bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
NAME
bkreg - change or display the contents of a backup register
SYNOPSIS
bkreg -p period [-w cweek] [-t table]
bkreg -a tag -o orig -c weeks:days| demand -d ddev -m method|migration
[-b moptions] [-t table] [-D depend] [-P prio]
bkreg -e tag [-o orig] [-c weeks:days| demand] [-m method|migration]
[-d ddev] [-t table] [-b moptions] [-D depend] [-P prio]
bkreg -r tag [-t table]
bkreg [-A|-O|-R] [-hsv] [-t table] [-c weeks[:days]| demand]
bkreg -C fields [-hv] [-t table] [-c weeks[:days]| demand] [-f c]
DESCRIPTION
A backup register is a file containing descriptions of backup
operations to be performed on a UNIX system. The default
backup register is located in /etc/bkup/bkreg.tab. Other
backup registers may be created.
The bkreg command may be executed only by a privileged user.
Each entry in a backup register describes backup operations to
be performed on a given disk object (called the originating
object) for some set of days and weeks during a rotation
period. There may be several register entries for an object,
but only one entry may specify backup operations for an object
on a specific day and week of the rotation period. The entry
describes the object, the backup method to be used to archive
the object, and the destination volumes to be used to store
the archive. Each entry has a unique tag that identifies it.
Tags must conform to file naming conventions.
Rotation Period
Backups are performed in a rotation period specified in weeks.
When the end of a rotation period is reached, a new period
begins. Rotation periods begin on Sundays. The default
rotation period is one week.
Originating Objects
An originating object is either a raw data partition or a file
system. An originating object is described by its originating
object name, its device name, and optional volume labels.
Several backup operations for different originating objects
may be active concurrently by specifying priorities and
dependencies. During a backup session, higher priority backup
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 1
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
operations are attempted before lower priority backup
operations. All backup operations of a given priority may
proceed concurrently unless dependencies are specified. If
one backup is declared to be dependent on others, it will not
be started until all its antecedents have completed
successfully.
Destination Devices
Each backup archive is written to a set of storage volumes
inserted into a destination device. A destination device can
have destination device group, a destination device name,
media characteristics, and volume labels. Default
characteristics for a medium (as specified in the device
table) may be overridden.
Backup Methods
An originating object is backed up to a destination device
archive using a method. The method determines the amount of
information backed up and the representation of that
information. Different methods may be used for a given
originating object on different days of the rotation. Each
method accepts a set of options that are specific to the
method.
Several default methods are provided with the Backup service.
Other methods may be added by a UNIX system site. (See the -m
method option below for details.)
A backup archive may be migrated to a different destination by
specifying migration as the backup method. The device name of
the originating object for a migration must have been the
destination device for a previously successful backup
operation. This form of backup does not re-archive the
originating object. It copies an archive from one destination
to another, updating the backup service's databases so that
restores can still be done automatically.
Register Validations
There are items in a single backup register entry and items
across register entries that must be consistent for the backup
service to conduct a backup session correctly. Some of these
consistencies are checked at the time the backup register is
created or changed. Others can be checked only at the time
the backup register is used by backup(1M). See backup(1M) for
a complete list of validations.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 2
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
Modes
The bkreg command has two modes: changing the contents of a
backup register and displaying the contents of a backup
register.
Changing Contents
bkreg -p
changes the rotation period for a backup register. The
default rotation period is one week.
bkreg -a
adds an entry to a backup register. This option
requires other options to be specified. These are
listed below under Options.
bkreg -e
edits an existing entry in a backup register.
bkreg -r
removes an existing entry from a backup register.
Displaying Contents
bkreg -C
produces a customized display of the contents of a
backup register.
bkreg [-A|-R|-O]
produces a summary display of the contents of a backup
register.
Options
-a Adds a new entry to the default backup register.
Options required with -a are: tag, originating device,
weeks:days, destination device, and method. If other
options are not specified, the following defaults are
used: the default backup register is used, no method
options are specified, the priority is 0, and no
dependencies exist between entries.
-b moptions
Each backup method supports a specific set of options
that modify its behavior. moptions is specified as a
list of options that are blank-separated and
enclosed in quotes. The argument string provided here
is passed to the method exactly as entered, without
modification.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 3
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
-d Suppresses the recording of the backup in the
backup history log
-e file Specifies a custom exception list where file is
a full pathname (incfile and ffile only)
-m Mounts the originating device in read-only mode
before starting the backup and remounts it with
its original permissions after completing the
backup. This option cannot be used with the
core file systems (fimage, ffile, incfile only).
-o Permits an operator to override label checking
on destination devices. [See the -o option to
getvol(1M).]
-s Specifies that no table of contents is to be
kept on line
-t Creates a table of contents for the backup on
additional media instead of in the backup
history log
-v Validates the archive on the destination device
as the backup operation is being performed to
make sure each block is readable and correct.
If this check fails, the destination medium is
considered unreadable. If automatic operator
mode has been specified, the backup operation
fails; otherwise, the operator is prompted to
replace the destination medium.
