1%% 2%% 3% TODO: maybe merge all this FAQ in with the appropriate section? 4% TODO: and use detailed indexing to help reader 5 6\chapter{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions} 7\label{FaqChapter} 8\index[general]{Questions!Bacula Frequently Asked } 9\index[general]{Bacula Frequently Asked Questions } 10 11These are questions that have been submitted over time by the 12Bacula users. The following 13FAQ is very useful, but it is not always up to date 14with newer information, so after reading it, if you don't find what you 15want, you might try the Bacula wiki maintained by Frank Sweetser, which 16contains more than just a FAQ: 17\elink{http://wiki.bacula.org}{http://wiki.bacula.org} 18or go directly to the FAQ at: 19\elink{http://wiki.bacula.org/doku.php?id=faq} 20{http://wiki.bacula.org/doku.php?id=faq}. 21 22Please also see 23\ilink{the bugs section}{BugsChapter} of this document for a list 24of known bugs and solutions. 25 26\begin{description} 27\label{what} 28\section{What is Bacula?} 29\item [What is {\bf Bacula}? ] 30 \index[general]{What is Bacula? } 31 {\bf Bacula} is a network backup and restore program. 32 33\section{Does Bacula support Windows?} 34\item [Does Bacula support Windows?] 35\index[general]{Does Bacula support Windows? } 36 Yes, Bacula compiles and runs on Windows machines (Win98, WinMe, WinXP, 37 WinNT, Win2003, and Win2000). We provide a binary version of the Client 38 (bacula-fd), but have not tested the Director nor the Storage daemon. 39 Note, Win95 is no longer supported because it doesn't have the 40 GetFileAttributesExA API call. 41 42 43\label{lang} 44\section{What language is Bacula written in?} 45\item [What language is Bacula written in?] 46\index[general]{What language is Bacula written in? } 47 It is written in C++, but it is mostly C code using only a limited set of 48 the C++ extensions over C. Thus Bacula is completely compiled using the 49 C++ compiler. There are several modules, including the Win32 interface, that 50 are written using the object oriented C++ features. Over time, we are slowly 51 adding a larger subset of C++. 52 53\label{run} 54\section{On what machines does Bacula run?} 55\item [On what machines does Bacula run? ] 56 \index[general]{On what machines does Bacula run? } 57 {\bf Bacula} builds and executes on Red Hat Linux (versions RH7.1-RHEL 58 4.0, Fedora, SuSE, Gentoo, Debian, Mandriva, ...), FreeBSD, Solaris, 59 Alpha, SGI (client), NetBSD, OpenBSD, Mac OS X (client), and Win32. 60 61 Bacula has been my only backup tool for over seven years backing up 8 62 machines nightly (6 Linux boxes running SuSE, previously 63 Red Hat and Fedora, a WinXP machine, and a WinNT machine). 64 65 66\label{stable} 67\section{Is Bacula Stable?} 68\item [Is Bacula Stable? ] 69\index[general]{Is Bacula Stable? } 70 Yes, it is remarkably stable, but remember, there are still a lot of 71 unimplemented or partially implemented features. With a program of this 72 size (150,000+ lines of C++ code not including the SQL programs) there 73 are bound to be bugs. The current test environment (a twisted pair 74 local network and a HP DLT backup tape) is not exactly ideal, so 75 additional testing on other sites is necessary. The File daemon has 76 never crashed -- running months at a time with no intervention. The 77 Storage daemon is remarkably stable with most of the problems arising 78 during labeling or switching tapes. Storage daemon crashes are rare 79 but running multiple drives and simultaneous jobs sometimes (rarely) 80 problems. 81 The Director, given the multitude of functions it fulfills is also 82 relatively stable. In a production environment, it rarely if ever 83 crashes. Of the three daemons, the Director is the most prone to having 84 problems. Still, it frequently runs several months with no problems. 85 86 There are a number of reasons for this stability. 87 88 \begin{enumerate} 89 \item The program is constantly checking the chain of allocated 90 memory buffers to ensure that no overruns have occurred. \\ 91 \item All memory leaks (orphaned buffers) are reported each time the 92 program terminates.\\ 93 \item Any signal (segmentation fault, ...) generates a 94 traceback that is emailed to the developer. This permits quick 95 resolution of bugs even if they only show up rarely in a production 96 system.\\ 97 \item There is a reasonably comprehensive set of regression tests 98 that avoids re-creating the most common errors in new versions of 99 Bacula. 100 \end{enumerate} 101 102\label{AuthorizationErrors} 103\section{I'm Getting Authorization Errors. What is Going On? } 104\item [I'm Getting Authorization Errors. What is Going On? ] 105\index[general]{Authorization Errors} 106\index[general]{Concurrent Jobs} 107 For security reasons, Bacula requires that both the File daemon and the 108 Storage daemon know the name of the Director as well as its password. As a 109 consequence, if you change the Director's name or password, you must make 110 the corresponding change in the Storage daemon's and in the File daemon's 111 configuration files. 