I have been happily using SLB since I read about it in LXF. (I just wish I could remember to burn the archives to DVD before they get overwritten!).
I am curious about one thing however. The cron job produces an email and, looking back through them, I see that the daily jobs all report a return code of 0 while the full backup (Monday) produces a return code of 2. They both conclude with a cheery "Done!".
Is this normal?
Still using 0.3.1 by the way - should I upgrade to 0.3.2?
Thanks for the good work.
Best regards
Mark
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A return code of 2 usually isn't anything serious. I also get that in my full backups; it's usually because the "tar" program (used by SLB) is ignoring a file, e.g. a "socket", that can't be backed up. I also get it when I have a file/directory listed to be backed up and it doesn't exist (usually because I've deleted it).
Take a look in the log file for the full backup, called something like bkup-Mon.log.gz. This will be in the ~/.simplebackup directory unless you changed the option on the Advanced Options page. If you see a serious error message, then yes, you have a problem. Otherwise it's likely something you can ignore. If you have the same problem as me, that is a file or directory that doesn't exist, you can go back into SBCP and remove that file or directory from the list to be backed up.
As for upgrading, I would of course recommend doing so. The new version, which is 0.3.3 now, has several minor fixes and enhancements that could be useful to you. For example, if you miss a Monday full backup (maybe because your computer was off), SLB will now perform a full backup the next time it is run.
Steve
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The "No such file or directory" was an error that was fixed in 0.3.2. It didn't affect the backup, however, so your data should be fine. I'd recommend downloading the latest, which is 0.3.3.
Steve
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Sorry for the slow reply - I forgot that this board doesn't send a reminder email when a reply is posted...
Anyhow. Yes, I did D/L 0.3.3 and install it (on Tuesday 31/08/2007). On Wednesday morning I found this email waiting for me:
Starting backup in directory '/'
Full backup last performed about 13727 day(s) ago.
Performing full backup
Copying files...
Done collecting and compressing files; return code 0.
/dev/hda8 on /mnt/backup type ext3 (rw)
Done!
13727 days! I am pretty lazy about making backups (that's why I need SLB!) but even I'm not that bad! Besides, I was only 8 then! In fact, as you can see above, the last full backup was on Monday 30/08/2007 - only 2 days previously!
Joking aside; the return code from this full backup was 0, the 2 differential backups done since have also returned 0 so all looks well. I will drop you a line on Monday morning* once it has done its next "real" full backup just to confirm that everything is working properly.
Thanks again for your great work...
Mark
p.s.
* It just occurred to me... does 0.3.3 still work the same way - i.e. a full backup on Monday or does it just do one every 7 days? (I notice it now maintains a count of the days since the last full backup).
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You were 8 then, huh. Wow, you're pretty old....oh wait, I was 9 then. :-)
Yes, the first time 0.3.3 runs a full backup, it has no record of when the last full backup occurred -- it uses a new file, one that didn't exist in previous versions, to record the last full backup. When that file doesn't exist, you get a ridiculously large number of days (I can explain why if you care). So next Monday, it should say 7 days (or less). Maybe I should change that!
0.3.3 still works the same way...it does a full backup every Monday and incremental backups on the other days. The only change is that it will also do a full backup if it detects that the last full backup was more than 7 days ago. So if your computer happened to be turned off on Monday when the full backup was supposed to run, it'll do a full backup on Tuesday or Wednesday or whenever it runs again.
Thanks for your praise for the program! I'm just happy to know that someone is actually using it and that it's helping people.
Steve
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Hello,
I have been happily using SLB since I read about it in LXF. (I just wish I could remember to burn the archives to DVD before they get overwritten!).
I am curious about one thing however. The cron job produces an email and, looking back through them, I see that the daily jobs all report a return code of 0 while the full backup (Monday) produces a return code of 2. They both conclude with a cheery "Done!".
Is this normal?
Still using 0.3.1 by the way - should I upgrade to 0.3.2?
Thanks for the good work.
Best regards
Mark
Mark,
First of all, I'm glad to see you didn't panic!
A return code of 2 usually isn't anything serious. I also get that in my full backups; it's usually because the "tar" program (used by SLB) is ignoring a file, e.g. a "socket", that can't be backed up. I also get it when I have a file/directory listed to be backed up and it doesn't exist (usually because I've deleted it).
