summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/documentation/boxbackup/adminguide.xml
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'documentation/boxbackup/adminguide.xml')
-rw-r--r--documentation/boxbackup/adminguide.xml1981
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 1981 deletions
diff --git a/documentation/boxbackup/adminguide.xml b/documentation/boxbackup/adminguide.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index d3552725..00000000
--- a/documentation/boxbackup/adminguide.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,1981 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
-"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
-<!ENTITY __ExceptionCodes__elfjz3fu SYSTEM "ExceptionCodes.xml">
-]>
-<book>
- <title>Box Backup administrator's guide</title>
-
- <preface>
- <title>License</title>
-
- <para>Copyright © 2003 - 2007, Ben Summers and contributors. All rights
- reserved.</para>
-
- <para>Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
- modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
- met:</para>
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
- notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
- copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
- in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
- distribution.</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>All use of this software and associated advertising materials
- must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes
- software developed by Ben Summers and contributors.</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>The names of the Authors may not be used to endorse or promote
- products derived from this software without specific prior written
- permission.</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-
- <para>[Where legally impermissible the Authors do not disclaim liability
- for direct physical injury or death caused solely by defects in the
- software unless it is modified by a third party.]</para>
-
- <para>THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR
- IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
- OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN
- NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
- SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
- TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
- PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
- LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
- NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
- SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.</para>
- </preface>
-
- <chapter>
- <title>Configuration</title>
-
- <section>
- <title>System configuration</title>
-
- <section>
- <title>Server</title>
-
- <para>After you've downloaded and compiled the programs you need to
- install the programs on your server. As root do the following:</para>
-
- <programlisting>make install-backup-server</programlisting>
-
- <para>This assumes that you are installing on the same server that you
- compiled the software on. If not, copy the
- boxbackup-x.xx-backup-server-OSNAME.tgz file to the server you want to
- run on, and install there. For example (on Mac OS X):</para>
-
- <programlisting>tar zxvf boxbackup-0.10-server-darwin8.5.0.tgz
-cd boxbackup-0.10-server-darwin8.5.0
-./install-backup-server</programlisting>
-
- <para>Then create the user for the backup daemon on the server:</para>
-
- <programlisting>useradd _bbstored</programlisting>
-
- <para>Box Backup has a built-in software RAID facility (redundant
- array of inexpensive disks) for the backup store. This allows you to
- spread the store data over three disks, and recover from the loss of
- any one disk without losing data. However, this is now deprecated, and
- you are recommended to use the software or hardware RAID facilities of
- your operating system instead. Use the following command if you want
- to create a simple server without Box Backup RAID:</para>
-
- <programlisting>mkdir /tmp/boxbackupRepository # Create the directory
-chown _bbstored /tmp/boxbackupRepository/ # Change the owner to the new boxbackup daemon user
-
-/usr/local/bin/raidfile-config /etc/box/ 1024 /tmp/boxbackupRepository
-
-#substitute 1024 with the desired blocksize
-#substitute /tmp/boxbackupRepository with a directory that exists where you want the backup store located
-#/usr/local/bin/raidfile-config --help shows you the options</programlisting>
-
- <para>Then create the configuration file /etc/box/bbstored.conf The
- hostname is tricky as it is used for two things: The name of the
- server in the certificate and the address the server is listening on.
- Since you might be using NAT, might move the server around or the
- domain name might change, choose a name that describes the server.
- When the network address of the server changes, you need to update the
- <literal>ListenAddresses</literal> directive in the
- <filename>/etc/box/bbstored.conf</filename> file.</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstored-config /etc/box hostname _bbstored</programlisting>
-
- <para>This last step outputs 5 instructions that you must execute to
- the letter. A lot of questions are raised on the mailing list because
- these steps have not been followed properly.</para>
-
- <para>TODO: Expand on this. Explain the 5 steps in detail.</para>
-
- <para>If you want to run the server as a non-root user, look <link
- linkend="WORoot">here</link>.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Certificate Management</title>
-
- <para>There are two steps involved to create an account. You need to
- create the account on the server, and sign a certificate to give the
- client permission to connect to the server.</para>
-
- <para>Running a Certification Authority for TLS (SSL) connections is
- not trivial. However, a script to does most of the work in a way which
- should be good enough for most deployments.</para>
-
- <important>
- <para>The certificate authority directory is intended to be stored
- on another server. It should not be kept on the backup server, in
- order to limit the impact of a server compromise. The instructions
- and the script assume that it will be kept elsewhere, so will ask
- you to copy files to and from the CA.</para>
- </important>
-
- <warning>
- <para>SSL certificates contain validity dates, including a "valid
- from" time. If the clock on the machine which signs the certificates
- is not syncronised to the clocks of the machines using these
- certificates, you will probably get strange errors until the start
- time is reached on all machines. If you get strange errors when
- attempting to use new certificates, check the clocks on all machines
- (client, store and CA). You will probably just need to wait a while
- until the certificates become valid, rather than having to
- regenerate them.</para>
- </warning>
-
- <section>
- <title>Set up a Certificate Authority</title>
-
- <para>It is recommended that you keep your Certificate Authority on
- a separate machine than either the client or the server, preferably
- without direct network access. The contents of this directory
- control who can access your backup store server.</para>
-
- <para>To setup the basic key structure, do the following:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstored-certs ca init</programlisting>
-
- <para>(See <ulink url="instguide.xml">OpenSSL notes</ulink> if you
- get an OpenSSL error)</para>
-
- <para>This creates the directory called <filename>ca</filename> in
- the current directory, and initialises it with basic keys.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Sign a server certificate</title>
-
- <para>When you use the <command>bbstored-config</command> script to
- set up a config file for a server, it will generate a certificate
- request (CSR) for you. Transfer it to the machine with your CA, then
- do:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstored-certs ca sign-server hostname-csr.pem</programlisting>
-
- <para>This signs the certificate for the server. Follow the
- instructions in the output on which files to install on the server.