112 113 During the authorization process, the Storage daemon and File daemon 114 also require that the Director authenticates itself, so both ends 115 require the other to have the correct name and password. 116 117 If you have edited the conf files and modified any name or any password, 118 and you are getting authentication errors, then your best bet is to go 119 back to the original conf files generated by the Bacula installation 120 process. Make only the absolutely necessary modifications to these 121 files -- e.g. add the correct email address. Then follow the 122 instructions in the \ilink{ Running Bacula}{TutorialChapter} chapter of 123 this manual. You will run a backup to disk and a restore. Only when 124 that works, should you begin customization of the conf files. 125 126 Another reason that you can get authentication errors is if you are 127 running Multiple Concurrent Jobs in the Director, but you have not set 128 them in the File daemon or the Storage daemon. Once you reach their 129 limit, they will reject the connection producing authentication (or 130 connection) errors. 131 132 If you are having problems connecting to a Windows machine that 133 previously worked, you might try restarting the Bacula service since 134 Windows frequently encounters networking connection problems. 135 136 Some users report that authentication fails if there is not a proper 137 reverse DNS lookup entry for the machine. This seems to be a 138 requirement of gethostbyname(), which is what Bacula uses to translate 139 names into IP addresses. If you cannot add a reverse DNS entry, or you 140 don't know how to do so, you can avoid the problem by specifying an IP 141 address rather than a machine name in the appropriate Bacula conf file. 142 143 Here is a picture that indicates what names/passwords in which 144 files/Resources must match up: 145 146 \includegraphics{\idir Conf-Diagram.eps} 147 148 In the left column, you will find the Director, Storage, and Client 149 resources, with their names and passwords -- these are all in {\bf 150 bacula-dir.conf}. The right column is where the corresponding values 151 should be found in the Console, Storage daemon (SD), and File daemon (FD) 152 configuration files. 153 154 Another thing to check is to ensure that the Bacula component you are 155 trying to access has {\bf Maximum Concurrent Jobs} set large enough to 156 handle each of the Jobs and the Console that want to connect 157 simultaneously. Once the maximum connections has been reached, each 158 Bacula component will reject all new connections. 159 160 Finally, make sure you have no {\bf hosts.allow} or {\bf hosts.deny} 161 file that is not permitting access to the site trying to connect. 162 163\label{AccessProblems} 164\section{Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine. 165 Why? } 166\item [Bacula Runs Fine but Cannot Access a Client on a Different Machine. 167 Why? ] 168\index[general]{Cannot Access a Client} 169 There are several reasons why Bacula could not contact a client on a 170 different machine. They are: 171 172\begin{itemize} 173\item It is a Windows Client, and the client died because of an improper 174 configuration file. Check that the Bacula icon is in the system tray and the 175 the menu items work. If the client has died, the icon will disappear only 176 when you move the mouse over the icon. 177\item The Client address or port is incorrect or not resolved by DNS. See if 178 you can ping the client machine using the same address as in the Client 179 record. 180\item You have a firewall, and it is blocking traffic on port 9102 between 181 the Director's machine and the Client's machine (or on port 9103 between the 182 Client and the Storage daemon machines). 183\item Your password or names are not correct in both the Director and the 184 Client machine. Try configuring everything identical to how you run the 185 client on the same machine as the Director, but just change the Address. If 186 that works, make the other changes one step at a time until it works. 187\item You may also be having problems between your File daemon and your 188 Storage daemon. The name you use in the Storage resource of your 189 Director's conf file must be known (resolvable) by the File daemon, 190 because it is passed symbolically to the File daemon, which then 191 resolves it to get an IP address used to contact the Storage daemon. 192\item You may have a {\bf hosts.allow} or {\bf hosts.deny} file that is 193 not permitting access. 194\end{itemize} 195 196\label{startover} 197\section{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over?