Autochanger Resource

The Autochanger resource supports single or multiple drive autochangers by grouping one or more Device resources into one unit called an autochanger in Bacula (often referred to as a "tape library" by autochanger manufacturers).

If you have an Autochanger, and you want it to function correctly, you must have an Autochanger resource in your Storage conf file, and your Director's Storage directives that want to use an Autochanger must refer to the Autochanger resource name. In previous versions of Bacula, the Director's Storage directives referred directly to Device resources that were autochangers. In version 1.38.0 and later, referring directly to Device resources will not work for Autochangers.

Name = <Autochanger-Name>

Specifies the Name of the Autochanger. This name is used in the Director's Storage definition to refer to the autochanger. This directive is required.

Device = <Device-name1, device-name2, ...>

Specifies the names of the Device resource or resources that correspond to the autochanger drive. If you have a multiple drive autochanger, you must specify multiple Device names, each one referring to a separate Device resource that contains a Drive Index specification that corresponds to the drive number base zero. You may specify multiple device names on a single line separated by commas, and/or you may specify multiple Device directives. This directive is required.

Changer Device = name-string

The specified name-string gives the system file name of the autochanger device name. If specified in this resource, the Changer Device name is not needed in the Device resource. If it is specified in the Device resource (see above), it will take precedence over one specified in the Autochanger resource.

Changer Command = name-string

The name-string specifies an external program to be called that will automatically change volumes as required by Bacula. Most frequently, you will specify the Bacula supplied mtx-changer script as follows. If it is specified here, it need not be specified in the Device resource. If it is also specified in the Device resource, it will take precedence over the one specified in the Autochanger resource.

The following is an example of a valid Autochanger resource definition:

Autochanger {
  Name = "DDS-4-changer"
  Device = DDS-4-1, DDS-4-2, DDS-4-3
  Changer Device = /dev/sg0
  Changer Command = "/etc/bacula/mtx-changer %c %o %S %a %d"
}
Device {
  Name = "DDS-4-1"
  Drive Index = 0
  Autochanger = yes
  ...
}
Device {
  Name = "DDS-4-2"
  Drive Index = 1
  Autochanger = yes
  ...
Device {
  Name = "DDS-4-3"
  Drive Index = 2
  Autochanger = yes
  Autoselect = no
  ...
}

Please note that it is important to include the Autochanger = yes directive in each Device definition that belongs to an Autochanger. A device definition should not belong to more than one Autochanger resource. Also, your Device directive in the Storage resource of the Director's conf file should have the Autochanger's resource name rather than a name of one of the Devices.

If you have a drive that physically belongs to an Autochanger but you don't want to have it automatically used when Bacula references the Autochanger for backups, for example, you want to reserve it for restores, you can add the directive:

Autoselect = no

to the Device resource for that drive. In that case, Bacula will not automatically select that drive when accessing the Autochanger. You can, still use the drive by referencing it by the Device name directly rather than the Autochanger name. An example of such a definition is shown above for the Device DDS-4-3, which will not be selected when the name DDS-4-changer is used in a Storage definition, but will be used if DDS-4-3 is used.

Capabilities

Label media = Yes|No

If Yes, permits this device to automatically label blank media without an explicit operator command. It does so by using an internal algorithm as defined on the Label Format record in each Pool resource. If this is No as by default, Bacula will label tapes only by specific operator command (label in the Console) or when the tape has been recycled. The automatic labeling feature is most useful when writing to disk rather than tape volumes.

Automatic mount = Yes|No

If Yes (the default), permits the daemon to examine the device to determine if it contains a Bacula labeled volume. This is done initially when the daemon is started, and then at the beginning of each job. This directive is particularly important if you have set Always Open = no because it permits Bacula to attempt to read the device before asking the system operator to mount a tape. However, please note that the tape must be mounted before the job begins.

Messages Resource

For a description of the Messages Resource, please see the Messages Resource Chapter of this manual.

