Re: [BackupPC-users] Restrict machine to do full backups Friday night and incremental on weekdays?
Timothy J Massey wrote at about 10:03:58 -0400 on Thursday, March 31, 2011: Jeffrey J. Kosowsky backu...@kosowsky.org wrote on 03/30/2011 04:11:05 PM: Wouldn't a better/more robust solution be to define the blackout period for that machine to exclude everything except for the weekend -- or everything but Friday night if you just want a single Friday night backup. Just use a host-specific config file I do not believe that will work: because unless something's changed in 3.2, you can't have separate blackout periods for incrementals and fulls. Therefore, your incrementals won't run! :) A my mistake -- I missed the part about still wanting to do incrementals... That would actually be a somewhat nice feature, but it's really just a hack to allow people to force-schedule BackupPC. You can achieve the same thing via cron jobs if you really really want to. Except for archives, which aren't schedulable under BackupPC at *all* (grrr), I've found that simply letting BackupPC manage itself works fine. It either self-adjusts (because it just runs out of time and a backup might be skipped for a day), or I manually adjust it by starting a full backup on a different day. Timothy J. Massey That being said, I wonder whether maybe BackupPC should incorporate a cron-like forced scheduling option alongside the existing more adaptive algorithm. It seems like there are enough people that have one reason or other to have chron-like scheduling and it seems klugey and in a sense deprecated to have to disable normal BackupPC scheduling and use a separately track cron table to schedule backups. Using 'cron' will never feel ideal to me so long as you have to basically keep the scheduling information outside of the BackupPC config files and merge it in with all your other cron jobs. Since BackupPC already wakes up every hour anyway and since that would seem to be sufficient granularity for nearly all use cases, it shouldn't be hard to build it into BackupPC. Personally though I don't have any need for cron-like scheduling, but I am becoming convinced that others might benefit from such a capability. -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Restrict machine to do full backups Friday night and incremental on weekdays?
Forgive me if I'm out of line, but wanted to let you know that your HTML email is very hard to read, IMO better to just use plain text in open lists. . . -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Restrict machine to do full backups Friday night and incremental on weekdays?
On 3/30/2011 10:16 AM, Scott wrote: Full backups from one machine look like they are going to take 12 hours, so a night time full backup is not going to work - for this one machine I need it to happen starting Friday night so it has all weekend to finish (poor connectivity).All the other machines can stay on the normal default schedule. Is this possible/how? Thanks! Two possibilities here: 1) Start the backup manually the first Friday night. After this, the normal backup scheduling will continue starting the backup at approximately the same time each week. If it shifts too much, then run another manual backup to get it back on schedule. 2) Disable scheduled backups for this machine and run them from cron instead. For example: # Machine1 backups (3:15am) -- Full on Saturday, Inc other days 15 3 * * 6 /usr/local/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_serverMesg backup machine1 machine1 backuppc 1 15 3 * * 0-5 /usr/local/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_serverMesg backup machine1 machine1 backuppc 0 -- Bowie -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Restrict machine to do full backups Friday night and incremental on weekdays?
Bowie Bailey bowie_bai...@buc.com wrote on 03/30/2011 10:52:21 AM: On 3/30/2011 10:16 AM, Scott wrote: Full backups from one machine look like they are going to take 12 hours, so a night time full backup is not going to work - for this one machine I need it to happen starting Friday night so it has all weekend to finish (poor connectivity).All the other machines can stay on the normal default schedule. Is this possible/how? Thanks! Two possibilities here: 1) Start the backup manually the first Friday night. After this, the normal backup scheduling will continue starting the backup at approximately the same time each week. If it shifts too much, then run another manual backup to get it back on schedule. This actually works reasonably well. If the impact of running the fulls on the wrong day occasionally isn't too great and you keep an eye once a week, this works sufficiently. Also, don't forget that future fulls are shorter than the first full if you use rsync/rsyncd. So if the first one is taking 12 hours, the subsequent ones will take less. Finally, is a 12 hour backup really that bad for your environment? Can it run from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M., for example? In any case, if you absolutely have to make sure you run them on a certain day... 2) Disable scheduled backups for this machine and run them from cron instead. For example: # Machine1 backups (3:15am) -- Full on Saturday, Inc other days 15 3 * * 6 /usr/local/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_serverMesg backup machine1 machine1 backuppc 1 15 3 * * 0-5 /usr/local/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_serverMesg backup machine1 machine1 backuppc 0 I do not recommend *disabling* scheduled backups. But modify it: set the full backup age to something like 7.97 days and use the cron entries described above. That way, if something goes wrong with the cron jobs, BackupPC will still initiate a backup. Yes, it will do this a day late, but at least you're getting a backup--and maybe the slowdown (or whatever you're trying to avoid by running it on a certain day) will let you know that there's a problem! :) The other thing to keep in mind is that, while it's not tremendously great for the performance of a server to be doing a backup, most decent servers can handle a backup running right in the middle of the day with only a little drop in performance. I've done that more than once when a backup had a problem for whatever reason and I don't want to wait to get a backup in. In short, it's probably a good idea to really make sure you *have* to have things exactly like you want them rather than just let BackupPC take care of things and occasionally readjust things (i.e. start a manual full on Friday if they get out of sync). Timothy J. Massey Out of the Box Solutions, Inc. Creative IT Solutions Made Simple! http://www.OutOfTheBoxSolutions.com tmas...@obscorp.com 22108 Harper Ave. St. Clair Shores, MI 48080 Office: (800)750-4OBS (4627) Cell: (586)945-8796 -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Restrict machine to do full backups Friday night and incremental on weekdays?
