Backup3G/Backup3G 5.1 Release Notes

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Revision as of 06:54, 17 August 2007

Overview and Features

Backup3G

Backup3G 5.1 ...

New features in backup3G

Simpler Job Configuration

• backup any size file using the CPIO format
• mark a drive as offline

Improved Auditing

Documentation

• A HTML or text document can be associated with a backup job, so end users can see what Policies and Procedures the backup is supporting.
• The user guide, release notes and other documentation can be viewed via your favourite browser.

Installation Requirements

Software prerequisites

To install and run backup3G 5.1 on a host, you must have:

• COSmanager 4.2.5 or newer already installed on the host (see the COSmanager User Guide for instructions)
• a backup3G distribution
• a valid license key for this host (see your COSmanager distributor if you don’t have a valid license key)
• sufficient disk space
• COSmanager Manager access, or equivalent
• the ability to open a root shell

Disk space required

Running Remote Backups on Windows

The current backup3G release supports running remote backups and restores on Windows hosts which have the EWC (Enterprise Windows Client) 3.1.1 installed. This product may be purchased separately.

Related Software

The release of backup3G 5.1 coincides with the release of stacker3G 5.1 (module), VTL3G (module), DA_Oracle 5.1 (module) and duty3G 5.1 (application).

Upgrading COSbackup 3.2.1 - 3.2.6

Technical Notes: Using backup3G 5.1

This section contains some technical notes, tips, and troubleshooting information to help you when installing or upgrading to backup3G 5.1.

Temporary or trial licensing

Backup3G may be issued with a temporary license for use in trials or demonstrations. Temporary licenses have an in-built expiry date. You must obtain a permanent license or a new temporary license from your COSmanager distributor to keep using backup3G after the expiry date.

	Note
	Backup3G won’t install if the license key is due to expire within the next 7 days. In this case you will need to obtain a new license key from your COSmanager distributor.

COSmanager framework version required for backup3G 5.1

Backup3G 5.1 requires COSmanager 4.2.5 or newer.

Schedules and Schedtime

Backup3G 5.1 uses the newer, more generalised scheduling provided in COSmanager 4.2 releases. These include the datelist and schedule tables, which supersede the schedtime table (as used in COSbackup 3.2 releases). The schedtime table is now deprecated. It is important to note that the schedtime and schedule tables are maintained separately, and so changes to one table will not be reflected in the other. You should only maintain the schedule and datelist tables. You can do this via:

• Backup3G configuration > Tools > Schedules , or
• COSmanager configuration > Other tables > Schedule .

Audit Trails

When backup3G is installed, three new audit trails are created: Backup3G, backup_cfg and backup_ops. By default, these are created in the system spool area (usually /usr/spool or /var/spool). The Backup3G audit trail is the primary audit trail, recording all user actions, such as:

• running a duty, noting the exit status;
• marking a duty as done;
• any added user comments;
• re-authentication failures;
• attempts to run disabled duties.

Depending on the volume of backups run, these directories may become large, so it is important that audit trail cycling be configured correctly for your site to prevent these files from growing unbounded. By default the audit trails are cycled:

Backup3G	monthly, retaining for one year
backup_cfg	monthly, retaining for six months
backup_ops	monthly, retaining for six months.

New Features in this Release

Generalised calendaring for automatic backups

Backup3G V5.1 uses the new schedule and datelist tables which provide more features than the old schedtime table:

• You can create named datelists, which, as the name implies, contain lists of arbitrary dates which can be used to either be included or excluded from a schedule.
• You can write your own program or script to determine if the current date and time is to be included in the schedule.

	Note
	As with schedtime, scheduling of automatic backup jobs is still implemented via CRON.

Arbitrary commands can easily be run as part of a backup job

The scan method now defaults to multi-volume media scan, where the scan proceeds from the last tape in the set to the first.

To manually scan a single volume from the command line, you can still use the command:

FSdrive <drivename> scan

Media scan method removed

The scan method now defaults to multi-volume media scan, where the scan proceeds from the last tape in the set to the first.

To manually scan a single volume from the command line, you can still use the command:

FSdrive <drivename> scan

Media copy now configured as part of the backup job

There are now three ways to produce a duplicate set of a backup media volume set. In all cases the target drive must be of the same media type as the source drive.

1. From the At-end command as defined for a backup job:
   FScopy [-u] [-U] [-T <minutes>] [-r <retention>|-r <days>] <target drive>
   This will copy the media set used for the current backup to a new media set in the target drive. The expiry date of the duplicate set is set to the same date as that of the backup job. This can be overridden by specifying “-r <retention>” or “-r <days>”.
   
   If the target drive is likely to be busy when needed for creating a duplicate media set, a timeout parameter may be added to the above command, “-T <minutes>”. If this parameter is omitted and the target drive is busy, the media copy will fail.
   
   
2. Via COSbackup interface, from the COSbackup button bar:
   Media > select media set > Maintain > Copy
   
   You will be prompted for the run mode, the source drive and the target drive. The retention defaults to that of the selected media set, but may be overridden.
   
   When using manually loaded drives, unless the output media volume is preloaded in the target drive, a “Change media” will appear on the backup job monitor. To preload a scratch media volume, from the COSbackup button bar:
   Drive > select target drive > Operations > Load scratch
   
   
3. From the command line, as would be used by COStask or COSduty, or a 3rd party batch processing product:
   FScopy -b [-u] [-U] [-T <minutes>] [-r <retention>|-r <days>] -s <media number> <source drive> <target drive>
   The retention period must be defined in the retention table. If it is not, the retention of the duplicate set will be set to “forever”.

Restore steps may now be pre-configured

You may now initiate a restore via the command line. This may be used by COStask or COSduy to preconfigure specific application restores. The command is:

FSrestore -i|-b [-D <to directory>] [-h <to hostname>] [-v <drive>] [-M <method>] [-f <files>] [-d <directories>] [<media number>]

If any parameters are missing a prompt will be displayed requesting the missing values.

Notes facility

You can now attach a HTML or text file of documentation to a backup job. This file can be viewed by the user from the backup console at any time.

	Note
	There is no facility provided to create notes files—you can simply use your favourite text editor (vi, emacs etc.). Notes files should be created in the backup_5.1/local/notes directory.

Warnings

1. Scan and rewind steps must be removed.

Known Problems in this Release

Hardware and OS Dependencies

AIX 4:

TX

Appears:

Suggested actions:

Linux:

X

Appears:

Suggested actions:

Solaris:

X

Appears: “

Suggested actions:

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