backuppc-users

[BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Boniforti F. <fl...@pi...>]

Hello list,

I'd like to forget about the archiving host and its function now that
I've set it up. Is there any way to schedule it to run at a given time
from the BackupPC interface? The only alternative solution I can think
of is using a cron job... What are your suggestions?

I'd like to have the archiving of my hosts scheduled because I simply
want to take the external device on which I store the data off-site and
don't want to care about running the archiviation manually.

Regards,
Flavio Boniforti

PIRAMIDE INFORMATICA SAGL
Via Ballerini 21
6600 Locarno
Switzerland
Phone: +41 91 751 68 81
Fax: +41 91 751 69 14
URL: http://www.piramide.ch
E-mail: fl...@pi... 

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Matthias M. <mat...@gm...>]

Boniforti Flavio wrote:

> Hello list,
> 
> I'd like to forget about the archiving host and its function now that
> I've set it up. Is there any way to schedule it to run at a given time
> from the BackupPC interface? The only alternative solution I can think
> of is using a cron job... What are your suggestions?
> 
> I'd like to have the archiving of my hosts scheduled because I simply
> want to take the external device on which I store the data off-site and
> don't want to care about running the archiviation manually.
> 
> Regards,
> Flavio Boniforti

Hi Flavio,

In the web interface is a part called "Scheduled". I would believe that you
can configure the backup in the same way as for normal backups.
But I didn't try it by myself.

br
Matthias
-- 
Don't Panic

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Boniforti F. <fl...@pi...>]

Hy Matthias,

> Hi Flavio,
> 
> In the web interface is a part called "Scheduled". I would 
> believe that you can configure the backup in the same way as 
> for normal backups.
> But I didn't try it by myself.

I saw the same part you point at, but I guess the archive host is
recognized by BackupPC when it tries to "wake up" the hosts for
scheduled backup. I'm saying this because I left that part identical to
the same part from the other hosts and I *don't* get nightly
"archives"...

Anybody else with thoughts/suggestions about this?

Thanks,
F.

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Boniforti F. <fl...@pi...>]

So here I'm back again with some sort of "idea"...

> In the web interface is a part called "Scheduled". I would 
> believe that you can configure the backup in the same way as 
> for normal backups.
> But I didn't try it by myself.

The part you're talking about is *not* being considered and I guess this
is ok.

My idea would be to cronjob the commandline, as from the logs:

Executing: /usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_archiveHost
/usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate /usr/bin/split  polti 36
/bin/gzip .gz 0000000 /mnt/USB  *

The only thing is: how would I be able to get the number (in this case
"36") of the latest backup to archive? Or better, I'd like ro archive
*all* the data of one host: does this happen also when I archive an
incremental backup?

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.
Flavio Boniforti

PIRAMIDE INFORMATICA SAGL
Via Ballerini 21
6600 Locarno
Switzerland
Phone: +41 91 751 68 81
Fax: +41 91 751 69 14
URL: http://www.piramide.ch
E-mail: fl...@pi... 

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Les M. <les...@gm...>]

Boniforti Flavio wrote:
> So here I'm back again with some sort of "idea"...
> 
>> In the web interface is a part called "Scheduled". I would 
>> believe that you can configure the backup in the same way as 
>> for normal backups.
>> But I didn't try it by myself.
> 
> The part you're talking about is *not* being considered and I guess this
> is ok.
> 
> My idea would be to cronjob the commandline, as from the logs:
> 
> Executing: /usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_archiveHost
> /usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate /usr/bin/split  polti 36
> /bin/gzip .gz 0000000 /mnt/USB  *
> 
> The only thing is: how would I be able to get the number (in this case
> "36") of the latest backup to archive? Or better, I'd like ro archive
> *all* the data of one host: does this happen also when I archive an
> incremental backup?
> 

Just forget that the archivehost concept even exists and run 
BackupPC_tarCreate directly in your script/command line with the 
arguments and output pipeline  you want. 
http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/faq/BackupPC.html#commandline_restore_options
You can use -n -1 for the most recent backup, and incrementals are 
filled to look like fulls.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    les...@gm...

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Boniforti F. <fl...@pi...>]

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Les Mikesell [mailto:les...@gm...] 
> Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 3:06 PM
> To: General list for user discussion,questions and support
> Subject: Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[cut]

> Just forget that the archivehost concept even exists and run 
> BackupPC_tarCreate directly in your script/command line with 
> the arguments and output pipeline  you want. 
> http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/faq/BackupPC.html#commandline_
> restore_options
> You can use -n -1 for the most recent backup, and 
> incrementals are filled to look like fulls.

