passed to the plugin, and the last two arguments are information
1074 about the plugin that the plugin must return to Bacula. The call is:
1077 bRC loadPlugin(bInfo *lbinfo, bFuncs *lbfuncs, pInfo **pinfo, pFuncs **pfuncs)
1080 and the arguments are:
1084 This is information about Bacula in general. Currently, the only value
1085 defined in the bInfo structure is the version, which is the Bacula plugin
1086 interface version, currently defined as 1. The {\bf size} is set to the
1087 byte size of the structure. The exact definition of the bInfo structure
1088 as of this writing is:
1091 typedef struct s_baculaInfo {
1098 The bFuncs structure defines the callback entry points within Bacula
1099 that the plugin can use register events, get Bacula values, set
1100 Bacula values, and send messages to the Job output or debug output.
1102 The exact definition as of this writing is:
1104 typedef struct s_baculaFuncs {
1107 bRC (*registerBaculaEvents)(bpContext *ctx, ...);
1108 bRC (*getBaculaValue)(bpContext *ctx, bVariable var, void *value);
1109 bRC (*setBaculaValue)(bpContext *ctx, bVariable var, void *value);
1110 bRC (*JobMessage)(bpContext *ctx, const char *file, int line,
1111 int type, time_t mtime, const char *fmt, ...);
1112 bRC (*DebugMessage)(bpContext *ctx, const char *file, int line,
1113 int level, const char *fmt, ...);
1114 void *(*baculaMalloc)(bpContext *ctx, const char *file, int line,
1116 void (*baculaFree)(bpContext *ctx, const char *file, int line, void *mem);
1120 We will discuss these entry points and how to use them a bit later when
1121 describing the plugin code.
1125 When the loadPlugin entry point is called, the plugin must initialize
1126 an information structure about the plugin and return a pointer to
1127 this structure to Bacula.
1129 The exact definition as of this writing is:
1132 typedef struct s_pluginInfo {
1135 const char *plugin_magic;
1136 const char *plugin_license;
1137 const char *plugin_author;
1138 const char *plugin_date;
1139 const char *plugin_version;
1140 const char *plugin_description;
1146 \item [version] is the current Bacula defined plugin interface version, currently
1147 set to 1. If the interface version differs from the current version of
1148 Bacula, the plugin will not be run (not yet implemented).
1149 \item [plugin\_magic] is a pointer to the text string "*FDPluginData*", a
1150 sort of sanity check. If this value is not specified, the plugin
1151 will not be run (not yet implemented).
1152 \item [plugin\_license] is a pointer to a text string that describes the
1153 plugin license. Bacula will only accept compatible licenses (not yet
1155 \item [plugin\_author] is a pointer to the text name of the author of the program.
1156 This string can be anything but is generally the author's name.
1157 \item [plugin\_date] is the pointer text string containing the date of the plugin.
1158 This string can be anything but is generally some human readable form of
1160 \item [plugin\_version] is a pointer to a text string containing the version of
1161 the plugin. The contents are determined by the plugin writer.
1162 \item [plugin\_description] is a pointer to a string describing what the
1163 plugin does. The contents are determined by the plugin writer.
1166 The pInfo structure must be defined in static memory because Bacula does not
1167 copy it and may refer to the values at any time while the plugin is
1168 loaded. All values must be supplied or the plugin will not run (not yet
1169 implemented). All text strings must be either ASCII or UTF-8 strings that
1170 are terminated with a zero byte.
1173 When the loadPlugin entry point is called, the plugin must initialize
1174 an entry point structure about the plugin and return a pointer to
1175 this structure to Bacula. This structure contains pointer to each
1176 of the entry points that the plugin must provide for Bacula. When
1177 Bacula is actually running the plugin, it will call the defined
1178 entry points at particular times. All entry points must be defined.
