Next: Supported Autochangers Up: Bacula User's Guide Previous: Backup Strategies Contents Index
Subsections

- Autochangers - General
- Knowing What SCSI Devices You Have
- Example Scripts
- Slots
- Multiple Devices
- Device Configuration Records
- An Example Configuration File
- Specifying Slots When Labeling
- Dealing with Multiple Magazines
- Simulating Barcodes in your Autochanger
- The Full Form of the Update Slots Command
- FreeBSD Issues
- Testing the Autochanger and Adapting Your mtx-changer Script
- Using the Autochanger
- Barcode Support
- Bacula Autochanger Interface

#
Autochangers Support

## Autochangers - General

Beginning with version 1.23, Bacula provides autochanger support for reading and writing tapes. In order to work with an autochanger, Bacula requires three things, each of which is explained in more detail after this list:

- A script that actually controls the autochanger according to commands sent by Bacula. We furnish such a script that works with mtx found in the depkgs distribution. This script works only with single drive autochangers.
- That each Volume (tape) to be used must be defined in the Catalog and have a Slot number assigned to it so that Bacula knows where the Volume is in the autochanger. This is generally done with the label command. See below for more details.
- Modifications to your Storage daemon's Device configuration resource to identify that the device is a changer, as well as a few other parameters.
- Optionally, you can modify your Storage resource definition in the Director's configuration file so that you are automatically prompted for the Slot when labeling a Volume.

Bacula uses its own mtx-changer script to interface with a program that actually does the tape changing. Thus in principle, mtx-changer can be adapted to function with any autochanger program. The current version of mtx-changer works with the mtx program. However, FreeBSD users have provided a script in the examples directory that allows Bacula to use the chio program.

As of version 1.30 and later, Bacula supports autochangers with barcode readers. This support includes two new Console commands: label barcodes and update slots. For more details on these commands, see the ``Barcode Support'' section below.

Current Bacula autochanger support does not include cleaning, stackers, or silos. However, under certain conditions, you may be able to make Bacula work with stackers (gravity feed and such). Bacula supports only single drive autochangers. Bacula does have code to operate multi-drive autochangers. However, the implementation is only partial. See below for more details.

In principle, if mtx will operate your changer correctly, then it is just a question of adapting the mtx-changer script (or selecting one already adapted) for proper interfacing. You can find a list of autochangers supported by mtx at the following link: http://mtx.badtux.net/compatibility.php. The home page for the mtx project can be found at: http://mtx.badtux.net/.

If you are having troubles, please use the auto command in the btape program to test the functioning of your autochanger with Bacula. When Bacula is running, please remember that for many distributions (e.g. FreeBSD, Debian, ...) the Storage daemon runs as bacula.tape rather than root.root, so you will need to ensure that the Storage daemon has sufficient permissions to access the autochanger.

## Knowing What SCSI Devices You Have

Under Linux, you can

    cat /proc/scsi/scsi

to see what SCSI devices you have available. You can also:

    cat /proc/scsi/sg/device_hdr /proc/scsi/sg/devices

to find out how to specify their control address (/dev/sg0 for the first, /dev/sg1 for the second, ...) on the Changer Device = Bacula directive.

Under FreeBSD, you can use:

    camcontrol devlist

To list the SCSI devices as well as the /dev/passn that you will use on the Bacula Changer Device = directive.

## Example Scripts

Please read the sections below so that you understand how autochangers work with Bacula. Although we supply a default mtx-changer script, your autochanger may require some additional changes. If you want to see examples of configuration files and scripts, please look in the <bacula-src>/examples/devices directory where you will find an example HP-autoloader.conf Bacula Device resource, and several mtx-changer scripts that have been modified to work with different autochangers.

## Slots

To properly address autochangers, Bacula must know which Volume is in each slot of the autochanger. Slots are where the changer cartridges reside when not loaded into the drive. Bacula numbers these slots from one to the number of cartridges contained in the autochanger.

Bacula will not automatically use a Volume in your autochanger unless it is labeled and the slot number is stored in the catalog and the Volume is marked as InChanger. For each Volume in your changer, you will, using the Console program, assign a slot. This information is kept in Bacula's catalog database along with the other data for the volume. If no slot is given, or the slot is set to zero, Bacula will not attempt to use the autochanger even if all the necessary configuration records are present. In addition, the console mount command does not cause Bacula to operate the autochanger, it only tells Bacula to read any tape that may be in the drive.

You can check if the Slot number and InChanger flag are set by doing a:

    list Volumes

in the Console program.

