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Chapter 4 - Configuring the EBR Server

Creating backup groups and configuring clients
Setting the start time for scheduled backups
Changing backup schedules
Viewing backup devices
Changing server parallelism
Adding or changing administrators
Creating automatic index management policies
Setting up backup directives (directions)
Using notifications
Configuring the server’s clients
Using volume pools

Figure 4-1. Server Pull-Down Menu

Configuring Backup Groups

Important: Initially, the server that hosts the EBR service is assigned to the default group as a client of the EBR service it hosts. You may change this if you wish, but make sure your EBR server belongs to a group that is enabled for a scheduled backup. Otherwise, on-line indexes will not be backed up.

1. Choose Setup from the Client menu. The Client Dialog Box appears.

2. Inside the Clients dialog box, highlight your server name and click the Edit button. The Edit Client Dialog box appears.

3. Be sure the Default box is checked inside the Group field.

Figure 4-2. Group Field

4. Choose Groups from the Client menu. The Groups dialog Box appears.

5. Highlight the Default group and click the Edit button. The Edit Group dialog box appears.

6. Change the Autostart field from Disabled to Enabled.

Figure 4-3. Edit Group Dialog Box

Tip: Every client must be in an enabled group to be part of scheduled backups. Use the Group Control command to see the clients in each group, and whether they are being backed up.

Adding a Group

1. Choose Groups from the Client menu. The Groups dialog box appears, displaying the names of all the backup groups known to the EBR service:

Figure 4-4. Groups Dialog Box

2. Click the Create button to form a new group. The Create Group dialog box appears:

Figure 4-5. Create Group Dialog Box

3. Use the Name field to enter a name for the backup group.

4. Use the Autostart choices to enable or disable backup, as follows:

Enabled - allows the network-wide backup to start at its scheduled time.

Disabled - prevents the scheduled backup from starting.

5. Use the Start time field to enter the time you want the EBR service to start backing up this group. The default is 3:33 a.m.

6. Enter a group name into the Name field. Choose a name that helps you keep track of group membership.

7. Click the mouse or Tab to highlight the Autostart field.

8. Press the [e] key to enable backups, or use the mouse to select Enabled from the drop-down menu. (You could press the [d] key or select Disabled with the mouse to disable backups.)

9. Enter a new time into the Start Time field. Use the 24-hour clock convention to assign the new time. For example, type "13:00" for 1:00 p.m. or "1:00" for 1:00 a.m.

Tip: To help reduce network traffic, it is best not to have multiple backup groups starting at the same time.

10. Click OK or press ENTER to apply the change.

Note: If a message box appears saying "user <user_name> on machine <system_name> needs to be on administrator list," you do not have permission to make configuration changes. See "Adding or Changing Administrators" later in this chapter for more information.

Your new group name appears in the Groups dialog box.

Changing the Backup Time for a Group

1. Choose Groups from the Client menu.

2. Select the group name for which you want to change the start time.

3. Click Edit or press the [Enter] key to bring up the Edit Group dialog box:

Figure 4-6. Edit Group Dialog Box

4. Use the [Tab] key to move to the Start time field.

5. Enter a new time into the Start Time field. Use the 24-hour clock convention to assign the time.

6. If you want to retry after an unsuccessful client backup, set Client retries to one or more. (However, this activity might slow down group backup.)

7. Click OK or press the [Enter] key to apply the change.

Important: If you fail to list a time in the Start time field, the group backup will not take place.

Deleting a Group

1. Choose Groups from the Client menu.

2. Select the name of the group you want to delete.

3. Click Delete to delete the group. If any clients belong to the group you are trying to delete, an "unable to delete" message appears.

Setting up the Backup Schedules

1. Choose Schedules from the Server menu. The Schedules dialog box appears:

Figure 4-7. Schedules Dialog Box

This dialog box displays the names of the schedules identified by the EBR service you are administering. Five backup schedules are provided for your convenience. You may delete all of the schedules except the one named "Default."

Before you create a new schedule, look at the pre-configured schedule named "Default."