1180 The pFuncs structure must be defined in static memory because Bacula does not
1181 copy it and may refer to the values at any time while the plugin is
1184 The exact definition as of this writing is:
1187 typedef struct s_pluginFuncs {
1190 bRC (*newPlugin)(bpContext *ctx);
1191 bRC (*freePlugin)(bpContext *ctx);
1192 bRC (*getPluginValue)(bpContext *ctx, pVariable var, void *value);
1193 bRC (*setPluginValue)(bpContext *ctx, pVariable var, void *value);
1194 bRC (*handlePluginEvent)(bpContext *ctx, bEvent *event, void *value);
1195 bRC (*startBackupFile)(bpContext *ctx, struct save_pkt *sp);
1196 bRC (*endBackupFile)(bpContext *ctx);
1197 bRC (*startRestoreFile)(bpContext *ctx, const char *cmd);
1198 bRC (*endRestoreFile)(bpContext *ctx);
1199 bRC (*pluginIO)(bpContext *ctx, struct io_pkt *io);
1200 bRC (*createFile)(bpContext *ctx, struct restore_pkt *rp);
1201 bRC (*setFileAttributes)(bpContext *ctx, struct restore_pkt *rp);
1205 The details of the entry points will be presented in
1206 separate sections below.
1210 \item [size] is the byte size of the structure.
1211 \item [version] is the plugin interface version currently set to 1.
1214 Sample code for loadPlugin:
1216 bfuncs = lbfuncs; /* set Bacula funct pointers */
1218 *pinfo = &pluginInfo; /* return pointer to our info */
1219 *pfuncs = &pluginFuncs; /* return pointer to our functions */
1224 where pluginInfo and pluginFuncs are statically defined structures.
1225 See bpipe-fd.c for details.
1231 \section{Plugin Entry Points}
1232 This section will describe each of the entry points (subroutines) within
1233 the plugin that the plugin must provide for Bacula, when they are called
1234 and their arguments. As noted above, pointers to these subroutines are
1235 passed back to Bacula in the pFuncs structure when Bacula calls the
1236 loadPlugin() externally defined entry point.
1238 \subsection{newPlugin(bpContext *ctx)}
1239 This is the entry point that Bacula will call
1240 when a new "instance" of the plugin is created. This typically
1241 happens at the beginning of a Job. If 10 Jobs are running
1242 simultaneously, there will be at least 10 instances of the
1245 The bpContext structure will be passed to the plugin, and
1246 during this call, if the plugin needs to have its private
1247 working storage that is associated with the particular
1248 instance of the plugin, it should create it from the heap
1249 (malloc the memory) and store a pointer to
1250 its private working storage in the {\bf pContext} variable.
1251 Note: since Bacula is a multi-threaded program, you must not
1252 keep any variable data in your plugin unless it is truely meant
1253 to apply globally to the whole plugin. In addition, you must
1254 be aware that except the first and last call to the plugin
1255 (loadPlugin and unloadPlugin) all the other calls will be
1256 made by threads that correspond to a Bacula job. The
1257 bpContext that will be passed for each thread will remain the
1258 same throughout the Job thus you can keep your privat Job specific
1259 data in it ({\bf bContext}).
1262 typedef struct s_bpContext {
1263 void *pContext; /* Plugin private context */
1264 void *bContext; /* Bacula private context */
1269 This context pointer will be passed as the first argument to all
1270 the entry points that Bacula calls within the plugin. Needless
1271 to say, the plugin should not change the bContext variable, which
1272 is Bacula's private context pointer for this instance (Job) of this
1275 \subsection{freePlugin(bpContext *ctx)}
1276 This entry point is called when the
1277 this instance of the plugin is no longer needed (the Job is
1278 ending), and the plugin should release all memory it may
1279 have allocated for this particular instance (Job) i.e. the pContext.
1280 This is not the final termination
1281 of the plugin signaled by a call to {\bf unloadPlugin}.
1282 Any other instances (Job) will
1283 continue to run, and the entry point {\bf newPlugin} may be called
1284 again if other jobs start.
1286 \subsection{getPluginValue(bpContext *ctx, pVariable var, void *value)}
1287 Bacula will call this entry point to get
1288 a value from the plugin. This entry point is currently not called.
1290 \subsection{setPluginValue(bpContext *ctx, pVariable var, void *value)}
1291 Bacula will call this entry point to set
1292 a value in the plugin. This entry point is currently not called.
1294 \subsection{handlePluginEvent(bpContext *ctx, bEvent *event, void *value)}
1295 This entry point is called when Bacula
1296 encounters certain events (discussed below). This is, in fact, the
1297 main way that most plugins get control when a Job runs and how
1298 they know what is happening in the job. It can be likened to the
1299 {\bf RunScript} feature that calls external programs and scripts,
1300 and is very similar to the Bacula Python interface.
