On 11/11/2009 4:53 AM, Andrew Vliet wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Been looking for a half hour or so now, and it /seems/ that - with
> moderate work - Bacula can use disk as media..?  Is that true?
>
> I'd be more interested in using eSATA than USB.
>
> Can anyone confirm that this can be done?
>
> Thanks,
> Andrew Vliet
>
>    
I've been doing all backups that way for a bit over six months now.  
It's much more convenient than tape.

Just use "Media Type = File" in your director Storage definition block, 
which changes volumes from individual tapes to individual files.  Then 
use something like this in your storage daemon configuration:

Device {
   Name = MiniTowerStorage
   Device Type = File
   Media Type = File
   Archive Device = /backups
   LabelMedia = yes
   Random Access = yes
#  Requires Mount = yes
#  Mount Point = "/backups"
#  Mount Command = "/etc/bacula/mountback"
#  Unmount Command = "/etc/bacula/unmountback"
   AutomaticMount = yes
   RemovableMedia = no
   AlwaysOpen = no
}

That's from a 2.4.4 config.  The 3.x options may be slightly different, 
but I haven't migrated yet.

The commented statements are what should make Bacula automatically mount 
and unmount the storage, but it doesn't actually work.  It will happily 
mount the array, but when the job is done, it does not run the unmount 
command.  I worked around that by adding before/after scripts to each 
job that do the mounting/unmounting.  You could just leave the storage 
mounted, of course, but I prefer being able to physically remove the 
drive tower at any time when a job isn't running, without having to 
manually log to unmount and stop the array first.

Things get more complicated if you want to cycle multiple different 
drives.  You'll want to search the mailing list archive for info about 
that - as I recall from what I've read, it's not all that easy to do 
properly.

My last bit of advice is to size the volumes appropriately, since the 
files are treated exactly like tapes for the purposes of expiration and 
reuse.  Size the volumes too big, and you might run into a situation 
that's exactly like running out of tapes before the oldest one can be 
recycled, but can't be remedied as easily as adding more to the pool.


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