## Multiple Devices

Some autochangers have more than one read/write device (drive). The current implementation has limited support for multiple devices by using the Drive Index directive in the Device resource of the Storage daemon's configuration file. Drive numbers or the Device Index are numbered beginning at zero, which is the default. To use the second Drive in an autochanger, you need to define a second Device resource and set the Drive Index to one for that device. In general, the second device will have the same Changer Device (control channel) as the first drive, but a different Archive Device.

The current implementation of Bacula does not coordinate between the two drives, so you must make sure that Bacula doesn't attempt to mount the same Volume on both drives at the same time. There are a number of ways to do this. One was is to use different pools for each drive.

Worse than the above, the mtx program apparently does not prevent two accesses to the same control device at the same time, which means that if Bacula happens to attempt to call the mtx-changer script for two drives simultaneously, something will break.

A user supplied modified version of the mtx-changer script, which does locking to avoid this problem can be found in examples/autochangers/locking-mtx-changer. If you are using multiple drives, you will probably want to modify this script to work for you.

## Device Configuration Records

Configuration of autochangers within Bacula is done in the Device resource of the Storage daemon. Four records: Autochanger, Changer Device, Changer Command, and Maximum Changer Wait control how Bacula uses the autochanger.

These four records, permitted in Device resources, are described in detail below:

Autochanger = Yes|No
  The Autochanger record specifies that the current device is or is not an autochanger. The default is no.

Changer Device = <device-name>
  In addition to the Archive Device name, you must specify a Changer Device name. This is because most autochangers are controlled through a different device than is used for reading and writing the cartridges. For example, on Linux, one normally uses the generic SCSI interface for controlling the autochanger, but the standard SCSI interface for reading and writing the tapes. On Linux, for the Archive Device = /dev/nst0, you would typically have Changer Device = /dev/sg0. Note, some of the more advanced autochangers will locate the changer device on /dev/sg1. Such devices typically have several drives and a large number of tapes.

  On FreeBSD systems, the changer device will typically be on /dev/pass0 through /dev/passn.

  On Solaris, the changer device will typically be some file under /dev/rdsk.

Changer Command = <command>
  This record is used to specify the external program to call and what arguments to pass to it. The command is assumed to be a standard program or shell script that can be executed by the operating system. This command is invoked each time that Bacula wishes to manipulate the autochanger. The following substitutions are made in the command before it is sent to the operating system for execution:

            %% = %
            %a = archive device name
            %c = changer device name
            %d = changer drive index base 0
            %f = Client's name
            %j = Job name
            %o = command  (loaded, load, or unload)
            %s = Slot base 0
            %S = Slot base 1
            %v = Volume name

  An actual example for using mtx with the mtx-changer script (part of the Bacula distribution) is:

      Changer Command = "/etc/bacula/mtx-changer %c %o %S %a %d"

  Where you will need to adapt the /etc/bacula to be the actual path on your system where the mtx-changer script resides. Details of the three commands currently used by Bacula (loaded, load, unload) as well as the output expected by Bacula are give in the Bacula Autochanger Interface section below.

Maximum Changer Wait = <time>
  This record is used to define the maximum amount of time that Bacula will wait for an autoloader to respond to a command (e.g. load). The default is set to 120 seconds. If you have a slow autoloader you may want to set it longer.

  If the autoloader program fails to respond in this time, it will be killed and Bacula will request operator intervention.

Drive Index = <number>
  This record allows you to tell Bacula to use the second or subsequent drive in an autochanger with multiple drives. Since the drives are numbered from zero, the second drive is defined by

      Device Index = 1

  To use the second drive, you need a second Device resource definition in the Bacula configuration file. See the Multiple Drive section above in this chapter for more information.

## An Example Configuration File

The following Device resource implements an autochanger:

    Device {
      Name = "Autochanger"
      Media Type = DDS-4
      Archive Device = /dev/nst0    # Normal archive device
      Changer Device = /dev/sg0     # Generic SCSI device name
      Changer Command = "/etc/bacula/mtx-changer %c %o %S %a %d"
      Autochanger = yes
      LabelMedia = no;
      AutomaticMount = yes;
      AlwaysOpen = yes;
      Mount Anonymous Volumes = no;
    }

where you will adapt the Archive Device, the Changer Device, and the path to the Changer Command to correspond to the values used on your system.

The above Device resource will work equally well for any standard tape drive (with device name /dev/nst0) since the extra autochanger commands will not be used unless a slot has been specified in the catalog record for the Volume to be used. See below for more details on the slot.