} 198\item [My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? ] 199 \index[general]{My Catalog is Full of Test Runs, How Can I Start Over? } 200 If you are using MySQL do the following: 201 202\footnotesize 203\begin{verbatim} 204 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats 205 ./drop_mysql_tables 206 ./make_mysql_tables 207 208\end{verbatim} 209\normalsize 210 211If you are using SQLite, do the following: 212 213\footnotesize 214\begin{verbatim} 215 Delete bacula.db from your working directory. 216 cd <bacula-source>/src/cats 217 ./drop_sqlite_tables 218 ./make_sqlite_tables 219 220\end{verbatim} 221\normalsize 222 223Then write an EOF on each tape you used with {\bf Bacula} using: 224 225\footnotesize 226\begin{verbatim} 227mt -f /dev/st0 rewind 228mt -f /dev/st0 weof 229\end{verbatim} 230\normalsize 231 232where you need to adjust the device name for your system. 233 234\label{restorehang} 235\section{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?} 236\item [I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do?] 237\index[general]{I Run a Restore Job and Bacula Hangs. What do I do? } 238 On Bacula version 1.25 and prior, it expects you to have the correct 239 tape mounted prior to a restore. On Bacula version 1.26 and higher, it 240 will ask you for the tape, and if the wrong one is mounted, it will 241 inform you. 242 243 If you have previously done an {\bf unmount} command, all Storage daemon 244 sessions (jobs) will be completely blocked from using the drive 245 unmounted, so be sure to do a {\bf mount} after your unmount. If in 246 doubt, do a second {\bf mount}, it won't cause any harm. 247 248\label{windowstart} 249\section{I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? } 250\item [I Cannot Get My Windows Client to Start Automatically? ] 251\index[general]{Windows Auto Start} 252 You are probably having one of two problems: either the Client is dying 253 due to an incorrect configuration file, or you didn't do the 254 Installation commands necessary to install it as a Windows Service. 255 256 For the first problem, see the next FAQ question. For the second 257 problem, please review the \ilink{ Windows Installation 258 instructions}{Win32Chapter} in this manual. 259 260\label{windowsdie} 261\section{My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It} 262\item [My Windows Client Immediately Dies When I Start It] 263\index[general]{Windows Client Dies} 264The most common problem is either that the configuration file is not where 265it expects it to be, or that there is an error in the configuration file. 266You must have the configuration file in {\bf 267c:\textbackslash{}bacula\textbackslash{}bin\textbackslash{}bacula-fd.conf}. 268 269To {\bf see} what is going on when the File daemon starts on Windows, do the 270following: 271 272\footnotesize 273\begin{verbatim} 274 Start a DOS shell Window. 275 cd c:\bacula\bin 276 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf 277 278\end{verbatim} 279\normalsize 280 281This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current 282directory, which you can examine and thereby determine the problem. 283 284\label{scroll} 285\item [When I Start the Console, the Error Messages Fly By. How can I see 286 them? ] 287\index[general]{Error Messages} 288 Either use a shell window with a scroll bar, or use the gnome-console. 289 In any case, you probably should be logging all output to a file, and 290 then you can simply view the file using an editor or the {\bf less} 291 program. To log all output, I have the following in my Director's 292 Message resource definition: 293 294\footnotesize 295\begin{verbatim} 296 append = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/log" = all, !skipped 297 298\end{verbatim} 299\normalsize 300 301Obviously you will want to change the filename to be appropriate for your 302system. 303 304\label{nobackup} 305\section{My backups are not working on my Windows 306 Client. What should I do?} 307\item [I didn't realize that the backups were not working on my Windows 308 Client. What should I do? ] 309\index[general]{Backups Failing} 310You should be sending yourself an email message for each job. This will avoid 311the possibility of not knowing about a failed backup. To do so put something 312like: 313 314\footnotesize 315\begin{verbatim} 316 Mail = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped 317 318\end{verbatim} 319\normalsize 320 321in your Director's message resource. You should then receive one email for 322each Job that ran. When you are comfortable with what is going on (it took 323me 9 months), you might change that to: 324 325\footnotesize 326\begin{verbatim} 327 MailOnError = yourname@yourdomain = all, !skipped 328 329\end{verbatim} 330\normalsize 331 332then you only get email messages when a Job errors as is the case for your 333Windows machine. 334 335You should also be logging the Director's messages, please see the previous 336FAQ for how to do so. 337 338\label{sched} 339\section{All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause 340 problems?