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NAME

       server.conf - server side configuration file for afbackup

DESCRIPTION

       This  file  needs  not  be  edited  by hand with an editor, instead the
       program /usr/sbin/afserverconfig can be used. If you are running X, the
       programs  are  the  same,  but  start  with  an  ’x’;  (Tcl/Tk  must be
       installed): and /usr/sbin/xafserverconfig.   The  parameters  described
       below  are  the  same  for  both  versions.   Entries  consist of lines
       starting with the parameter name, then follows a colon and the value of
       the  parameter.  Comment lines can be inserted as desired starting with
       the # character.

ENTRIES

       Backup-Device
              This is the device the backup is written to. It can be any  tape
              device  with the capability to distinguish between several files
              on the media. It is mandatory to  supply  the  no-rewind  device
              here,  otherwise  this  package  won’t  work properly.  Suitable
              device names for some OS-es:
                AIX:          /dev/rmt0.1
                Solaris:      /dev/rmt/0bn
                IRIX:         /dev/rmt/tps0d4nr
                HP-UX:        /dev/rmt/0hn
                Linux:        /dev/nst0
                Digital UNIX: /dev/nrmt0h
                FreeBSD:      /dev/nsa0
              If the drive has a media handler attached, a specifier for  this
              may  follow  the  device  name.  The format for this is =<drive-
              count>@<device>#<num-slots>^<num-loadbays>   ,    for    example
              =1@/dev/sg0#6^2  .  Whitespace  before and following the special
              characters = @ and # is allowed  for  readability.  The  example
              means:  The  drive  is  number 1 in the changer, /dev/sg0 is the
              changer device, that has 6 media slots and 2 loadbays. The parts
              =<drive-count> and ^<num-loadbays> are optional.
              If  the  server is only used for remote start and no real backup
              device should be accessed, a dash - should be configured here as
              device,  so  a  respective  warning  to  the  server log will be
              suppressed

       ServerIdentifier
              The identifier for the server. Default: The  official  hostname,
              followed by a colon and the full path to the configuration file.
              The server identifier can be used to become independent  of  the
              server machine name. This might be helpful, if the backup server
              should move to another machine.  Whitespace  characters  may  be
              used  in this identifier, but they are replaced with asterisks *
              before comparing, so they are not significant

       Tape-Blocksize
              The blocksize of the tape device. This value specifies how  many
              bytes  are written to tape or read from it with one system call.
              Usually this value is at least 512 or a multiple of it.   It  is
              not  very important if the blocksize is set to 2048 or 1024. The
              main thing to keep in mind is that if there  is  a  minimum,  it
              should be respected (e.g. 1024 on AIX), otherwise media space is
              wasted.

       Tape-Buffer
              Three numbers and a filename can be given here. The first number
              is  the  desired  size of the tape buffer in bytes. The optional
              second number is the high-watermark  while  writing  in  percent
              (default:  67),  the optional third number is the low watermark,
              also in percent (default: 0). As long as the  buffer  fill  rate
              does  not reach the high watermark, nothing is written, but when
              it is reached, writing does not stop until the buffer fill  rate
              is  equal  or  below the low watermark. This procedure hopefully
              reduces tape wear and increases average writing  speed,  because
              excessive   tape  stops/starts  are  avoided.  If  the  optional
              filename is given, buffering is done in the given file, which is
              mapped  into the server’s address space for that purpose. In the
              filename, patterns are replaced like with Changer-Configuration-
              File.

       Cartridge-Handler
              This  value  must be 1 or 0, which means, that you either have a
              cartridge handling system (i.e. some kind of robot) (1)  or  not
              (0).  If  you don’t have a robot, you may nonetheless maintain a
              set of cartridges, that you will have to manually  number.   The
              backup  server side will inform you via email or console output,
              whenever another cartridge has to be inserted into the drive and
              what number it requires it is.

       Number Of Cartridges
              This  number specifies, how many cartridges you are maintaining.
              If you have a cartridge handling system (some  kind  of  robot),
              this  is  usually  the  number  of  cartridges,  your  system is
              juggling.

