Pruning and Recycling Example

Perhaps the best way to understand the various resource records that come into play during automatic pruning and recycling is to run a Job that goes through the whole cycle. If you add the following resources to your Director’s configuration file:

Schedule {
    Name = "30 minute cycle"
    Run = Level=Full Pool=File Messages=Standard Storage=File
    hourly at 0:05
    Run = Level=Full Pool=File Messages=Standard Storage=File
    hourly at 0:35
}
Job {
    Name = "Filetest"
    Type = Backup
    Level = Full
    Client=XXXXXXXXXX
    FileSet="Test Files"
    Messages = Standard
    Storage = File
    Pool = File
    Schedule = "30 minute cycle"
}
# Definition of file storage device
Storage {
    Name = File
    Address = XXXXXXXXXXX
    SDPort = 9103
    Password = XXXXXXXXXXXXX
    Device = FileStorage
    Media Type = File
}
FileSet {
    Name = "File Set"
    Include {
        Options { signature=MD5 }
        File = fffffffffffffffff
    }
    Exclude { File=*.o }
}
Pool {
    Name = File
    Use Volume Once = yes
    Pool Type = Backup
    LabelFormat = "File"
    AutoPrune = yes
    VolumeRetention = 4h
    Maximum Volumes = 12
    Recycle = yes
}

Where you will need to replace the ffffffffff’s by the appropriate files to be saved for your configuration. For the FileSet Include, choose a directory that has one or two megabytes maximum since there will probably be approximately eight copies of the directory that Bacula will cycle through.

In addition, you will need to add the following to your Storage daemon’s configuration file:

Device {
    Name = FileStorage
    Media Type = File
    Archive Device = /tmp
    LabelMedia = yes;
    Random Access = Yes;
    AutomaticMount = yes;
    RemovableMedia = no;
    AlwaysOpen = no;
}

With the above resources, Bacula will start a Job every half hour that saves a copy of the directory you chose to /tmp/File0001 … /tmp/File0012. After 4 hours, Bacula will start recycling the backup Volumes (/tmp/File0001 …). You should see this happening in the output produced. Bacula will automatically create the Volumes (Files) the first time it uses them.

To turn it off, either delete all the resources you’ve added, or simply comment out the record in the resource.