Backup & Recovery: Inexpensive Backup Solutions for Open Systems

5.4. Starting BackupPC

The BackupPC server is started by using the init.d script created as part of the installation. This means it is automatically started after a reboot.

5.4.1. Using the CGI Interface

By default, the CGI interface should be accessible via the URL http://localhost/cgi-bin/BackupPC/BackupPC_Admin. Depending upon your Apache setup, you might need to create an htaccess file for user authentication.

5.4.2. Configuration Files

Starting in version 3.0, the host and configuration settings can be edited using the CGI interface. You can also configure the server by manually editing the configuration and host files. To do this, change directory to the data directory defined during installation. Then change directory into the conf directory. In version 3.0 and later, the default configuration directory is /etc/BackupPC/conf. In the conf directory, there are two files that must be edited before BackupPC is usable. The first file is the hosts file. It contains all the hosts that the server will back up. The format of the file is:

host dhcp user moreUsers

where host is the hostname of the client, dhcp is set to 0 if the machine can be found via normal name lookups, or 1 if the service needs to look in the DHCP pool, user is the name/email of the primary owner of that machine, and moreUsers is a comma-separated list of users who are able to access this host via the web GUI.

The file config.pl in this directory is the master config file. As the name implies, this is a Perl file, and all variables are set using Perl syntax, which allows arrays to be used for values. This file defines the number of backups running ($Conf{MaxBackups}), the number of full backups to hold ($Conf{FullKeepCnt}), and the length of time between full backups ($Conf{FullPeriod}). Read this file; it is well commented and includes many settings that you may want to change.

Trust but Verify

At an oil company where I worked, each desktop workstation that had a local data drive also had a local tape drive. It was made very clear to everyone who received one that it was their responsibility to back up their own data. We provided scripts, cron jobs, and training upon request on how to do the backups. We came around quarterly to clean their tape drives for them, but we could not do the backups for them. (There were 3 admins covering 300 offices; it just could not physically happen.) Network backups were also impossible at that time.

One day we got a call from a highly paid geophysicist saying that his 9 GB disk drive (big for that time) had died. We replaced the defective disk drive and asked for his backup tape to restore his data. "What backup?" was his response. We sent the disk drive out for "data recovery." This took a couple of months and cost over $20,000. Most of the data was recoveredall the work of this geophysicist for the last six months (when the drive was first installed). The geophysicist almost got fired for "not securing company assets."

Although we didn't change the practice of geophysicists being in charge of their own backups, we did look a little closer and a little more often at what they were doing.

Jack

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