- The CSR file is now no longer needed. Make sure you run this command
- from the directory above the directory 'ca'.</para>
-
- <para>TODO: Explain instructions in output.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Set up an account</title>
-
- <para>Choose an account number for the user. This must be unique on
- the server, and is presented as a 31 bit number in hex greater than
- 0, for example, 1 or 75AB23C. Then on the backup store server,
- create the account with:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstoreaccounts create 75AB23C 0 4096M 4505M</programlisting>
-
- <para>This looks complicated. The numbers are, in order:</para>
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>The account number allocated (hex)</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>The RAID disc set (0 if you use raidfile-config and don't
- add a new set)</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>Soft limit (size)</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>Hard limit (size)</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-
- <para>The sizes are are specified in Mb, Gb, or blocks, depending on
- the suffix. 1M specifies 1 Mb, 1G specifies 1 Gb, and 1B specifies 1
- block, the size of which depends on how you have configured the
- raidfile system with raidfile-config.</para>
-
- <para>In this example, I have allocated 4Gb (assuming you use 2048
- byte blocks as per my example) as the soft limit, and 4Gb + 10% as
- the hard limit.</para>
-
- <para>NOTE The sizes specified here are pre-RAID. So if you are
- using userland RAID, you are actually allocating two-thirds of this
- amount. This means that, when you take compression into account,
- that if you allocate 2Gb on the server, it'll probably hold about
- 2Gb of backed up files (depending on the compressability of those
- files).</para>
-
- <para>The backup client will (voluntarily) try not to upload more
- data than is allowed by the soft limit. The store server will refuse
- to accept a file if it would take it over the hard limit, and when
- doing housekeeping for this account, try and delete old versions and
- deleted files to reduce the space taken to below the soft
- limit.</para>
-
- <para>This command will create some files on disc in the raid file
- directories (if you run as root, the utility will change to the user
- specified in the bbstored.conf file to write them) and update the
- accounts file. A server restart is not required.</para>
-
- <para>NOTE If you get a message saying 'Exception: RaidFile (2/8)',
- the directories you specified in the raidfile.conf are not writable
- by the _bbstored user -- fix it, and try again.</para>
-
- <para>Finally, tell the user their account number, and the hostname
- of your server. They will use this to set up the backup client, and
- send you a CSR. This has the account number embedded in it, and you
- should be sure that it has the right account number in it.</para>
-
- <para>Sign this CSR with this command:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstored-certs ca sign 75AB23C-csr.pem</programlisting>
-
- <para>Don't forget to check that the embedded account number is
- correct! Then send the two files back to the user, as instructed by
- the script.</para>
-
- <para>Please read the Troubleshooting page if you have
- problems.</para>
-
- <para>TODO: Link to troubleshooting...</para>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Log Files</title>
-
- <para>You may wish to see what's going on with the server. Edit
- /etc/syslog.conf, and add:</para>
-
- <programlisting>local6.info /var/log/box
-local5.info /var/log/raidfile</programlisting>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Note:</emphasis> Separators must be tabs,
- otherwise these entries will be ignored.</para>
-
- <programlisting>touch /var/log/box
-touch /var/log/raidfile</programlisting>
-
- <para>Set up log rotation for these new log files. For example, if you
- have <filename>/etc/newsyslog.conf</filename>, add the following lines
- to it:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/var/log/box 644 7 2000 * Z
-/var/log/raidfile 644 7 2000 * Z</programlisting>
-
- <para>If you have <filename>/etc/logrotate.d</filename>, create a new
- file in there (for example
- <filename>/etc/logrotate.d/boxbackup</filename>) containing the
- following:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/var/log/box /var/log/raidfile {
- weekly
- create
- compress
- rotate 52
-}</programlisting>
-
- <para>Then restart syslogd, for example:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/etc/init.d/syslogd restart</programlisting>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Configuring a client</title>
-
- <para>Before you can do any configuration, you need to know the
- hostname of the server you will be using, and your account number on
- that server.</para>
-
- <para>Later in the process, you will need to send a certificate
- request to the administrator of that server for it to be
- signed.</para>
-
- <para>Installation is covered in the compiling and installing section.
- You only need the backup-client parcel.</para>
-
- <para>It is important that you read all the output of the config
- scripts. See the end of this page for an example.</para>
-
- <para>The backup client has to be run as root, because it needs to
- read all your files to back them up, although it is possible to back
- up a single user's files by running it as that user. (Tip: specify a
- directory other than <filename>/etc/box</filename>, and then give the
- alternate config file as the first argument to
- <command>bbackupd</command>). However, it will fall over if you don't
- give yourself read access to one of your files.</para>
-
- <section>
- <title id="BasicConfig">Basic configuration</title>
-
- <para>Run the <command>bbackupd-config</command> script to generate
- the configuration files and generate a private key and certificate
- request.</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupd-config /etc/box lazy <emphasis
- role="bold">999 hostname</emphasis> /var/bbackupd <emphasis
- role="bold">/home</emphasis></programlisting>
-
- <para>(See <ulink url="instguide.xml">OpenSSL notes</ulink> if you
- get an OpenSSL error)</para>
-
- <para>The items in bold need to be changed. In order, they are the
- account number, the hostname of the server you're using, and
- finally, the directories you want backed up. You can include as many
- you want here.</para>
-
- <para>However, the directories you specify must not contain other
- mounted file systems within them at any depth. Specify them
- separately, one per mount point. No checks are currently made to
- catch bad configuration of this nature!</para>
-
- <para>You may also want to consider changing the mode from lazy to
- snapshot, depending on what your system is used for:</para>
-
- <glosslist>
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>Lazy Mode</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>This mode regularly scans the files, with only a rough
- schedule. It uploads files as and when they are changed, if
- the latest version is more than a set age. This is good for
- backing up user's documents stored on a server, and spreads
- the load out over the day.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>Snapshot Mode</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>This mode emulates the traditional backup behaviour of
- taking a snapshot of the filesystem. The backup daemon does
- absolutely nothing until it is instructed to make a backup
- using the bbackupctl utility (probably as a cron job), at
- which point it uploads all files which have been changed since
- the last time it uploaded.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
- </glosslist>
-
- <para>When you run the config script, it will tell you what you need
- to do next. Don't forget to read all the output. An example is shown
- at the end of this page, but the instructions for your installation
- may be different.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Certificates</title>
-
- <para>After you have sent your certificate request off to the server
- administrator and received your certificate and CA root back,
- install them where instructed by the bbackupd-config script during
- basic bbackupd configuration.</para>
-
- <para>You can then run the daemon (as root) by running
- <command>/usr/local/bin/bbackupd</command>, and of course, adding it
- to your system's startup scripts. The first time it's run it will
- upload everything. Interrupting it and restarting it will only
- upload files which were not uploaded before - it's very
- tolerant.</para>
-
- <para>If you run in snapshot mode, you will need to add a cron job
- to schedule backups. The config script will tell you the exact
- command to use for your system.</para>
-
- <para>Please read the Troubleshooting page if you have
- problems.</para>
-
- <para>Remember to make a traditional backup of the keys file, as
- instructed. You cannot restore files without it.</para>
-
- <para>It is recommended that you backup up all of /etc/box as it
- will make things easier if you need to restore files. But only the
- keys are absolutely essential.</para>
-
- <para>If you want to see what it's doing in more detail (probably a
- good idea), follow the instructions in the server setup to create
- new log files with syslog. </para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Adding and removing backed up locations</title>
-
- <para>By editing the /etc/box/bbackupd.conf file, you can add and
- remove directories to back up - see comments in this file for help.
- Send bbackupd a HUP signal after you modify it.</para>
-
- <para>When you remove a location, it will not be marked as deleted
- immediately. Instead, bbackupd waits about two days before doing so,
- just in case you change your mind. After this, it will be eventually
- removed from the store by the housekeeping process. Run as
- root.</para>
-
- <para>The backup client is designed to be run as root. It is
- possible to run without root, but this is not recommended. Clock
- synchronisation for file servers.</para>
-
- <para>If you are using the backup client to backup a filesystem
- served from a fileserver, you should ideally ensure that the
- fileserver clocks are synchronised with the fileserver.</para>
-
- <para>bbackupd will cope perfectly well if the clocks are not
- synchronised. Errors up to about half an hour cause no problems.
