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CHAPTER 13 Manual Backups

13.1 Overview and Description

Backup Professional server allows registered clients to be backed up by a request from the client User Agent (UA) or the server UA. Backup user agents exist on both the client and server. The client UA queues a backup task for itself by making a request to the server. The server UA may queue backups for any of the registered clients. Generally, the only difference between the client UA and the server UA is that the server UA may request a backup for any client as well as for itself.

When a backup request is made, the server reads the request and places it into the task table. When the tape drive and any other resources needed by the backup are available for use, the server connects to the client to start the backup. Scheduled backups are processed in the same way, except the UA is not part of the equation.

There are three types of backups available. A Master backup archives all data on a given client. An Incremental backup archives all files that have been modified since the last master backup. A Selective backup archives only the files that you specify. The steps to perform each backup type are described in detail in sections 13.3 and 13.4.

For the scenarios, we will specify two clients and one Backup Professional server. One of the clients is a PC running Microsoft Windows and the other client is a Sun machine. The server machine is an Intel-based PC running SCO Unix. The setup is illustrated below:

FIGURE 52. Backup Scenario Illustration

13.2 About Backup Profiles

A backup profile is used to store settings for a specific backup. A profile is a combination of all settings and options for a specific backup. Once you are ready to run a backup, you may save the settings for a backup profile into a file of your choice for later retrieval. Select the [Profile->Save Profile As] menu button to specify the name of the file for which the backup profile is being saved. This displays the Profile dialog shown in Figure 53 on page 169.
FIGURE 53. Profile Load/Save Dialog

Profiles are used extensively throughout the scheduler. Schedule profiles are created automatically when you create the schedule. Profiles can also be a handy way for you to perform repetitive manual backups. Simply use the Backup facility to specify the client, tape or disk-to-disk device, and other options, then save the profile. In the future, when you want to perform the same backup, you can load the profile and immediately run the backup. You load a profile using the [Profile->Load] menu and select the profile from the list as shown in Figure 53.

You should save your profiles to the General area. You can sub-divide the General area by creating directories below $BPDIR/profiles.dir from the shell. These directories will be traversable from the General area by double-clicking on the directory name that will appear in the list.

The other profile areas are used by the scheduler. If you save an individual client profile to the schedule area, you can later incorporate it as part of a schedule. All scheduling activity is performed from the scheduling menu.

13.3 Master/Incremental Backup

Figure 54 illustrates the backup main window (Backup Facility) on Unix and NT Servers used to perform master and incremental backups. This is invoked from the Backup Professional server or client by choosing the [Backup] button from bpmenu. Alternatively, it is a choice from the BP server administration utility.

Master and incremental backup procedures are quite similar. The only difference is in the type of backup that is selected from the UA. Select the item Master Backup from the Backup Type frame to perform a master backup, backing up all files on the system (that are not excluded). Select the Incremental Backup item to back up only the files that have been modified since the last master backup. If you have excluded files in your master backup profile, your incremental backup profile should have these same exclusions indicated.

FIGURE 54. X Window Backup Program (Backup Facility)

Follow the steps below to back up a client. You do not have to select the backup server, because you are running the program on the Backup Professional server machine.

1. Select the client to back up by choosing a client from the Client combo box. If this program is run on a client, the combo box is used to choose the Backup Professional server. In this example, we will choose to back up the client barney.
2. Choose the tape or disk-to-disk device from the Device combo box shown in Figure 54. In this case we select the device, 8mm_Tape.
3. From the Backup Type section, select the [Master Backup] toggle button or the
[Incremental Backup] toggle button.
4. You may select any of the options from the General Options section. In this example, we chose to bit-level verify the backup.
5. Specify any advanced options from the Advanced Options section. In this example, the machine barney has a database that needs to be shut down before running the backup so that we may ensure data integrity during the backup. We specify the commands to shut down and restart the database in the Commands Before and Commands After fields. If the tape device is configured as a jukebox, the default before/after commands are used to move the tape from slot to drive before the backup, and back to the slot when the backup has completed. See "Before/After Commands Specification" on page 331.
6. If there are any files or directories that you do not want to back up, you can exclude them by selecting the exclude toolbar button or the [Backup->Exclude Files] menu. This button manages a dialog that you can use to select files and directories you wish to exclude from the backup process.
7. If you wish, you can save the backup settings to a file of your choice by choosing the
[Profile->Save As...] menu item. This allows you to reload the options at a later date, saving you the time of re-entering the options each time you run the backup.
8. When you are satisfied with the options you have specified, press the [Run] toolbar button to issue the backup request. If the request is made to back up the machine from which the backup facility is running, the backup progress viewer will run and display the filenames as they are being backed up. Once the backup has been queued, the Task Progress dialog will display detailed information about the progress of a selected backup.

