VINES EBR Administrator's Guide
The VINES EBR Administrator's Guide contains information about day-to-day Enterprise Backup and Restore (EBR) administrative tasks such as managing the backup media and monitoring backups, as well as information about less common system administration tasks such as configuring EBR services and adding new backup clients.
You can handle nearly all of these tasks with EBRADMIN, the EBR Administrator program, which runs on a VINES workstation running Microsoft Windows. EBRADMIN is based on a standard Microsoft Windows interface. You may be familiar with many system configuration and operation tasks as well as some of the tasks required of a system administrator. A few EBR administrative tasks require access to the VINES server console and its Operator Menu.
This document describes how to configure and administer EBR services and how to back up and recover data from VINES servers. Backup and recovery of VINES workstation data is described in the VINES EBR User's Guide. For information on installing EBR, see the EBR Release Notice.
An EBR client can be a VINES server or workstation. Most backups of EBR clients are automatic or scheduled backups because they are initiated by an EBR service based on a schedule established by the administrator. But manual backups of workstations, which happen when a user decides to back up workstation data in response to an immediate need rather than waiting for a scheduled workstation backup, are also supported.
The physical media (magnetic tapes, for example) on which the EBR service writes back up data are called backup volumes. A set of files backed up by an EBR client to a server in a single backup session is called a save set. A save set can span more than one backup volume. The media set is the collection of backup volumes recognized and managed by an EBR service. When an EBR service labels a backup volume with a name, that volume becomes part of the media set. An EBR service tracks every client backup and maps it to a backup volume, using the volume's label name.
Client save sets and backup volume names are tracked by two indexes on the server - the file index and the media index. The EBR service maintains one file index per client and one media index per EBR service. The service uses these two indexes to match file backups to backup volume names.
When backing up files, an EBR service may request that you mount a writable backup volume on the server device. When recovering files, the service requests a specific backup volume by its name on the label. All you need to do is mount the requested backup volume or volumes on the server's backup device.
This manual is intended for operators and administrators who are responsible for maintaining computer systems on a network. This document may also be used by the people responsible for monitoring the daily backups of machines on a network.
Inside Program Manager, there is a program group called EBR, containing these three icons:
EBR is the VINES workstation backup and recover program. It saves and recovers data from a workstation's local disk using the EBR service. Administrators may also enable workstation users to save and recover data on network drives as well. EBR supports manual backup, data archiving, file verification, and recovery requests.
Scheduled Backup makes a VINES workstation available for scheduled backups initiated by an EBR service. It operates independently with little effort from users. The system administrator determines when scheduled backups occur. This program can be placed in the Windows StartUp program group for fully automated backups.
For an introduction to these programs, refer to the VINES EBR User's Guide.
EBR Administrator is intended for system administrators whose job is to manage storage media on the backup server and provide network backup for servers and/or workstations. Select this icon to start for tape labeling, mounting, unmounting, and configuring the EBR service.
Note that recovery of files residing on VINES servers cannot be done from the EBR Administrator - it must be done from the server console. Also note that EBR Administrator does not include commands for workstation backup or recover - these functions must be performed with EBR.
Except for directed recover, server recover, and disaster recovery, all of the administrative tasks described in this document can be performed with EBR Administrator. To start this program, double-click on the following icon:
The EBR Administrator window appears:
The title bar contains (from left to right) the control-menu box, the window title, and the minimize/maximize buttons. All elements in the title bar are standard in Windows applications.
The menu bar contains seven pull-down menus. They are described in the section "Using the Menu Bar" later in this chapter.
Four status windows, two of which initially open minimized, provide critical information for the system administrator. The Devices window displays device and media status. The Pending window requests action on your part (for example, changing a tape). The Messages window (when opened) displays messages about server operations, and the Sessions window (when opened) shows users who are requesting backups or recovers.
The speedbar or the status line, or both, can be hidden using toggles inside the Options menu. The speedbar provides shortcuts for commands in the menus, while the status line provides brief help messages. The speedbar is described in the section "Using the Speedbar" later in this chapter.
Who Has Administer Rights to the EBR Service?
When an EBR service is first installed on a VINES server, administration rights are limited to members of AdminList@servername@Servers, where servername is the name of the server on which the service is installed.
Members of this AdminList may use EBR Administrator to extend or remove EBR service administration privileges. See Chapter 4 for more information.
Setting EBR Administrator Options
If you have more than one EBR service on your network, you may choose the one you would like to regularly administer by using the -s option (for server) of the ebradmin command.
To set this option, highlight the EBR Administrator icon in the Windows EBR program group, and choose Properties from Program Manager' s File menu. Then change the program item properties for Command Line to read:
EBRADMIN.EXE -s servername
where servername is the name of a server hosting an EBR service. The following example shows the Program Item Properties dialog box where the server name redwood is highlighted:
During installation, SETUP may have inserted a servername for you. In the absence of this option, EBR Administrator tries to connect to the server you were previously administering when you last exited the program.
