home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
High Voltage Shareware
/
high1.zip
/
high1
/
DIR4
/
NBS101.ZIP
/
NBSDOCEN.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-09-17
|
59KB
|
1,192 lines
╔══════════════════════════════ ┌─────────────────┐
║ NBS Norton Backup Shell │ D.I.S.P. │────┐
║ │ │░░░░│
╟────────────────────────────── │ │░░░░│
║ (c) 1993 Robert W.van Hoeven │ Dutch │░░░░│
╟────────────────────────────── │ Independent │░░░░│
║ Release : 1.01 │ ShareWare │░░░░│
║ Rel.Date: September 17th,1993 │ Programmer│░░░░│
╠══════════════════════════════ └─────────────────┘░░░░│
║ | │░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░│
║ │ NBS.EXE | └─────────────────┘
║ │ | ┌─────┐ |
║ │ | │░░░░░│ |
║ │ | └──┬──┘ |
║ │ | ┌────┴────┐ |
║ │ ------││││││ ═══│-------
║ │ └─────────┘
║ │
║ │ Lines starting with '│' are
║ │ changes to this release (NA)
╠═══════════════════════════════
║ Address: Robert W. van Hoeven
║ PO. Box 131
║ 1170 AC Badhoevedorp
║ Nederland / Holland
╚═══════════════════════════════
┌───────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 0 │ Table of contents │
└───────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
1 ---- General information
1.1 Copyrights and License Agreement
1.2 Newer versions and contacting the author
2 ---- Package description and requirements
2.1 Preface
2.2 Requirements
2.3 Included files
3 ---- Installation description
3.1 Installation
3.2 The configuration file(s)
3.3 INI options
3.3.1 [General] options
3.3.2 [Norton] options
3.3.3 [Cycle] options
4 ---- Run-time information
4.1 Modes of operation
4.1.1 First time execution
4.1.2 Standard calls
4.1.3 Automated (scheduled) calls
4.1.4 Checking
4.1.5 Updating NBS.STA
4.2 Command-line parameters
4.3 Errors
5 ---- Version information and credits
5.1 The BETA-team
5.2 Credits
5.3 Version history
5.4 Copyright, Trademarks
┌───────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1 │ General information │
└───────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
1.1 Copyrights and License Agreement
────────────────────────────────────
- Users of the NBS-package must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
- The NBS-package is supplied as is. The author disclaims all
warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the
warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The
author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential,
which may result from the use of the NBS-package;
- The NBS-package is a "shareware program" and is provided at no
charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your
friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of
another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to
provide personal computer users with quality software without high
prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to
develop new products.
- If you find this program useful and find that you are using and
continue the use of the NBS-package after a 30 days trial period,
you must register the NBS-package as described below;
- Non-commercial can get a license for the usage up to this release of
the NBS-package for a small amount of money. Look into the details
in REGISTER.NBS. Previous registered users will receive a big
reduction to upgrade to the newer versions. These users should look
into the details in UPGRADE.NBS. For Non-commercial users there is
a POSSIBILITY to submit to one of the special contracts as explained
in the file REGISTER.NBS.
- Commercial usage of NBS will cost somewhat more. Also, a so called
'closed' Bulletin Board System (a system where the user must pay
direct to the SysOp to get full access) is has to pay more than a
Non-commercial user. Both types of users should look into the
details in REGISTER.NBS;
- The registration of the NBS-package will license ONE copy for use on
any computer at any one time, as long as the usage confirms to the
type of registration you have done (so NON-commercial usage when you
have a non-commercial license);
- Anyone distributing the NBS-package for any kind of remuneration
must first contact the Author at the address above for
authorization.
- You are encouraged to pass a copy of the NBS-package along to
your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register
their copy if they find that they can use it;
- Support on NBS, when used in a non-commercial environment, is
available by means of written letters or by entering the inter-
national echomail area DISP;
- Problems and suggestions can be entered in the FidoNet <tm> Echomail
conference <tm> called DISP (international). Entering this echo does
not exclude you of the duty to register the NBS-package, though
users who evaluate the product can enter the echo for questions;
- The NBS-package, all programs, the documentation and support-files
is copyrighted 1990,93 by Robert W. van Hoeven, PO. Box 131,
Badhoevedorp 1170AC, Holland. All rights are reserved. You may copy
this package for backup purposes. Also you may copy and share
unmodified copies of the whole package, providing that the copyright
notice is reproduced and included on all copies.
