FULL_BACKUP(8)

NAME
full_backup - run a full backup with the afbackup package

SYNOPSIS
full_backup [ -da ] [ {+-}LB ] [ <files> <directories> ... ] [ -C <root-directory> ] [ -F [ -D [ -c <configuration-file> ] [ -h <backuphosts> ] [ -P <backup-ports> ] [ -I <indexfile-part> ] [ -N <num-indexes-to-store> ] [ -z <compress-cmd> <uncompress-cmd> ] [ -s [ -X <exclude-list-file> ] [ -l <logfile> ] [ -i <startup-info-program> ] [ -b <init-program> ] [ -e <exit-program> ] [ -k <encryption-key-file> ] [ -V <var-directory> ] [ -S <cartridge-sets> ]

DESCRIPTION
This program reads the client-side configuration file and runs (eventually a part of) a full backup of all files and directories specified in the configuration file or on the commandline. It is recommended to setup everything in the configuration file and run this command without any arguments (same applies for incr_backup). If files and/or directories are supplied on the commandline, those specified in the configuration file are overridden. Furthermore the program then behaves slightly different: If backup parts are configured, they are ignored. The timestamp, that is evaluated during incremental backup to determine, whether files have been modified, is not changed. This behaviour reflects the assumption, that supplying files or directories on the commandline is done for testing or other temporary purposes. Modifying the timestamp would confuse the normal regularly running backup mechanism. In these temporary cases the -a option should make sense, see below for details. Be also aware of the -C option's meaning. If the name of a file is preceded with -r, the contents of the file is stored, but not the characteristics of the inode. This is useful for saving raw devices. By default, compression is always turned off. Using -R forces compression of the contents. Preceding a directory name with -m the recursive descent into this directory is limited to the filesystem, where the directory resides. The names of the files and directories, that are stored, are written into logfiles, that comprise of the indexfile-part (-I) and the current total backup counter. This counter is incremented each time a full backup (part 1) starts. A minimum information required to restore after a hard crash having lost everything is piped into the startup-info-program (-i). Whether only a part of a full backup is run depends on the setting of the parameter NumBackupParts (See: afclient.conf(8)). If the configuration file is not supplied explicitely, then it is searched for in the @clientlibdir@ and if not found there the files /etc/buclient.conf /etc/afbackup/server.conf are tried. Commandline options generally override configuration file settings. Every option described below (except -c) has a corresponding entry in the configuration file, but there are more possible settings in the config file.

-a  Append mode. Do not increment the total backup counter. (See -N)

{+-}B
    Perform per-file compression on the stored files (+B) or not (-B) (See: -F)

-b <initprog>
    Run the given program before attempting a backup. If the command returns an exit status unequal to 0, no backup is performed (see: -e). Not to be mixed up with option -i

-C <rootdir>
    Change to the given directory before starting the backup climbing down into the directories to be stored

-c <configfile>
    A different configuration file to use

-D <skip-dirs>
    A list of directory name patterns separated by whitespace to ignore for backup. Several must be put into quotes (See: -F and -X)

-d  Detach from the terminal when starting

-e <exitprog>
    Run the specified program after finishing. If the command comprises of several words separated by whitespace, it must be put into quotes (See: -i)

-F <skip-files>
    A list of filename patterns separated by whitespace to ignore for backup. Several must be put into quotes (See: -D and -X)

-h <backuphosts>
    The names of the hosts, where a backup server side lives. The list can be separated by commas and/or whitespace. If whitespace is present, quotes are necessary. The hosts are tested for service availability. If a backup server is not ready, the next one is tried. If all are busy, the program waits for a minute and tries again

-I <idx-prefix>
    The first part of the filename, the names of the stored files and directories are written to. The current total backup number is appended (that increments each start of a full backup). If these files undergo compression, .z is appended

-i <info-prog>
    The command to save startup information. A minimum information to recover from a hard crash is piped into this program (at stdin). If the command comprises of several words, it must be put into quotes. Not to be mixed up with option -b

-k <file>
    Use the contents of the given file as encryption key for authenticating to the server

{+-}L
    Compress the filename list files (+L) or not (-L) (See: -I)

-l <logfile>
    Write loggings into the given logfile. A dash - means: no logging, only write to stderr

-N <num-idxes>
    The number of filename list files, that is stored over time. A new list is begun at each start of a full backup (except -a is supplied)

-P <portnos>
    The port numbers, that are tried to connect at the servers. They must be supplied positionally according to the configured or (with the -h option) given backup servers. The list may be separated by whitespace and/or commas. If whitespace is present, quotes are necessary

-S <cartsets>
    The cartridge sets to use, where <cartsets> is a number of a valid cartridge set on the appropriate server side. Default is 1. These must be supplied positionally according to the configured or (with the -h option) given backup servers. The list may be separated by whitespace and/or commas. If whitespace is present, quotes are necessary

-s <nocompr>
    A list of filename patterns, that no compression is attempted on, what can save time significantly. The list should always be enclosed in quotes

-V <var-dir>
    The directory, where varying files are put

-X <excl-file>
    The name of a file, that may exist in any directory containing a list of filename patterns, one per line. All files and directories in that directory matching one of the patterns are exluded from backup (See: -D and -F)

-z <zipcmd> <unzipcmd>
    The commands to use for compress and uncompress. If a command comprises of several words, it must be put in quotes

A table of corresponding command line options and configuration file entries, (subsets) accepted by full_backup, incr_backup, restore, verify, print_errors:

Option
    Client configuration file parameter name

+B -B
    CompressBackupedFiles

-C  RootDirectory

-D  DirsToSkip

-e  ExitProgram

-F  FilesToSkip

-h  BackupHost

-I  IndexFilePart

-i  StartupInfoProgram

-k  EncryptionKeyFile

-l  LoggingFile

+L -L
    CompressLogfiles

-N  NumIndexesToStore

-P  BackupPort

-S  CartridgeSet

-s  DoNotCompress

-V  VarDirectory

-X  ExcludeListFile

-z  CompressCmd UncompressCmd

FILES

@clientlibdir@/@clientconf@
    Client configuration file

@clientlogdir@
    The directory for logging the client backups

@clientvardir@
    Some internal state information of the client backups.

SEE ALSO
afclientconfig(8), xafclientconfig(8), full_backup(8), incr_backup(8), afverify(8), afrestore(8), print_errors(8), tar(1)

AUTHOR
afbackup was written by Albert Fluegel (af@muc.de). This manpage was extracted from the text docs by Christian Meder (meder@isr.uni-stuttgart.de).