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\section*{Critical Items to Implement Before Going Production}
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\label{_ChapterStart32}
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\index[general]{Production!Critical Items to Implement Before Going }
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\index[general]{Critical Items to Implement Before Going Production }
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\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Critical Items to Implement Before Going
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\index[general]{General }
13
\addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{General}
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We recommend you take your time before implementing a Bacula backup system
16
since Bacula is a rather complex program, and if you make a mistake, you may
17
suddenly find that you cannot restore your files in case of a disaster.
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This is especially true if you have not previously used a major backup
4
\chapter{Critical Items to Implement Before Production}
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\label{CriticalChapter}
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\index[general]{Production!Critical Items to Implement Before }
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\index[general]{Critical Items to Implement Before Production }
9
We recommend you take your time before implementing a production a Bacula
10
backup system since Bacula is a rather complex program, and if you make a
11
mistake, you may suddenly find that you cannot restore your files in case
12
of a disaster. This is especially true if you have not previously used a
21
15
If you follow the instructions in this chapter, you will have covered most of
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16
the major problems that can occur. It goes without saying that if you ever
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18
that we can document it to the benefit of everyone.
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\subsection*{Critical Items}
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\section{Critical Items}
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22
\index[general]{Critical Items }
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23
\index[general]{Items!Critical }
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\addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Critical Items}
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25
The following assumes that you have installed Bacula, you more or less
33
26
understand it, you have at least worked through the tutorial or have
34
27
equivalent experience, and that you have set up a basic production
35
28
configuration. If you haven't done the above, please do so and then come back
36
29
here. The following is a sort of checklist that points with perhaps a brief
37
explanation of why you should do it. You will find the details elsewhere in the
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manual. The order is more or less the order you would use in setting up a
39
production system (if you already are in production, use the checklist anyway).
30
explanation of why you should do it. In most cases, you will find the
31
details elsewhere in the manual. The order is more or less the order you
32
would use in setting up a production system (if you already are in
33
production, use the checklist anyway).
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36
\item Test your tape drive for compatibility with Bacula by using the test
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37
command in the \ilink{btape}{btape} program.
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38
\item Better than doing the above is to walk through the nine steps in the
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\ilink{Tape Testing}{_ChapterStart27} chapter of the manual. It
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\ilink{Tape Testing}{TapeTestingChapter} chapter of the manual. It
46
40
may take you a bit of time, but it will eliminate surprises.
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\item Test your the end of tape handling of your tape drive by using the
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\item Test the end of tape handling of your tape drive by using the
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42
fill command in the \ilink{btape}{btape} program.
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\item If you are using a 2.4 kernel, make sure that /lib/tls is disabled. Bacula
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\item If you are using a Linux 2.4 kernel, make sure that /lib/tls is disabled. Bacula
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44
does not work with this library. See the second point under
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45
\ilink{ Supported Operating Systems.}{SupportedOSes}
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\item Do at least one restore of files. If you backup both Unix and Win32
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systems, restore files from each system type. The
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\ilink{Restoring Files}{_ChapterStart13} chapter shows you how.
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\item Do at least one restore of files. If you backup multiple OS types
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(Linux, Solaris, HP, MacOS, FreeBSD, Win32, ...),
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restore files from each system type. The
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\ilink{Restoring Files}{RestoreChapter} chapter shows you how.
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\item Write a bootstrap file to a separate system for each backup job. The
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51
Write Bootstrap directive is described in the
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52
\ilink{Director Configuration}{writebootstrap} chapter of the
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53
manual, and more details are available in the
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\ilink{Bootstrap File}{_ChapterStart43} chapter. Also, the default
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\ilink{Bootstrap File}{BootstrapChapter} chapter. Also, the default
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bacula-dir.conf comes with a Write Bootstrap directive defined. This allows
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56
you to recover the state of your system as of the last backup.
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57
\item Backup your catalog. An example of this is found in the default
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68
reconstruct if your server dies.
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\item Make a Bacula Rescue CDROM! See the
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\ilink{Disaster Recovery Using a Bacula Rescue
76
CDROM}{_ChapterRescue} chapter. It is trivial to make such a CDROM,
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CDROM}{RescueChapter} chapter. It is trivial to make such a CDROM,
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72
and it can make system recovery in the event of a lost hard disk infinitely
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\item After doing your first backup restore some or all the data. Do this for
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at least one client on each different OS (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Win32).
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\item Bacula assumes all filenames are in UTF-8 format. This is important
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when saving the filenames to the catalog. For Win32 machine, Bacula will
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automatically convert from Unicode to UTF-8, but on Unix, Linux, *BSD,
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and MacOS X machines, you must explicitly ensure that your locale is set
78
properly. Typically this means that the {bf LANG} environment variable
79
must end in {\bf .UTF-8}. An full example is {\bf en\_US.UTF-8}. The
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exact syntax may vary a bit from OS to OS, and exactly how you define it
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\subsection*{Recommended Items}
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\section{Recommended Items}
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85
\index[general]{Items!Recommended }
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86
\index[general]{Recommended Items }
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\addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Recommended Items}
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Although these items may not be critical, they are recommended and will help
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you avoid problems.
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\item Read the \ilink{Quick Start Guide to Bacula}{_ChapterStart37}
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\item Read the \ilink{Quick Start Guide to Bacula}{QuickStartChapter}
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\item After installing and experimenting with Bacula, read and work carefully
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through the examples in the
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\ilink{Tutorial}{_ChapterStart1} chapter of this manual.
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\ilink{Tutorial}{TutorialChapter} chapter of this manual.
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\item Learn what each of the \ilink{Bacula Utility Programs}{_UtilityChapter}
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\item Set up reasonable retention periods so that your catalog does not grow
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to be too big. See the following three chapters:\\
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\ilink{Recycling your Volumes}{_ChapterStart22},\\
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\ilink{Basic Volume Management}{_ChapterStart39},\\
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\ilink{Using Pools to Manage Volumes}{_ChapterStart11}.
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\ilink{Recycling your Volumes}{RecyclingChapter},\\
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\ilink{Basic Volume Management}{DiskChapter},\\
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\ilink{Using Pools to Manage Volumes}{PoolsChapter}.
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\item Perform a bare metal recovery using the Bacula Rescue CDROM. See the
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\ilink{Disaster Recovery Using a Bacula Rescue CDROM}{_ChapterRescue}
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\ilink{Disaster Recovery Using a Bacula Rescue CDROM}{RescueChapter}
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manual/critical.tex