Thanks Les,

what I don't see is what is meant with the -s parameter "share name
*from* which the tar archive is created". 
Would something like this be OK?

/usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate -h polti -n -1 /mnt/USB

I was looking at the "original" commandline I posted, and the things are
almost clear:

/usr/bin/split = has to be used only if splitting archives (I don't need
it);
polti 36 = hostname and number of backup to archive.

Following part is not clear to me:

/bin/gzip .gz 0000000 /mnt/USB *

Is this meaning that the tarball is gzipped? In that case, what are the
parameter that follow the binary path?

Thanks in advance,
Flavio Boniforti.

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Adam G. <mai...@we...>]

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Boniforti Flavio wrote:
>
> Following part is not clear to me:
>
> /bin/gzip .gz 0000000 /mnt/USB *
>
> Is this meaning that the tarball is gzipped? In that case, what are the
> parameter that follow the binary path?
/bin/gzip is the compression program
.gz is the extension of the output filename (blah.gz)
* I think means all shares...

Hope that helps a little, there is more information on the various
options/parameters on the backuppc wiki from memory.


Regards,
Adam
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Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Les M. <les...@gm...>]

Boniforti Flavio wrote:
>  
>> Just forget that the archivehost concept even exists and run 
>> BackupPC_tarCreate directly in your script/command line with 
>> the arguments and output pipeline  you want. 
>> http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/faq/BackupPC.html#commandline_
>> restore_options
>> You can use -n -1 for the most recent backup, and 
>> incrementals are filled to look like fulls.
> 
> Thanks Les,
> 
> what I don't see is what is meant with the -s parameter "share name
> *from* which the tar archive is created". 

These would be the locations that you told backuppc to back up. If you 
go to the host's 'edit config' screen and click the Xfer link you would 
see one or more share names.  Or, browsing the backups, they would the 
the tops of the trees in the left navigation. (If you only have one you 
might not realize that there can be more).

> Would something like this be OK?
> 
> /usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate -h polti -n -1 /mnt/USB

You need to provide the -s argument, and the last argument is a filter 
to select which files/directories you want to include in the output. 
The output is written to stdout, so unless you want it on the screen you 
need to pipe to another program (gzip, dd, split...) or redirect to a file.

> I was looking at the "original" commandline I posted, and the things are
> almost clear:
> 
> /usr/bin/split = has to be used only if splitting archives (I don't need
> it);
> polti 36 = hostname and number of backup to archive.
> 
> Following part is not clear to me:
> 
> /bin/gzip .gz 0000000 /mnt/USB *
> 
> Is this meaning that the tarball is gzipped? In that case, what are the
> parameter that follow the binary path?

The arguments to archivehost don't have much to do with 
BackupPC_tarCreate.  I'm not sure, but I'd guess that those are the path 
to the gzip program,  a template for how to build multiple filenames 
(suffix and numeric pattern), a directory to hold them, and the file/dir 
pattern match (*=everything).  You don't need to worry about those 
because you'll construct the rest of the pipeline yourself in your 
scheduled command so you can do whatever you want.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    les...@gm...

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Boniforti F. <fl...@pi...>]

Hy Les,

> These would be the locations that you told backuppc to back 
> up. If you go to the host's 'edit config' screen and click 
> the Xfer link you would see one or more share names.  Or, 
> browsing the backups, they would the the tops of the trees in 
> the left navigation. (If you only have one you might not 
> realize that there can be more).

Ah, ok! I thought that Xfer could have something to do with that, thanks
for confirming that.

> > Would something like this be OK?
> > 
> > /usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate -h polti -n -1 /mnt/USB
> 
> You need to provide the -s argument, and the last argument is 
> a filter to select which files/directories you want to 
> include in the output. 
> The output is written to stdout, so unless you want it on the 
> screen you need to pipe to another program (gzip, dd, 
> split...) or redirect to a file.

OK, so "/bin/gzip .gz" *has to be* there...