1301 When the plugin is called, Bacula passes it the pointer to an event
1302 structure (bEvent), which currently has one item, the eventType:
1305 typedef struct s_bEvent {
1310 which defines what event has been triggered, and for each event,
1311 Bacula will pass a pointer to a value associated with that event.
1312 If no value is associated with a particular event, Bacula will
1313 pass a NULL pointer, so the plugin must be careful to always check
1314 value pointer prior to dereferencing it.
1316 The current list of events are:
1322 bEventStartBackupJob = 3,
1323 bEventEndBackupJob = 4,
1324 bEventStartRestoreJob = 5,
1325 bEventEndRestoreJob = 6,
1326 bEventStartVerifyJob = 7,
1327 bEventEndVerifyJob = 8,
1328 bEventBackupCommand = 9,
1329 bEventRestoreCommand = 10,
1336 Most of the above are self-explanatory.
1339 \item [bEventJobStart] is called whenever a Job starts. The value
1340 passed is a pointer to a string that contains: "Jobid=nnn
1341 Job=job-name". Where nnn will be replaced by the JobId and job-name
1342 will be replaced by the Job name. The variable is temporary so if you
1343 need the values, you must copy them.
1345 \item [bEventJobEnd] is called whenever a Job ends. No value is passed.
1347 \item [bEventStartBackupJob] is called when a Backup Job begins. No value
1350 \item [bEventEndBackupJob] is called when a Backup Job ends. No value is
1353 \item [bEventStartRestoreJob] is called when a Restore Job starts. No value
1356 \item [bEventEndRestoreJob] is called when a Restore Job ends. No value is
1359 \item [bEventStartVerifyJob] is called when a Verify Job starts. No value
1362 \item [bEventEndVerifyJob] is called when a Verify Job ends. No value
1365 \item [bEventBackupCommand] is called prior to the bEventStartBackupJob and
1366 the plugin is passed the command string (everything after the equal sign
1367 in "Plugin =" as the value.
1369 Note, if you intend to backup a file, this is an important first point to
1370 write code that copies the command string passed into your pContext area
1371 so that you will know that a backup is being performed and you will know
1372 the full contents of the "Plugin =" command (i.e. what to backup and
1373 what virtual filename the user wants to call it.
1375 \item [bEventRestoreCommand] is called prior to the bEventStartRestoreJob and
1376 the plugin is passed the command string (everything after the equal sign
1377 in "Plugin =" as the value.
1379 See the notes above concerning backup and the command string. This is the
1380 point at which Bacula passes you the original command string that was
1381 specified during the backup, so you will want to save it in your pContext
1382 area for later use when Bacula calls the plugin again.
1384 \item [bEventLevel] is called when the level is set for a new Job. The value
1385 is a 32 bit integer stored in the void*, which represents the Job Level code.
1387 \item [bEventSince] is called when the since time is set for a new Job. The
1388 value is a time\_t time at which the last job was run.
1391 During each of the above calls, the plugin receives either no specific value or
1392 only one value, which in some cases may not be sufficient. However, knowing the
1393 context of the event, the plugin can call back to the Bacula entry points it
1394 was passed during the {\bf loadPlugin} call and get to a number of Bacula variables.
1395 (at the current time few Bacula variables are implemented, but it easily extended
1396 at a future time and as needs require).
1398 \subsection{startBackupFile(bpContext *ctx, struct save\_pkt *sp)}
1399 This entry point is called only if your plugin is a command plugin, and
1400 it is called when Bacula encounters the "Plugin = " directive in
1401 the Include section of the FileSet.
1402 Called when beginning the backup of a file. Here Bacula provides you
1403 with a pointer to the {\bf save\_pkt} structure and you must fill in
1404 this packet with the "attribute" data of the file.
1408 int32_t pkt_size; /* size of this packet */
1409 char *fname; /* Full path and filename */
1410 char *link; /* Link name if any */
1411 struct stat statp; /* System stat() packet for file */
1412 int32_t type; /* FT_xx for this file */
1413 uint32_t flags; /* Bacula internal flags */
1414 bool portable; /* set if data format is portable */
1415 char *cmd; /* command */
1416 int32_t pkt_end; /* end packet sentinel */
1420 The second argument is a pointer to the {\bf save\_pkt} structure for the file
1421 to be backed up. The plugin is responsible for filling in all the fields
1422 of the {\bf save\_pkt}. If you are backing up
1423 a real file, then generally, the statp structure can be filled in by doing
1424 a {\bf stat} system call on the file.