-c weeks:days| demand
Sets the week(s) and day(s) of the rotation period
during which a backup entry should be performed or for
which a display should be generated.
weeks is a set of numbers including 1 and 52. The value
of weeks cannot be greater than the value of -pperiod.
weeks is specified as a combination of lists or ranges
(either comma-separated or blank-separated and enclosed
in quotes). An example set of weeks is
``1 3-10,13''
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 4
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
indicating the first week, each of the third through
tenth weeks, and the thirteenth week of the rotation
period.
days is a set of numbers between 0 (Sunday) and 6
(Saturday). In addition, days are specified as a
combination of lists or ranges (either comma-separated
or blank-separated and enclosed in quotes).
demand indicates that an entry is used only when
explicitly requested by
backup -c demand
-d ddev
Specifies ddev as the destination device for the backup
operation. ddev is of the form:
[dgroup][:[ddevice][:dchar][:dmname]]
where either dgroup or ddevice must be specified and
dchar and dmname are optional. (Both dgroup and ddev
may be specified together.) Colons delineate field
boundaries and must be included as indicated above.
dgroup is the device group for the destination device.
If omitted, ddevice must be specified.
ddevice is the device name of a specific destination
device. If omitted, dgroup must be specified and any
available device in dgroup may be used.
dchar describes media characteristics. If specified,
they override the default characteristics for the device
and group. dchar is of the form:
keyword=value
where keyword is a valid device characteristic keyword
(as it appears in the device table.) dchar entries may
be separated by commas or blanks. If separated by
blanks, the entire string of arguments to ddev must be
enclosed in quotes.
dlabels is a list of volume names of the destination
volumes. The list of dlabels must be either comma-
separated or blank-separated. If blank-separated, the
entire ddev argument must be surrounded by quotes. Each
dlabel corresponds to a volumename specified on the
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 5
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
labelit command. If dlabels is omitted, backup and
restore do not validate the volume labels on this entry.
-e Edits an existing entry. If any of the options -b, -c,
-d, -m, -o, -D, or -P are present, they replace the
current settings for the specified entry in the
register.
-f c Overrides the default output field separator. c is the
character that will appear as the field separator on the
display output. The default output field separator is
colon (:).
-h Suppresses headers when generating displays.
-m method | migration
Performs the backup using the specified method. Default
methods are the following:
incfile
(incremental) creates an archive that contains
only those files and directories that have changed
since a previous full file or full image backup,
or within a given number of days.
ffile creates an archive of all directories and files in
a mounted file system. The files are copied in
the hierarchical order reflected by the directory
structure.
fdisk creates an archive of all information necessary to
recover the format of an entire disk. Typically,
the disk format is restored, followed by
individual file systems and, finally, by the data
partioning information.
fimage
creates a byte-for-byte copy of a file system,
starting with the first block and ending with the
last. It differs from the ffile method in that it
does not copy the file system according to its
directory structure. It copies the data blocks in
the order in which they appear on the disk.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 6
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
fdp copies a data partition that contains objects
other than file systems, such as databases. It
allows you to copy a raw data partition, byte-
for-byte, starting with the first block of the
data partition and ending with the last.
If the method to be used is not a default method, it
must appear as the executable file in the standard
method directory /etc/bkup/method. migration indicates
that the value of orig (following the -o option) matches
the value of ddev during a prior backup operation. The
originating object is not rearchived; it is simply
copied to the location specified by ddev (following the
-d option). The backup history (if any) and tables of
contents (if any) are updated to reflect the changed
destination for the original archive.
-o orig
Specifies orig as the originating object for the backup
operation. orig is specified in the following format:
oname:odevice[:olabel]
where oname is the name of an originating object. For
file system partitions, it is the nodename on which the
file system is usually mounted, mount. For data
partitions, it is any valid path name. This value is
provided to the backup method and validated by backup.
The default data partition backup methods, fdp and
fdisk, do not validate this name.
odevice is the device name for the originating object.
In all cases, it is a raw disk partition device name.
This name is specified in the following format:
/dev/rdsk/c?b?t?d?s?.
olabel is the volume label for the originating object.
For file system partitions, it corresponds to the
volumename displayed by the labelit command. A data
partition may have an associated volume name that
appears nowhere except on the outside of the volume
(where it is taped); getvol may be used to have an
operator validate the name.
The special data partition /dev/rdsk/c?b?t?d?s0 names an
entire disk and is used when disk formatting or
repartitioning is done to reference the disk's volume
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 7
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
table of contents (VTOC). [See prtvtoc(1M).] backup
validates this special full disk partition with the disk
volume name specified when the disk was partitioned. If
the disk volume name is omitted, backup does not
validate the volume labels for this originating object.
-p period
Sets the rotation period (in weeks) for the backup
register to period. The minimum value is 1; the maximum
value is 52. By default the current week of the
rotation is set to 1.
-r Removes the specified entries from the register.
-s Suppresses wrap-around behavior when generating
displays. Normal behavior is to wrap long values within
each field.
-t table
Uses table instead of the default register, bkreg.tab.
-v Generates displays using (vertical) columns instead of
(horizontal) rows. This allows more information to be
displayed without encountering problems displaying long
lines.