Timothy J Massey wrote at about 11:55:15 -0400 on Wednesday, March 30, 2011: Bowie Bailey bowie_bai...@buc.com wrote on 03/30/2011 10:52:21 AM: On 3/30/2011 10:16 AM, Scott wrote: Full backups from one machine look like they are going to take 12 hours, so a night time full backup is not going to work - for this one machine I need it to happen starting Friday night so it has all weekend to finish (poor connectivity).All the other machines can stay on the normal default schedule. Is this possible/how? Thanks! Two possibilities here: 1) Start the backup manually the first Friday night. After this, the normal backup scheduling will continue starting the backup at approximately the same time each week. If it shifts too much, then run another manual backup to get it back on schedule. This actually works reasonably well. If the impact of running the fulls on the wrong day occasionally isn't too great and you keep an eye once a week, this works sufficiently. Also, don't forget that future fulls are shorter than the first full if you use rsync/rsyncd. So if the first one is taking 12 hours, the subsequent ones will take less. Finally, is a 12 hour backup really that bad for your environment? Can it run from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M., for example? In any case, if you absolutely have to make sure you run them on a certain day... 2) Disable scheduled backups for this machine and run them from cron instead. For example: # Machine1 backups (3:15am) -- Full on Saturday, Inc other days 15 3 * * 6 /usr/local/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_serverMesg backup machine1 machine1 backuppc 1 15 3 * * 0-5 /usr/local/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_serverMesg backup machine1 machine1 backuppc 0 I do not recommend *disabling* scheduled backups. But modify it: set the full backup age to something like 7.97 days and use the cron entries described above. That way, if something goes wrong with the cron jobs, BackupPC will still initiate a backup. Yes, it will do this a day late, but at least you're getting a backup--and maybe the slowdown (or whatever you're trying to avoid by running it on a certain day) will let you know that there's a problem! :) Wouldn't a better/more robust solution be to define the blackout period for that machine to exclude everything except for the weekend -- or everything but Friday night if you just want a single Friday night backup. Just use a host-specific config file -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Restrict machine to do full backups Friday night and incremental on weekdays?
On 3/30/2011 4:11 PM, Jeffrey J. Kosowsky wrote: Timothy J Massey wrote at about 11:55:15 -0400 on Wednesday, March 30, 2011: Bowie Bailey bowie_bai...@buc.com wrote on 03/30/2011 10:52:21 AM: On 3/30/2011 10:16 AM, Scott wrote: Full backups from one machine look like they are going to take 12 hours, so a night time full backup is not going to work - for this one machine I need it to happen starting Friday night so it has all weekend to finish (poor connectivity).All the other machines can stay on the normal default schedule. Is this possible/how? Thanks! Two possibilities here: 1) Start the backup manually the first Friday night. After this, the normal backup scheduling will continue starting the backup at approximately the same time each week. If it shifts too much, then run another manual backup to get it back on schedule. This actually works reasonably well. If the impact of running the fulls on the wrong day occasionally isn't too great and you keep an eye once a week, this works sufficiently. Also, don't forget that future fulls are shorter than the first full if you use rsync/rsyncd. So if the first one is taking 12 hours, the subsequent ones will take less. Finally, is a 12 hour backup really that bad for your environment? Can it run from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M., for example? In any case, if you absolutely have to make sure you run them on a certain day... 2) Disable scheduled backups for this machine and run them from cron instead. For example: # Machine1 backups (3:15am) -- Full on Saturday, Inc other days 15 3 * * 6 /usr/local/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_serverMesg backup machine1 machine1 backuppc 1 15 3 * * 0-5 /usr/local/BackupPC/bin/BackupPC_serverMesg backup machine1 machine1 backuppc 0 I do not recommend *disabling* scheduled backups. But modify it: set the full backup age to something like 7.97 days and use the cron entries described above. That way, if something goes wrong with the cron jobs, BackupPC will still initiate a backup. Yes, it will do this a day late, but at least you're getting a backup--and maybe the slowdown (or whatever you're trying to avoid by running it on a certain day) will let you know that there's a problem! :) Wouldn't a better/more robust solution be to define the blackout period for that machine to exclude everything except for the weekend -- or everything but Friday night if you just want a single Friday night backup. Just use a host-specific config file That is basically my first suggestion above. It all depends on exactly how much tolerance you have for variations in the schedule. If you want no variation at all, then you use cron. If you can deal with the backup time moving around a bit, then you set your blackout periods and manually start the first full backup at the time you want it. -- Bowie -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