1426 If you are backing up a database or
1427 something that is more complex, you might want to create a virtual file.
1428 That is a file that does not actually exist on the filesystem, but represents
1429 say an object that you are backing up. In that case, you need to ensure
1430 that the {\bf fname} string that you pass back is unique so that it
1431 does not conflict with a real file on the system, and you need to
1432 artifically create values in the statp packet.
1434 Example programs such as {\bf bpipe-fd.c} show how to set these fields.
1435 You must take care not to store pointers the stack in the pointer fields such
1436 as fname and link, because when you return from your function, your stack entries
1437 will be destroyed. The solution in that case is to malloc() and return the pointer
1438 to it. In order to not have memory leaks, you should store a pointer to all memory
1439 allocated in your pContext structure so that in subsequent calls or at termination,
1440 you can release it back to the system.
1442 Once the backup has begun, Bacula will call your plugin at the {\bf pluginIO}
1443 entry point to "read" the data to be backed up. Please see the {\bf bpipe-fd.c}
1444 plugin for how to do I/O.
1446 Example of filling in the save\_pkt as used in bpipe-fd.c:
1449 struct plugin_ctx *p_ctx = (struct plugin_ctx *)ctx->pContext;
1450 time_t now = time(NULL);
1451 sp->fname = p_ctx->fname;
1452 sp->statp.st_mode = 0700 | S_IFREG;
1453 sp->statp.st_ctime = now;
1454 sp->statp.st_mtime = now;
1455 sp->statp.st_atime = now;
1456 sp->statp.st_size = -1;
1457 sp->statp.st_blksize = 4096;
1458 sp->statp.st_blocks = 1;
1459 p_ctx->backup = true;
1463 Note: the filename to be created has already been created from the
1464 command string previously sent to the plugin and is in the plugin
1465 context (p\_ctx->fname) and is a malloc()ed string. This example
1466 creates a regular file (S\_IFREG), with various fields being created.
1468 In general, the sequence of commands issued from Bacula to the plugin
1469 to do a backup while processing the "Plugin = " directive are:
1472 \item generate a bEventBackupCommand event to the specified plugin
1473 and pass it the command string.
1474 \item make a startPluginBackup call to the plugin, which
1475 fills in the data needed in save\_pkt to save as the file
1476 attributes and to put on the Volume and in the catalog.
1477 \item call Bacula's internal save\_file() subroutine to save the specified
1478 file. The plugin will then be called at pluginIO() to "open"
1479 the file, and then to read the file data.
1480 Note, if you are dealing with a virtual file, the "open" operation
1481 is something the plugin does internally and it doesn't necessarily
1482 mean opening a file on the filesystem. For example in the case of
1483 the bpipe-fd.c program, it initiates a pipe to the requested program.
1484 Finally when the plugin signals to Bacula that all the data was read,
1485 Bacula will call the plugin with the "close" pluginIO() function.
1489 \subsection{endBackupFile(bpContext *ctx)}
1490 Called at the end of backing up a file for a command plugin. If the plugin's work
1491 is done, it should return bRC\_OK. If the plugin wishes to create another
1492 file and back it up, then it must return bRC\_More (not yet implemented).
1493 This is probably a good time to release any malloc()ed memory you used to
1494 pass back filenames.
1496 \subsection{startRestoreFile(bpContext *ctx, const char *cmd)}
1497 Called when the first record is read from the Volume that was
1498 previously written by the command plugin.
1500 \subsection{createFile(bpContext *ctx, struct restore\_pkt *rp)}
1501 Called for a command plugin to create a file during a Restore job before
1503 This entry point is called before any I/O is done on the file. After
1504 this call, Bacula will call pluginIO() to open the file for write.
1507 restore\_pkt is passed to the plugin and is based on the data that was
1508 originally given by the plugin during the backup and the current user
1509 restore settings (e.g. where, RegexWhere, replace). This allows the
1510 plugin to first create a file (if necessary) so that the data can
1511 be transmitted to it. The next call to the plugin will be a
1512 pluginIO command with a request to open the file write-only.