## Specifying Slots When Labeling

If you add an Autochanger = yes record to the Storage resource in your Director's configuration file, the Bacula Console will automatically prompt you for the slot number and whether or not the Volume is in the changer when you add or label tapes for that Storage device. You must also set Autochanger = yes in the Device resource as we have described above in order for the autochanger to be used. Please see the Storage Resource in the Director's chapter and the Device Resource in the Storage daemon chapter for more details on these records.

Thus all stages of dealing with tapes can be totally automated. It is also possible to set or change the Slot using the update command in the Console and selecting Volume Parameters to update.

Even though all the above configuration statements are specified and correct, Bacula will attempt to access the autochanger only if a slot is non-zero in the catalog Volume record (with the Volume name).

p>If your autochanger has barcode labels, you can label all the Volumes in your autochanger one after another by using the label barcodes command. For each tape in the changer containing a barcode, Bacula will mount the tape and then label it with the same name as the barcode. An appropriate Media record will also be created in the catalog. Any barcode that begins with the same characters as specified on the ``CleaningPrefix=xxx'' command, will be treated as a cleaning tape, and will not be labeled. For example with:

    Pool {
      Name ...
      Cleaning Prefix = "CLN"
    }

Any slot containing a barcode of CLNxxxx will be treated as a cleaning tape and will not be mounted.

## Dealing with Multiple Magazines

If you have several magazines or if you insert or remove cartridges from a magazine, you will need to notify Bacula of this. By doing so, Bacula will as a preference, use Volumes that it knows to be in the autochanger before accessing Volumes that are not in the autochanger. This prevents unneeded operator intervention.

If your autochanger has barcodes (machine readable tape labels), the task of informing Bacula is simple. Every time, you change a magazine, or add or remove a cartridge from the magazine, simply do

    update slots

in the Console program. This will cause Bacula to request the autochanger to return the current Volume names in the magazine. This will be done without actually accessing or reading the Volumes because the barcode reader does this during inventory when the autochanger is first turned on. Bacula will ensure that any Volumes that are currently marked as being in the magazine are marked as no longer in the magazine, and the new list of Volumes will be marked as being in the magazine. In addition, the Slot numbers of the Volumes will be corrected in Bacula's catalog if they are incorrect (added or moved).

If you do not have a barcode reader on your autochanger, you have several alternatives.

1. You can manually set the Slot and InChanger flag using the update volume command in the Console (quite painful).
2. You can issue a

       update slots scan

   command that will cause Bacula to read the label on each of the cartridges in the magazine in turn and update the information (Slot, InChanger flag) in the catalog. This is quite effective but does take time to load each cartridge into the drive in turn and read the Volume label.

3. You can modify the mtx-changer script so that it simulates an autochanger with barcodes. See below for more details.

## Simulating Barcodes in your Autochanger

You can simulate barcodes in your autochanger by making the mtx-changer script return the same information that an autochanger with barcodes would do. This is done by commenting out the one and only line in the list) case, which is:

      ${MTX} -f $ctl status | grep " *Storage Element [0-9]*:.*Full" | awk "{print \$3 \$4}" | sed "s/Full *\(:VolumeTag=\)*//"

at approximately line 99 by putting a # in column one of that line, or by simply deleting it. Then in its place add a new line that prints the contents of a file. For example:

    cat /etc/bacula/changer.volumes

Be sure to include a full path to the file, which can have any name. The contents of the file must be of the following format:

    1:Volume1
    2:Volume2
    3:Volume3
    ...

Where the 1, 2, 3 are the slot numbers and Volume1, Volume2, ... are the Volume names in those slots. You can have multiple files that represent the Volumes in different magazines, and when you change magazines, simply copy the contents of the correct file into your /etc/bacula/changer.volumes file. There is no need to stop and start Bacula when you change magazines, simply put the correct data in the file, then run the update slots command, and your autochanger will appear to Bacula to be an autochanger with barcodes.

## The Full Form of the Update Slots Command

If you change only one cartridge in the magazine, you may not want to scan all Volumes, so the update slots command (as well as the update slots scan command) has the additional form:

    update slots=n1,n2,n3-n4, ...

where the keyword scan can be appended or not. The n1,n2, ... represent Slot numbers to be updated and the form n3-n4 represents a range of Slot numbers to be updates (e.g. 4-7 will update Slots 4,5,6, and 7).

This form is particularly useful if you want to do a scan (time expensive) and restrict the update to one or two slots.