2. If it is not already highlighted, highlight Default, then click Edit or press the [Enter] key. The Edit Schedule dialog box appears, displaying a calendar of the current month:

Figure 4-8. Edit Schedule Dialog Box

The Name field displays the currently selected schedule name.

Use the Period field to set the calendar to a weekly or monthly cycle. A period is the duration over which backup cycles are repeated. If you select Week, the schedule you set repeats every week. If you select Month, the schedule you set repeats every month.

Each calendar day displays a letter next to the date. An "f" means full backup, an "i" means incremental backup, and an "s" means "skip the backup." In addition, there are nine other backup levels, each represented by a number from 1 to 9. See "Understanding Backup Levels" later in this chapter for more information about backup levels.

An asterisk (*) next to a backup level means you have forced a different level (an override) on that day. For example, if you schedule a full backup on every Monday of the month, but the second Monday for a particular month is a holiday, you can force a "skip backup" for the second Monday, and force a full backup on Tuesday instead.

3. Click the Prev Month and Next Month buttons to move back and forth one month at a time.

4. Click Cancel to close the Edit Schedule dialog box, or click OK to save your editing changes.

Logic Behind the Scheduling Schemes

How long do you want to keep backed-up data?
How many versions of the data do you want to maintain?
How much data do you have to back up?
How many backup volumes do you want to use?
How long does it take to complete network-wide backups?
Do you want to be able to recover from a disk crash using relatively few backup volumes?

Understanding Backup Levels

Full - Every file is backed up, no matter when it last changed.
Level [1-9] - Files are backed up if they have changed since the last backup at a lower numeric level. For example, if you take a level 1 backup, then a level 9, then a level 8, the level 8 backs up all files changed since the level 1 backup. Therefore, lower levels represent fuller backups, and include more data.
Incremental - Files are backed up that have changed since the last backup, regardless of level.
Skip - No files are backed up; the backup is skipped. You may want to skip a backup on a holiday if you know that no one will be around to change backup volumes on the server.

Figure 4-9. Levels of Backup

Using the Default Schedule

Full Every Friday is similar to the default, except that full backups are on Friday instead of Sunday.
Full on 1st of Month does a full backup once a month, and incremental backups all other days.
Full on 1st Friday of Month is similar, except it starts on Friday instead of the first of the month.
Quarterly does a full backup once a quarter, level 5 backups monthly, level 7 backups weekly, and incremental backups every other day.

Creating a New Backup Schedule

1. Pick a name for the schedule.

2. Decide on a period.

3. Select backup levels for each day in the period.

4. Set the overrides, if any.

Important: You can make changes to an existing schedule, but you may not change its name. If you want to change the name of a schedule, you must delete it and re-create it with a new name.

Example 1: A Weekly Schedule

1. Select Schedules from the Server menu.

2. Click Create to devise a new schedule. The Create Schedule dialog box appears:

Figure 4-10. Create Schedule Dialog Box

3. Enter "Full on Mondays" into the Name field.

4. In the Period field, select Week if it is not already selected.

In the calendar section, the letter "i" next to each day represents an incremental backup for that day. Each Sunday of the month has a letter "f" next to it, representing a full backup on Sundays. Exchange the "f" and "i" between Sundays and Mondays.

5. Select any Sunday in the month.

6. Click the Set Level button. The Set Level dialog box appears:

Figure 4-11. Set Level Dialog Box

7. Click the Incremental button. Then click OK or press [Enter]. All the Sundays change to "i." When you create a weekly schedule, a change made to one week is also made to all the weeks in the calendar.

8. Select any Monday in the month.

9. Click the Set Level button again. The Set Level dialog box appears.

10. Click the Full button, then click OK or press [Enter]. All Mondays change to "f" to reflect full backup.

Scroll through all the months, using [P] for Previous month and [N] for Next month, and notice how the schedule you set up for the current month is maintained throughout the entire year and for years to come.

11. In the Create Schedule dialog box, click OK or press the [Enter] key to save the schedule.

Note: If the message "user <user_name> on machine <system_name> needs to be on administrator list" appears, you do not have permission to make configuration changes. See "Adding or Changing Administrators" later in this chapter for more information.