13.4 Selective Backup

A selective backup is used to specify the files/directories that you would like to back up. You must specify the Selective Backup backup type from the Backup Type section on the main window. Specify any options for the backup and select the files. Use the [Backup->Include Files In Backup] menu or the [Include Files] toolbar button to display the File Selection dialog (Figure 55).

13.4.1 Selecting Files to Include and Exclude

A Selective Backup allows you to select the files to back up. You can select files to exclude for any type of backup. From the [Backup] menu on Unix and NT Server clients, choose [Include Files in Backup] or [Exclude Files from Backup]. The Backup utility will attempt to connect to the specified client, hence the client must be running and accepting connections.
FIGURE 55. Select Files

Once the connection has been established, a Multiple File Selection dialog (Figure 55) appears that allows you to select the files you wish to include or exclude. The list at the left of the dialog contains filenames from the client machine. Double click on a directory (a filename ending with a slash, `/') and the list will display filenames from that directory. Double click on a filename or select item(s) and use the [Add] button to add the selected items to the list on the right. The right-hand list contains the filenames you wish to include or exclude.

The backup files list is an extended selection list; that is, within the list you can select any number of items that may be noncontiguous. To select items in this list, you may use:

· <MB1> and Drag with mouse button #1 down.
· <Shift><MB1> to select any noncontiguous item(s).
· <MB1> alone, which deselects any previous selections and selects the current item.

When excluding files, the [Special] selector is available. The following special items may be excluded by selecting this menu:

Registry
When client refers to a Microsoft Windows machine, this option is available to exclude the registry from being backed up. The registry is automatically backed up when performing a Master backup. You may wish to exclude the registry from a Master backup in order to speed the process. It is not recommended that you normally choose this exclusion.
Readmounts
This option will exclude all read-only mounted filesystems on Unix clients from being backed up.This includes mounted CD-ROM drives and is highly recommended. Otherwise, you may find a backup going very slow because it is reading the contents of a mounted CD-ROM.
Netmounts
This option excludes all NFS mounted filesystems on Unix clients from being backed up. It also includes NFS filesystems that are mounted while the backup is in progress.
Allmounts
This option excludes all filesystems other that root (/) on Unix clients from being backed up.

Press the [Done] button when you are finished selecting files.

