Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delayed response. I'm using the 'Recycle Current Volume' parameter and will run some test, will update here my findings. I'm pretty sure with 'Recycle Current Volume' bacula will still look for appendable volume within the pool first before recycling whatever volume that is mounted at the time (instead of looking for the oldest). As for why I'm using this directive, this is to cater the issue if the user accidentally picks up the wrong tape for the backup job, and bacula will still recycle it, despite the volume not being the oldest. If the user gets the right tape all the time, then as you have said, it is logical to assume that the current mounted volume would also be the oldest volume in the pool. Kind of trying to get a fool proof bacula configuration for the user (their job is pretty much just change the tape and be done with it).
My configuration right now is used once for all volumes except for those that run on weekend, and I have a script that runs before backup job that checks for any 'Used' volume and update its status as 'Recycle'. -- On Wed, Nov 2, 2016 at 6:41 AM, Josip Deanovic <djosip+n...@linuxpages.net> wrote: > On Wednesday 2016-11-02 03:32:39 Gi Dot wrote: > > Yes, both parameters will honor the retention period. > > > > Sorry, I think I worded it wrongly in my first mail. What I meant was, > > for both parameters, bacula won't recyle either current or oldest > > volume if there is other appendable volume still available in the pool. > > I was just wondering if this applies only to 'Recycle Oldest Volume' > > parameter only or to 'Recycle Current Volume' as well. > > Yes, that part of the documentation is a bit unclear so we will either > need to wait someone who actually tried it or someone who is willing > to look into the source or we will need to check the source to clear > this thing. > Bacula's documentation is huge and excellent but still needs some > work on many places as you have probably noticed yourself. > > For example, bacula documentation in Chapter 23 about automatic > volume recycling says: > "Automatic recycling of Volumes is performed by Bacula only when it wants > a new Volume and no appendable Volumes are available in the Pool.". > > And then there is a "Recycle Current Volume" directive which according > to the documentation will prune the currently mounted volume. > It will honor the file, job and volume retention period and if all > the requirements are met the volume will be recycled. > If the current volume cannot be recycled bacula will look if there > is an appendable volume available. > > In case of the "Recycle Oldest Volume" the documentation explicitly > says that the bacula will first look for the available (appendable) > volume. > > In both cases the file and/or job retention should be set to correctly > in order to reflect your backup needs. > > To be honest I was never really able to see the practical use of > the "Recycle Current Volume" directive in normal bacula operation. > For example, it is logical to assume that most of the times the > currently mounted volume will be the volume that was the last used > for writing and therefore even if some jobs and files related to > the volume are pruned bacula will still not be able to recycle it. > > > > My interest is to find out if there is a parameter that will recycle a > > volume that has fulfilled all the criterias which allows it to be > > recycled, for example it has reached the maximum volume jobs, and the > > retention period has expires, but, the only thing that prevents it from > > being recycled is the existence of other appendable volumes in the > > pool. I realized that this has been indicated as the frustration point > > in bacula documentation, but you know, in case I missed anything. > > No, there is no such option that would automatically force the recycle > when the volume and all the files and jobs related to it expire. > As the documentation says: "Automatic recycling of Volumes is > performed by Bacula only when it wants a new Volume and no appendable > Volumes are available in the Pool.". > > In most cases this is a good thing as you most probably want to keep the > data on the volume till the last moment when you need to reuse (recycle) > the volume. > > You could write a script which would detect the volume which holds > only expired jobs and files and you could perform a manual purge of > the volume but I don't see the reason to do this and I wouldn't > recommend it. > Also note that while recycling the volume for tapes means that the > tape will be used from the beginning, for the volumes on the disk > it means that the file is going to be truncated (but the header/label > will be preserved). > > > As for 'Purge Oldest Volume', I'm not keen to use this parameter as it > > will remove the job list from the catalog as well. > > Yes and it will do it regardless of the retention periods. > It is actually not recommended to use it unless you have a specific > needs that require exactly the behavior that option provides. > > -- > Josip Deanovic > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > ------------------ > Developer Access Program for Intel Xeon Phi Processors > Access to Intel Xeon Phi processor-based developer platforms. > With one year of Intel Parallel Studio XE. > Training and support from Colfax. > Order your platform today. http://sdm.link/xeonphi > _______________________________________________ > Bacula-users mailing list > Bacula-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users >
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