> > I was looking at the "original" commandline I posted, and 
> the things 
> > are almost clear:
> > 
> > /usr/bin/split = has to be used only if splitting archives (I don't 
> > need it); polti 36 = hostname and number of backup to archive.
> > 
> > Following part is not clear to me:
> > 
> > /bin/gzip .gz 0000000 /mnt/USB *
> > 
> > Is this meaning that the tarball is gzipped? In that case, what are 
> > the parameter that follow the binary path?
> 
> The arguments to archivehost don't have much to do with 
> BackupPC_tarCreate.  I'm not sure, but I'd guess that those 
> are the path to the gzip program,  a template for how to 
> build multiple filenames (suffix and numeric pattern), a 
> directory to hold them, and the file/dir pattern match 
> (*=everything).  You don't need to worry about those because 
> you'll construct the rest of the pipeline yourself in your 
> scheduled command so you can do whatever you want.

OK, I'll try my best and post here...

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Holger P. <wb...@pa...>]

Hi,

Boniforti Flavio wrote on 2009-06-15 08:39:29 +0200 [Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host]:
> [...]
> OK, so "/bin/gzip .gz" *has to be* there...

you're not listening. Les has told you *three times* in this thread. There's
not much point in repeating what has been clearly stated. Re-read his posts.

Also read http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html ... at least
search for both occurrences of "time sink", but the rest is important as well.

Regards,
Holger

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Les M. <les...@gm...>]

Boniforti Flavio wrote:

>>>
>>> /usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate -h polti -n -1 /mnt/USB
>> You need to provide the -s argument, and the last argument is 
>> a filter to select which files/directories you want to 
>> include in the output. 
>> The output is written to stdout, so unless you want it on the 
>> screen you need to pipe to another program (gzip, dd, 
>> split...) or redirect to a file.
> 
> OK, so "/bin/gzip .gz" *has to be* there...

BackupPC_tarCreate will give you a tar archive on stdout.  If you want 
it compressed, you have to pipe through gzip.  If you want that saved to 
a file you have to supply the shell redirection at the end of the 
pipleline and an appropriate path/filename.  But basically you can do 
anything you want in the shell command line.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    les...@gm...

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Boniforti F. <fl...@pi...>]

> BackupPC_tarCreate will give you a tar archive on stdout.  If 
> you want it compressed, you have to pipe through gzip.  If 
> you want that saved to a file you have to supply the shell 
> redirection at the end of the pipleline and an appropriate 
> path/filename.  But basically you can do anything you want in 
> the shell command line.

Yep, I'm at my first experiments and...

/usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate -h omv -n -1 -s profilo / >
/mnt/USB/omv-test.tar

This one worked ok: I had my tarball (not gzipped or anything) in my
external USB drive.
A question about "-s": as I have more than one share per host, I tried
"-s *" but that didn't work. BackupPC_tarCreate was trying to add the
files in the directory from which I ran that command! :-/ Is there any
way to tell it to just tar every share? Or at least would there be a way
to list the shares?

And, what I don't want to miss is how do I eventually restore a damaged
BackupPC host from my "tarCreated" archives?

Thanks again,
F.

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Adam G. <mai...@we...>]

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Boniforti Flavio wrote:
>> BackupPC_tarCreate will give you a tar archive on stdout.  If
>> you want it compressed, you have to pipe through gzip.  If
>> you want that saved to a file you have to supply the shell
>> redirection at the end of the pipleline and an appropriate
>> path/filename.  But basically you can do anything you want in
>> the shell command line.
>
> Yep, I'm at my first experiments and...
>
> /usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate -h omv -n -1 -s profilo / >
> /mnt/USB/omv-test.tar
>
> This one worked ok: I had my tarball (not gzipped or anything) in my
> external USB drive.
> A question about "-s": as I have more than one share per host, I tried
> "-s *" but that didn't work. BackupPC_tarCreate was trying to add the
> files in the directory from which I ran that command! :-/ Is there any
> way to tell it to just tar every share? Or at least would there be a way
> to list the shares?
Try one of these depending on whether you do this from cmd line or
shell script etc:
- -s '*'
- -s \*
- -s \\*
- -s \\\*
> And, what I don't want to miss is how do I eventually restore a damaged
> BackupPC host from my "tarCreated" archives?
This one you will need to test. For a linux machine you might be able
to boot from a knoppix or ubuntu cd, restore the tar file, re-install
the boot loader, and be done. (A virtual machine booting from NFS
might be even easier).