Sample Storage Daemon Configuration File

A example Storage Daemon configuration file might be the following:

#
# Default Bacula Storage Daemon Configuration file
#
#  For Bacula release 1.37.2 (07 July 2005) -- gentoo 1.4.16
#
# You may need to change the name of your tape drive
#   on the "Archive Device" directive in the Device
#   resource.  If you change the Name and/or the
#   "Media Type" in the Device resource, please ensure
#   that bacula-dir.conf has corresponding changes.
#
Storage {                               # definition of myself
  Name = rufus-sd
  Address = rufus
  WorkingDirectory = "$HOME/bacula/bin/working"
  Pid Directory = "$HOME/bacula/bin/working"
  Maximum Concurrent Jobs = 20
}
#
# List Directors who are permitted to contact Storage daemon
#
Director {
  Name = rufus-dir
  Password = "ZF9Ctf5PQoWCPkmR3s4atCB0usUPg+vWWyIo2VS5ti6k"
}
#
# Restricted Director, used by tray-monitor to get the
#   status of the storage daemon
#
Director {
  Name = rufus-mon
  Password = "9usxgc307dMbe7jbD16v0PXlhD64UVasIDD0DH2WAujcDsc6"
  Monitor = yes
}
#
# Devices supported by this Storage daemon
# To connect, the Director's bacula-dir.conf must have the
#  same Name and MediaType.
#
Autochanger {
  Name = Autochanger
  Device = Drive-1
  Device = Drive-2
  Changer Command = "/home/kern/bacula/bin/mtx-changer %c %o %S %a %d"
  Changer Device = /dev/sg0
}

Device {
  Name = Drive-1                      #
  Drive Index = 0 
  Media Type = DLT-8000
  Archive Device = /dev/nst0
  AutomaticMount = yes;               # when device opened, read it
  AlwaysOpen = yes;
  RemovableMedia = yes;
  RandomAccess = no;
  AutoChanger = yes
  Alert Command = "sh -c 'tapeinfo -f %c |grep TapeAlert|cat'"
}

Device {
  Name = Drive-2                      #
  Drive Index = 1
  Media Type = DLT-8000
  Archive Device = /dev/nst1
  AutomaticMount = yes;               # when device opened, read it
  AlwaysOpen = yes;
  RemovableMedia = yes;
  RandomAccess = no;
  AutoChanger = yes
  Alert Command = "sh -c 'tapeinfo -f %c |grep TapeAlert|cat'"
}

Device {
  Name = "HP DLT 80"
  Media Type = DLT8000
  Archive Device = /dev/nst0
  AutomaticMount = yes;                 # when device opened, read it
  AlwaysOpen = yes;
  RemovableMedia = yes;
}
#Device {
#  Name = SDT-7000                     #
#  Media Type = DDS-2
#  Archive Device = /dev/nst0
#  AutomaticMount = yes;               # when device opened, read it
#  AlwaysOpen = yes;
#  RemovableMedia = yes;
#}
#Device {
#  Name = Floppy
#  Media Type = Floppy
#  Archive Device = /mnt/floppy
#  RemovableMedia = yes;
#  Random Access = Yes;
#  AutomaticMount = yes;               # when device opened, read it
#  AlwaysOpen = no;
#}
#Device {
#  Name = FileStorage
#  Media Type = File
#  Archive Device = /tmp
#  LabelMedia = yes;                   # lets Bacula label unlabeled media
#  Random Access = Yes;
#  AutomaticMount = yes;               # when device opened, read it
#  RemovableMedia = no;
#  AlwaysOpen = no;
#}
#Device {
#  Name = "NEC ND-1300A"
#  Media Type = DVD
#  Archive Device = /dev/hda
#  LabelMedia = yes;                   # lets Bacula label unlabeled media
#  Random Access = Yes;
#  AutomaticMount = yes;               # when device opened, read it
#  RemovableMedia = yes;
#  AlwaysOpen = no;
#  MaximumPartSize = 800M;
#  RequiresMount = yes;
#  MountPoint = /mnt/cdrom;
#  MountCommand = "/bin/mount -t iso9660 -o ro %a %m";
#  UnmountCommand = "/bin/umount %m";
#  SpoolDirectory = /tmp/backup;
#  WritePartCommand = "/etc/bacula/dvd-handler %a write %e %v"
#  FreeSpaceCommand = "/etc/bacula/dvd-handler %a free"
#}
#
# A very old Exabyte with no end of media detection
#
#Device {
#  Name = "Exabyte 8mm"
#  Media Type = "8mm"
#  Archive Device = /dev/nst0
#  Hardware end of medium = No;
#  AutomaticMount = yes;               # when device opened, read it
#  AlwaysOpen = Yes;
#  RemovableMedia = yes;
#}
#
# Send all messages to the Director,
# mount messages also are sent to the email address
#
Messages {
  Name = Standard
  director = rufus-dir = all
  operator = root = mount
}