For example, the command:

    update slots=1,6 scan

will cause Bacula to load the Volume in Slot 1, read its Volume label and update the Catalog. It will do the same for the Volume in Slot 6. The command:

    update slots=1-3,6

will read the barcoded Volume names for slots 1,2,3 and 6 and make the appropriate updates in the Catalog. If you don't have a barcode reader or have not modified the mtx-changer script as described above, the above command will not find any Volume names so will do nothing.

## FreeBSD Issues

If you are having problems on FreeBSD when Bacula tries to select a tape, and the message is Device not configured, this is because FreeBSD has made the tape device /dev/nsa1 disappear when there is no tape mounted in the autochanger slot. As a consequence, Bacula is unable to open the device. The solution to the problem is to make sure that some tape is loaded into the tape drive before starting Bacula. This problem is corrected in Bacula versions 1.32f-5 and later.

Please see the Tape Testing chapter of this manual for important information concerning your tape drive before doing the autochanger testing.

## Testing the Autochanger and Adapting Your mtx-changer Script

Before attempting to use the autochanger with Bacula, it is preferable to ``hand-test'' that the changer works. To do so, we suggest you do the following commands (assuming that the mtx-changer script is installed in /etc/bacula/mtx-changer):

Make sure Bacula is not running.

/etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 list 0 /dev/nst0 0
  This command should print:

         1:
         2:
         3:
         ...

  or one number per line for each slot that is occupied in your changer, and the number should be terminated by a colon (:). If your changer has barcodes, the barcode will follow the colon. If an error message is printed, you must resolve the problem (e.g. try a different SCSI control device name if /dev/sg0 is incorrect. For example, on FreeBSD systems, the autochanger SCSI control device is generally /dev/pass2.

/etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 slots 0 /dev/nst0 0
  This command should return the number of slots in your autochanger.

/etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 unload
  If a tape is loaded, this should cause it to be unloaded.

/etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 load 3 /dev/nst0 0
  Assuming you have a tape in slot 3, it will be loaded into the read slot (0).

/etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 loaded 0 /dev/nst0 0
  It should print ``3''

/etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 unload

Once all the above commands work correctly, assuming that you have the right Changer Command in your configuration, Bacula should be able to operate the changer. The only remaining area of problems will be if your autoloader needs some time to get the tape loaded after issuing the command. After the mtx-changer script returns, Bacula will immediately rewind and read the tape. If Bacula gets rewind I/O errors after a tape change, you will probably need to insert a sleep 20 after the mtx command, but be careful to exit the script with a zero status by adding exit 0 after any additional commands you add to the script. This is because Bacula checks the return status of the script, which should be zero if all went well.

You can test whether or not you need a sleep by putting the following commands into a file and running it as a script:

    #!/bin/sh
    /etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 unload
    /etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 load 3
    mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
    mt -f /dev/st0 weof

If the above script runs, you probably have no timing problems. If it does not run, start by putting a sleep 30 or possibly a sleep 60 in the the script just after the mtx-changer load command. If that works, then you should move the sleep into the actual mtx-changer script so that it will be effective when Bacula runs.

A second problem that comes up with a small number of autochangers is that they need to have the cartridge ejected before it can be removed. If this is the case, the load 3 will never succeed regardless of how long you wait. If this seems to be your problem, you can insert an eject just after the unload so that the script looks like:

    #!/bin/sh
    /etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 unload
    mt -f /dev/st0 offline
    /etc/bacula/mtx-changer /dev/sg0 load 3
    mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
    mt -f /dev/st0 weof

Obviously, if you need the offline command, you should move it into the mtx-changer script ensuring that you save the status of the mtx command or always force an exit 0 from the script, because Bacula checks the return status of the script.

As noted earlier, there are several scripts in <bacula-source>/examples/devices that implement the above features, so they may be a help to you in getting your script to work.

If Bacula complains ``Rewind error on /dev/nst0. ERR=Input/output error.'' you most likely need more sleep time in your mtx-changer before returning to Bacula after a load command has been completed.

## Using the Autochanger

Let's assume that you have properly defined the necessary Storage daemon Device records, and you have added the Autochanger = yes record to the Storage resource in your Director's configuration file.

Now you fill your autochanger with say six blank tapes.

What do you do to make Bacula access those tapes?