Take a look in the log file for the full backup, called something like bkup-Mon.log.gz. This will be in the ~/.simplebackup directory unless you changed the option on the Advanced Options page. If you see a serious error message, then yes, you have a problem. Otherwise it's likely something you can ignore. If you have the same problem as me, that is a file or directory that doesn't exist, you can go back into SBCP and remove that file or directory from the list to be backed up.
As for upgrading, I would of course recommend doing so. The new version, which is 0.3.3 now, has several minor fixes and enhancements that could be useful to you. For example, if you miss a Monday full backup (maybe because your computer was off), SLB will now perform a full backup the next time it is run.
Steve
Thanks for that Steve,
This is what's in my bkup-Mon.log file (names changed to protect the guilty!):
Simple Linux Backup (c) 2006-2007 Steven J. Rosen
Version 0.3.1-127
Beginning system backup at 2007-07-30 024001
Starting backup in directory '/'
Performing full backup
Copying files...
tar: Substituting `.' for empty member name
tar: : Cannot stat: No such file or directory
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
tar: /home/wifey/.beagle/socket-helper: socket ignored
tar: /home/kiddies/.beagle/socket-helper: socket ignored
tar: /home/me/.beagle/socket-helper: socket ignored
tar: /home/me/.xine/session.1: socket ignored
tar: /home/misc/.bittorrent/data/ui_socket: socket ignored
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
Done collecting and compressing files; return code 2.
Done!
[root@mydomain .simplebackup]#
I see what you mean about the sockets, but what's the "empty member name" thing?
Should I be concerned?
I have just downloaded v0.3.3 and I will use the process of installation to reacquaint myself with just exactly what it is I am backing up every day!
Thanks again for all your work.
Mark
[Edit]
Just reminding myself what is being backed up shows this :
[root@mydomain .simplebackup]# cat BackupFiles.txt
/home
/root/scripts
/var/spool/cron
/var/spool/mail
[root@mydomain .simplebackup]#
All of which are present - so where is the "No such file or directory" error comming from?
Thanks again...
Mark
Mark,
The "No such file or directory" was an error that was fixed in 0.3.2. It didn't affect the backup, however, so your data should be fine. I'd recommend downloading the latest, which is 0.3.3.
Steve
Oops, looks like you DID download 0.3.3...I didn't read your note closely enough. Let me know if you have any problems with it.
Steve
Sorry for the slow reply - I forgot that this board doesn't send a reminder email when a reply is posted...
Anyhow. Yes, I did D/L 0.3.3 and install it (on Tuesday 31/08/2007). On Wednesday morning I found this email waiting for me:
Starting backup in directory '/'
Full backup last performed about 13727 day(s) ago.
Performing full backup
Copying files...
Done collecting and compressing files; return code 0.
/dev/hda8 on /mnt/backup type ext3 (rw)
Done!
13727 days! I am pretty lazy about making backups (that's why I need SLB!) but even I'm not that bad! Besides, I was only 8 then! In fact, as you can see above, the last full backup was on Monday 30/08/2007 - only 2 days previously!
Joking aside; the return code from this full backup was 0, the 2 differential backups done since have also returned 0 so all looks well. I will drop you a line on Monday morning* once it has done its next "real" full backup just to confirm that everything is working properly.
Thanks again for your great work...
Mark
p.s.
* It just occurred to me... does 0.3.3 still work the same way - i.e. a full backup on Monday or does it just do one every 7 days? (I notice it now maintains a count of the days since the last full backup).
Mark,
You were 8 then, huh. Wow, you're pretty old....oh wait, I was 9 then. :-)
Yes, the first time 0.3.3 runs a full backup, it has no record of when the last full backup occurred -- it uses a new file, one that didn't exist in previous versions, to record the last full backup. When that file doesn't exist, you get a ridiculously large number of days (I can explain why if you care). So next Monday, it should say 7 days (or less). Maybe I should change that!
0.3.3 still works the same way...it does a full backup every Monday and incremental backups on the other days. The only change is that it will also do a full backup if it detects that the last full backup was more than 7 days ago. So if your computer happened to be turned off on Monday when the full backup was supposed to run, it'll do a full backup on Tuesday or Wednesday or whenever it runs again.
Thanks for your praise for the program! I'm just happy to know that someone is actually using it and that it's helping people.
Steve