- Larger discrepancies cause a loss of efficiency and the potential to
- back up a file during a write process.</para>
-
- <para>There is a configuration parameter MaxFileTimeInFuture, which
- specifies how far in the future a file must be for it to be uploaded
- as soon as it is seen. You should not need to adjust this (default
- is 2 days). Instead, get those clocks synchronised. Excluding files
- and directories from the backup.</para>
-
- <para>Within the bbackupd.conf file, there is a section named
- BackupLocations which specifies which locations on disc should be
- backed up. It has subsections, each of which is in the
- format:</para>
-
- <programlisting> name
- {
- Path = /path/of/directory
- (optional exclude directives)
- }</programlisting>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">name</emphasis> is derived from the Path
- by the config script, but should merely be unique.</para>
-
- <para>The exclude directives are of the form:</para>
-
- <programlisting>[Exclude|AlwaysInclude][File|Dir][|sRegex] = regex or full pathname</programlisting>
-
- <para>(The regex suffix is shown as 'sRegex' to make File or Dir
- plural)</para>
-
- <para>For example:</para>
-
- <programlisting> ExcludeDir = /home/guest-user
- ExcludeFilesRegex = *.(mp3|MP3)\$
- AlwaysIncludeFile = /home/username/veryimportant.mp3</programlisting>
-
- <para>This excludes the directory /home/guest-user from the backup
- along with all mp3 files, except one MP3 file in particular.</para>
-
- <para>In general, Exclude excludes a file or directory, unless the
- directory is explicitly mentioned in a AlwaysInclude
- directive.</para>
-
- <para>If a directive ends in Regex, then it is a regular expression
- rather than a explicit full pathname. See</para>
-
- <programlisting> man 7 re_format</programlisting>
-
- <para>for the regex syntax on your platform.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Example configuration output</title>
-
- <para>This is an example of output from the bbstored-config
- script.</para>
-
- <important>
- <para>Follow the instructions output by your script, not the ones
- here -- they may be different for your system.</para>
- </important>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupd-config /etc/box lazy 51 server.example.com /var/bbackupd /home /etc/samba
-
-Setup bbackupd config utility.
-
-Configuration:
- Writing configuration file: /etc/box/bbackupd.conf
- Account: 51
- Server hostname: server.example.com
- Directories to back up:
- /home
- /etc/samba
-
-Note: If other file systems are mounted inside these directories, then problems may occur
-with files on the store server being renamed incorrectly. This will cause efficiency
-problems, but not affect the integrity of the backups.
-
-WARNING: Directories not checked against mountpoints. Check mounted filesystems manually.
-
-Creating /etc/box...
-Creating /etc/box/bbackupd
-Generating private key...
- [OpenSSL output omitted]
-
-Generating keys for file backup
-Writing notify script /etc/box/bbackupd/NotifyStoreFull.sh
-Writing configuration file /etc/box/bbackupd.conf
-
-===================================================================
-
-bbackupd basic configuration complete.
-
-What you need to do now...
-
-1) Make a backup of /etc/box/bbackupd/51-FileEncKeys.raw
- This should be a secure offsite backup.
- Without it, you cannot restore backups. Everything else can
- be replaced. But this cannot.
- KEEP IT IN A SAFE PLACE, OTHERWISE YOUR BACKUPS ARE USELESS.
-
-2) Send /etc/box/bbackupd/51-csr.pem
- to the administrator of the backup server, and ask for it to
- be signed.
-
-3) The administrator will send you two files. Install them as
- /etc/box/bbackupd/51-cert.pem
- /etc/box/bbackupd/serverCA.pem
- after checking their authenticity.
-
-4) You may wish to read the configuration file
- /etc/box/bbackupd.conf
- and adjust as appropraite.
-
- There are some notes in it on excluding files you do not
- wish to be backed up.
-
-5) Review the script
- /etc/box/bbackupd/NotifyStoreFull.sh
- and check that it will email the right person when the store
- becomes full. This is important -- when the store is full, no
- more files will be backed up. You want to know about this.
-
-6) Start the backup daemon with the command
- /usr/local/bin/bbackupd
- in /etc/rc.local, or your local equivalent.
- Note that bbackupd must run as root.
-
-===================================================================</programlisting>
-
- <para>Remember to make a secure, offsite backup of your backup keys,
- as described in <link linkend="BasicConfig">Basic
- configuration</link> above. If you do not, and that key is lost, you
- have no backups.</para>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Configuration Options</title>
-
- <para>Box Backup has many options in its configuration file. We will
- try to list them all here.</para>
-
- <para>First of all, here is an example configuration file, for
- reference:</para>
-
- <example>
- <title>Example Configuration File</title>
-
- <programlisting>StoreHostname = localhost
-AccountNumber = 0x2
-
-KeysFile = /etc/box/2-FileEncKeys.raw
-CertificateFile = /etc/box/2-cert.pem
-PrivateKeyFile = /etc/box/2-key.pem
-TrustedCAsFile = /etc/box/serverCA.pem
-DataDirectory = /var/run/boxbackup
-NotifyScript = /etc/box/NotifySysadmin.sh
-CommandSocket = /var/run/box/bbackupd.sock
-
-UpdateStoreInterval = 86400
-MinimumFileAge = 3600
-MaxUploadWait = 7200
-FileTrackingSizeThreshold = 65536
-DiffingUploadSizeThreshold = 65536
-MaximumDiffingTime = 20
-ExtendedLogging = no
-LogAllFileAccess = yes
-
-Server
-{
- PidFile = /var/run/bbackupd.pid
-}
-BackupLocations
-{
- etc
- {
- Path = /etc
- }
- home
- {
- Path = /home
- ExcludeDir = /home/shared
- ExcludeDir = /home/chris/.ccache
- ExcludeDir = /home/chris/.mozilla/firefox/vvvkq3vp.default/Cache
- }
-}</programlisting>
- </example>
-
- <para>As you can see from the example above, the configuration file
- has a number of subsections, enclosed in curly braces {}. Some options
- appear outside of any subsection, and we will refer to these as <link
- linkend="RootOptions">root options</link>. The available options in
- each section are described below.</para>
-
- <para>Every option has the form <quote>name = value</quote>. Names are
- not case-sensitive, but values are. Depending on the option, the value
- may be:</para>
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>a path (to a file or directory);</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>a number (usually in seconds or bytes);</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>a boolean (the word Yes or No);</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>a hostname (or IP address).</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-
- <para>Paths are specified in native format, i.e. a full Windows path
- with drive letter on Windows clients, or a full Unix path on Unix
- clients.</para>
-
- <para><example>
- <title>Example:</title>
-
- <para>StoreObjectInfoFile =
- /var/state/boxbackup/bbackupd.dat</para>
-
- <para>StoreObjectInfoFile = C:\Program Files\Box
- Backup\data\bbackupd.dat</para>
- </example>The use of relative paths (which do not start with a
- forward slash on Unix, or a drive specification on Windows) is
- possible but not recommended, since they are interpreted relative to
- the current working directory when bbackupd was started, which is
- liable to change unexpectedly over time.</para>
-
- <para>Numbers which start with "0x" are interpreted as hexadecimal.
