[lbackup-discussion] LBackup general usage questions

[henri]

> 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.

With regards using Cron for scheudling, Cronnix <http://code.google.com/p/cronnix/> seems like the best GUI I have found to date. I am guessing there are others. However, I have not tired them. If you find a better one please let me 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?

You could look at using (XCode) if you are making a GUI wrapper for LBackup. I have used Platypus in the past. It could work (that will probably depending upon how many options you are planning to add to the GUI). If you get something working then please consider submitting it back to the LBackup project. Should you require assistance then let me know.

> 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.

There are ways to this. However, there is no GUI. I would suggest that you leave the system on if possible for local backups. If you are performing a network backup (pull backup). Then it is possible to wake a system on the same LAN from sleep using the mac address of the interface you will use for waking the system. This allows a backup server to wake clients prior to the backup commencing. An example of the lines to add to the LBackup configuration file are listed below : 

 hardware_address="00:03:93:B0:A0:BA"
 # determines weather or not to wake/sleep the client machine on the LAN (YES/NO) 
 WAKE="YES"

You would need to change the hardware address to match the client you are waking up.

> 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?

If you would like to backup to different directories I would suggest having different backup configurations. There are ways around this. However they are not officially supported.

It is possible to select multiple source directories (not officially supported due to the verification features planned for a future release) and then have the same destination. However, if this will work in your situation you could use this approach. The following link to the developer documentation provides an overview.

  - http://www.lbackup.org/developer/advanced_excludes_file_examples

There are also at least a couple of threads on the mailing list referring to this approach of backing up multiple directories on the same system.

> 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.

Great. Provided you are able to restore files that is great. It is recommended, that you always make a copy of restored files before opening them.

If you have any questions or problems then just reply.

Hopefully, this information is helpful.