Note: Administrators must use EBR to either manually back up or recover workstation data or to perform directed recovers of one workstation's backup data to a different workstation, because the EBR Administrator does not contain commands for manual backup or recover. EBR does not support manual backup of VINES servers. All server backups must be scheduled using EBR Administrator and carried out under the control of the EBR service.
The EBR Administrator window is the starting point for most tasks. Seven pull-down menus help complete operation and administration tasks: File, Client, Server, Media, Options, Window, and Help.
The Client menu provides commands to configure and control backups of servers and workstations. The Server menu provides commands to configure and manage the EBR service. The Media menu contains commands for managing backup volumes (tapes). The Options menu offers several commands for altering the appearance of EBR Administrator, and the Window menu gives you the standard window controls.
There are two ways to choose an item from a menu: you can use the mouse to highlight and select the item you want, or you can use the [Alt] key in combination with key letters. Key letters are shortcuts that enable you to operate pull-down menus without touching the mouse.
When a menu item is highlighted, a brief help message for that choice appears on the right side of the status line (near the bottom of the window). More extensive on-line help is also available. See the section "Getting Help" later in this chapter.
All of the EBR Administrator menu items and speedbar buttons have a key letter that is underlined, specifying a keyboard shortcut for use with the [Alt] key. For pull-down menus and the speedbar, you do not need to hold down the [Alt] key while pressing key letters. For dialog boxes, discussed later in this chapter, you may need to hold down [Alt] while pressing key letters.
In this document, when it does not matter whether you hold down the [Alt] key while pressing another key letter, the sequence is given like this: [Alt] [s]. When you do need to hold down the [Alt] key while pressing another key letter, the combination is written like this: [Alt]+[s].
Mouse shortcuts are available as well. For example, to close a dialog box, you may double-click on its control-menu box.
The menu bar in the EBR Administrator window contains seven pull-down menus: File, Client, Server, Media, Options, Window, and Help.
Use the File menu to exit from EBR Administrator. You may also quit by double-clicking on the control-menu in the upper left corner.
Use the Client menu to assign clients (servers and workstations) to an EBR service, to find all EBR client/server pairs on the network, to control group backups, and to manage the on-line client indexes.
Note: Administrators should be advised that workstation manual backup, recover, and archive tasks are in a separate program. For detailed information, refer to the VINES EBR User's Guide.
Use the Server menu for all EBR service configuration tasks. See Chapter 4 for more information. Commands for managing devices and backup volumes are provided in the Media menu.
Use the Media menu for all EBR media management tasks. These procedures are described primarily in Chapter 3. This menu includes all the EBR storage media tasks such as mounting, unmounting, labeling, and verifying labels. Commands for managing media sets and devices are also provided here.
Use the Options menu to set the display font, and to disable the speedbar or status line. This menu also includes items to set the polling interval, which sets the update interval for the status display windows.
Use the Window menu to control the relationship and appearance of standard Windows components. If you mistakenly close any of the status display windows, this menu includes the items for re-opening and positioning these windows.
Use the Help menu to access on-line help, as described in "Getting Help" following. The About EBR choice displays the version of EBR you are running.
You can learn a lot about EBR Administrator by using its Help facility. To see the table of contents for on-line help topics, either choose Contents from the Help menu, or press [F1]. While you are using dialog boxes, you can get context-sensitive help by clicking the Help button within the dialog box (if that button is present). Here are some examples of help provided:
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If a menu is selected, look on the right side of the status line for a brief help message about the selection. ![]()
In a dialog box, click on the Field Help button for detailed information about the fields displayed. ![]()
When the EBR Administrator window is active, either press [F1] or select Contents from the Help menu to bring up a Help window showing you a list of help topics. ![]()
To read the on-line help from beginning to end, click repeatedly on the [ >> ] button within the Help window. ![]()
When the cursor changes from an arrow to a hand with index finger raised, click the mouse to jump to the hypertext link underneath. ![]()
If you need help on a particular topic, select Search for Help On from the Help menu, or click the Search button from inside the Help window. ![]()
If you do not understand how to use the Help viewer, choose How to Use Help from the Help menu.
To return to the EBR Administrator window without exiting help, click the mouse inside the EBR Administrator window to make it active.
To exit the Help window, either double-click on its control menu or select Exit from its File menu. The EBR Administrator program will still be active.
The seven graphical buttons that appear on the speedbar are shortcuts for commands available in the Client, Server, and Media pull-down menus. These are the most frequently used operations:
Change Server lets you use EBR Administrator to manage other EBR services (if your network has more than one).
Mount (read/write) mounts a backup volume on the device currently highlighted in the Devices status display window, and makes it available for both backup and recovery.
Unmount unmounts a backup volume from the device currently highlighted in the Devices status display window.
Label & Mount labels a backup or archive volume on the device currently highlighted in the Devices window, and then mounts it, ready for backups or archives.
Indexes produces a list of client indexes, with their sizes and how full they are. This command also permits you to reclaim index space by removing old save sets.
Volumes obtains information about the current EBR service's media set, and shows you the current service's collection of backup volumes.
Group Control monitors backup completion for a group of clients. The Groups dialog box lists each group recognized by the current EBR service, and the progress of its backup.