       Cartridge-Sets
              Several cartridge sets can be used. Here they can be  specified.
              The  specifiers  for  the  cartridge  sets  must be separated by
              whitespace. Each specifier may consist  of  digits,  commas  and
              dashes.  Examples  for  cartridge  set  specifiers:  1-5  7-9,12
              6,10,11 .  This example shows how  to  specify  three  cartridge
              sets.  If  the  access to a cartridge set should be allowed only
              for certain clients, this may specified with a colon immediately
              following  the set specifier without whitespace, followed by one
              of three forms: Either a list of hostnames, separated by  commas
              and  no  whitespace  inbetween,  or  the  full  path  to  a file
              containing the hostnames one per line, or by  a  command  to  be
              executed.  The  command  must  start  with  a  bar | and must be
              enclosed in double quotes, if it is containing whitespace. If %H
              occurres  in  the  command  it  will be replaced with the client
              name, who wants to gain access to the cartridge set. The command
              must  exit  with  a  status  of  0,  if access is to be granted,
              otherwise with an exit status unequal to 0. The name of the host
              to be checked is also written to standard input of this command,
              so %H needs not to be used. Examples specifying  cartridge  sets
              with restricted access:
                     1-5:apollo,localhost,taurus
                     6-8,16:/usr/local/backup/etc/set2clients
                     9-15:"| fgrep .my.domain.com"
              Remember, that grep will exit with 0, if a match has been found,
              otherwise 1. Note, that localhost and the network  name  of  the
              machine  should  be  both given, if the server is also a client.
              The names to be supplied here are not the client IDs  configured
              on the client side, but the network names of the machines.
              If  this  parameter  is not given, there is only the default set
              number 1 with all available cartridges, access is  permitted  to
              any  client. Not all cartridges need to be included in a set and
              sets must not overlap.

       Max Bytes Per File
              The stream of data, that represents your backup, is divided into
              pieces  (files  on  tape). This is done to find the files faster
              during a restore. This value determines, how large the pieces on
              tape  may  be  in  bytes.  Some  good  values  for  a  few  tape
              technologies:
                QIC:              20000000
                DAT:              30000000
                Exabyte:          50000000
                DLT:             100000000

       Max Bytes Per Tape
              With this entry the number of bytes written to a single tape can
              be  limited.  Serveral  entries  with  a leading range specifier
              allow to handle certain tapes differently. The  range  specifier
              must  end  in  a  colon  :  and  may contain lists of ranges and
              numbers.  A given number without a leading range specifier  will
              be  valid for all tapes not explicitly described. Default is use
              of full tape capacity. Several  entries  must  be  separated  by
              whitespace and may look like the following examples:
              4000000000 1,3-5:3500000000 7,9-:5000000000
              This  means:  3.5  GB for cartridges 1 and 3 through 5, 5 GB for
              cartridges 7 and 9 up to the last cartridge, 4 GB for the  rest.

       Full Append Mode
              Normally,  when  the  insert  (writing)  position  is  forced to
              another tape with the cartis  command  or  with  the  clientside
              option  -G,  the  rest  of the current tape remains unused. When
              this option is set to 1, it will nonetheless be  used  to  write
              data on, if there is no free tape left.

       Variable Append Mode
              In  default  mode, the place (tape and tapefile), where the next
              data will be written, is fix and can only manipulated using  the
              command  cartis  or  the  clientside  option -G. When the server
              wants to write with variable append mode enabled, any cartridge,
              that  is  in  the drive, is belonging to the right cartridge set
              and is allowed to be written, will be accepted and appended  to.
              Note,  that  this  will  also override the settings of cartis or
              option -G.

       Reject Unlabeled Tapes
              Default is to accept an unlabeled tape as the requested one  and
              to  label  it  automatically.  If this behaviour is unwanted and
              only tapes with a  recognized  label  should  be  permitted  for
              writing, this parameter should be set.

       PreferCartInChanger
              When a tape gets full and another one must be chosen to continue
              writing, the server does not make a difference, whether  a  tape
              is  available in a changer or not, if this flag is not set. This
              is the default. If this parameter is set, the next cartridge  is
              chosen from those, that are available in the slots of a changer,
              if present and configured. If there is no tape found inside  the
              changer, that is allowed to be overwritten, manual administrator
              interaction is nonetheless required.

       Cart-Insert-Gracetime
              This is the time in seconds, the  program  waits  after  another
              cartridge  has  been  put  into the drive. Normal devices need a
              certain time span to mount the tape to get  it  ready  for  use.
              Normally this value is not critical. If you estimate it too low,
              the  ioctl-system-call  will  wait  until  the  device   becomes
              available. This time is sometimes longer than two minutes, so if
              you want to proceed quickly after a cartridge  change,  you  may
              measure  the  maximum time your system needs.  Some tried values
              for a few tape technologies:
                QIC:         20
                DAT:         30
                Exabyte:     70
                DLT:         70

       Device-Unavailable-Send-Mail-After-Min
              If the streaming device is not accessible (i.e.  an  open  or  a
              tape handling command fails) or another backup server process is
              still  running,  the  server  process  re-tries   his   attempts
              regularly.  If it fails longer than the time in minutes supplied
              here, an e-mail is sent to the configured user in  charge  (see:
              User To Inform). Supplying 0 means: never send mail.