} 341\item [All my Jobs are scheduled for the same time. Will this cause 342 problems? ] 343\index[general]{Schedule problems} 344 No, not at all. Bacula will schedule all the Jobs at the same time, but 345 will run them one after another unless you have increased the number of 346 simultaneous jobs in the configuration files for the Director, the File 347 daemon, and the Storage daemon. The appropriate configuration record is 348 {\bf Maximum Concurrent Jobs = nn}. At the current time, we recommend 349 that you leave this set to {\bf 1} for the Director. 350 351\label{disk} 352\section{Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape?} 353\item [Can Bacula Backup My System To Files instead of Tape? ] 354\index[general]{Backup to Disk} 355 Yes, in principle, Bacula can backup to any storage medium as long as 356 you have correctly defined that medium in the Storage daemon's Device 357 resource. For an example of how to backup to files, please see the 358 \ilink{Pruning Example}{PruningExample} in the Recycling chapter of this 359 manual. Also, there is a whole chapter devoted to \ilink{Basic Volume 360 Management}{DiskChapter}. This chapter was originally written to 361 explain how to write to disk, but was expanded to include volume 362 management. It is, however, still quite a good chapter to read. 363 364\label{testbackup} 365\section{Can I use a dummy device to test the backup?} 366 Yes, to have a {\sl Virtual} device which just consumes data, you can use a 367 FIFO device (see \ilink{Stored configuration}{SetupFifo}). 368 It's useful to test a backup. 369\footnotesize 370\begin{verbatim} 371Device { 372 Name = NULL 373 Media Type = NULL 374 Device Type = Fifo 375 Archive Device = /dev/null 376 LabelMedia = yes 377 Random Access = no 378 AutomaticMount = no 379 RemovableMedia = no 380 MaximumOpenWait = 60 381 AlwaysOpen = no 382} 383\end{verbatim} 384\normalsize 385 386\label{bigfiles} 387\section{Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Bigger than 2 Gigabytes?} 388\item [Can Bacula Backup and Restore Files Bigger than 2 Gigabytes?] 389\index[general]{Large file support} 390If your operating system permits it, and you are running Bacula version 3911.26 or later, the answer is yes. To the best of our knowledge all client 392system supported by Bacula can handle files bigger 2 Gigabytes. 393 394\label{cancel} 395\section{I want to stop a job.} 396%% Is there a better way than "./bacula stop" to stop it?} 397\item [I Started A Job then Decided I Really Did Not Want to Run It. Is 398 there a better way than {\bf ./bacula stop} to stop it?] 399\index[general]{Cancelling jobs} 400 Yes, you normally should use the Console command {\bf cancel} to cancel 401 a Job that is either scheduled or running. If the Job is scheduled, it 402 will be marked for cancellation and will be canceled when it is 403 scheduled to start. If it is running, it will normally terminate after 404 a few minutes. If the Job is waiting on a tape mount, you may need to 405 do a {\bf mount} command before it will be canceled. 406 407\label{trademark} 408\section{Why have You Trademarked the Name Bacula?} 409\item [Why have You Trademarked the Name 410 Bacula\raisebox{.6ex}{{\footnotesize \textsuperscript{\textregistered}}}?] 411\index[general]{Bacula Trademark} 412We have trademarked the name Bacula to ensure that all media written by any 413program named Bacula will always be compatible. Anyone may use the name 414Bacula, even in a derivative product as long as it remains totally compatible 415in all respects with the program defined here. 416 417\label{docversion} 418\section{Why is the Online Document for Version 1.39 but the Released Version is 1.38?} 419\item [Why is the Online Document for Version 1.39 of Bacula when the 420 Current Version is 1.38?] 421\index[general]{Multiple manuals} 422As Bacula is being developed, the document is also being enhanced, more 423often than not it has clarifications of existing features that can be very 424useful to our users, so we publish the very latest document. Fortunately 425it is rare that there are confusions with new features. 426 427If you want to read a document that pertains only to a specific version, 428please use the one distributed in the source code. The web site also has 429online versions of both the released manual and the current development 430manual. 431 432\label{sure} 433\section{Does Bacula really save and restore all files?} 434\item [How Can I Be Sure that Bacula Really Saves and Restores All Files? ] 435\index[general]{Checking Restores} 436 It is really quite simple, but took me a while to figure 437 out how to "prove" it. First make a Bacula Rescue disk, see the 438 \ilink{Disaster Recovery Using Bacula}{RescueChapter} chapter 439 of this manual. 440 Second, you run a full backup of all your files on all partitions. 441 Third, you run an Verify InitCatalog Job on the same FileSet, which 442 effectively makes a record of all the files on your system. Fourth, you 443 run a Verify Catalog job and assure yourself that nothing has changed 444 (well, between an InitCatalog and Catalog one doesn't expect anything). 