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We have a BareOS installation for back ups. We have just finished using a client machine. We want to:

  1. Ensure that the last remaining snapshot(s) are retained forever.

  2. Make sure that that client remains in the bRestore list, but the machine is not queried for any backups anymore.

  3. Rename the machine so that it's obvious it no longer exists. e.g. with an "OLD_" prefix.

I started by removing the client file, but that caused the client to disappear from the bRestore list. Thankfully it didn't wipe the data!

Then I reinserted the client file, but made the address something like "NOLONGERBAREOSCLIENT". This is fine, but creates a wasteful query and, to me, suggests that it would recycle the data eventually.

The bigger problem is that the client's data is in the general pool, and that pool has a 365 day Recycle time. I could create a new pool with a Recycle = No, but how do I then move the existing backups to that pool?

What is the general best practice for decommissioning BareOS clients to preserve access to data and make it clear it's a decommissioned machine?

tudor -Reinstate Monica-
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1 Answers1

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As you indicate, recycling is decided on the pool level. You will need to migrate the data to a special pool without recycling. My preferred method is to run a Full backup to that special storage just prior to decommisioning. The client record in the database will not be deleted automatically, or even semi-automatically using dbcheck, as long as there are jobs with data still associated with the client.

One "gotcha" in this respect is that pruning File information (what files are actually contained in a backup job) is only performed after a job on that client finishes. So the File Retention setting for a decommisioned client will essentially be ignored. (The File table will be cleaned up when the volume in the pool is recycled, but in my case that is typically 6 months rather than my file retention of 3 months.)

I don't quite understand why you want the machine to continue to appear in the brestore list, but that may be due to my preference for using option 3, with explicit job-ids, which I find using my tool, bacula-check ;) (Having 3000 clients makes many operations in bconsole unwieldy.)

http://heim.ifi.uio.no/kjetilho/hacks/#bacula-check

Kjetil Torgrim Homme
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