On 21.01.2022 14:56, Josip Deanovic wrote:
On 2022-01-21 14:03, Peter Milesson via Bacula-users wrote:
Hi folks,
I am building a new backup server that is going to replace the old
one. The old backup server uses Bacula ver. 9.2.2 with a virtual tape
library (mhvtl). I have found mhvtl a bit tricky, mostly when updating
the OS (CentOS 7.8), as it is necessary to recompile the mhvtl kernel
driver. Mhvtl also seems a bit outdated, with intermittent development
and updates, also problematic with newer and coming Linux kernel
versions. I also want to jump off the RedHat train, as I see it
deviate more and more from mainstream Linux. Therefore, I would prefer
to choose another solution.
I have studied the Bacula documentation and it seems to be possible to
use disk based backup with auto changer role. I plan to use volumes
with a size of around 200Gbytes, making the setup fairly flexible, not
making a too big hole when volumes need to be purged. Total disk space
is around 30TB.
If somebody has got experience with disk based, multi volume Bacula
backup, I would be grateful about some information (tips, what to
expect, pitfalls, etc.).
Hi Peter,
I am using file volumes for many years and I can't recall any
special tips or pitfalls worth mentioning.
Make sure the directory ownership and permissions are correct,
that is, that storage daemon is able to access it (R/W).
There are some differences regarding options such as Random Access,
Removable Media and Device Type.
As disk is not a sequential access type of media, you should set
the Random Access option to yes. Unlike tape, a disk is not
removable media so you may want to set RemovableMedia option
to no.
Regarding the volume size, I always chose size of 10 GB.
You will need to test whether there is a gain of employing
a SpoolDirectory for your disk based backup.
If your file system containing file volumes is being
mounted over a network (e.g. using iSCSI or NFS), it might
be a good idea to use a local spool directory.
Regards!
Hi Josip,
thanks for your input. Today, I am using 160GB virtual tape volumes with
mhvtl and that seems to be a good trade off. 10GB volumes in the new
setting would be a nightmare to manage. That would be around 3,000
volumes! The volumes will be on a physical RAID set, but I will anyway
use an SSD drive for spooling. One of the bottlenecks today is the slow
throughput of the physical disks. It is not worth investing in the old
rig, as it is anyway ripe for decommission.
Best regards,
Peter
_______________________________________________
Bacula-users mailing list
Bacula-users@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users