       Device-Unavailable-Give-Up-After-Min
              Same  as  Device-Unavailable-Send-Mail-After-Min,  but this time
              not an e-mail is sent, but the  server  process  exits  silently
              leaving  a  warning  in  the  log  file.  Supplying 0 means: try
              forever, never exit.

       Device-Probe Interval
              This is the interval in seconds, after that regularly the device
              is  probed  to be ready for reading. Thus after having ejected a
              cartridge it is automatically recognized, if a new cartridge has
              been  inserted.  For  other media (e.g. exchangeable disks) this
              may not be suitable. Supply a 0 in these cases for no probing.

       SetFile-Command
              This is the (shell-) command to run to position the  tape  to  a
              certain  file.  Usually this is something like a combination of:
              mt -f <device> rewind  and  mt -f <device> fsf <number>.  If the
              command  you  are  supplying here starts to count with 1 for the
              first file on tape, you should insert %n for the <number>. If it
              starts  with  0,  replace <number> with %m. If you don’t want to
              type the devicename again here, you may write %d instead.

       SkipFile-Command
              This is the (shell-) command to run to skip over to a file later
              on tape. Usually this is something like
               mt  -f  <device>  fsf  <number>  Insert %n, where the number of
              files to skip over must be  supplied  in  the  command,  in  the
              example  instead  of  <number>,  and %d, where the device should
              appear (here: <device>).

       Setcart-Command
              This is the (shell-) command to run to put a  certain  cartridge
              into the device. If the command you are supplying here starts to
              count with 1 for the first cartridge, you should  insert  %n  in
              the  place, where the cartridge number must appear. If it starts
              with 0, replace it with %m.  If  you  don’t  want  to  type  the
              devicename  again  here,  you may write %d instead. If you don’t
              have a command to perform this task, don’t supply anything here.
              In  this  case  you  must  set your cartridge handling system to
              sequential mode (automatically putting the  next  cartridge  in,
              when the current one is ejected).

       Changecart-Command
              This  is  the  (shell-)  command  to  run  to  eject a cartridge
              currently placed inside the streamer device.  This  is  normally
              something like  mt -f <device> rewoffl  (but better consult your
              man-pages). You have to  supply  this  either  if  you  have  no
              cartridge  handling  system (robot) or if you have no command to
              set the cartridge directly by number. In the  latter  case  this
              package tries to maintain the number of the current cartridge in
              a file and to (hopefully) keep it consistent with  the  reality.
              In this case the cartridge handling system must be configured to
              sequential mode (automatically putting the  next  cartridge  in,
              when  the  current  one  is ejected). The pattern %c, if used in
              this command, will  be  replaced  with  number  of  the  current
              cartridge,  %n with the number of the next one, that is expected
              to be put into the streamer by a robot in  sequential  mode.  %b
              can  be used instead of %c if counting of cartridges starts with
              0 and not with 1. The same applies for %m, what means  %n  minus
              1. %d is replaced with the device name.

       Init-Media-Command
              The  (shell-)  command,  the  server  runs  before accessing the
              storage media for the first time or after changing it.  %d  will
              be  replaced  with  the device. This command can be used e.g. to
              automatically mount a  removable  disk  after  inserting.   This
              command  might  be  called several times on the same media, this
              has to kept in mind when configuring it. %n is replaced with the
              number  of the cartridge, that is expected to in the drive, when
              the next media access operation will take place.  %m is replaced
              with  %n  -  1 i.e. assuming that the cartridge numbering starts
              with zero, not one. Note, that the cartridge, that  will  really
              be  in the drive is not necessarily known at the time, the Init-
              Media-Command is running. Thus the term "expected".

       Erasetape-Command
              The (shell-) command  to  run,  if  the  tape  must  be  erased.
              (actually not needed).

       Tape-Full-Command
              The (shell-) command to run, when a tape is full. %d is replaced
              with the device name, %c with the number of the cartridge,  that
              became  full,  %n  with  the number of cycles, the cartridge has
              become full  until  now  and  %C  with  the  full  path  to  the
              configuration file.