445 Then do the unthinkable, write zeros on your MBR (master boot record) 446 wiping out your hard disk. Now, restore your whole system using your 447 Bacula Rescue disk and the Full backup you made, and finally re-run the 448 Verify Catalog job. You will see that with the exception of the 449 directory modification and access dates and the files changed during the 450 boot, your system is identical to what it was before you wiped your hard 451 disk. 452 Alternatively you could do the wiping and restoring to another computer 453 of the same type. 454 455\label{upgrade} 456\section{I want an Incremental but Bacula runs it as a Full backup. Why?} 457\item [I did a Full backup last week, but now in running an Incremental, 458 Bacula says it did not find a FULL backup, so it did a FULL backup. Why?] 459\index[general]{FULL backup not found} 460 Before doing an Incremental or a Differential 461 backup, Bacula checks to see if there was a prior Full backup of the 462 same Job that terminated successfully. If so, it uses the date that 463 full backup started as the time for comparing if files have changed. If 464 Bacula does not find a successful full backup, it proceeds to do one. 465 Perhaps you canceled the full backup, or it terminated in error. In 466 such cases, the full backup will not be successful. You can check by 467 entering {\bf list jobs} and look to see if there is a prior Job with 468 the same Name that has Level F and JobStatus T (normal termination). 469 470 Another reason why Bacula may not find a suitable Full backup is that 471 every time you change the FileSet, Bacula will require a new Full 472 backup. This is necessary to ensure that all files are properly backed 473 up in the case where you have added more files to the FileSet. 474 Beginning with version 1.31, the FileSets are also dated when they are 475 created, and this date is displayed with the name when you are listing 476 or selecting a FileSet. For more on backup levels see below. 477 478 See also {\bf Ignore FileSet Changes} in the 479 \ilink{FileSet Resource definition}{FileSetResource} in the Director 480 chapter of this document. 481 482\label{filenamelengths} 483\section{Do you really handle unlimited path lengths?} 484\item [How Can You Claim to Handle Unlimited Path and Filename Lengths 485 when All Other Programs Have Fixed Limits?] 486\index[general]{Path and Filename Lengths} 487 Most of those other programs have been around for a long time, in fact 488 since the beginning of Unix, which means that they were designed for 489 rather small fixed length path and filename lengths. Over the years, 490 these restrictions have been relaxed allowing longer names. Bacula on 491 the other hand was designed in 2000, and so from the start, Path and 492 Filenames have been kept in buffers that start at 256 bytes in length, 493 but can grow as needed to handle any length. Most of the work is 494 carried out by lower level routines making the coding rather easy. 495 496 Note that due to limitations Win32 path and filenames cannot exceed 497 260 characters. By using Win32 Unicode functions, we will remove this 498 restriction in later versions of Bacula. 499 500\label{unique} 501\section{What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?} 502\item [What Is the Really Unique Feature of Bacula?] 503\index[general]{Unique Feature of Bacula} 504 Well, it is hard to come up with unique features when backup programs 505 for Unix machines have been around since the 1960s. That said, I 506 believe that Bacula is the first and only program to use a standard SQL 507 interface to catalog its database. Although this adds a bit of 508 complexity and possibly overhead, it provides an amazingly rich set of 509 features that are easy to program and enhance. The current code has 510 barely scratched the surface in this regard (version 1.38). 511 512 The second feature, which gives a lot of power and flexibility to Bacula 513 is the Bootstrap record definition. 514 515 The third unique feature, which is currently (1.30) unimplemented, and 516 thus can be called vaporware :-), is Base level saves. When 517 implemented, this will enormously reduce tape usage. 518 519\label{sequence} 520\section{How can I force one job to run after another?} 521\item [If I Run Multiple Simultaneous Jobs, How Can I Force One 522 Particular Job to Run After Another Job? ] 523\index[general]{Multiple Simultaneous Jobs} 524Yes, you can set Priorities on your jobs so that they run in the order you 525specify. Please see: 526\ilink{the Priority record}{Priority} in the Job resource. 