For a windows machine, you may be able to re-install windows and then
boot from a knoppix/ubuntu cd, restore the tar file over the top, and
then be good to go. For windows though you will be missing some
acl/permission information, and also some files that were open/locked
during the backup. Worst case you will need to re-install the OS +
programs, then restore your data files over the top.

I'm about to experiment with windows restores.... but haven't started yet.

Regards,
Adam
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Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Adam G. <ad...@we...>]

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Boniforti Flavio wrote:
>> BackupPC_tarCreate will give you a tar archive on stdout.  If
>> you want it compressed, you have to pipe through gzip.  If
>> you want that saved to a file you have to supply the shell
>> redirection at the end of the pipleline and an appropriate
>> path/filename.  But basically you can do anything you want in
>> the shell command line.
>
> Yep, I'm at my first experiments and...
>
> /usr/share/backuppc/bin/BackupPC_tarCreate -h omv -n -1 -s profilo / >
> /mnt/USB/omv-test.tar
>
> This one worked ok: I had my tarball (not gzipped or anything) in my
> external USB drive.
> A question about "-s": as I have more than one share per host, I tried
> "-s *" but that didn't work. BackupPC_tarCreate was trying to add the
> files in the directory from which I ran that command! :-/ Is there any
> way to tell it to just tar every share? Or at least would there be a way
> to list the shares?
Try one of these depending on whether you do this from cmd line or
shell script etc:
- -s '*'
- -s \*
- -s \\*
- -s \\\*
> And, what I don't want to miss is how do I eventually restore a damaged
> BackupPC host from my "tarCreated" archives?
This one you will need to test. For a linux machine you might be able
to boot from a knoppix or ubuntu cd, restore the tar file, re-install
the boot loader, and be done. (A virtual machine booting from NFS
might be even easier).

For a windows machine, you may be able to re-install windows and then
boot from a knoppix/ubuntu cd, restore the tar file over the top, and
then be good to go. For windows though you will be missing some
acl/permission information, and also some files that were open/locked
during the backup. Worst case you will need to re-install the OS +
programs, then restore your data files over the top.

I'm about to experiment with windows restores.... but haven't started yet.

Regards,
Adam

- --
Adam Goryachev
Website Managers
Ph: +61 2 8304 0000                            ad...@we...
Fax: +61 2 8304 0001                            www.websitemanagers.com.au
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Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Boniforti F. <fl...@pi...>]

> > Is this meaning that the tarball is gzipped? In that case, what are 
> > the parameter that follow the binary path?
> /bin/gzip is the compression program
> .gz is the extension of the output filename (blah.gz)
> * I think means all shares...
> 
> Hope that helps a little, there is more information on the 
> various options/parameters on the backuppc wiki from memory.

So the above thoughts of mine were correct. What will the "0000000" be?

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Les M. <le...@fu...>]

Boniforti Flavio wrote:
>>> Is this meaning that the tarball is gzipped? In that case, what are 
>>> the parameter that follow the binary path?
>> /bin/gzip is the compression program
>> .gz is the extension of the output filename (blah.gz)
>> * I think means all shares...
>>
>> Hope that helps a little, there is more information on the 
>> various options/parameters on the backuppc wiki from memory.
> 
> So the above thoughts of mine were correct. What will the "0000000" be?

You don't need that since you'll be supplying the output pipeline or 
filename directly for Backuppc_tarCreate.  But one thing that might not 
be obvious from my previous post - or the docs is that Backup_tarCreate 
generates the tar output as ./path/file.  So if you want everything, 
your last argument to Backuppc_tarCreate should be '.' - or '/' will 
work too.  Experiment with the command line adding -L so you just get 
the listing instead of the contents to see how everything works.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    les...@gm...

Re: [BackupPC-users] Scheduling archiving host

[Chris R. <cro...@gc...>]

Boniforti Flavio wrote:
>>> Is this meaning that the tarball is gzipped? In that case, what are 
>>> the parameter that follow the binary path?
>>>       
>> /bin/gzip is the compression program
>> .gz is the extension of the output filename (blah.gz)
>> * I think means all shares...
>>
>> Hope that helps a little, there is more information on the 
>> various options/parameters on the backuppc wiki from memory.
>>     
>
> So the above thoughts of mine were correct. What will the "0000000" be?

It's the "splitSize", or how large the archive files would be allowed to 
get before a new one is created.  In the example given, the archive 
would not be split.

Chris