On 6/22/07, Kern Sibbald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:44:03 -0700 > > From: "Kyle Marsh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Subject: Re: [Bacula-users] need help managing disk configuration > > To: bacula-users <bacula-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > > Message-ID: > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > > While this debate on the various merits of RaidN vs. RaidX is > > interesting and helpful, I don't believe it is what Scott was asking > > about. > > > He was asking how one should configure Bacula to make the best > > use of his space. I looked at the example in the manual, here: > > http://www.bacula.org/rel-manual/Automated_Disk_Backup.html, but it > > seems that is simply an example -- as far as I can tell it only works > > for a single client and is not easily scalable, which in impractical. > > Tell me if I'm wrong. > > I'm not exactly sure where you get the above ideas, because I don't believe > they are correct -- as you requested, I'm telling you :-) > > Yes, it is an example, but an example of a *real* installation that has been > running without intervention since 19 July 2004 (the exception is that I have > upgraded Bacula from time to time, and I had to add a harddisk after the > first year as their data volume temporarily doubled). > > Thought the example is only for a single client, I'm not sure why you say it > works with one. To the best of my knowledge there is no such limitation. > Depending on the backup volume you may need to use different Volumes sizes > and a different number of Volumes. The scheme has *absolutely* nothing > making it inherently single client.
So what does the "Maximum Volume Jobs" directive actually mean, then? If I have a single pool for incremental backups which specifies Maximum Volume Jobs = 6, Maximum Volumes = 6, and Volume Retention = 14 days, when I back up 4 clients each night, what happens? Does it say "The 4 incremental backups coming in tonight are from different clients so they're all part of the same job and can go on a single volume as one job" or does it say "The four backups coming in tonight have different Job stanzas so they must be different jobs so they'll take up 4 of the 6 job slots in the current volume that was supposed to last a week," or does it do something else? I've asked this question before, and the answer I got suggested I do something else (see below) suggesting that something like option 2 was the case. Could you clear this up? Thanks and sorry for the trouble, ~Kyle Marsh > > Concerning scalability: As with anything, if you double the size, it is > probably no problem, but if you multiply by 10 there may be additional > factors that come it -- for example, I am using SQLite2 (a very old version) > and anything more serious (in terms of volume) I would use MySQL or > PostgeSQL. As such this scheme has plenty of room to scale. Up to about 50 > machines, I could imagine just adding more disk (and the db change I > mentioned). Beyond that, one would likely need to make other adjustments > that would be made no matter what scheme one chooses. > > There are many different ways to handle disk backups (with/without pools, > different schedules of Full/differential/incremental, ...). The *working* > example I gave in the manual is only one way to do it, but it does work. > > I hope I have dispelled any ideas that there is any fundamental limitations to > the scheme -- though after 3 years of continuous running, I could probably > find a few tweaks to make it better ... > > Oh yes, and once someone blew away his whole home directory while I was on > vacation. I got a call on my mobile, and in ten minutes they had the > directory back. > > > Regards, > > Kern > > > > > I got advice from Arno Lehman suggesting that I estimate the amount of > > space needed per pool and set up the pool to handle that amount of > > data using limits on volume size and number of volumes. My reply was > > sent out with the wrong address so the list moderator ate it and I > > haven't resent it to ask my clarifying questions. > > > I too wonder what would be a reasonable volume size given various pool > > sizes (I'm thinking about one pool for each level of backups with its > > own retention times running off the basic monthly cycle that comes > > preconfigured). > > > Thank you, > > > ~Kyle Marsh > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ _______________________________________________ Bacula-users mailing list Bacula-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users