527 528\label{nomail} 529\section{I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? } 530\item [I Am Not Getting Email Notification, What Can I Do? ] 531\index[general]{No Email Notification} 532 The most common problem is that you have not specified a fully qualified 533 email address and your bsmtp server is rejecting the mail. The next 534 most common problem is that your bsmtp server doesn't like the syntax on 535 the From part of the message. For more details on this and other 536 problems, please see the \ilink{ Getting Email Notification to 537 Work}{email} section of the Tips chapter of this manual. The section 538 \ilink{ Getting Notified of Job Completion}{notification} of the Tips 539 chapter may also be useful. For more information on the {\bf bsmtp} 540 mail program, please see \ilink{bsmtp in the Volume Utility Tools 541 chapter}{bsmtp} of this manual. 542 543\label{periods} 544\section{My retention periods don't work} 545\item [I Change Recycling, Retention Periods, or File Sizes in my Pool 546 Resource and they Still Don't Work.] 547\index[general]{Recycling} 548\index[general]{Retention Periods} 549\index[general]{Pool changes} 550 The different variables associated with a Pool are defined in the Pool 551 Resource, but are actually read by Bacula from the Catalog database. On 552 Bacula versions prior to 1.30, after changing your Pool Resource, you must 553 manually update the corresponding values in the Catalog by using the {\bf 554 update pool} command in the Console program. In Bacula version 1.30, Bacula 555 does this for you automatically every time it starts. 556 557 When Bacula creates a Media record (Volume), it uses many default values from 558 the Pool record. If you subsequently change the Pool record, the new values 559 will be used as a default for the next Volume that is created, but if you 560 want the new values to apply to existing Volumes, you must manually update 561 the Volume Catalog entry using the {\bf update volume} command in the Console 562 program. 563 564\label{CompressionNotWorking} 565\section{Why aren't my files compressed?} 566\item [I Have Configured Compression On, But None of My Files Are 567 Compressed. Why?] 568\index[general]{Compression} 569 There are two kinds of compression. One is tape compression. This is done by 570 the tape drive hardware, and you either enable or disable it with system 571 tools such as {\bf mt}. This compression works independently of Bacula, 572 and when it is enabled, you should not use the Bacula software 573 compression. 574 575 Bacula also has software compression code in the File daemons, which you 576 normally need to enable only when backing up to file Volumes. There are 577 two conditions necessary to enable the Bacula software compression. 578 579\begin{enumerate} 580\item You must have the zip development libraries loaded on your system 581 when building Bacula and Bacula must find this library, normally {\bf 582 /usr/lib/libz.a}. On Red Hat systems, this library is provided by the 583 {\bf zlib-devel} rpm. 584 585 If the library is found by Bacula during the {\bf ./configure} it will 586 be mentioned in the {\bf config.out} line by: 587 588\footnotesize 589\begin{verbatim} 590 ZLIB support: yes 591 592\end{verbatim} 593\normalsize 594 595\item You must add the {\bf compression=gzip} option on your Include 596 statement in the Director's configuration file. 597\end{enumerate} 598 599\label{NewTape} 600\item [Bacula is Asking for a New Tape After 2 GB of Data but My Tape 601 holds 33 GB. Why?] 602\index[general]{Tape capacity} 603There are several reasons why Bacula will request a new tape. 604 605\begin{itemize} 606\item There is an I/O error on the tape. Bacula prints an error message and 607 requests a new tape. Bacula does not attempt to continue writing after an 608 I/O error. 609\item Bacula encounters and end of medium on the tape. This is not always 610 distinguishable from an I/O error. 611\item You have specifically set some size limitation on the tape. For example 612 the {\bf Maximum Volume Bytes} or {\bf Maximum Volume Files} in the 613 Director's Pool resource, or {\bf Maximum Volume Size} in the Storage 614 daemon's Device resource. 615\end{itemize} 616 617\label{LevelChanging} 618\section{Incremental backups are not working} 619\item [Bacula is Not Doing the Right Thing When I Request an Incremental 620 Backup. Why?] 621\index[general]{Incremental backups} 622 As explained in one of the previous questions, Bacula will automatically 623 upgrade an Incremental or Differential job to a Full backup if it cannot 624 find a prior Full backup or a suitable Full backup. For the gory 625 details on how/when Bacula decides to upgrade levels please see the 626 \ilink{Level record}{Level} in the Director's configuration chapter of 627 this manual. 628 629 If after reading the above mentioned section, you believe that Bacula is not 630 correctly handling the level (Differential/Incremental), please send us the 631 following information for analysis: 632 633\begin{itemize} 634\item Your Director's configuration file. 635\item The output from {\bf list jobs} covering the period where you are 636 having the problem. 