- Numbers which do not start with "0x" are interpreted as
- decimal.</para>
-
- <section>
- <title id="RootOptions">Root Options</title>
-
- <para>These options appear outside of any subsection. By convention
- they are at the beginning of the configuration file.</para>
-
- <para>Some options are required, and some are optional.</para>
-
- <glosslist>
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>StoreHostname (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The Internet host name (DNS name) or IP address of the
- server. This is only used to connect to the server.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>AccountNumber (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The number of the client's account on the server. This
- must be provided by the server operator, and must match the
- account number in the client's certificate, otherwise the
- client will not be able to log into the server.</para>
-
- <para>The account number may be specified in hexadecimal
- (starting with 0x, as in the example above) or in decimal, but
- since the server operator works in hexadecimal, that format is
- highly recommended and is the default.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>KeysFile (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The path to the file containing the encryption key used
- for data encryption of client file data and filenames. This is
- the most important file to keep safe, since without it your
- backups cannot be decrypted and are useless. Likewise, if an
- attacker gets access to this key and to your encrypted
- backups, he can decrypt them and read all your data. </para>
-
- <para>Do not change the encryption key without deleting all
- files from the account on the server first. None of your old
- files on the store will be readable if you do so, and if you
- change it back, none of the files uploaded with the new key
- will be readable.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>CertificateFile (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The path to the OpenSSL client certificate in PEM
- format. This is supplied by the server operator in response to
- the certificate request which you send to them. Together with
- the PrivateKeyFile, this provides access to the store server
- and the encrypted data stored there.</para>
-
- <para>It is not critical to protect this file or to back it up
- safely, since it can be regenerated by creating a new
- certificate request, and asking the server operator to sign
- it. You may wish to back it up, together with the
- PrivateKeyFile, to avoid this inconvenience if you lose all
- your data and need quick access to your backups.</para>
-
- <para>If you do back them up, you should keep them in a
- separate location to the KeysFile, since any person holding
- the KeysFile and the PrivateKeyFile can gain access to your
- encrypted data and decrypt it.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>PrivateKeyFile (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The path to the OpenSSL private key in PEM format. This
- is generated at the same time as the certificate request, but
- there is no need to send it to the server operator, and you
- should not do so, in case the communication is intercepted by
- an attacker. Together with the CertificateFile, this provides
- access to the store server and the encrypted data stored
- there.</para>
-
- <para>See the notes under CertificateFile for information
- about backing up this file.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>TrustedCAsFile (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The path to the OpenSSL certificate of the Client
- Certificate Authority (CCA), in PEM format. This is supplied
- by the server operator along with your account details, or
- along with your signed client certificate. This is used to
- verify that the server which you are connecting to is
- authorised by the person who signed your certificate. It
- protects you against DNS and ARP poisoning and IP spoofing
- attacks.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>DataDirectory (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The path to a directory where bbackupd will keep local
- state information. This consists of timestamp files which
- identify the last backup start and end times, used by
- <command>bbackupquery</command> to determine whether files
- have changed, and optionally a database of inode numbers,
- which are used to check for files being renamed. The database
- is only saved if Box Backup is built with Berkeley Database
- (BDB) support.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>NotifyScript (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The path to the script or command to run when the Box
- Backup client detects an error during the backup process. This
- is normally used to notify the client system administrator by
- e-mail when a backup fails for any reason.</para>
-
- <para>The script or command is called with one of the
- following additional arguments to identify the cause of the
- problem:</para>
-
- <glosslist>
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>store-full</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The backup store is full. No new files are being
- uploaded. If some files are marked as deleted, they
- should be removed in due course by the server's
- housekeeping process. Otherwise, you need to remove some
- files from your backup set, or ask the store operator
- for more space.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>read-error</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>One or more files which were supposed to be backed
- up could not be read. This could be due to:<itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>running the server as a non-root user;</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>backing up a mounted filesystem such as
- NFS;</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>access control lists being applied to some
- files;</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>SELinux being enabled;</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>trying to back up open files under
- Windows;</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>strange directory permissions such as 0000 or
- 0400.</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>Check the client logs, e.g.
- /var/log/bbackupd on Unix, or the Windows Event Viewer
- in Control Panel &gt; Administrative Tools, for more
- information about which files are not being backed up
- and why.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>backup-error</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>There was a communications error with the server,
- or an unexpected exception was encountered during a
- backup run. Check the client logs, e.g.
- <filename>/var/log/box</filename> on Unix, or the
- Windows Event Viewer in Control Panel &gt;
- Administrative Tools, for more information about the
- problem.</para>
-
- <para>You may wish to check your Internet access to the
- server, check that the server is running, and ask your
- server operator to check your account on the
- server.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
- </glosslist>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>CommandSocket (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The path to the Unix socket which
- <command>bbackupd</command> creates when running, and which
- <command>bbackupctl</command> uses to communicate with it, for
- example to force a sync or a configuration reload. If this
- option is omitted, no socket will be created, and
- <command>bbackupctl</command> will not function.</para>
-
- <para>Unix sockets appear within the filesystem on Unix, as a
- special type of file, and must be created in a directory which
- exists and to which bbackupd has write access, and bbackupctl
- has read access. </para>
-
- <para>On Windows, the path is ignored, and a <glossterm>named
- pipe</glossterm> is created instead. This does not currently
- have any security attached, so it can be accessed by any user.
- Unlike a Unix socket it can also be accessed remotely. Please
- use this option with extreme caution on Windows, and only on
- fully trusted networks.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>AutomaticBackup (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>Enable or disable the client from connecting
- automatically to the store every
- <glossterm>UpdateStoreInterval</glossterm> seconds. When
- enabled (set to <quote>Yes</quote>), the client is in
- <glossterm>Lazy Mode</glossterm>. When disabled (set to
- <quote>No</quote>), it is in <glossterm>Snapshot
- Mode</glossterm>. This setting is optional, and the default
- value is <quote>Yes</quote>.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>UpdateStoreInterval (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The approximate time between successive connections to
- the server, in seconds, when the client is in <glossterm>Lazy
- Mode</glossterm>. The actual time is randomised slightly to
- prevent "rush hour" traffic jams on the server, where many
- clients try to connect at the same time.</para>
-
- <para>This value is ignored if the client is in
- <glossterm>Snapshot Mode</glossterm>. However, it is still
- required. It can be set to zero in this case.</para>
-
- <para>You will probably need to experiment with the value of
- this option. A good value to start with is probably 86400
- seconds, which is one day.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>MinimumFileAge (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The number of seconds since a file was last modified
- before it will be backed up. The reason for this is to avoid
- repeatedly backing up files which are repeatedly changing. A
- good value is about 3600 seconds (one hour). If set to zero,
- files which have changed will always be backed up on the next
- backup run. </para>
-
- <para>The <glossterm>MaxUploadWait</glossterm> option
- overrides this option in some circumstances.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>MaxUploadWait (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The number of seconds since a file was last uploaded
- before it will be uploaded again, even if it keeps changing.