13.5 Options (General and Advanced)

The following options may be set from the main window of the Backup facility (Figure 54):
Read Locking
Select this toggle button to specify how read locking is performed on files prior to backing them up. There are two read-locking states, Enforced and Not Forced. Before a file is backed up, the backup will attempt to get a read lock on the file, which will allow the file to be read without any other process accessing the file. Enforced read locking will pause the backup until the lock can be set. This could potentially take forever. Not Forced read locking will attempt to lock the file, but if the lock cannot be gained, the process will not wait, and will continue to back up the file without the lock.
Speed Option
Turns on the backup double-buffering scheme to increase the speed of the backup. This takes more resources from the machine and might affect performance of other running processes, but it can increase the backup speed in some cases.
Verify After
Verifies the backup after the job has completed. There are two verification levels, Level-1 and Bit-Level. Level-1 verification ensures that the files on the tape do indeed exist on the hard-drive. Bit-level verification will verify that the files on the tape exactly match the files on the hard drive by comparing the files bit-by-bit.
Directory Depth
A value greater than zero will not back up files below n directories deep.
Archive Blocksize
Specifies the block size used when transferring the backup data across the network. Unless you are aware of what this entails, use the default.
FIGURE 56. Raw Devices Dialog
Raw Devices
Raw devices are generally used by database engines to store database records. These devices are not part of the filesystem and thus are not archived in the same manner as regular files and directories. Select the [Raw Devices...] button from the Advanced Options section to specify raw devices to be included in the backup. This displays the Raw Devices dialog (Figure 56) where you specify a list of raw devices in the first text box. Specify the list of raw devices with each device name separated by a space. The device name(s) are usually found in the /dev directory and must specify the full path name, for example: /dev/rdev1.
Your database may have to be shut down before the raw device can be archived. In this case, you specify in the Raw Script text box the path to a script that will be called before and after each raw device is accessed during the backup. The script is called as
script_file <-begin | -end> <device>
This one script may be used for each raw device, where the arguments to the script indicate the raw device (device) and whether the backup is about to begin (-begin) archiving the raw device or has finished (-end) with the raw device.
If the script exits with a value of 100, the raw device will not be backed up. Any other exit value will continue and backup the raw device. This of course is applicable only when the script is passed the -begin option.
Command Before/After
These two fields specify the commands to run before and after the backup. This may be any system command. The output from the commands are directed to the backup summary. See "Before/After Commands Specification" on page 331 for a detailed description of before and after commands.

13.6 Authentication

User authentication is automatically determined by the login name of the user or by requesting the Supervisor Account and password. If the user is running as the root user or the supervisor, then authentication is automatic. Otherwise, authentication is requested from the user through the Supervisor Override dialog for UNIX and NT Server clients (Figure 57 on page 177) when a request is made to back up a machine that is not the current running host.
FIGURE 57. Supervisor Override Dialog

If authentication is successful, the backup is run with the account and privileges of the supervisor. See "Supervisor Override" on page 88 for a complete description of the Supervisor Account.

13.7 Running a Backup

Use the [File->Run Now] menu, or the Run toolbar item to queue the backup request. If the request is to back up the local machine, the Backup Progress Viewer displays the files as they are being backed up. When the queued backup becomes active, an entry will be entered into the progress viewer's list, which you may select to view the filenames being processed. If you are not interested in seeing this, simply exit the viewer utility.
FIGURE 58. Task Progress Monitor

For every queued backup, the Task Progress Monitor (Figure 58) displays queued tasks for the local machine. The real-time status of a task is displayed by selecting a task from the list. By watching the status line, you can determine the progress and any problems that might arise with the backup.

13.8 Remote Control of Unix Backup Facility

Backup Professional XWindow utilities have options to remotely control functionality within the application. Remote control is of interest when you have a script or program that needs to interact with BP. Remote control of a BP XWindow application is accessed from the command-line by running the application with the -remote option. Specify the -remote option as in the following example:
xbackup -remote "NoOp()"

When a BP XWindow application gets the -remote option, it first checks to see if another application of its type is running on the same display. If found, arguments to the -remote option are formed into an action and passed to the running application. If the application is not found to be running on the display, the current process will start as normal and handle the action(s). You can specify multiple -remote options on the command-line to run multiple actions.

13.8.1 Remote Backup Utility Actions

The remote actions defined for xbackup are as follows:
NoOp()
Simply raises the window of the found application.
ExcludeFiles()
Raises the dialog to allow the user to exclude files from a backup.
IncludeFiles()
Raises the dialog to allow the user to include files in the backup.
OpenProfile([profile_path])
Opens the default profile or the profile specified in profile_path.
RunProfile([profile_path,][prompt])
Run the profile specified in profile_path. If not specified, the user will be asked to select the profile to run. If the prompt keyword is used, xbackup will prompt the user before running the profile.
ShowTasks()
Displays the task viewer and selects the currently running task for the user.
ShowViewer()
Starts the backup file viewer and selects the currently running task to display the files as they are backed up.
SaveProfile([profile_path])
Saves the current settings to the default profile or the profile specified in profile_path.


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