On 06/20/2011 04:51 PM, Dan Langille wrote: > I;m posting this because nobody has answered you yet. > Perhaps my prompts will get you to supply additional information. :)
Thanks, much appreciated. > On Jun 20, 2011, at 1:41 PM, Stuart McGraw wrote: > >> So I am generating backup volumes limited in size >> to fit on a DVD. Since I use automatic volume labeling >> and some backups result in multiple volumes, I include >> a counter in the label name. I want its value to be >> 1 for the first volume of the job, 2 for the second, >> etc. > > Well, that's not the purpose of counters. Volume names > are really for Bacula, not for humans. Counters are > there just to help with automated labeling of Volumes. > > I suggest that discussion on whether or not we like this > behavior that is outside the scope of this discussion. :) That's fine. But I don't understand your statement that volume names (the things set by the LabelFormat directive, yes?) are solely for Bacula. Why then does the LabelFormat directive exist rather than Bacula simply using an incrementing serial number? It seems to me self-evident that both humans and Bacula need to use them and they should, to the extent possible, be constructed to meet both needs. >> First problem: counter does not get reset per job >> but only when director is restarted. (This strikes >> me as particularly useless behavior... is not the >> most frequent (only?) use of counters in a label? > > Just because a feature does not do what you want, does > not make it useless. Of course. I was trying to convey that *I* could not see a use for it. > Clearly it was designed with a use > case in mind. :) That may well be but often, especially early in development, things that seemed like a good ideas turn out to be not as useful as envisioned. I asked if I was missing something as a way of soliciting an explanation of its use. However that was just an aside and not directly relevant to my problem. >> Why would one want a value in a long-lived label >> dependent on an arbitrary event like a service >> restart? Maybe I am missing something). > > We have not seen your counter usage, so we cannot comment upon it. Sorry, I though my explanation was sufficient. I create a (db persistent) counter and use that counter in a LabelFormat directive. See below. > You didn't mention the docs, so perhaps these will help. > > http://www.bacula.org/5.0.x-manuals/en/misc/misc/Variable_Expansion.html > http://www.bacula.org/5.0.x-manuals/en/main/main/Configuring_Director.html#SECTION0018190000000000000000 Thanks, I've read those (multiple times :-) >> So I specify a catalog and save the counter in the >> database. I write a before job script to reset >> the counter to its minimumvalue. >> >> But although the script seems to be working, it has >> no effect. Even if I change the counter value in the >> database by hand after the director has started but >> before running the job, the job uses the old counter >> value. Is it possible that the director reads the >> counter value at startup, maintains it internally, >> and only writes back to the database when its >> incremented? > > It is difficult to judge a script we have not seen. :) The script is irrelevant. Add a (db persistent) counter to a bacula-dir.conf file, eg; Counter { Name = MyCtr Minimum = 1 Catalog = MyCatalog } Use that counter in a Pool resource LabelFormat directive where the SD is set up to auto-label new volumes: LabelFormat = "${JobName}-${MyCtr+}" Start the director (so that it will create the counter in the database), then stop the director. Manually change the counter value: psql# UPDATE counters SET currentvalue=6 WHERE counter='MyCtr'; Start director and run a job. Note that the label generated is "...-6". Change the value of the counter psql# UPDATE counters SET currentvalue=3 WHERE counter='MyCtr'; Run another job and note that the the label generated this time is not "...-3" but is instead, "...-7". Obviously, if Bacula does not ever re-read the counter value from the database, the most perfect counter- changing script in the world run in a RunBeforeJob will have no effect. If you still want to see my conf files and counter reset script, I'll be happy to post them -- I just thought that they provide the same information I give above in a more obfuscated form. But if you think they'll be helpful, fine. To recap, I am hoping there is some way of having Bacula auto-label volumes with first label in a *job* having a suffix of "-1", and if a second or subsequent volumes are necessary, generated with suffixes of "-2", "-3", etc, with the next job starting at "-1" again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EditLive Enterprise is the world's most technically advanced content authoring tool. Experience the power of Track Changes, Inline Image Editing and ensure content is compliant with Accessibility Checking. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ephox-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Bacula-users mailing list Bacula-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users