- The reason for this is to ensure that files which are
- continuously modified are eventually uploaded anyway. This
- should be no less than the value of
- <glossterm>MinimumFileAge</glossterm>. A good value is about
- 14400 seconds (4 hours).</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>MaxFileTimeInFuture (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The maximum time that a file's timestamp can be in the
- future, before it will be backed up anyway. Due to clock
- synchronisation problems, it is inevitable that you will
- occasionally see files timestamped in the future. Normally,
- for files which are dated only slightly in the future, you
- will want to wait until after the file's date before backing
- it up. However, for files whose dates are very wrong (more
- than a few hours) you will normally prefer to back them up
- immediately.</para>
-
- <para>A good value is about 7200 seconds (2 hours) to cope
- with potential problems when moving in and out of daylight
- saving time, if applicable in your timezone. The default
- value, if this setting is not provided, is 172800 seconds (2
- days).</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>FileTrackingSizeThreshold (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The minimum size of files which will be tracked by inode
- number to detect renames. It is not worth detecting renames of
- small files, since they are quick to upload again in full, and
- keeping their inode numbers in memory increases the client's
- memory usage and slows down searches. Larger files should be
- tracked to avoid wasting space on the store and long
- uploads.</para>
-
- <para>A good value is about 65536 bytes (64 kilobytes).</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>DiffingUploadSizeThreshold (required)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The minimum size of files which will be compared to the
- old file on the server, and for which only changes will be
- uploaded. It is not worth comparing small files, since they
- are quick to upload again in full, and sending the entire file
- reduces the risk of data loss if the store is accidentally
- corrupted. Larger files should have only their differences
- uploaded to avoid wasting space on the store and long
- uploads.</para>
-
- <para>A good value is about 65536 bytes (64 kilobytes).</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>MaximumDiffingTime (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The maximum time for which the client will attempt to
- find differences between the current version and the old
- version in the store, before giving up and uploading the
- entire file again. Very large files (several gigabytes) may
- take a very long time to scan for changes, but would also take
- a very long time to upload again and use a lot of space on the
- store, so it is normally worth omitting this value. </para>
-
- <para>Use this option only if, for some bizarre reason, you
- prefer to upload really large files in full rather than spend
- a long time scanning them for changes.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>KeepAliveTime (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The interval (in seconds) between sending Keep-Alive
- messages to the server while performing long operations such
- as finding differences in large files, or scanning large
- directories. </para>
-
- <para>These messages ensure that the SSL connection is not
- closed by the server, or an intervening firewall, due to lack
- of activity.</para>
-
- <para>The server will normally wait up to 15 minutes (900
- seconds) before disconnecting the client, so the value should
- be given and should be less than 900. Some firewalls may time
- out inactive connections after 10 or 5 minutes. </para>
-
- <para>A good value is 300 seconds (5 minutes). You may need to
- reduce this if you frequently see TLSReadFailed or
- TLSWriteFailed errors on the client.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>StoreObjectInfoFile (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>Enables the use of a state file, which stores the
- client's internal state when the client is not running. This
- is useful on clients machines which are frequently shut down,
- for example desktop and laptop computers, because it removes
- the need for the client to recontact the store and rescan all
- directories on the first backup run, which may take some time.
- This feature is somewhat experimental and not well tested.
- </para>
-
- <para>This is option is disabled by default, in which case the
- state is stored in memory only. The value is the path to the
- state file.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>ExtendedLogging (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>Enables the connection debugging mode of the client,
- which writes all commands sent to or received from the server
- to the system logs. This generates a <emphasis>lot</emphasis>
- of output, so it should only be used when instructed, or when
- you suspect a connection problem or client-server protocol
- error (and you know how to interpret the output).</para>
-
- <para>This is a boolean value, which may be set to
- <quote>Yes</quote> or <quote>No</quote>. The default is of
- course <quote>No</quote>.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>ExtendedLogFile (optional, new in 0.11)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>Enables the same debugging output as
- <glossterm>ExtendedLogging</glossterm>, but written to a file
- instead of the system logs. This is useful if you need
- extended logging, but do not have access to the system logs,
- for example if you are not the administrator of the
- computer.</para>
-
- <para>The value is the path to the file where these logs will
- be written. If omitted, extended logs will not be written to a
- file. This is entirely independent of the
- <glossterm>ExtendedLogging</glossterm> option. It does not
- make much sense to use both at the same time.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>LogAllFileAccess (optional, new in 0.11)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>Enables logging of all local file and directory access,
- file uploads (full and differential), and excluded files. This
- may be useful if the client is failing to upload a particular
- file, or crashing while trying to upload it. The logs will be
- sent to the system log or Windows Event Viewer.</para>
-
- <para>This generates a <emphasis>lot</emphasis>
- of output, so it should only be used when instructed, or when
- you suspect that bbackupd is skipping some files and want to
- know why. Because it is verbose, the messages are hidden by
- default even if the option is enabled. To see them, you must
- run bbackupd with at least one -v option.</para>
-
- <para>This is a boolean value, which may be set to
- <quote>Yes</quote> or <quote>No</quote>. The default is of
- course <quote>No</quote>.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
-
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>SyncAllowScript (optional)</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>The path to the script or command to run when the client
- is about to start an automatic backup run, and wishes to know
- whether it is safe to do so. This is useful for clients which
- do not always have access to the server, for example laptops
- and computers on dial-up Internet connections.</para>
-
- <para>The script should either output the word
- <quote>now</quote> if the backup should proceed, or else a
- number, in seconds, which indicates how long the client should
- wait before trying to connect again. Any other output will
- result in an error on the client, and the backup will not
- run.</para>
-
- <para>This value is optional, and by default no such script is
- used.</para>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
- </glosslist>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Server Section</title>
-
- <para>These options appear within the Server subsection, which is at
- the root level.</para>
-
- <glosslist>
- <glossentry>
- <glossterm>PidFile</glossterm>
-
- <glossdef>
- <para>This option enables the client to write its processs
- identifier (PID) to the specified file after starting. The
- file will be deleted when the client daemon exits for any
- reason. This is disabled by default, but is recommended
- whenever you run the client daemon as a daemon (in the
- background), which is usually the case. This file can be used
- by scripts to determine whether the daemon is still running,
- and to send it messages to reload its configuration or to
- terminate.</para>
-
- <example>
- <title>Example Server Section</title>
-
- <programlisting>Server
-{
- PidFile = /var/state/boxbackup/bbackupd.pid
-}</programlisting>
- </example>
- </glossdef>
- </glossentry>
- </glosslist>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Backup Locations Section</title>
-
- <para>This section serves only as a container for all defined backup
- locations.</para>
-
- <example>
- <title>Example Backup Locations Section</title>
-
- <programlisting>BackupLocations
-{
- etc
- {
- Path = /etc
- }
- home
- {
- Path = /home
- ExcludeDir = /home/shared
- ExcludeDir = /home/chris/.ccache
- ExcludeDir = /home/chris/.mozilla/firefox/vvvkq3vp.default/Cache
- }
-}</programlisting>
- </example>
-
- <para>Each subsection is a backup location. The name of the
- subsection is the name that will be used on the server. The root
- directory of the account on the server contains one subdirectory per
- location. The name should be simple, not containing any spaces or
- special characters.</para>
-
- <para>If you do not define any locations, the client will not back
- up any files!</para>
-
- <para>It is currently not recommended to back up the root directory
- of the filesystem on Unix. Box Backup is designed to back up
- important data and configuration files, not full systems.
