[Box Backup] Issue with sync

[Ben Summers]

On 4 Nov 2004, at 16:13, Jan Kupka wrote:

> Hi,
>
> We have been using BoxBackup successfully for several weeks now 
> without any problems. The backed up machine runs Slackware 9.1 and 
> backup server runs FreeBSD 5.2.1. I have 2 queries though.
>
> First would refer to our project archive, which is a BackupLocation, 
> where files are not being updated, except when a new file is copied 
> into the directory. The directory is about 35G now with about 150 
> files ranging from 1Mb to 3Gb in size. It appears that the bbackupd 
> isn't backing up the files that have been recently added.

bbackupd will only upload a file if the last modified time is more than 
MinimumFileAge seconds ago. However, if a file is repeatedly modified 
over and over again, MaxUploadWait seconds after it first noticed a 
change it will upload it anyway.

Would this explain the behaviour you're seeing? (The defaults are 6 
hours and 24 hours respectively.) This is to avoid repeatedly uploading 
a file which is in the process of being changed, for example, a 
document which is currently being worked on, and wasting valuable 
bandwidth.

Try adjusting the settings in bbackupd.conf to meet your requirements. 
The times may be overkill for a LAN, but are sensible for your average 
office on an ADSL connection.


>  There are several other BackupLocation which work fine.

What are the differences between these locations? Are the network 
partitions? Different filesystems? Used for different things by users 
resulting in different patterns of file changes?


>  I have been advised to remove the content of /var/backupd to refresh 
> the file listing and restart the bbackupd. Could you please advise if 
> this is correct?

Don't delete the contents of /var/bbackupd, that will stop rename and 
large file tracking. Instead, simply send a -HUP signal to the daemon.

>
> Second, is there any way to sync the backup store to current state on 
> backed up machine (similar to snapshot) if it is running in lazy mode?

Not at the moment, but it'll be quite easy to add. It's now on the 
list, and will probably get done quite soon.

Ben