1514 This call must return one of the following values:
1518 CF_SKIP = 1, /* skip file (not newer or something) */
1519 CF_ERROR, /* error creating file */
1520 CF_EXTRACT, /* file created, data to extract */
1521 CF_CREATED /* file created, no data to extract */
1525 in the restore\_pkt value {\bf create\_status}. For a normal file,
1526 unless there is an error, you must return {\bf CF\_EXTRACT}.
1530 struct restore_pkt {
1531 int32_t pkt_size; /* size of this packet */
1532 int32_t stream; /* attribute stream id */
1533 int32_t data_stream; /* id of data stream to follow */
1534 int32_t type; /* file type FT */
1535 int32_t file_index; /* file index */
1536 int32_t LinkFI; /* file index to data if hard link */
1537 uid_t uid; /* userid */
1538 struct stat statp; /* decoded stat packet */
1539 const char *attrEx; /* extended attributes if any */
1540 const char *ofname; /* output filename */
1541 const char *olname; /* output link name */
1542 const char *where; /* where */
1543 const char *RegexWhere; /* regex where */
1544 int replace; /* replace flag */
1545 int create_status; /* status from createFile() */
1546 int32_t pkt_end; /* end packet sentinel */
1551 Typical code to create a regular file would be the following:
1554 struct plugin_ctx *p_ctx = (struct plugin_ctx *)ctx->pContext;
1555 time_t now = time(NULL);
1556 sp->fname = p_ctx->fname; /* set the full path/filename I want to create */
1558 sp->statp.st_mode = 0700 | S_IFREG;
1559 sp->statp.st_ctime = now;
1560 sp->statp.st_mtime = now;
1561 sp->statp.st_atime = now;
1562 sp->statp.st_size = -1;
1563 sp->statp.st_blksize = 4096;
1564 sp->statp.st_blocks = 1;
1568 This will create a virtual file. If you are creating a file that actually
1569 exists, you will most likely want to fill the statp packet using the
1572 Creating a directory is similar, but requires a few extra steps:
1575 struct plugin_ctx *p_ctx = (struct plugin_ctx *)ctx->pContext;
1576 time_t now = time(NULL);
1577 sp->fname = p_ctx->fname; /* set the full path I want to create */
1578 sp->link = xxx; where xxx is p_ctx->fname with a trailing forward slash
1579 sp->type = FT_DIREND
1580 sp->statp.st_mode = 0700 | S_IFDIR;
1581 sp->statp.st_ctime = now;
1582 sp->statp.st_mtime = now;
1583 sp->statp.st_atime = now;
1584 sp->statp.st_size = -1;
1585 sp->statp.st_blksize = 4096;
1586 sp->statp.st_blocks = 1;
1590 The link field must be set with the full cononical path name, which always
1591 ends with a forward slash. If you do not terminate it with a forward slash,
1592 you will surely have problems later.
1594 As with the example that creates a file, if you are backing up a real
1595 directory, you will want to do an stat() on the directory.
1597 Note, if you want the directory permissions and times to be correctly
1598 restored, you must create the directory {\bf after} all the file directories
1599 have been sent to Bacula. That allows the restore process to restore all the
1600 files in a directory using default directory options, then at the end, restore
1601 the directory permissions. If you do it the other way around, each time you
1602 restore a file, the OS will modify the time values for the directory entry.
1604 \subsection{setFileAttributes(bpContext *ctx, struct restore\_pkt *rp)}
1605 This is call not yet implemented. Called for a command plugin.
1607 See the definition of {\bf restre\_pkt} in the above section.
1609 \subsection{endRestoreFile(bpContext *ctx)}
1610 Called when a command plugin is done restoring a file.
1612 \subsection{pluginIO(bpContext *ctx, struct io\_pkt *io)}
1613 Called to do the input (backup) or output (restore) of data from or to a
1614 file for a command plugin. These routines simulate the Unix read(), write(), open(), close(),
1615 and lseek() I/O calls, and the arguments are passed in the packet and
1616 the return values are also placed in the packet. In addition for Win32
1617 systems the plugin must return two additional values (described below).