Example 2: A Monthly Schedule

1. Select Schedules from the Server menu.

2. Click Create to create a new schedule.

3. In the Create Schedule dialog box, enter "Monthly Fulls" into the Name field.

4. In the Period field, select Month.

Notice that the month is already set up to do a full backup on the first day.

5. Set up the month for a level 5 backup on the fifteenth day.

6. Use the mouse, or press [Tab] and then the down and right/left arrow keys, to highlight the fifteenth day of the month (15/i).

7. Click the Set Level button to bring up the Set Level dialog box.

8. Click the button labeled 5, or type [Alt]+[5] to change to a level 5 incremental backup. Then click OK or press [Enter].

1. Select the sixteenth day of the month (16/i).

2. Click the Set Level button to open the Set Level dialog box.

3. Click the Skip button to override the incremental backup with a "skip the backup" instruction for that day.

4. Click the Set Override button to close the Set Level dialog box and return to Create Schedule Window.

The calendar date should look like this: 16/s*

Using the Prev Month and Next Month buttons, check the schedules for past and future months. Notice that the change you made is not carried through the schedules for these months. An override is a special case - it is a way to customize the calendar for special events or circumstances.

5. Click OK or press [Enter] to save the schedule you just created.

Important: Remember, any override must be scheduled explicitly each time. In other words, an override does not automatically repeat in a monthly or weekly period.

Summary of Schedules

1. Choose Schedules from the Server menu.

2. Click Create to create a schedule or Edit to modify a schedule.

3. Assign the schedule an appropriate name in the Name field of the Create Schedule or Edit Schedule dialog box.

4. Select a weekly or monthly period for the schedule.

5. Select a date within the calendar and set its backup level using the Set Level dialog box.

- Select Full for a full backup on a calendar day.

- Select Incremental for an incremental backup that day.

- Select Skip to avoid a backup on that day.

- Select a number between [1] and [9] for a particular level.

6. After selecting a level, click OK to set the backup level. Or select a level, then click Set Override to override for that day.

7. To remove an existing override, click Clear Override.

8. In the Create Schedule or Edit Schedule dialog box, click OK or press the [Enter] key to save your custom schedule.

Viewing Backup Devices

1. Choose Devices from the Server menu. The Devices dialog box appears:

Figure 4-12. Devices Dialog Box

This dialog box displays all backup devices the EBR server recognizes, for backing up and recovering client files.

2. If there are multiple devices, highlight the one for which you want more information.

3. Click Edit or press the [Enter] key. The Edit dialog box appears for devices:

Figure 4-13. Edit Dialog Box

The Name field displays the device type; the name cannot be changed.

The Media type field displays the type of backup media used by this device. The choices represent quarter-inch cartridge, four millimeter tape, eight millimeter tape, high capacity 8mm, and optical disc, respectively. The Media type cannot be changed.

Click Field Help if you need more information about either field.

Contact your Banyan authorized reseller for the list of currently supported backup devices, or see the EBR Release Notice.

Note: The Media type defaults to 8mm tape. If this device is incorrect, use the Devices window's Delete button to delete the device, then choose Create to create a new device with the correct Media type.

Changing Server Parallelism

The server takes too long to back up all its clients (increase the parallelism)
The server is so busy backing up clients it is useless for any other tasks (decrease the parallelism)

1. Choose Setup from the Server menu. The Edit Server dialog box appears.

2. Select the Parallelism field.

3. Increase or decrease the number depending on whether you want to increase or decrease the parallelism. Parallelism may be any number from 1 to 5.

4. Click OK or press the [Enter] key to save your change.

Note: A high value for Parallelism allows savegroups with many clients to complete in less time, but consumes more server resources (for example, swap space, communications buffers, and so on) during the backup.

Adding or Changing Administrators

1. Choose Setup from the Server menu.

2. Highlight the Administrator field, then scroll to the end of the list.

Figure 4-14. Administrator Field

The Administrator field displays the names of the users or user groups who have permission to change the configuration of the EBR server.

