I don't have time for the complete answer it sounds like you need, but I can
at least point you in the right direction. Roughly what you need to do is use
'list media' to find the oldest volume - ie, the one that was written to least
recently. You can then use the 'delete' command in bconsole to wipe all
records of that volume from the catalog, and then safely delete the volume
file from disk.
A few words of warning!
* Don't be too quick to blindly delete that volume - it may not actually be a
problem. Depending on how retention and volume recycling is set up, bacula
may be configured to just automatically re-use the oldest volume whenever it
needs a new one. If this is the case, bacula should be using just about all
space made available to it, and you should expect said usage to remain
constant +/- one volume.
* Read the chapters on pruning and recycling. No, really. Unless you
understand those chapters, you won't know what to expect from bacula, and you
won't know if any changes you make to your configuration are going to help or
hurt.
* File retention only controls retention of records in the catalog database,
not storage of files within volumes on disk (see above chapters).
* You can't reduce the size of a volume, or partially recycle a volume (see
above chapters).
* Be aware that unless you carefully dig into which volume contains the last
full backup of each client, you may be leaving some of your files without any
backups on disk when you delete that oldest volume! If your oldest volumes
contain the only copy of some files, this is not an easy one to get around.
If you can live without a backup of those files for a brief time, the easiest
solution is delete the volumes as listed above, and then let the backups run
for each client. If there are any such gaps, bacula will automatically detect
them based on the catalog, and promote backups as necessary (incremental to
differential or full) to ensure that all files are covered.
* Unless you properly set up the volume parameters, bacula will most likely
just create more volumes and re-use that disk space. Most likely you will
want to configure the maximum volume size and maximum number of auto-created
volumes to set an upper limit on the disk space that bacula will use.
* This may seem obvious, but you should also total up the data sets you need
backed up, and take into account data change frequency and your retention
requirements, and compare that with the amount of disk space you have
available for backups. Long term, it may be that you really do need more
space to hold you backups - but at least then you'll need some hard data to
illustrate that need.
Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu | For every problem, there is a solution that
Manager of Network Operations | is simple, elegant, and wrong.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute | - HL Mencken
On 7/5/2011 9:37 PM, larold wrote:
> I have been asked to support a Linux environment running Bacula on an
> emergency basis. Bacula version is 3.0.1. I only have access to bconsole - no
> guis. I am also completely brand new to Bacula as of a couple of hours ago. I
> have no physical access to this server.
>
> Basically, I need to determine how to massively reduce the Bacula disk
> footprint (physical space the disk-based volume files are using) without
> adding more data to disk.
>
> This client has a Bacula server with 1.3+ TB of internal disk. It is
> completely full. I used a 'tune2fs -m 1' to give me back some of the reserved
> space for actual use and "breathing room". All Bacula data is written to a
> group of 70 files, each roughly 10 GB a piece. Reducing this footprint would
> help reduce the filesystem from being 100% full.
>
> There are 23 backup clients. I have set the File Retention on all jobs down
> to 21 days. (Was 60 days). I have set the Job Retention on all jobs down to 2
> months (was 6 months.)
>
> I would like to know, using bconsole commands only, the correct steps that
> will result in fewer physical volume files (hence reduced disk usage) without
> corrupting any of the data in place. I have a hunch it is some combination of
> prune commands, followed by purges? I just don't know, and want to proceed
> safely.
>
> All advice much appreciated.
>
> Please, no:
> - Criticizing of the setup - it wasn't mine
> - Suggestions that require anything complex outside of bconsole
> - Vague descriptions that don't point me to specific steps
> - Steps which require more than a couple GB of free disk space
>
> Thanks!!
>
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> All of the data generated in your IT infrastructure is seriously valuable.
> Why? It contains a definitive record of application performance, security
> threats, fraudulent activity, and more. Splunk takes this data and makes
> sense of it. IT sense. And common sense.
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-d2d-c2
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> Bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All of the data generated in your IT infrastructure is seriously valuable.
Why? It contains a definitive record of application performance, security
threats, fraudulent activity, and more. Splunk takes this data and makes
sense of it. IT sense. And common sense.
http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-d2d-c2
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