- Nevertheless, nothing prevents you from doing so if you
- desire.</para>
-
- <para>On Windows, it is currently not possible to back up files
- which are open (currently in use), such as open documents in
- Microsoft Office, and system files such as the registry and the
- paging file. You will get an error for each open file which the
- client attempts to back up. Once the file has been closed, it will
- be backed up normally. System files will always be open, and should
- be excluded from your backups.</para>
- </section>
- </section>
- </section>
- </chapter>
-
- <chapter>
- <title>Administration</title>
-
- <para>This chapter deals with the dauily running and management of the Box
- Backup system. It explains most day-to-day tasks.</para>
-
- <section>
- <title>Regular Maintenance</title>
-
- <para>The steps involved in maintaining and keeping the backup sets
- healthy are outlined in this section.</para>
-
- <section>
- <title>Controlling a backup client</title>
-
- <para>The bbackupctl program sends control commands to the bbackupd
- daemon. It must be run as the same user as the daemon, and there is no
- exception for root.</para>
-
- <para>The command line syntax is:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupctl [-q] [-c config-file] command</programlisting>
-
- <para>The -q option reduces the amount of output the program emits,
- and -c allows an alternative configuration file to be
- specified.</para>
-
- <para>Valid commands are:</para>
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">terminate</emphasis></para>
-
- <para>Stop the bbackupd daemon now (equivalent to kill)</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">reload</emphasis></para>
-
- <para>Reload the configuration file (equivalent to kill
- -HUP)</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">sync</emphasis></para>
-
- <para>Connect to the server and synchronise files now</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">bbackupctl</emphasis> communicates with
- the server via a UNIX domain socket, specified in bbackupd.conf with
- the CommandSocket directive. This does not need to be specified, and
- <emphasis role="bold">bbackupd</emphasis> will run without the command
- socket, but in this case bbackupctl will not be able to communicate
- with the daemon.</para>
-
- <para>Some platforms cannot check the user id of the connecting
- process, so this command socket becomes a denial of service security
- risk. <emphasis role="bold">bbackupd</emphasis> will warn you when it
- starts up if this is the case on your platform, and you should
- consider removing the CommandSocket directive on these
- platforms.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Using bbackupctl to perform snapshots</title>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">bbackupctl</emphasis>'s main purpose is to
- implement snapshot based backups, emulating the behaviour of
- traditional backup software.</para>
-
- <para>Use bbackupd-config to write a configuration file in snapshot
- mode, and then run the following command as a cron job.</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupctl -q sync</programlisting>
-
- <para>This will cause the backup daemon to upload all changed files
- immediately. <emphasis role="bold">bbackupctl</emphasis> will exit
- almost immediately, and will not output anything unless there is an
- error.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Checking storage space used on the server</title>
-
- <section>
- <title>From the client machine</title>
-
- <para>bbackupquery can tell you how much space is used on the server
- for this account. Either use the usage command in interactive mode,
- or type:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupquery -q usage quit</programlisting>
-
- <para>to show the space used as a single command.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>On the server</title>
-
- <para>bbstoreaccounts allows you to query the space used, and change
- the limits. To display the space used on the server for an account,
- use:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstoreaccounts info 75AB23C</programlisting>
-
- <para>To adjust the soft and hard limits on an account, use:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstoreaccounts setlimit 75AB23C new-soft-limit new-hard-limit</programlisting>
-
- <para>You do not need to restart the server.</para>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Verify and restore files</title>
-
- <para>Backups are no use unless you can restore them. The bbackupquery
- utility does this and more.</para>
-
- <para>You don't provide any login information to it, as it just picks
- up the data it needs from /etc/box/bbackupd.conf. You should run it as
- root so it can find everything it needs.</para>
-
- <para>Full documentation can be found in the <ulink
- url="bbackupquery.xml">bbackupquery manual page</ulink>. It follows
- the model of a command line sftp client quite closely.</para>
-
- <para>TODO: Link to bbackupquery man-page here.</para>
-
- <para>On systems where GNU readline is available (by default) it uses
- that for command line history and editing. Otherwise it falls back to
- very basic UNIX text entry.</para>
-
- <para>TODO: Did the readline dependency change to editline?</para>
-
- <section>
- <title>Using bbackupquery</title>
-
- <para>bbackupquery is the tool you use to verify, restore and
- investigate your backup files with. When invoked, it simply logs
- into the server using the certificates you have listed in
- bbackupd.conf.</para>
-
- <para>After you run bbackupquery, you will see a prompt, allowing
- you to execute commands. The list (or ls) command lets you view
- files in the store. It works much like unix ls, but with different
- options. An example:</para>
-
- <programlisting>[pthomsen@host bbackupquery]$ bbackupquery
-Box Backup Query Tool v0.10, (c) Ben Summers and contributors 2003-2006
-Using configuration file /etc/box/bbackupd.conf
-Connecting to store...
-Handshake with store...
-Login to store...
-Login complete.
-
-Type "help" for a list of commands.
-
-query &gt; ls
-00000002 -d---- mp3
-00000003 -d---- video
-00000004 -d---- home-pthomsen
-00000005 -d---- root
-query &gt; </programlisting>
-
- <para>The ls commands shows the directories that are backed up. Now
- we'll take a closer look at the home-pthomsen directory:</para>
-
- <programlisting>query &gt; cd home-pthomsen
-query &gt; ls
-00002809 f----- sample.tiff
-0000280a f----- s3.tiff
-0000280b f----- s4.tiff
-0000280d f----- s2.tiff
-0000280e f----- foo.pdf
-0000286c f----- core.28720
-0000339a -d---- .emacs.d
-0000339d -d---- bbackup-contrib
-00003437 f----- calnut.compare.txt
-0000345d f----- DSCN1783.jpg
-0000345e f----- DSCN1782.jpg
-query &gt;</programlisting>
-
- <para>The ls command takes the following options;</para>
-
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">-r </emphasis>-- recursively list
- all files</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">-d</emphasis> -- list deleted
- files/directories</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">-o</emphasis> -- list old versions
- of files/directories</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">-I</emphasis> -- don't display
- object ID</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">-F </emphasis>-- don't display
- flags</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">-t </emphasis>-- show file
- modification time (and attr mod time if has the object has
- attributes, ~ separated)</para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis role="bold">-s</emphasis> -- show file size in
- blocks used on server (only very approximate indication of size
- locally)</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-
- <para>The flags displayed from the ls command are as follows:</para>
-
- <simplelist>
- <member>f = file</member>
-
- <member>d = directory</member>
-
- <member>X = deleted</member>
-
- <member>o = old version</member>
-
- <member>R = remove from server as soon as marked deleted or
- old</member>
-
- <member>a = has attributes stored in directory record which
- override attributes in backup file</member>
- </simplelist>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Verify backups</title>
-
- <para>As with any backup system, you should frequently check that
- your backups are working properly by comparing them. Box Backup
- makes this very easy and completely automatic. All you have to do is
- schedule the <command>bbackupquery compare</command> command to run
- regularly, and check its output. You can run the command manually as
- follows:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupquery "compare -a" quit</programlisting>
-
- <para>This command will report all the differences found between the
- store and the files on disc. It will download everything, so may
- take a while. You should expect to see some differences on a typical
- compare, because files which have recently changed are unlikely to
- have been uploaded yet. It will also tell you how many files have
- been modified since the last backup run, since these will normally
- have changed, and such failures are expected.</para>
-
- <para>You are strongly recommended to add this command as a
- <command>cron</command> job, at least once a month, and to check the
- output for anything suspicious, particularly a large number of
- compare failures, failures on files that have not been modified, or
- any error (anything except a compare mismatch) that occurs during
- the compare operation.</para>
-
- <para>Consider keeping a record of these messages and comparing them
- with a future verification.</para>
-
- <para>If you would like to do a "quick" check which just downloads
- file checksums and compares against that, then run:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupquery "compare -aq" quit</programlisting>
-
- <para>However, this does not check that the file attributes are
- correct, and since the checksums are generated on the client they
- may not reflect the data on the server if there is a problem -- the
- server cannot check the encrypted contents. View this as a quick
- indication, rather than a definite check that your backup verifies
- correctly.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Restore backups</title>
-
- <para>You will need the keys file created when you configured the
- server. Without it, you cannot restore the files; this is the
- downside of encrypted backups. However, by keeping the small keys
- file safe, you indirectly keep your entire backup safe.</para>
-
- <para>The first step is to recreate the configuration of the backup
- client. It's probably best to have stored the /etc/box directory
- with your keys. But if you're recreating it, all you really need is
- to have got the login infomation correct (ie the certs and
- keys).</para>
-
- <para>Don't run bbackupd yet! It will mark all your files as deleted
- if you do, which is not hugely bad in terms of losing data, just a
- major inconvenience. (This assumes that you are working from a blank
- slate. If you want to restore some files to a different location,
- it's fine to restore while bbackupd is running, just do it outside a
- backed up directory to make sure it doesn't start uploading the
- restored files.)</para>
-
- <para>Type:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupquery</programlisting>
-
- <para>to run it in interactive mode.</para>
-
- <para>Type:</para>
-
- <programlisting>list</programlisting>
-
- <para>to see a list of the locations stored on the server.</para>
-
- <para>For each location you want to restore, type:</para>
-
- <programlisting>restore name-on-server local-dir-name</programlisting>
-
- <para>The directory specified by local-dir-name must not exist yet.