       User To Inform
              If  you  don’t have a cartridge handling system (robot), a human
              maintainer must put the  appropriate  cartridge  into  the  tape
              device.  If  you supply a mail program, an e-mail is sent to the
              user given here, which informs him, that and which cartridge (by
              number)  must  be  put  into  the tape device.  If a timespan is
              configured, after that an automatic e-mail should be sent due to
              an  unaccessible  tape  device, it is directed to this user (see
              Device-unavail-send-mail-after-min)

       Mail-Program
              The mail program used to send messages to  a  human  maintainer.
              This  is  done,  whenever another cartridge must be put into the
              tape device and it can’t be done automatically (by  a  robot  or
              whatever).  If  you  don’t want to type the username again here,
              you can instead write %u . The pattern %U will be replaced  with
              the login name of a current user on the client side, %H with the
              name of the client host. If  none  could  be  figured  out,  the
              entire word containing %U or %H is deleted from the command.  If
              you don’t want mails to be sent,  you  may  instead  supply  any
              other  command, that reads the standard input and does something
              reasonable with it, e.g. redirects it to the console:
               cat > /dev/console

       Var-Directory
              The directory, where varying files should be put in. These files
              should not be deleted. The information they contain is necessary
              for the server to work properly

       Tape-Pos-File
              In this file some values are stored,  e.g.  the  number  of  the
              cartridge currently placed inside the streamer device.

       Logging-file
              Logging information concerning errors or other notable events is
              redirected to this file. If the first  word  of  this  entry  is
              starting with @, then logging is directed to the syslog as well.
              If there are characters immediately following the @,  this  word
              is  used  as  the syslog identifier, otherwise the identifier is
              afbackup. If writing to the syslog is configured,  the  rest  of
              the entry is used as additional logging file, if present.

       Status-file
              The  current status of the server is written to this file. If it
              starts with >>, then the file is  created  and  status  messages
              will  be  appended  to  it. Otherwise the file is removed before
              writing. %V in the filename is replaced with the configured Var-
              Directory

       Lock-file
              To prevent the server program from being started several times a
              lock file is created and this is it’s name.

       Encryption-Key-Files
              Entries specifying  files,  that  contain  encryption  keys  for
              authenticating backup clients to the server. Each entry consists
              of a filename, optionally followed by a colon : and a  specifier
              for  client selection. If an entry lacks a client selector, this
              one will apply for all clients, that  are  not  matched  by  any
              other  entry.  The  client  selector  is either a list of comma-
              separated  hostnames,  a  filename  starting  with  a  slash   /
              containing  hostnames one per line, or a command starting with a
              bar, that is stripped  off  before  starting  the  command.  The
              command  gets  the  current client name as input on stdin, aside
              from arguments containing patterns (see below). If  the  command
              returns  an  exit  status  of  0, the client name will match the
              entry. Entries are separated by whitespace.  If  an  entry  must
              contain  whitespace,  it  must  be enclosed by double quotes. If
              colons are needed within the filenames,  they  must  be  escaped
              using  a  backslash.  Each  key  file  must  contain  at least 5
              characters and must not have read permission for group or world.
              The  pattern  %H  is replaced with the client name resolved from
              the IP-address.  %h is similar to %H, but  everything  from  and
              including  the  first  dot  is  stripped  off.  For more pattern
              replacements see: Status-file.

       Program-Directory
              If you are using the remote start option for backing up clients,
              this  is  the directory, where programs must reside, that can be
              started remotely. No other programs can be started remotely (for
              security reasons).

       Init-Command
              Here  you  may  supply  a  (shell-)  command to be run, when the
              backup server side wakes up, i.e. the server process starts.   A
              %p  appearing  in  this command is replaced with the name of the
              client, that connected the backup service.

       Exit-Command
              Here you may supply a (shell-)  command  to  be  run,  when  the
              backup  server side goes to sleep, i.e. the server process ends.
              A %p appearing in this command is replaced with the name of  the
              client, that connected the backup service.

FILES

       /usr/server/lib/server.conf
              Server configuration file

       /var/log/afbackup
              The directory for logging the server actions

       /var/lib/afbackup
              Some internal state information of the server.

SEE ALSO

       afclientconfig(8),  xafclientconfig(8), full_backup(8), incr_backup(8),
       afverify(8),    afrestore(8),     xafrestore(8),     update_indexes(8),
       copy_tape(8),      afclient.conf(8),     afserver(8),     afmserver(8),
       afserver.conf(8), cartis(8), cartready(8), label_tape(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).