3. Enter a new user name into the Administrator field. This name can be a user's StreetTalk name or a StreetTalk list. It can also be root or root@host if you want this EBR service to interoperate with Legato® NetWorker® running on the UNIX system named by host.

4. Click OK to save the change. Every user listed in the Administrator field now has permission to modify the EBR service configuration.

Note: Adding a user or list name to the an EBR service's Administrator list only gives these users or list members administration rights. It does not allow them to back up or recover server data. This right is initially limited to members of the server's AdminList.

Automatic Index Management Policies

Figure 4-15. Index Policies and Management

Figure 4-16. Policies Dialog Box

1. Choose Policies from the Server menu.

2. Click Create. The Create Policy dialog box appears:

Figure 4-17. Create Policy Dialog Box

3. Enter a new name for the policy in the Name field.

4. Select a Period for the new policy. Your choices are Days, Weeks, Months, and Years.

5. Enter the Number of periods for the policy by entering a number in that field. For example, 26 Weeks produces a policy that could be called "Semiannual" (for half a year).

6. Click OK or press the [Enter] key to save your work. The newly created policy appears in the Policies dialog box and in the Clients dialog box as a Browse policy and a Retention policy.

1. Highlight the undesired policy in the Policies dialog box.

2. Click the Delete button. EBR Administrator deletes the policy.

Tip: You are not allowed to delete policies currently in use, or the default policies. The default policies are Quarter for Browse policy and Year for Retention policy.

1. Highlight the desired policy in the Policies dialog box.

2. Click Edit or press the [Enter] key. The Edit Policy dialog box appears:

Figure 4-18. Edit Policy Dialog Box

3. Select the Period and Number of periods for the policy. Its name cannot be changed.

4. Click OK or press the [Enter] key when you are done.

Note: An EBR service's Retention policy must exceed the Browse policy of all its clients. Under automatic index management, every related file index entry must be purged before backup media can be recycled.

Selecting Policies for a Client

Figure 4-19. Edit Client Dialog Box

Important: A client's Browse policy may not exceed its Retention policy. An error message appears if you attempt to assign a Browse policy to a client longer than the Retention policy assigned to that client. For example, one month for the Browse policy and one week for the Retention policy is unacceptable because you cannot assign browsing for a month on tapes only saved for a week.

Using Global Backup Directives

Tip: Effective use of directives requires extensive knowledge of a client's file system layout, including the names of files, what they do, and so on. Many system administrators know workstation file systems. Few administrators, however, are familiar with the internals of VINES servers. EBR is shipped with default global and local directives that have been tailored to work well on all servers. It is not necessary to alter them in any way. The information in the rest of this section is primarily intended for administrators who either want to customize DOS Standard Directives or have the appropriate level of knowledge of VINES server file systems to allow them to modify the VINES directives without adversely affecting backup performance and integrity.

Note: This type of pattern matching to exclude files from a scheduled nightly backup may only be applied to all clients of an EBR server, not to individual clients. They are global instructions that apply to clients for which you have configured directives on the EBR server.

1. Choose Directives from the Server menu. The Directives dialog box displays the types of global directives recognized by the EBR service.

2. Select one and click Edit or press the [Enter] key to open its Edit Directive dialog box. The Edit Directive dialog box appears:

Figure 4-20. Edit Directive Dialog Box

The Edit Directive dialog box shows you the contents of the currently selected directive. Each directive in the list is preceded by the directory to which it applies (for example, <</>>).

3. Use the arrow keys or buttons to scroll through the contents of the Directive field.

Note: Any directive that you enter under "<</>>" (slash) applies to all disk volumes for the client.

1. Enter the volume or directory name to which you want the directive or set of directives to apply. For example:

<<"C:">>

2. Enter the name of the directive under the directory name, and include the pattern-matching instructions, if any. For example:

skip: *.exe

This instruction means to skip all the files with a suffix of .exe.

skip skips the backup of a named directory or file

always always backs up the named directory or file, no matter what backup level is scheduled.