- If the restore is interrupted for any reason, repeat the above
- steps, but add the <emphasis role="bold">-r</emphasis> flag to the
- restore command to tell it to resume.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Retrieving deleted and old files</title>
-
- <para>Box Backup makes old versions of files and files you have
- deleted available, subject to there being enough disc space on the
- server to hold them.</para>
-
- <para>This is how to retrieve them using bbackupquery. Future
- versions will make this far more user-friendly.</para>
-
- <para>Firstly, run bbackupquery in interactive mode. It behaves in a
- similar manner to a command line sftp client.</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbackupquery</programlisting>
-
- <para>Then navigate to the directory containing the file you want,
- using list, cd and pwd.</para>
-
- <programlisting>query &gt; cd home/profiles/USERNAME</programlisting>
-
- <para>List the directory, using the "o" option to list the files
- available without filtering out everything apart from the current
- version. (if you want to see deleted files as well, use list
- -odt)</para>
-
- <programlisting>query &gt; list -ot
-00000078 f--o- 2004-01-21T20:17:48 NTUSER.DAT
-00000079 f--o- 2004-01-21T20:17:48 ntuser.dat.LOG
-0000007a f--o- 2004-01-21T17:55:12 ntuser.ini
-0000007b f---- 2004-01-12T15:32:00 ntuser.pol
-0000007c -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 Templates
-00000089 -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 Start Menu
-000000a0 -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 SendTo
-000000a6 -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 Recent
-00000151 -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 PrintHood
-00000152 -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 NetHood
-00000156 -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 My Documents
-0000018d -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 Favorites
-00000215 -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 Desktop
-00000219 -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 Cookies
-0000048b -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 Application Data
-000005da -d--- 1970-01-01T00:00:00 UserData
-0000437e f--o- 2004-01-24T02:45:43 NTUSER.DAT
-0000437f f--o- 2004-01-24T02:45:43 ntuser.dat.LOG
-00004380 f--o- 2004-01-23T17:01:29 ntuser.ini
-00004446 f--o- 2004-01-24T02:45:43 NTUSER.DAT
-00004447 f--o- 2004-01-24T02:45:43 ntuser.dat.LOG
-000045f4 f---- 2004-01-26T15:54:16 NTUSER.DAT
-000045f5 f---- 2004-01-26T15:54:16 ntuser.dat.LOG
-000045f6 f---- 2004-01-26T16:54:31 ntuser.ini</programlisting>
-
- <para>(this is a listing from a server which is used as a Samba
- server for a network of Windows clients.) You now need to fetch the
- file using it's ID, rather than it's name. The ID is the hex number
- in the first column. Fetch it like this:</para>
-
- <programlisting>query &gt; get -i 0000437e NTUSER.DAT
-Object ID 0000437e fetched successfully.</programlisting>
-
- <para>The object is now available on your local machine. You can use
- lcd to move around, and sh ls to list directories on your local
- machine.</para>
- </section>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title id="FixCorruptions">Fixing corruptions of store data</title>
-
- <para>This section gives help on what to do if your server has suffered
- corruption, for example, after an unclean shutdown or other operating
- system or hardware problem.</para>
-
- <para>In general, as updates to the store are made in an atomic manner,
- the most likely result is wasted disc space. However, if really bad
- things happen, or you believe that there is a lot of wasted space, then
- these instructions will help to restore your data.</para>
-
- <para>You know you will need to do something if you get strange errors,
- and bbackupd attempts to contact the server every 100 seconds or so. Or
- if one of the discs in your RAID disc set has failed.</para>
-
- <para>After following these instructions, the end result will be that
- bbackupquery will be able to see all the files which were stored on your
- server, and retrieve them. Some of them may be in lost+found directories
- in the root of the store (or in their original position if they have
- been moved) but they will all be able to be retrieved.</para>
-
- <para>After you have retrieved the files you want, bbackupd will upload
- new versions where necessary, and after about two days, mark any
- lost+found directories as deleted. Finally, those directories will be
- removed by the housekeeping process on the server.</para>
-
- <para>These instructions assume you're working on account 1234. Replace
- this with the account number that you actually want to check (the one
- that is experiencing errors). These steps will need to be repeated for
- all affected accounts.</para>
-
- <section>
- <title>Stop bbackupd</title>
-
- <para>First, make sure that bbackupd is not running on the client
- machine for the account you are going to recover. Use
- <command>bbackupctl terminate</command> to stop it. This step is not
- strictly necessary, but is recommended. During any checks on the
- account, bbackupd will be unable to log in, and after they are
- complete, the account is marked as changed on the server so bbackupd
- will perform a complete scan.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Are you using RAID on the server?</title>
-
- <para>The raidfile recovery tools have not been written, and probably
- will not be, since Box Backup RAID is deprecated. However, when two
- out of three files are available, the server will successfully allow
- access to your data, even if it complains a lot in the logs. The best
- thing to do is to fix the accounts, if necessary, and retrieve any
- files you need. Then move the old store directories aside (in case you
- need them) and start afresh with new accounts, and let the clients
- upload all their data again.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Check and fix the account</title>
-
- <para>First, run the check utility, and see what errors it
- reports.</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstoreaccounts check 1234</programlisting>
-
- <para>This will take some time, and use a fair bit of memory (about 16
- bytes per file and directory). If the output looks plausible and
- reports errors which need fixing, run it again but with the fix
- flag:</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstoreaccounts check 1234 fix</programlisting>
-
- <para>This will fix any errors, and remove unrecoverable files.
- Directories will be recreated if necessary.</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">NOTE</emphasis>: The utility may adjust
- the soft and hard limits on the account to make sure that housekeeping
- will not remove anything -- check these afterwards.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Grab any files you need with bbackupquery</title>
-
- <para>At this point, you will have a working store. Every file which
- was on the server, and wasn't corrupt, will be available.</para>
-
- <para>On the client, use bbackupquery to log in and examine the store.
