On Jan 28, 2013, at 10:21 AM, stefano scotti wrote:

>
> Hi everybody,
>
> I've been using Bacula for 1 year, before then i used to write my own scripts.
> I see, and correct me if i am wrong, that bacula allow only a maximum of 3 backup levels:
>
>    Level 0: Full
>    Level 1: Differential
>    Level 2: Incremental
>
> This means a maximum of 3 pools per job.

I consider Pools to be a collection of Volumes with similar attributes.  Stop thinking about levels.  Start thinking about retention.

> Now, if i have to implement this example of recovery schema:
>
>    Every month for a year
>    Every week for 6 months
>    Every day for a month
>    Every 3 hours for 2 days

I think the above corresponds to

>    Every month for a year  FULL
>    Every week for 6 months DIFFERENTIAL
>    Every day for a month  INCREMENTAL
>    Every 3 hours for 2 days INCREMENTAL

With different retention times on each

It sounds like you want four pools

FULL - retain 1 year, scheduled to run monthly
DIFF - retain 6 months, scheduled to run weekly
INCRMONTH - retain 1 month, scheduled to run daily
INCR2DAYS -  retain 2 days, schedule to run every 3 hours

Does that help you?

First, what is your goal in running incrementals every 3 hours?  And then again daily?

> There are 4 different rotation rules and schedules... not three.
> How am i supposed to solve this?
>
> With my own scripts, i would define 4 pools, and a job type for each pool:
>
>   Level 0 Pool      Type:Full
>   Level 1 Pool      Type:Differential
>   Level 2 Pool      Type:Incremental
>   Level 3 Pool      Type:Incremental

We came to the same conclusion, but stop thinking about level.

You should also look at virtual backups.

> Every pool with his own rotation rules which based on the recovery schema, and a job type for each pool.
>
> In my opinion it is wrong to bind the concept of job type and the concept of pool, they are 2 different things.

What do you mean by Job Type here?  Job type is backup, restore, copy/migrate.

> I use a pool to define a group of  volumes and their rotation rules, i specify a job type to define if those volumes will contain an incremental,differential or full backup.
>

> I hope i'm wrong with this and that i wasn't able to find the correct solution which Bacula proposes, if this is the case please help me to throw light on that. \

I'm guessing at the schedule, and using mine as a starting point:

Schedule {
  Name = "WeeklyCycle"
  Run = Level=Full         1st     sun at 5:55
  Run = Level=Differential 2nd-5th sun at 5:55
  Run = Level=Incremental  mon-sat     at 5:55
}

Alter mine to become:

Schedule {
  Name = "WeeklyCycle"
  Run = Level=Full         1st     sun at 5:55
  Run = Level=Differential 2nd-5th sun at 5:55
  Run = Level=Incremental IncrementalPool=MONTH mon-sat     at 5:55
 Run = Level=Incremental IncrementalPool=INCR2DAYS daily at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21
}}

That should give you a starting point.  Sorry it's not more complete.  Others might have better ideas. there…

--
Dan Langille - http://langille.org