<</disk1>>

+skip: core

Using Notifications

Figure 4-21. Notifications Dialog Box

Figure 4-22. Edit Notification Dialog Box

none No action. This is the default for all notification types when an EBR service is first created

ebrmail Mails the notification text you specify to the user or list you specify. The syntax for this action is:

ebrmail [-s subject ] recipient

where subject is the text you want to appear in the subject field of the message and recipient is the StreetTalk name of a user or list of users who should receive the notification. If subject contains multiple words, they must be delimited by quotes. For example:

ebrmail -s "EBR mount request" AdminList@Redwood@Servers

is an appropriate action for a tape mount request.

ebrmesg Sends the notification as a 25th-line or Windows popup message. The syntax for this action is:

ebrmesg recipient

where recipient is the StreetTalk name of a user or list of users who should receive the notification

ebrlog Logs the notification to the service' s logfile

Note: If you specify the action for a notification with incorrect syntax, the notification will fail and an error will be logged in the EBR service' s logfile. When the EBR Mail User cannot log in, notifications that have been configured to be mailed will, instead, generate an ebrmesg reminding you to configure the EBR Mail User.

Configuring the Server' s Clients

Agreed-upon name for each workstation client
Name of the EBR service that will back it up
Backup schedule
Browse policy and retention policy
Set of directives
Backup group
Save set (if not All)
What other clients can recover this client's data

1. Select Setup from the Client menu.

2. In the Clients dialog box, click the Edit button. The Edit Client dialog box appears:

Figure 4-23. Edit Client Dialog Box

Note: A client can belong to more than one group, if you want to split the backup of the client' s file systems over different schedules. See "Scheduling Large Server File Systems" later in this chapter for details.

Using StreetTalk Attributes to Change Workstation Client Defaults

Table 4-1. EBR Configuration Attributes

attribute = value Attribute of What it means
<22:0> = name Group Specifies the name of the EBR service that backs up workstation clients owned by members of this Group.
<22:0> = 48 EBR service Disables all workstation backup and recover access to this EBR service. Does not disable access by EBR Administrator.
<22:0> = 49 EBR service Specifies that workstation clients of this EBR service can only back up and recover data on their local hard disk drives (the default)
<22:0> = 50 EBR service Specifies that workstation clients of this EBR service can back up data from local hard disk drives and network drives.

Note: An EBR service also uses service attributes 22:1 to 22:200 to record the names of its workstation clients. You should not use any of these attributes numbers for any other purpose, nor should you attempt to edit them manually. If any of these service attributes is corrupted, the EBR server no longer recognizes workstation clients whose identities were recorded in those attributes, and prompts the client for a name. If this happens, supply the name the client has been using, and the service re-initializes the attribute data.

Deleting a Client

1. Select Setup from the Client menu.

2. Highlight the client to delete.

3. Click the Delete button to remove that client.

Note: Deleting a client does not erase that client' s index, so that client backup data can remain retrievable until the retention period expires.

Scheduling Large Server File Systems

Figure 4-24. Save Set Display

Important: If you are using save set scheduling and you create any services that do not have their data directory on /disk1, you must be sure that /disk1 is backed up before the disk on which the service's data directory reside. Otherwise, the backup data for the service will not be accessible through the Console Recover Browser.

/disk1

/disk2

Important: Make sure you use the correct path when you specify volumes and directories. An EBR service cannot back up files when given incorrect paths. Use a path of either All or /diskn, where n is the number of the disk volume you want to back up.

1. Choose Setup from the Client menu, and click Create. The Create Client dialog box appears.

2. Type the name of the server into the Name field.

3. Configure the client by choosing backup group and directive. Make sure you choose the "Monday Full" schedule for it.

4. In the Save set field, delete "All" and enter "/disk1."

5. Click OK to save your changes.

1. Choose Setup from the Client menu, and click Create. The Create Client dialog box appears.

2. Type the Name of the server again, so as to schedule a backup for the second volume.

3. Configure the client by choosing backup group and directive. Make sure you choose the "Wednesday Full" schedule for it.

