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  Sitback has 3 modes of operation..

  • Backup
  • Restore
  • List

The default is Backup. This is also the operation mode that has the most available configuration options since it is the prime operation mode.

Most of the time, you will use sitback to backup.. Nobody wants to get to a point where Restore is needed, but sometimes, we all get there.. That's life.. (so i hear!)



Both Backup and Restore is based on a script located in <basedir>/etc/sitback. The script is a plain textfile containing keywords that tells sitback what,how,when and where...

Most of what you put in the script can also be specified on the command-line, only the target files/directory's must be defined in the script...

Before looking at the command-line options, let's go through the script content.

(The script directives are case-insensitive, archive=ARCHIVE, but some of the configuration data, such as the archive name, is case-sensitive.)



ARCHIVE
This is the name of the file or device to where the archive should be written, or files restored from.

TARGET
A target is a file or a directory that must be included in the archive. You dont need any targets in the script to restore files from an archive, but normally you would use the same script when you backup and restore...
Tar recurses directory's, so if you specify 'TARGET=/', you would get your entire filesystem including any filesystems mounted somewhere in the path.
You may have as many targets as you like/need

COMPRESSION
Sitback does not by default compress the archive, sometimes it is ok to compress a backup, f.ex. if you have 3-5 tapes that is updated each week.
But other times, the archive should remaine on the tape for several years before someone needs a file from the archive. Those archives should not be compressed, because a single error early on the tape would make the rest of the tape garbage.. More sophisticated backup programs might compress each file before writing it to the tape, but again, a single missing byte might render a large file unuseable..
'COMPRESSION=YES' enables compression
'COMPRESSION=NO' disables compression (default setting), but you may override it from the command-line.
Sitback will use the best available compression method. If you have bzip2 on the system, this is the 1. choice. If bzip2 is not available, Sitback looks for gzip, and if gzip is not available, Sitback looks for compress.
Compress is not very good for this task, but better than nothing.. But i recommend that you get bzip2 if you plan to use compression.. By the way, bzip2 uses a large amount of memory, and may consume a lot of your cpu time, but you also gets a very good compression rate..
Dont worry if Sitback takes twice as long time with bzip2 than with gzip, even on fast machines with lots of ram.

COMPRESSOR
Instead of Sitback choosing the best available compression tool, you can select a tool that is to be used (if available).. Use this directive if you f.ex. wants to use gzip, althoug bzip2 is available on your system.. This could be for improved speed, or to maintain compatibility with systems without bzip2..

VERIFY
'VERIFY=YES' will make sitback verify the archive after a backup,
'VERIFY=NO' will make sitback skip verification of the newly created archive (hint..: This is a really bad idea....!)
You can not verify a compressed multiple volumes archive...

REPORTFILE
Gives the name of a file that gets a copy of the backup/restore report.

REPORTPRINTER
Gives the name of the printer that should be used to print the backup/restore report.
If the name begins with '//' or '\\\\' sitback assumes that it is a smb printer. Sitback needs Samba to be able to print on a smb printer..
Else, sitback uses 'lpr' with the '-P' switch set to the given name...

SMBUSER
If you use a smb printer as 'REPORTPRINTER', you may have to specify a username.

SMBPASSWORD
If you use a smb printer as 'REPORTPRINTER', you may have to specify a password. BE CAREFULL.. You will have an unencrypted password in the script, this is one of the reasons it is good to let sitback run as 'root', and then protect the scripts from any other user...

VOLUMENAME
States the name of the backup you are doing. It goes into the archive, but it is mainly here to make it more easy for you to find your way around many different archives.. should you ever need that...
Blank spaces is allowed in the volume name, 256 characters max.

TIME
Specify a time when the backup should run.. This also applies if you run from the command-line, without the '-d' switch (called single mode), if your script has a 'TIME' line, sitback will wait until that time before it runs..
This behaviour can be turned off with the '-s' switch.
The 'TIME'-string has the format..

day_of_week;hour;minute

day_of_week is a number in the range 0-6, 0 is sunday and 6 is satterday.. so the time, monday at 22:30 would give the 'TIME'-string
TIME=1;22;30

You can have as many 'TIME'-strings as you like. Should they overlap, one of the backups would just not start until the previous one has finished.