1629 int32_t pkt_size; /* Size of this packet */
1630 int32_t func; /* Function code */
1631 int32_t count; /* read/write count */
1632 mode_t mode; /* permissions for created files */
1633 int32_t flags; /* Open flags */
1634 char *buf; /* read/write buffer */
1635 const char *fname; /* open filename */
1636 int32_t status; /* return status */
1637 int32_t io_errno; /* errno code */
1638 int32_t lerror; /* Win32 error code */
1639 int32_t whence; /* lseek argument */
1640 boffset_t offset; /* lseek argument */
1641 bool win32; /* Win32 GetLastError returned */
1642 int32_t pkt_end; /* end packet sentinel */
1646 The particular Unix function being simulated is indicated by the {\bf func},
1647 which will have one of the IO\_OPEN, IO\_READ, ... codes listed above.
1648 The status code that would be returned from a Unix call is returned in
1649 {\bf status} for IO\_OPEN, IO\_CLOSE, IO\_READ, and IO\_WRITE. The return value for
1650 IO\_SEEK is returned in {\bf offset} which in general is a 64 bit value.
1652 When there is an error on Unix systems, you must always set io\_error, and
1653 on a Win32 system, you must always set win32, and the returned value from
1654 the OS call GetLastError() in lerror.
1656 For all except IO\_SEEK, {\bf status} is the return result. In general it is
1657 a positive integer unless there is an error in which case it is -1.
1659 The following describes each call and what you get and what you
1664 You will be passed fname, mode, and flags.
1665 You must set on return: status, and if there is a Unix error
1666 io\_errno must be set to the errno value, and if there is a
1667 Win32 error win32 and lerror.
1670 You will be passed: count, and buf (buffer of size count).
1671 You must set on return: status to the number of bytes
1672 read into the buffer (buf) or -1 on an error,
1673 and if there is a Unix error
1674 io\_errno must be set to the errno value, and if there is a
1675 Win32 error, win32 and lerror must be set.
1678 You will be passed: count, and buf (buffer of size count).
1679 You must set on return: status to the number of bytes
1680 written from the buffer (buf) or -1 on an error,
1681 and if there is a Unix error
1682 io\_errno must be set to the errno value, and if there is a
1683 Win32 error, win32 and lerror must be set.
1686 Nothing will be passed to you. On return you must set
1687 status to 0 on success and -1 on failure. If there is a Unix error
1688 io\_errno must be set to the errno value, and if there is a
1689 Win32 error, win32 and lerror must be set.
1692 You will be passed: offset, and whence. offset is a 64 bit value
1693 and is the position to seek to relative to whence. whence is one
1694 of the following SEEK\_SET, SEEK\_CUR, or SEEK\_END indicating to
1695 either to seek to an absolute possition, relative to the current
1696 position or relative to the end of the file.
1697 You must pass back in offset the absolute location to which you
1698 seeked. If there is an error, offset should be set to -1.
1699 If there is a Unix error
1700 io\_errno must be set to the errno value, and if there is a
1701 Win32 error, win32 and lerror must be set.
1703 Note: Bacula will call IO\_SEEK only when writing a sparse file.
1707 \section{Bacula Plugin Entrypoints}
1708 When Bacula calls one of your plugin entrypoints, you can call back to
1709 the entrypoints in Bacula that were supplied during the xxx plugin call
1710 to get or set information within Bacula.
1712 \subsection{bRC registerBaculaEvents(bpContext *ctx, ...)}
1713 This Bacula entrypoint will allow you to register to receive events
1714 that are not autmatically passed to your plugin by default. This
1715 entrypoint currently is unimplemented.
1717 \subsection{bRC getBaculaValue(bpContext *ctx, bVariable var, void *value)}
1718 Calling this entrypoint, you can obtain specific values that are available
1721 \subsection{bRC setBaculaValue(bpContext *ctx, bVariable var, void *value)}
1722 Calling this entrypoint allows you to set particular values in
1725 \subsection{bRC JobMessage(bpContext *ctx, const char *file, int line,
1726 int type, time\_t mtime, const char *fmt, ...)}
1727 This call permits you to put a message in the Job Report.
1730 \subsection{bRC DebugMessage)(bpContext *ctx, const char *file, int line,
1731 int level, const char *fmt, ...)}
1732 This call permits you to print a debug message.
1735 \subsection{void baculaMalloc(bpContext *ctx, const char *file, int line,
1737 This call permits you to obtain memory from Bacula's memory allocator.
1740 \subsection{void baculaFree(bpContext *ctx, const char *file, int line, void *mem)}
1741 This call permits you to free memory obtained from Bacula's memory allocator.