One strategy is to prelabel each of the tapes. Do so by starting Bacula, then with the Console program, enter the label command:

    ./console
    Connecting to Director rufus:8101
    1000 OK: rufus-dir Version: 1.26 (4 October 2002)
    *{\bf label}

it will then print something like:

    Using default Catalog name=BackupDB DB=bacula
    The defined Storage resources are:
         1: Autochanger
         2: File
    Select Storage resource (1-2): {\bf 1}

I select the autochanger (1), and it prints:

    Enter new Volume name: {\bf TestVolume1}
    Enter slot (0 for none): {\bf 1}

where I entered TestVolume1 for the tape name, and slot 1 for the slot. It then asks:

    Defined Pools:
         1: Default
         2: File
    Select the Pool (1-2): {\bf 1}

I select the Default pool. This will be automatically done if you only have a single pool, then Bacula will proceed to unload any loaded volume, load the volume in slot 1 and label it. In this example, nothing was in the drive, so it printed:

    Connecting to Storage daemon Autochanger at localhost:9103 ...
    Sending label command ...
    3903 Issuing autochanger "load slot 1" command.
    3000 OK label. Volume=TestVolume1 Device=/dev/nst0
    Media record for Volume=TestVolume1 successfully created.
    Requesting mount Autochanger ...
    3001 Device /dev/nst0 is mounted with Volume TestVolume1
    You have messages.
    *

You may then proceed to label the other volumes. The messages will change slightly because Bacula will unload the volume (just labeled TestVolume1) before loading the next volume to be labeled.

Once all your Volumes are labeled, Bacula will automatically load them as they are needed.

To ``see'' how you have labeled your Volumes, simply enter the list volumes command from the Console program, which should print something like the following:

    *{\bf list volumes}
    Using default Catalog name=BackupDB DB=bacula
    Defined Pools:
         1: Default
         2: File
    Select the Pool (1-2): {\bf 1}
    +-------+----------+--------+---------+-------+--------+----------+-------+------+
    | MedId | VolName  | MedTyp | VolStat | Bites | LstWrt | VolReten | Recyc | Slot |
    +-------+----------+--------+---------+-------+--------+----------+-------+------+
    | 1     | TestVol1 | DDS-4  | Append  | 0     | 0      | 30672000 | 0     | 1    |
    | 2     | TestVol2 | DDS-4  | Append  | 0     | 0      | 30672000 | 0     | 2    |
    | 3     | TestVol3 | DDS-4  | Append  | 0     | 0      | 30672000 | 0     | 3    |
    | ...                                                                            |
    +-------+----------+--------+---------+-------+--------+----------+-------+------+

## Barcode Support

Bacula provides barcode support with two Console commands, label barcodes and update slots.

The label barcodes will cause Bacula to read the barcodes of all the cassettes that are currently installed in the magazine (cassette holder) using the mtx-changer list command. Each cassette is mounted in turn and labeled with the same Volume name as the barcode.

The update slots command will first obtain the list of cassettes and their barcodes from mtx-changer. Then it will find each volume in turn in the catalog database corresponding to to the barcodes and set its Slot to correspond to the value just read. If the Volume is not in the catalog, then nothing will be done. This command is useful for synchronizing Bacula with the current magazine in case you have changed magazines or in case you have moved cassettes from one slot to another.

The Cleaning Prefix statement can be used in the Pool resource to define a Volume name prefix, which if it matches that of the Volume (barcode) will cause that Volume to be marked with a VolStatus of Cleaning. This will prevent Bacula from attempting to write on the Volume.

## Bacula Autochanger Interface

Bacula calls the autochanger script that you specify on the Changer Device statement. Normally this script will be the mtx-changer script that we can provide, but it can in fact be any program. The only requirements are that the ``commands'' that Bacula uses are loaded, load, unload, list, and (slots. In addition, each of those commands must return the information in the precise format as specified below:

    - Currently the changer commands used are:
        loaded -- returns number of the slot that is loaded in
                  the drive or 0 if the drive is empty.
        load   -- loads a specified slot (note, some autochangers
                  require a 30 second pause after this command) into
                  the drive.
        unload -- unloads the device (returns cassette to its slot).
        list   -- returns one line for each cassette in the autochanger
                  in the format <slot>:<barcode>. Where
                  the {\bf slot} is the non-zero integer representing
                  the slot number, and {\bf barcode} is the barcode
                  associated with the cassette if it exists and if you
                  autoloader supports barcodes. Otherwise the barcode
                  field is blank.
        slots  -- returns total number of slots in the autochanger.

Bacula checks the exit status of the program called, and if it is zero, the data is accepted. If the exit status is non-zero, Bacula ignores any information returned and treats the drive as if it is not an autochanger.

Next: Supported Autochangers Up: Bacula User's Guide Previous: Backup Strategies Contents Index