bls

bls can be used to do an ls type listing of a Bacula tape or file. It is called:

Usage: bls [options] <device-name>
-b <file> specify a bootstrap file
-c <file> specify a config file
-d <level> specify debug level
-e <file> exclude list
-i <file> include list
-j list jobs
-k list blocks
(no j or k option) list saved files
-L dump label
-p proceed inspite of errors
-v be verbose
-V specify Volume names (separated by |)
-E Check records to detect errors
-? print this message

For example, to list the contents of a tape:

./bls -V Volume-name /dev/nst0

Or to list the contents of a file:

./bls /tmp/Volume-name

or

./bls -V Volume-name /tmp

Note that, in the case of a file, the Volume name becomes the filename, so in the above example, you will replace the Volume-name with the name of the volume (file) you wrote.

Normally if no options are specified, bls will produce the equivalent output to the ls -l command for each file on the tape. Using other options listed above, it is possible to display only the Job records, only the tape blocks, etc. For example:

./bls /tmp/File002
bls: butil.c:148 Using device: /tmp
drwxrwxr-x 3 k k 4096 02-10-19 21:08 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/
drwxrwxr-x 2 k k 4096 02-10-10 18:59 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/CVS/
-rw-rw-r-- 1 k k 54 02-07-06 18:02 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/CVS/Root
-rw-rw-r-- 1 k k 16 02-07-06 18:02 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/CVS/Repository
-rw-rw-r-- 1 k k 1783 02-10-10 18:59 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/CVS/Entries
-rw-rw-r-- 1 k k 97506 02-10-18 21:07 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/Makefile
-rw-r--r-- 1 k k 3513 02-10-18 21:02 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/Makefile.in
-rw-rw-r-- 1 k k 4669 02-07-06 18:02 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/README-config
-rw-r--r-- 1 k k 4391 02-09-14 16:51 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/authenticate.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 k k 3609 02-07-07 16:41 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/autoprune.c
-rw-rw-r-- 1 k k 4418 02-10-18 21:03 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/bacula-dir.conf
...
-rw-rw-r-- 1 k k 83 02-08-31 19:19 /home/kern/bacula/k/src/dird/.cvsignore
bls: Got EOF on device /tmp
84 files found.

Listing Jobs

If you are listing a Volume to determine what Jobs to restore, normally the -j option provides you with most of what you will need as long as you don’t have multiple clients. For example,

./bls -j -V Test1 -c stored.conf DDS-4
bls: butil.c:258 Using device: "DDS-4" for reading.
11-Jul 11:54 bls: Ready to read from volume "Test1" on device "DDS-4" (/dev/nst0).
Volume Record: File:blk=0:1 SessId=4 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=0 DataLen=165
Begin Job Session Record: File:blk=0:2 SessId=4 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=1 Level=F Type=B
Begin Job Session Record: File:blk=0:3 SessId=5 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=5 Level=F Type=B
Begin Job Session Record: File:blk=0:6 SessId=3 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=2 Level=F Type=B
Begin Job Session Record: File:blk=0:13 SessId=2 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=4 Level=F Type=B
End Job Session Record: File:blk=0:99 SessId=3 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=2 Level=F Type=B
 Files=168 Bytes=1,732,978 Errors=0 Status=T
End Job Session Record: File:blk=0:101 SessId=2 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=4 Level=F Type=B
 Files=168 Bytes=1,732,978 Errors=0 Status=T
End Job Session Record: File:blk=0:108 SessId=5 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=5 Level=F Type=B
 Files=168 Bytes=1,732,978 Errors=0 Status=T
End Job Session Record: File:blk=0:109 SessId=4 SessTime=1121074625 JobId=1 Level=F Type=B
 Files=168 Bytes=1,732,978 Errors=0 Status=T
11-Jul 11:54 bls: End of Volume at file 1 on device "DDS-4" (/dev/nst0), Volume "Test1"
11-Jul 11:54 bls: End of all volumes.

shows a full save followed by two incremental saves.

