Re: [Bacula-users] How to handle many storage devices?

Hi Florian,

You would want a minimum of one Storage Device per distinct Media Type for a reserved restore device and there's no requirement to have a reserved restore device per client/job/etc so a single restore device would be OK. You can have additional reserved restore devices but unless you expect to be called upon to do more than one concurrent restore there's no benefit in doing so. Creating dozens of unnecessary devices would likely only cause confusion as to which ones are intended for which purpose (when manually running a job you can either specify drive=name, or you'll be prompted to pick a drive by numeric index and there's no obvious mapping of name to index without looking at the config files).

As an example, my file-based autochanger has six devices; one dedicated restore device, and 5 others since I wish to be able to run 5 jobs concurrently and set "Maximum Concurrent Jobs=1" on each of my devices to prevent interleaving. We do dozens of backups a day, and rarely need to do restores but when we do they'll be reasonably urgent, so this pattern is suitable for my workload. I may not want to interrupt a 3-day backup job to run a restore, but multiple restores can usually be done sequentially.

You should let your own business requirements dictate how you set your system up. These questions may help you choose the right setup:
- How many backups do you expect to run a day?
- How many do you want to run concurrently?
- How long do your average backup jobs take? (minutes, hours, days?)
- Do you want to avoid interleaving of multiple jobs onto the same volume?
- How often do you think you'll need to do restores?
- Are you likely to need to do multiple restores concurrently?
- Would interrupting a backup job in order to do an urgent restore be problematic?

Regards,
Ben Roberts

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Florian [mailto:florian.splett AT web DOT de]
> Sent: 18 September 2014 07:00
> To: bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
> Subject: Re: [Bacula-users] How to handle many storage devices?
>
>
> Am 17.09.2014 um 21:02 schrieb J. Echter:
> > Am 17.09.2014 14:24, schrieb Florian:
> >> Hello, everyone.
> >>
> >> Now that I am finally done with testing bacula, I am setting it up
> >> for 5 clients.
> >> For each client I have a folder in which I want to store its Volumes.
> >>
> >> During the tests, I used an Autochanger in the storage daemon.
> >> Considering the different storage locations, do I need two devices
> >> for each client? (backup and restore) Also, is there is a reason to
> >> use more than one Autochanger?
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Florian S.
> > Hi,
> >
> > i personally would backup to one volume (depends on the size of all
> > clients)
> >
> > Also no autochanger is needed. If you specify the volumes / sd's you
> > would be fine. imho.
> >
> > cheers.
>
> Hello.
>
> I have a few reasons to go with seperate Volumes for each client, but
> that's not too important. I use an autochanger for the possibility of
> switching volumes automatically and processing multiple jobs at once.
> Well, I doubt I need more than one Autochanger, but what I am still unsure
> about is the devices for restore jobs. I was told that with a second
> device I can make sure that restore is possible at any time, but does it
> also mean I need one such device for each archive path?
>
> Regards,
>
> Florian
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> Want excitement?
> Manually upgrade your production database.
> When you want reliability, choose Perforce Perforce version control.
> Predictably reliable.
> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=157508191&iu=/4140/ostg.clkt
> rk
> _______________________________________________
> Bacula-users mailing list
> Bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users

This email and any files transmitted with it contain confidential and proprietary information and is solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient please return the email to the sender and delete it from your computer and you must not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this email or its contents. This communication is for informational purposes only. It is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument or as an official confirmation of any transaction. Any comments or statements made herein do not necessarily reflect those of GSA Capital. GSA Capital Partners LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is registered in England and Wales at Stratton House, 5 Stratton Street, London W1J 8LA, number OC309261. GSA Capital Services Limited is registered in England and Wales at the same address, number 5320529.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want excitement?
Manually upgrade your production database.
When you want reliability, choose Perforce
Perforce version control. Predictably reliable.
http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=157508191&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk

_______________________________________________
Bacula-users mailing list
Bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users