637\item The Job report output from the prior Full save (not critical). 638\item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the prior Full save. 639 640\item The Job report output from the save that is doing the wrong thing (not 641 critical). 642\item An {\bf llist jobid=nnn} where nnn is the JobId of the job that was not 643 correct. 644\item An explanation of what job went wrong and why you think it did. 645 \end{itemize} 646 647The above information can allow us to analyze what happened, without it, 648there is not much we can do. 649 650\label{WaitForever} 651\section{I am waiting forever for a backup of an offsite machine} 652\item [I am Backing Up an Offsite Machine with an Unreliable Connection. 653 The Director Waits Forever for the Client to Contact the SD. What Can I 654 Do?] 655\index[general]{Backing Up Offsite Machines} 656 Bacula was written on the assumption that it will have a good TCP/IP 657 connection between all the daemons. As a consequence, the current 658 Bacula doesn't deal with faulty connections very well. This situation 659 is slowly being corrected over time. 660 661 There are several things you can do to improve the situation. 662 663\begin{itemize} 664\item Upgrade to version 1.32 and use the new SDConnectTimeout record. For 665 example, set: 666 667\footnotesize 668\begin{verbatim} 669 SD Connect Timeout = 5 min 670 671\end{verbatim} 672\normalsize 673 674in the FileDaemon resource. 675\item Run these kinds of jobs after all other jobs. 676 \end{itemize} 677 678\label{sshHanging} 679\section{SSH hangs forever after starting Bacula} 680\item [When I ssh into a machine and start Bacula then attempt to exit, 681 ssh hangs forever.] 682\index[general]{ssh hangs} 683 This happens because Bacula leaves stdin, stdout, and stderr open for 684 debug purposes. To avoid it, the simplest thing to do is to redirect 685 the output of those files to {\bf /dev/null} or another file in your 686 startup script (the Red Hat autostart scripts do this automatically). 687 For example, you start the Director with: 688 689\footnotesize 690\begin{verbatim} 691 bacula-dir -c bacula-dir.conf ... >/dev/null 0>\&1 2>\&1 692 693\end{verbatim} 694\normalsize 695 696and likewise for the other daemons. 697 698\label{RetentionPeriods} 699\section{I'm confused by retention periods} 700\item [I'm confused by the different Retention periods: File Retention, 701 Job Retention, Volume Retention. Why are there so many?] 702\index[general]{Retention Periods} 703 Yes, this certainly can be confusing. The basic reason for so many is 704 to allow flexibility. The File records take quite a lot of space in the 705 catalog, so they are typically records you want to remove rather 706 quickly. The Job records, take very little space, and they can be 707 useful even without the File records to see what Jobs actually ran and 708 when. One must understand that if the File records are removed from the 709 catalog, you cannot use the {\bf restore} command to restore an 710 individual file since Bacula no longer knows where it is. However, as 711 long as the Volume Retention period has not expired, the data will still 712 be on the tape, and can be recovered from the tape. 713 714 For example, I keep a 30 day retention period for my Files to keep my 715 catalog from getting too big, but I keep my tapes for a minimum of one 716 year, just in case. 717 718\label{MaxVolumeSize} 719\section{MaxVolumeSize is ignored} 720\item [Why Does Bacula Ignore the MaxVolumeSize Set in my Pool?] 721\index[general]{MaxVolumeSize} 722 The MaxVolumeSize that Bacula uses comes from the Media record, so most 723 likely you changed your Pool, which is used as the default for creating 724 Media records, {\bf after} you created your Volume. Check what is in 725 the Media record by doing: 726 727\footnotesize 728\begin{verbatim} 729llist Volume=xxx 730\end{verbatim} 731\normalsize 732 733If it doesn't have the right value, you can use: 734 735\footnotesize 736\begin{verbatim} 737update Volume=xxx 738\end{verbatim} 739\normalsize 740 741to change it. 742 743\label{ConnectionRefused} 744\section{I get a Connection refused when connecting to my Client} 745\item [In connecting to my Client, I get "ERR:Connection Refused. Packet 746 Size too big from File daemon:192.168.1.4:9102" Why?] 747\index[general]{ERR:Connection Refused} 748 This is typically a communications error resulting from one of the 749 following: 750 751 752\begin{itemize} 753\item Old versions of Bacula, usually a Win32 client, where two threads were 754 using the same I/O packet. Fixed in more recent versions. Please upgrade. 755\item Some other program such as an HP Printer using the same port (9102 in 756 this case). 757\end{itemize} 758 759If it is neither of the above, please submit a bug report at 760\elink{bugs.bacula.org}{http://bugs.bacula.org}. 761 762Another solution might be to run the daemon with the debug option by: 763 764\footnotesize 765\begin{verbatim} 766 Start a DOS shell Window. 