Adding the -v option will display virtually all information that is available for each record:

Listing Blocks

Normally, except for debugging purposes, you will not need to list Bacula blocks (the “primitive” unit of Bacula data on the Volume). However, you can do so with:

./bls -k /tmp/File002
bls: butil.c:148 Using device: /tmp
Block: 1 size=64512
Block: 2 size=64512
...
Block: 65 size=64512
Block: 66 size=19195
bls: Got EOF on device /tmp
End of File on device

By adding the -v option, you can get more information, which can be useful in knowing what sessions were written to the volume:

./bls -k -v /tmp/File002
Volume Label:
Id : Bacula 0.9 mortal
VerNo : 10
VolName : File002
PrevVolName :
VolFile : 0
LabelType : VOL_LABEL
LabelSize : 147
PoolName : Default
MediaType : File
PoolType : Backup
HostName :
Date label written: 2002-10-19 at 21:16
Block: 1 blen=64512 First rec FI=VOL_LABEL SessId=1 SessTim=1035062102 Strm=0 rlen=147
Block: 2 blen=64512 First rec FI=6 SessId=1 SessTim=1035062102 Strm=DATA rlen=4087
Block: 3 blen=64512 First rec FI=12 SessId=1 SessTim=1035062102 Strm=DATA rlen=5902
Block: 4 blen=64512 First rec FI=19 SessId=1 SessTim=1035062102 Strm=DATA rlen=28382
...
Block: 65 blen=64512 First rec FI=83 SessId=1 SessTim=1035062102 Strm=DATA rlen=1873
Block: 66 blen=19195 First rec FI=83 SessId=1 SessTim=1035062102 Strm=DATA rlen=2973
bls: Got EOF on device /tmp
End of File on device

Armed with the SessionId and the SessionTime, you can extract just about anything.

If you want to know even more, add a second -v to the command line to get a dump of every record in every block.

./bls -k -v -v /tmp/File002
bls: block.c:79 Dump block 80f8ad0: size=64512 BlkNum=1
Hdrcksum=b1bdfd6d cksum=b1bdfd6d
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=VOL_LABEL Strm=0 len=147 p=80f8b40
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=SOS_LABEL Strm=-7 len=122 p=80f8be7
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=1 Strm=UATTR len=86 p=80f8c75
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=2 Strm=UATTR len=90 p=80f8cdf
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=3 Strm=UATTR len=92 p=80f8d4d
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=3 Strm=DATA len=54 p=80f8dbd
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=3 Strm=MD5 len=16 p=80f8e07bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=4 Strm=UATTR len=98 p=80f8e2b
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=4 Strm=DATA len=16 p=80f8ea1
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=4 Strm=MD5 len=16 p=80f8ec5
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=5 Strm=UATTR len=96 p=80f8ee9
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=5 Strm=DATA len=1783 p=80f8f5d
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=5 Strm=MD5 len=16 p=80f9668
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=6 Strm=UATTR len=95 p=80f968c
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=6 Strm=DATA len=32768 p=80f96ff
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=6 Strm=DATA len=32768 p=8101713
bls: block.c:79 Dump block 80f8ad0: size=64512 BlkNum=2
Hdrcksum=9acc1e7f cksum=9acc1e7f
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=6 Strm=contDATA len=4087 p=80f8b40
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=6 Strm=DATA len=31970 p=80f9b4b
bls: block.c:92 Rec: VId=1 VT=1035062102 FI=6 Strm=MD5 len=16 p=8101841
...

Normally, except for deep debugging purposes, you will not need to verify Bacula checksum blocks. However, you can do so with:

./bls -j -E -V File002 FileStorage
bls: butil.c:297-0 Using device: "FileChgr1-Dev2" for reading.
14-Feb 09:43 bls JobId 0: Ready to read from volume "TestVolume001" on file device "FileChgr1-Dev2" (/tmp/regress/tmp).
Volume Record: File:blk=0:215 SessId=1 SessTime=1423731064 JobId=0 DataLen=180
14-Feb 09:43 bls JobId 0: Error: block_util.c:451 Volume data error at 0:215!
Block checksum mismatch in block=1 len=64512: calc=34589ccc blk=8d8c5921