4. In the Save set field, delete "All" and enter "/disk2" instead.

5. Click OK to save your changes.

Important: When you use the Save set scheduling feature, make sure you do not leave any part of the file system off the Save set list. Any disk volumes, directories, or files left off the list will never be backed up. All VINES servers include at least two file systems: the root file system in "/" and the "/disk1" file system.

Using Volume Pools

A backup group or client
A list of save sets (file systems)
Backup levels - fulls, levels 1 to 9, incremental, or manual
Archive data only (for clients using Archive)

Choosing a special label template
Sending all backup data to a particular backup device
Choosing to store entries for the files in the on-line index (or not, if you are sending the backup media to an off-site vault)

Figure 4-25. Pools Dialog Box

1. Highlight its name in the list.

2. Click the Edit button.

To add a new pool, click the Create button.

To eliminate a pool, click the Delete button. You may not delete a pool that contains backup volumes.

3. Highlight the Default pool.

4. Click the Edit button. The Edit Pool dialog box appears:

Figure 4-26. Edit Pool Dialog Box

Send a specific file system to a pool.
Send a specific file system, from a specific client, to a volume pool without selecting a group (see "Example 2: Secure Device" in this chapter for an example)
Send a specific file system, from a specific client of a group, to a volume pool (see "Example 1: Separate Departments" in this chapter for an example)

Using Pre-configured Pools

Archive - For archiving client data only. This pool cannot be modified or deleted. There are no selections for you to make in this pool.
Default - Used automatically if you do not choose a pool. If you decide not to use the pools feature, EBR automatically places all of your backup volumes in this pool. The Default pool cannot be modified or deleted. There are no selections for you to make in this pool.
Full - For full backups only. This pool separates full backups from incremental and differential level backups.
NonFull - For any backups other than full backups. This pool includes all incremental and differential level backups.
Offsite - For volumes being stored off-site. If on-site backup volumes are destroyed, you could still recover data with the volumes stored off-site. If you are using the Full pool, you must temporarily disable it while sending data to the Offsite pool, to ensure that all full backups go only to the Offsite pool.

Important: Remember to enable the pools you wish to have in effect during the scheduled backups by selecting Yes from the Enabled choices.

Creating a New Pool

Note: EBR Administrator does not allow you to create two different pools with duplicate choices for Groups, Clients, Save sets, Levels, or Archive Only in the Pools window. If you try to create two pools with the same choices for all of these items, EBR Administrator displays an error message.

1. Choose Label Templates from the Media menu. The Label Templates dialog box appears:

Figure 4-27. Label Templates Dialog Box

2. Click the Create button to devise a label template called Test. The Create Label Template dialog box appears.

3. Fill in the blanks, as shown in the following graphic:

Figure 4-28. Create Label Template Dialog Box

4. Click the OK button. The Test label template appears as a choice in the Label Templates dialog box.

1. Click the Create button and enter "Test" into the Name field.

2. Select Yes from the Enabled choices.

3. Choose the label template Test, which you just created.

4. Choose the group QA, because it contains the clients you want to include in the Test pool. You do not want to selectively include clients or save sets, so do not use either the Clients or Save sets fields.

5. Select full from the levels choices. Leave the Archive only choice as No.

6. Select No from the Store index entries display. Selecting No means that you do not be include the index entries in the on-line index, which saves space on your hard disk.

7. Click the OK button to apply the selections.

Figure 4-29. Create Pool Dialog Box

Pool Examples

Example 1: Separate Departments

1. Create a label template with the name of the department in the Label Templates window.

2. Use the Pools window to create a new pool with the same name as the label template.

3. Select the groups that belong to each department.

Example 2: Secure Device

1. Create a label template named "Confidential."

2. Create a pool with the same name.

3. Enter the name of each client in the Clients field.

4. Enter the file systems for each of the clients in the Save sets field.

5. Select the device they will be backed up to from the Devices choices.

Example 3: Targeted Backups

1. Create a label template named "Graphics Full."

2. Create a new pool by the same name.

3. Choose the group or groups that need to be included.

4. Select full from the Levels choices.

5. Choose the 8mm device from the Devices choices where the graphic files will be backed up automatically.

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