Running Bacula isn't complicated; there are ready-made binaries made accessible by the configuration, shrouded in Bacula's manual. Of course, running Bacula with Network appended storage (NAS) as storage backup is where things get really interesting.
Since its inception, Bacula needs tape drives, and it supports numerous of these tapes as well. In the current computing, climate tapes aren't utilized that much. These computing environments tend to go for solutions such as the Bacula Autochanger, among others
In this way, you do have to have a prototype of a "tape." That's where the virtual Bacula autochanger steps in. It is a programming piece that mimics a virtual "tape" drive and set of tapes with all the required functions, yet doing all that on a filesystem.
The undeniable thought is to make a bunch of files that mimic a set of "tapes." For system admin resolves, the tapes are merely documents in a subdirectory. The smart thing to do is shift the particular subdirectory into a NAS to store the backups where there is a lot of external capacity outside your framework.
This review will look at the Bacula autochanger in detail, including the firm's support for this product, its characteristics, and plenty more besides.
Characteristics of the Bacula Autochanger Resource
Bacula utilizes its own mtx-changer script to interface with a program that really does the tape modification. Subsequently, on a basic level, MTX-transformer can be adjusted to work with any Bacula autochanger program, or you can call some other script or program.
The current variant of MTX-transformer works with the MTX program. Nonetheless, FreeBSD clients have given a script in the autochangers index that permits Bacula to utilize the chio program.
Bacula likewise underpins autochangers with barcode scanners. This helps incorporate two Console orders: mark scanner tags and update slots. Current Bacula autochanger support does include cleaning, silos, or stackers.
Silos and stackers are not supported because Bacula hopes to access the Slots casually. Still, if you are very alert to setup Bacula to access the Volumes in the autochanger in sequence, you may be able to make Bacula function with stackers such as gravity feed.
Backing for multi-drive autochangers needs this resource. This resource is also endorsed for solitary drive autochangers.
Bacula Autochanger Resource for Multiple Devices
Autochangers have more than one read/write drive. In any case, the Director may, reference the drives straightforwardly, yet doing so bypasses the proper functioning of the drives together.
The Director in the Storage asset should reference the Autochanger asset name. Doing so allows the Storage daemon to guarantee that just one Drive utilizes the MTX-transformer content and that dual drives don't reference a similar Volume.
Multi-drive requires the drive index mandate in the Device asset of the Storage daemon's setup document. Drive numbers or the Device Index are labelled beginning with zero, which is the default setting.
To utilize the second Drive in the Bacula autochanger, you need to characterize a second Device asset and set the Drive Index to 1 for that gadget. The subsequent gadget will have a similar control channel as the principal Drive, but it will use an alternate Archive Device.
Bacula Autochanger Resource Support
Bacula gives the autochanger backing for reading and writing tapes. To work with it, Bacula requires several things, including:
- A manual that controls the Bacula autochanger as per orders sent by the actual organization. Bacula makes a manual that works with MTX found in the depkgs appropriation.
- Each tape to be utilized should be characterized in the catalogue and have a Slot numeral allotted to it so Bacula knows where the Volume is in the autochanger. This is usually done with the label command but can likewise be done after the tape is named using the update spaces order. You should pre-mark the tapes physically before utilizing them.
- Alterations to your Storage daemon's Device setup resource to recognize that the gadget is a changer, as well as a couple of other parameters.
- You should likewise adjust your Storage resource description in the Director's config file so that you are routinely prompted for the Slot when you are labelling a volume.
- You need to guarantee that your Storage daemon has access consents for both the tape drive and the control gadget if it does not run-in root mode.
- You should have the Bacula Autochanger = yes in your Storage asset in your Bacula-dir. conf record so that you will be provoked for the slot number when you are labelling volumes.
Final Thought
To sum it all up, the Bacula autochanger has been a revolutionary tool in the modern computing environment, as we have seen above. This is a very handy tool, but users should ensure that they have the latest program versions for optimum functionality.
