Topic: Option to only backup accounts

[Kelvin]

I would like to see an option in the server manager's backup to desktop module to only Backup all user accounts and passwords and nothing else.

This can save a lot of time when having to build new servers (or reload old ones) with the same username and passwords but have no need to keep ibays (as they are backed up separately from a Windows workstation or server).

Or even an option which performs a normal backup to desktop *minus* all ibays. This will then keep your MySQL databases as well as IMAP e-mails, etc. but not the ibay information.

This way, chances are, it'll be quite a while before we hit the 2GB limit unles you run large MySQL database apps (if you have 2GB worth of e-mails sitting in the server, you really need to housekeep !).

Kelvin

[Bill Talcott]

The user-manager panel now gives users the ability to backup their own data. Obviously not ideal for an admin backing up the entire server or anything, but it may be helpful in some situations...

[Kelvin]

Hi Bill,

Actually, I'm not really after a means to backup the ibay / user data. I just want a way to backup and restore account information.

One of the reasons for this is say for server migration. I don't like to do in-place server upgrades (even though most people have had no problems, the few times I've done it there's problems or errors after the upgrade). I much prefer just doing a clean install of the server. However, this means having to setup all user / group accounts again in addition to any customisations. Customisation is fine as most of the servers I setup have very little customisation done, if any (I believe in minimalist approach to server services and add-ons). But having to recreate all users / groups / passwords / pseudonyms is a pain.

The other reason, is for some of us running multiple servers, it is useful to be able to update the user accounts in all the servers so that they have the same accounts (sort of a poor man's directory synchronisation).

For situations where there are lots of ibay data and the SME server does not have a tape drive, I usually get a Windows worstation or server that does have a tape drive to backup the ibays across the network.

Kelvin

[stephen noble]

mv /home/e-smith/files/ibays /tmp/ibays
do the backup and mv back

stephen noble

[Kelvin]

Hi Stephen,

Could this be automated ?

The problem with this method is, you can't do it during the course of a working day. I don't think the workstations would appreciate their files and network drives "dissapearing" suddenly .

It really can't be that hard for Mitel to come up with a script to just backup the accounts. I don't even care about the mySQL databases. Just user / group / passwords.

Kelvin

[Bill Talcott]

http://www.dungog.net/sme/howto/backup.php

It's not automated, per se, but you could easily edit the excludelist file as needed for special cases. If you got deeper into it, you may even be able to add a "limited backup" option to the Backup panel, which only archived certain things...

[Ray Mitchell]

Kelvin
It looks to me like the Backup2ws rpm could be used to backup just the accounts info.
Use the disaster recovery backup set as a basis, and then exclude the ibays and anything else you don't want included. Then create this set with a new name and use it for any future "accounts only style" backup.

It can also be automated or run manually from the server manager, so it seems pretty easy to use, and users without the admin password could be given access to the Backup to workstation panel via user manager.

see
http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/dmay/mitel/contrib/Backup2ws/

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Cyrus Bharda]

Ray,

I downloaded and installed backup2ws and had a look at the panel, so I decided to try it out and made sure that all the paths and settings were correct, but when I click on backup, I get the page, A backup has started and may take some time, an email will be sent to admin with the results, but I dont recieve any email and no files are created on the share?

I do have it scheduled for sunday, does that mean that it can only run on sunday?

Cyrus Bharda

[Ray Mitchell]

Curus
I assume that a job sheduled for Sunday would only run on Sunday !!!

While testing I disabled auto run and just initiated a backup manually.

Just do a small one first to test the functionality eg /opt only and to make sure you have the source and destination paths/passwords correct etc etc .
It works OK for me and I get an email to admin

Still doing some testing on really big files with 5.5 and 5.6, so no definite answer that way as yet, but the split function would seem to take care of these potential issues.

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Cyrus Bharda]

Just did a new job /root and manual once it was all setup hit the backup link and it said it had started but nothing appeared in the windows share?

Is there anyway of running it manuall from the command prompt to see whats going on?

Cyrus Bharda

[Cyrus Bharda]

Ok heres something wierd, I removed the flexbackup to disk, which involves removing the /mnt/backup from fstab, BUT when I look at the /mnt dir it has this directory structure:

/mnt/backup
/mnt/backup2ws.233437
/mnt/backup2ws.293970
/mnt/backup2ws.911
/mnt/cdrom
/mnt/floppy

this is after a reboot without the /mnt/backup in the fstab, so when I tryed umount /mnt/backup it said:

umount: /mnt/backup: not mounted

now /mnt/backup is the same share as specified in the backup2ws setup so it works, but no file is made and no email sent to admin?