- (type help at the prompt for instructions). Retrieve any files you
- need, paying attention to any lost+found directories in the root
- directory of the store.</para>
-
- <para>You can skip this step if you are sure that the client machine
- is fine -- in this case, bbackupd will bring the store up to
- date.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Restart bbackupd</title>
-
- <para>Restart bbackupd on the client machine. The store account will
- be brought up to date, and files in the wrong place will be marked for
- eventual deletion.</para>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title id="Troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</title>
-
- <para>If you are trying to fix a store after your disc has been
- corrupted, see <link linkend="FixCorruptions">Fixing corruptions of
- store data</link>.</para>
-
- <para>Unfortunately, the error messages are not particularly helpful at
- the moment. This page lists some of the common errors, and the most
- likely causes of them.</para>
-
- <para>When an error occurs, you will see a message like 'Exception:
- RaidFile/OSFileError (2/8)' either on the screen or in your log files.
- (it is recommended you set up another log file as recommended in the
- server setup instructions.)</para>
-
- <para>This error may not be particularly helpful, although some do have
- extra information about probable causes. To get further information,
- check the ExceptionCodes.txt file in the root of the distribution. This
- file is generated by the ./configure script, so you will need to have
- run that first.</para>
-
- <para>Some common causes of exceptions are listed below.</para>
-
- <para>Please email me with any other codes you get, and I will let you
- know what they mean, and add notes here.</para>
-
- <section>
- <title>RaidFile (2/8)</title>
-
- <para>This is found either when running bbstoreaccounts or in the
- bbstored logs.</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Problem</emphasis>: The directories you
- specified in the raidfile.conf are not writable by the _bbstored
- user.</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Resolution</emphasis>: Change permissions
- appropriately.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Common (1/2)</title>
-
- <para>This usually occurs when the configuration files can't be
- opened.</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Problem</emphasis>: You created your
- configurations in non-standard locations, and the programs cannot find
- them.</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Resolution</emphasis>: Explicitly specify
- configuration file locations to daemons and programs. For
- example</para>
-
- <programlisting>/usr/local/bin/bbstored /some/other/dir/bbstored.config /usr/local/bin/bbackupquery -c /some/other/dir/bbackupd.config</programlisting>
-
- <para>(daemons specify the name as the first argument, utility
- programs with the -c option).</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Problem</emphasis>: bbstored can't find
- the raidfile.conf file specified in bbstored.conf.</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Resolution</emphasis>: Edit bbstored.conf
- to point to the correct location of this additional configuration
- file.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Server (3/16)</title>
-
- <para>The server can't listen for connections on the IP address
- specified when you configured it.</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Problem</emphasis>: This probably means
- you've specified the wrong hostname to bbstored-config -- maybe your
- server is behind a NAT firewall?</para>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Resolution</emphasis>: Edit bbstored.conf
- and correct the ListenAddresses line. You should replace the server
- address with the IP address of your machine.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Connection (7/x)</title>
-
- <para>These errors all relate to connections failing -- you may see
- them during operation if there are network failures or other problems
- between the client and server. The backup system will recover from
- them automatically.</para>
-
- <section>
- <title>Connection (7/30) - SSL problems</title>
-
- <para>Log snippet from client side:</para>
-
- <programlisting>bbackupd[1904]: Opening connection to server xxxx.xxx...
-bbackupd[1904]: SSL err during Connect: error:xxxxxxxx:rsa routines:RSA_padding_check_PKCS1_type_1:block type is not 01
-bbackupd[1904]: SSL err during Connect: error:xxxxxxxx:rsa routines:RSA_EAY_PUBLIC_DECRYPT:padding check failed
-bbackupd[1904]: SSL err during Connect: error:xxxxxxxx:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_verify:EVP lib
-bbackupd[1904]: SSL err during Connect: error:xxxxxxxx:SSL routines:SSL3_GET_SERVER_CERTIFICATE:certificate verify failed
-bbackupd[1904]: TRACE: Exception thrown: ConnectionException(Conn_TLSHandshakeFailed) at SocketStreamTLS.cpp(237)
-bbackupd[1904]: Exception caught (7/30), reset state and waiting to retry...</programlisting>
-
- <para>And from the server:</para>
-
- <programlisting>bbstored[19291]: Incoming connection from xx.xxx.xx.xxx port xxxxx (handling in child xxxxx)
-bbstored[21588]: SSL err during Accept: error:xxxxxxxx:SSL routines:SSL3_READ_BYTES:tlsv1 alert decrypt error
-bbstored[21588]: in server child, exception Connection TLSHandshakeFailed (7/30) -- terminating child</programlisting>
-
- <para><emphasis role="bold">Solution</emphasis>: Create a new CA on
- the server side and re-generate the client certificate. Re-creating
- the client certificate request is not necessary.</para>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Advanced troubleshooting</title>
-
- <para>If this really doesn't help, then using the DEBUG builds of the
- system will give you much more information -- a more descriptive
- exception message and the file and line number where the error
- occurred.</para>
-
- <para>For example, if you are having problems with bbstoreaccounts,
- build the debug version with:</para>
-
- <programlisting>cd boxbackup-0.0
-cd bin/bbstoreaccounts
-make</programlisting>
-
- <para>Within the module directories, make defaults to building the
- debug version. At the top level, it defaults to release.</para>
-
- <para>This will build an executable in debug/bin/bbstoreaccounts which
- you can then use instead of the release version. It will give far more
- useful error messages.</para>
-
- <para>When you get an error message, use the file and line number to
- locate where the error occurs in the code. There will be comments
- around that line to explain why the exception happened.</para>
-
- <para>If you are using a debug version of a daemon, these extended
- messages are found in the log files.</para>
- </section>
- </section>
- </chapter>
-
- &__ExceptionCodes__elfjz3fu;
-
- <appendix>
- <title id="WORoot">Running without root</title>
-
- <para>It is possible to run both the server and client without root
- privileges.</para>
-
- <section>
- <title>Server</title>
-
- <para>The server, by default, runs as a non-root user. However, it
- expects to be run as root and changes user to a specified user as soon
- as it can, simply for administrative convenience. The server uses a port
- greater than 1024, so it doesn't need root to start.</para>
-
- <para>To run it entirely as a non-root user, edit the bbstored.conf
- file, and remove the User directive from the Server section. Then simply
- run the server as your desired user.</para>
- </section>
-
- <section>
- <title>Client</title>
-
- <para>The client requires root for normal operation, since it must be
- able to access all files to back them up. However, it is possible to run
- the client as a non-root user, with certain limitations.</para>
-
- <para>Follow the installation instructions, but install the executable
- files manually to somewhere in your home directory. Then use
- bbackupd-config to configure the daemon, but use a directory other than
- /etc/box, probably somewhere in your home directory.</para>
-
- <para>All directories you specify to be backed up must be readable, and
- all files must be owned by the user and readable to that user.</para>
-
- <para>Important: If any file or directory is not readable by this user,
- the backup process will skip that file or directory. Keep an eye on the
- logs for reports of this failure.</para>
-
- <para>Non-root operation of the backup client is recommended only for
- testing, and should not be relied on in a production environment.</para>
- </section>
- </appendix>
-</book>