-w cweek
Overrides the default behavior by setting the current
week of the rotation period to cweek. cweek is an
integer between 1 and the value of period. The default
is 1.
-A Displays a report describing all fields in the register.
The display produced by this option is best suited as
input to a filter, since in horizontal mode it produces
extremely long lines.
-C fields
Generates a display of the contents of a backup
register, limiting the display to the specified fields.
The output is a set of lines, one per register entry.
Each line consists of the desired fields, separated by a
field separator character. fields is a list of field
names (either comma-separated or blank-separated and
enclosed in quotes) for the fields desired. The valid
field names are period, cweek, tag, oname, odevice,
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 8
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
olabel, weeks, days, method, moptions, prio, depend,
dgroup, ddevice, dchar, and dlabel.
-D depend
Specifies a set of backup operations that must be
completed successfully before this operation may begin.
depend is a list of tag(s) (either comma-separated or
blank-separated and enclosed in quotes) naming the
antecedent backup operations.
-f c Overrides the default output field separator. c is the
character that will appear as the field separator on the
display output. The default output field separator is
colon (":").
-O Displays a summary of all originating objects with
entries in the register.
-P prio
Sets a priority of prio for this backup operation. The
default priority is 0; the highest priority is 100. All
backup operations with the same priority may run
simultaneously, unless the priority is 0. All backups
with priority 0 run sequentially in an unspecified
order.
-R Displays a summary of all destination devices with
entries in the register.
DIAGNOSTICS
The exit codes for bkreg are the following:
0 The task completed successfully.
1 One or more parameters to bkreg are invalid.
2 An error has occurred, causing bkreg to fail to complete
all portions of its task.
Errors are reported on standard error if any of the following
occurs:
The tag specified in bkreg -e or bkreg -r does not exist
in the backup register.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 9
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
The tag specified in bkreg -a already exists in the
register.
EXAMPLES
Example 1:
bkreg -p 15 -w 3
establishes a 15-week rotation period in the default backup
register and sets the current week to the 3rd week of the
rotation period.
Example 2:
bkreg -a acct5 -t wklybu.tab \
-o /usr:/dev/rdsk/c1d0s2:usr -c "2 4-6 8 10:0,2,5" \
-m incfile -b -txE \
-d diskette:capacity=1404:acctwkly1,acctwkly2,acctwkly3 \
adds an entry named acct5 to the backup register named
wklybu.tab. If wklybu.tab does not already exist, it will be
created. The originating object to be backed up is the /usr
file system on the /dev/rdsk/c1d0s2 device which is known as
usr. The backup will be performed each Sunday, Tuesday, and
Friday of the second, fourth through sixth, eighth, and tenth
weeks of the rotation period using the incfile (incremental
file) method. The method options specify that a table of
contents will be created on additional media instead of in the
backup history log, the exception list is to be ignored, and
an estimate of the number of volumes for the archive is to be
provided before performing the backup. The backup will be
done to the next available diskette device using the three
diskette volumes acctwkly1, acctwkly2, and acctwkly3. These
volumes have a capacity of 1404 blocks each.
Example 3:
bkreg -e services2 -t wklybu.tab \
-o /back:/dev/rdsk/c1d0s8:back -m migration \
-c demand -d ctape:/dev/rdsk/c4d0s3 \
changes the specifications for the backup operation named
services2 on the backup table wklybu.tab so that whenever the
command backup -c demand is executed, the backup that was
performed to the destination device back:dev/rdsk/c1d0s2:back
will be migrated from that device (now serving as the
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 10
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
originating device) to a cartridge tape.
Example 4:
bkreg -e pubsfri -P 10 -D develfri,marketfri,acctfri
changes the priority level for the backup operation named
pubsfri to 10 and makes this backup operation dependent on the
three backup operations develfri, marketfri, and acctfri. The
pubsfri operation will be done only after all backup
operations with priorities greater than 10 have begun and
after the develfri, marketfri, and acctfri operations have
been completed successfully.
Example 5:
bkreg -c 1-8:0-6
provides the default display of the contents of the default
backup register, for all weekdays for the first through eighth
weeks of the rotation period. The information in the register
will be displayed in the following format:
Rotation Period = 10 Current Week = 4
Originating Device: / /dev/root
Tag Weeks Days Method Options Pri Dgroup
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
rootdai 1-8 1-6 incfile diskette
rootsp 1-8 0 ffile -bxt 20 ctape
Originating Device: /usr /dev/rdsk/c1d0s2
Tag Weeks Days Method Options Pri Dgroup
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
usrdai 1-8 1-5 incfile diskette
usrsp 1-8 0 ffile -bxt 15 ctape
FILES
/etc/bkup/method/*
/etc/bkup/bkreg.tab
describes the backup policy established by the
administrator
/etc/dgroup.tab
lists logical groupings of devices as
determined by the administrator
/etc/device.tab
describes specific devices and their attributes
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 11
bkreg(1M) bkreg(1M)
REFERENCES
backup(1M), getvol(1M), labelit(1M), mkfs(1M), mount(1M),
prtvtoc(1M), restore(1M)
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 12