It just does nothing? Getting very confused? I am going to try putting in /mnt/backup line back into fstab and seeing if I can then umount it but that still doesnt say why I am not getting anything out of the backup2ws rpm???

Cyrus Bharda

[Cyrus Bharda]

Ok wierder stuff, I put back the line in the fstab that I had for the flexbackup to disk and made sure it was exact and reboot now I get this:

[root@esmith root]# mount /mnt/backup
[mntent]: line 12 in /etc/fstab is bad
mount: can't find /mnt/backup in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
[root@esmith root]# umount /mnt/backup
umount: /mnt/backup: not mounted
[root@esmith root]#

I am going home for the weekend, this is too much on a friday afternoon to try to think

Beer time!

Have a good weekend, hopefully post on monday if anything changes!

Cyrus Bharda

[Ray Mitchell]

Cyrus
I think you are getting yourself confused and mislead.
Disregard all that stuff, some of which is to be expected anyway, and start again, this time with a bit off patience.

I don't know what settings you made but try a nice small backup and it should run immediately and take only 2 minutes to complete eg /opt or /root only. Set it to manual only. Have a look at your server and workstation hard disk lights, they should be flashing. Remember to use a workstation folder that is actually shared, and to put a user name and password in to allow access to your workstation if required eg w2K/XP. Also have a look at your workstation share, after a minute or so you should see an empty file in a folder with the same number as your backup set, this file will gradually get bigger if you click on Refresh in Windows Explorer. If you see this then backup2ws is configured correctly and definitely working. Just be patient for it to finish.

Using a sme v5.6 with Pent 133 and 96Mb RAM and backing up to a WinXP w/s Pent 233 with 256Mb RAM I tested the following:

1) A small backup which creates a backup file of only 8Mb took approx 5 minutes to complete.

2) A backup which creates a backup file of 353Mb took approx 1hr 20min to complete.

3) A full backup (3.1Gb used on server) which creates a backup file split into 1Gb chunks, actually created one 1Gb file (part1), and one 866Mb file (part 2), took 7 hrs 20 minutes to complete.

4) A full backup (3.1Gb used on server) set to NOT create a backup file split into chunks, actually created one 2Gb file (2,097,152) (ie the magic 2Gb server backup file size creation limit was reached). When reading the file with WinRAR the backup was corrupt, indicating that the file was not saved beyond the 2Gb limit.
So the 2Gb issue is not resolved at all by this program, which is understandable as other factors cause it.

5) The next test I am trying is to split the backup into < 2Gb (=2,000,000) chunks and I assume this will probably run OK, although the answer will be many hours away at the speeds mentioned above.
I think the slow processor is contributing to the long backup file creation times, as previously noted with other forms of backup programs.

I will advise outcome of test 5 tomorrow when complete.

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Cyrus Bharda]

OK Well it doesn't work, no files, no email, nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch!

I have made a share called SMEBackup on my computer (Windows 2000 SP3) so in the Backup2ws I have entered it in as:

\mycomputername\SMEBackup

I have also tryed my username/password as well as the administrator/password both have the same result, nothing.

I deleted all the backup2ws jobs and restarted one and set it up to be manual and clicked on the backup link, got the confirmation page, but did not recieve email and no files were created?

I just dont know what is happening and where it is failing so how can i figure out how to fix it?

Cyrus Bharda

[Cyrus Bharda]

{BONK SELF}

Ok ok ok Finnally figured it out, I was cutting and pasting my unc address as \mycomputername\SMEBackup when I _SHOULD_ of been putting it in as //mycomputername/SMEBackup like it says in the example ooppss, well started a test run of just /root and I see the directory so it looks like is has worked.

Just a quick question, for the disaster recovery backup, how does one restore that if you do a backup, then format the hard drives and install SME from scratch and then install the backup2ws. How do you set Backup2ws to reckognise that there is already a backed up rar file there and you want to restore from it?

Not that I want to do that atm just wondering, because from the look of it, you can only restore jobs that already exist?

Cyrus Bharda