[lbackup-discussion] LBackup general usage questions

[Advrk Aplmrkt]

Hello again,

I plan to have the backup machine always on (unless there is a way to
schedule it to turn on at set times!), so I don't think Anacron would
be necessary. In addition, even though I am fine with scripting and
using the terminal, I am trying to develop a solution where the entire
backup configuration with scheduling can be set up with a GUI. This is
so that other members of my group can also set up lbackup without my
help. And neither Anacron nor fcron has a GUI as far as I know.

Right now I am writing a bash script that can generate basic
configuration files, bundled into a Mac OS X GUI application with the
versatile Platypus 4.4 wrapper (http://sveinbjorn.org/platypus/). If
you know of a good way (other than using Platypus) to do this I am
open to suggestions! This plus Cronnix will give the whole setup a GUI
configuration option. Perhaps one day this will turn into a full blown
GUI for lbackup?

Yes, the Mac OS X Energy Saver System Preferences pane can be used to
schedule a computer wake up time, but you can only specify one time.
The problem is I have different backup jobs scheduled to run at
different times of the day, one after another. Unless there is a way
to specify multiple directories to be backed up, and backed up to
different locations, other wise I will need the computer to be
awakened multiple times during the day. So I guess another question
would be can I specify multiple sources and destinations in a lbackup
configuration file?

I test-opened some files restored from my current scheduled test
backups, they all seem to behave correctly. So I guess using lbackup
with the stock rsunc 2.6 (in Mac OS X 10.5.8) without any patches or
other utilities might be OK for now.

Thanks for your help!

On 14 July 2012 04:26, henri <shustak at connect.homeunix.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
>> I've managed to setup a test daily backup with Cronnix, it is OK if
>> the backup machine needs to be on all the time. I just prefer a
>> solution where the computer can sleep till awakened for a scheduled
>> backup job.
>
> Okay, great. If you want to backup once per day then I would suggest using Anacron. As listed in the LBackup documentation, there exists an Anacron OS X installer package :
> http://members.cox.net/18james/anacron-tiger.html
>
> I have some experience with setting up Anacron. As such, if you get stuck then let me know and I will do my best to assist (particularly if there is limited support for the project directly). It can be a great option for machines which are left off for many days and you want them to perform a backup once per day when ever the machine is switched on.
>
> With regards setting up schedules. Using the Energy Saver (system preferences) on OS X it is possible schedule wake and startup times. If you wanted your machine to sleep once the backup has completed this could be enabled using a post action script.
>
>> I also successfully the post-action script example you provided with
>> my test daily backups to create timestamped links to the backups.
>
> Excellent.
>
>> As for the metadata, I just want to keep the backed up files
>> relatively OS neutral. Are there things known to break disastrously if
>> the ACLs or metadata are not backed up correctly?
>
> This really depends upon your requirements. As a basic test, I would suggest that you restore some files (copy them out of the backup) and make sure that they are usable. The online LBackup documentation has further information about various restore methods.
>
> Should you have any further questions or require assistance with setting up Anacron, then let me know. Also, you may find that using launchd is an option to run the backup once per day. There are a number of GUI launchd editors available if this helps.