767 cd c:\bacula\bin 768 bacula-fd -d100 -c c:\bacula\bin\bacula-fd.conf 769 770\end{verbatim} 771\normalsize 772 773This will cause the FD to write a file {\bf bacula.trace} in the current 774directory, which you can examine to determine the problem. 775 776\section{Long running jobs die with Pipe Error} 777\item [During long running jobs my File daemon dies with Pipe Error, or 778 some other communications error. Why?] 779\index[general]{Communications Errors} 780\index[general]{Pipe Errors} 781\index[general]{slow} 782\index[general]{Backups!slow} 783 There are a number of reasons why a connection might break. 784 Most often, it is a router between your two computers that times out 785 inactive lines (not respecting the keepalive feature that Bacula uses). 786 In that case, you can use the {\bf Heartbeat Interval} directive in 787 both the Storage daemon and the File daemon. 788 789 In at least one case, the problem has been a bad driver for a Win32 790 NVidia NForce 3 ethernet card with driver (4.4.2 17/05/2004). 791 In this case, a good driver is (4.8.2.0 06/04/2005). Moral of 792 the story, make sure you have the latest ethernet drivers 793 loaded, or use the following workaround as suggested by Thomas 794 Simmons for Win32 machines: 795 796 Browse to: 797 Start \gt{} Control Panel \gt{} Network Connections 798 799 Right click the connection for the nvidia adapter and select properties. 800 Under the General tab, click "Configure...". Under the Advanced tab set 801 "Checksum Offload" to disabled and click OK to save the change. 802 803 Lack of communications, or communications that get interrupted can 804 also be caused by Linux firewalls where you have a rule that throttles 805 connections or traffic. For example, if you have: 806 807\footnotesize 808\begin{verbatim} 809iptables -t filter -A INPUT -m limit --limit 3/second --limit-burst 3 -j DROP 810\end{verbatim} 811\normalsize 812 813 you will want to add the following rules {\bf before} the above rule: 814\footnotesize 815\begin{verbatim} 816iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9101 -j ACCEPT 817iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9102 -j ACCEPT 818iptables -t filter -A INPUT --dport 9103 -j ACCEPT 819\end{verbatim} 820\normalsize 821 This will ensure that any Bacula traffic will not get terminated because 822 of high usage rates. 823 824\section{How do I tell the Job which Volume to use?} 825\item[I can't figure out how to tell the job which volume to use] 826 \index[general]{What tape to mount} 827 This is an interesting statement. I now see that a number of people new to 828 Bacula have the same problem as you, probably from using programs like tar. 829 830 In fact, you do not tell Bacula what tapes to use. It is the inverse. Bacula 831 tells you want tapes it wants. You put tapes at its disposition and it 832 chooses. 833 834 Now, if you *really* want to be tricky and try to tell Bacula what to do, it 835 will be reasonable if for example you mount a valid tape that it can use on a 836 drive, it will most likely go ahead and use it. It also has a documented 837 algorithm for choosing tapes -- but you are asking for problems ... 838 839 So, the trick is to invert your concept of things and put Bacula in charge of 840 handling the tapes. Once you do that, you will be fine. If you want to 841 anticipate what it is going to do, you can generally figure it out correctly 842 and get what you want. 843 844 If you start with the idea that you are going to force or tell Bacula to use 845 particular tapes or you insist on trying to run in that kind of mode, you will 846 probably not be too happy. 847 848 I don't want to worry about what tape has what data. That is what Bacula is 849 designed for. 850 851 If you have an application where you *really* need to remove a tape each day 852 and insert a new one, it can be done the directives exist to accomplish that. 853 In such a case, one little "trick" to knowing what tape Bacula will want at 854 2am while you are asleep is to run a tiny job at 4pm while you are still at 855 work that backs up say one directory, or even one file. You will quickly find 856 out what tape it wants, and you can mount it before you go home ... 857 858\label{Password generation} 859\section{Password generation} 860\item [How do I generate a password?] 861\index[general]{MaxVolumeSize} 862 863 Each daemon needs a password. This password occurs in the configuration 864 file for that daemon and in the bacula-dir.conf file. These passwords are 865 plain text. There is no special generation procedure. Most people just 866 use random text. 867 868 Passwords are never sent over the wire in plain text. They are always 869 encrypted. 870 871 Security surrounding these passwords is best left security to your 872 operating system. Passwords are not encrypted within Bacula 873 configuration files. 874 875\end{description} 876 877