MULTIPLE
'MULTIPLE=YES' enables sitback to create multiple volumes if the first device (f.ex. a tape) has no more space left..
You will be prompted for the next volume..
'MULTIPLE=NO' is the default setting.
Multiple volumes may also be requested from the command-line.
Multiple volumes is not allowed in scheduled backups.. (the daemon can not ask anyone to change tape at 03.45 in the night!!)

VOLUMELENGTH
Almost the same as 'MULTIPLE', but now sitback will not make the archives larger than 'VOLUMELENGTH' bytes.. You must specify either an equal number of 1024 bytes, or ##K or ##M wich represents respectively KiloBytes and MegaBytes.
As with MULTIPLE, this is not allowed when running as a daemon.

RETRY
Retry backup or restore if there is an error. Use this if your tapedrive is an older model wich sometimes fails for no reason.
The retry count must be in the range [0;9] where 0 is no retry and 9 is 9 retry's, (1 initial run + 9 retry's).
RETRY=3 sets a retry count of 3.




Sitback takes various switches on the command-line. You might f.ex. disable some features enabled in the script, or enable something, disabled in the script, such as compression.

As always, by typing sitback --help you will get all the help you need to find the right switch or syntax..



Backup operation
sitback [options] scriptname

-a <archivename|devicename>
Use this archive or device instead of ARCHIVE from the script

-c [BZIP2|GZIP|COMPRESS]
Compress archive.
If you want to control wich compression tools is used, give the tool-name here.

-d
Run as daemon instead of just a single run

-e
Dont verify the archive after backup.

-i archive-id
Set the archive id to this string. (no blank spaces is allowed). The archive-id is updated or added, if no current archive exists, f.ex. on a tape, a archive is created. In any case, operation is stopped after updating the archive id so that the. archive is empty apart from the info

-m [count][K|M]
Create multiple volumes. If a byte-count is given, volumes will be no larger than #count# bytes. 'K' or 'M' may be appended to indicate that count is in KB or MB. When no modifier is appended, the count should be an equal number of 1024B blocks. If no length is given, multiple volumes is only created if the first device has no more space on it.. The user will the be prompted for a new tape/disk. Multiple volumes is not allowed in daemon mode. Verification of backup is not possible if compression is used, the -e switch is then silently appended.

-n
Ignore the time-string, run now.

-s
Dont try to resolve archive-info before backup or update of archive-info.. This may result in database inconsistency such as incorrect content-list's or archive-id's no longer existing. Use only if you want to set archive-info such as a new id on a blank tape.

-t timestring
Use this single time-string instead of TIME from the script. The time-string has the format... 'day of week number;hour;minute' Day of week number is 0(sun) to 6(sat). Ex. \"1,3,5;02;30\", mon, wed, fri, at 02.30.

-u
Update archive files that have changed, do not recreate the archive from scratch.

-y #count
Retry operation if there is an error. This might be a good idea if you are using an older buggy or dirty drive. Default is no retry (0), but retry may be set to a number in the range [0;9]


 
 
Restore operation
sitback -r <scriptname>
Restore has not yet been implemented. But the archives is regular tar archives, so you may use 'tar -x -P -f archivename|devicename to restore the content of the archive.


 
 
List operation
sitback -l [scriptname]
List operation has not yet been implemented.


 
 
Other operations
sitback option [data]

--help
Show the help screen. (You might want to do.. 'sitback --help | more')

--version
Show version.




Are you confused ?    Great!..

Well... it is not that difficult as you might expect.. Go to the download page, there is an example script. showing how you would write a script for automated backup's..

To run sitback as a daemon, just type   sitback -d data   'data' is the name of the script, you may call it whatever you like..

To run the same script, but only one time, ignoring the time-string,type   sitback -n data  

If you have a new tape or disk that should be given its archive id just ype   sitback -i foo_cooperation_tape_007 -a /dev/st0   This puts a default archive on the tape (in this example it is the /dev/st0 device), so that when you use the tape for automated backup's, it is included in the database with the archive-id 'foo_cooperation_tape_007'.



 
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