Excluded from this statement are the support-files written by other
authors. Please refer to the documentation of these programs for
copyrights and license agreements;
- It is forbidden to modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer,
decompile and/or disassemble the software in the NBS-package.
Patching the medium at places that carry the software is seen as a
program change and is also forbidden. It is forbidden to create a so
called 'bypass' to skip the original introduction screens and delay.
Also it is forbidden to use such a 'bypass' unless supplied by the
author (Robert W. van Hoeven) himself;
- Performing any of the illegal actions as stated in the previous
lines, is a theft and no fair play to the author and, more
important, to the registered users;
- Bulletin Board Systems that distribute the NBS package can convert
the WHOLE package to any archive-system they like but all original
files must be included in the new archive. The NBS-package on the
Bulletin Board can contain at the most 2 extra files. These files
can only be a commercial for that Bulletin Board and/or validation
data that is presented as a service to all users and shall have no
other functions;
- After the normal trial period of 30 days, you must register the
soft- ware (see REGISTER.NBS) or you must remove it from your PC;
- Comments, suggestions and bug reports are welcome and will be
answered as soon I have the time to do so. You can send me a letter
of leave a NetMail <tm> message named to Rob Van.hoeven (mind the
point) on node 2:281/904 (RA Support, Monster, Holland, SysOp is
Reinier de Groot). When you want to send me normal mail, address it
to: Robert W. van Hoeven, PO. Box 131, 1171 AC Badhoevedorp,
Holland; Also you can enter messages in the FidoNet <tm> DISP
Echomail <tm> area;
1.2 Newer versions and contacting the author
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The newest version of NBS is always available at the DISP-HQ on node
2:281/904. NBS is also distributed thru a number of DISP support
nodes and thru some forums in CompuServe. There are six ways in which
you can obtain newer versions of NBS:
- Logging on at DISP-HQ or a support node (FidoNet)
Look into the file SUPPORT.NBS for a full list of support nodes;
- Logging on to a SDS node
NBS is distributed thru SDS/SDN, but only big minors (x.10, x.20 and
so on) and majors (14.01, 15.01 and so on) are submitted to the SDS
distribution point in Holland;
- Logging on to your own BBS;
Chances are, that you will find an older version (international
users) because it will take some time for the new version to 'bleed'
thru the net;
- Logging on to CompuServe;
Important versions of NBS are uploaded to several CompuServe forums.
It is intended to upload versions to the SYMANTEC and IBMSYS forums
but depend on the authorization of the forum sysops. If you are not
sure, you can contact me on CompuServe personally;
- Update service;
You can enter a special update service (read REGISTER.NBS).
If you think you have found problems in NBS, or in any other case, you
wish to contact the author, you can send me:
- A letter to the address you can find in the header of this file;
- A NetMail <tm> message to Rob Van.hoeven (please mind the point
between Van and Hoeven) at 2:281/904 or (better) 2:281/904.5;
- A Message in the FidoNet <tm> DISP echomail <tm> area;
- A message (mail forum) in CompuServe to user Robert van Hoeven,
with account/user number 100120,1146;
┌───────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2 │ Package description and requirements │
└───────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
2.1 Preface
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
In the many years I have worked with PCs, both professional as well as
for the hobby, I have used backup programs to backup my important
files at least a few times in a week. After I obtained a tape-drive
for my own (home) system, I even backup on a day-to-day basis.
In these years I have used a large number of backup programs, all of
which I have bought (one recovery of an important file pays back the
price of the single package and more). All major backup programs have
executed frequently over here, until they became too old (and had to
be updated because of f.i. a new DOS-version). Then came the time to
evaluate the marked and to buy a new version or swap to another
program.
In recent years I sticked to Norton Backup, either in the integrated
Norton DeskTop environment, in the Norton DeskTop Windows environment
or in the DOS (stand-alone) environment. I always had best results
with the stand-alone versions, but this is personal.
The current version of Norton Backup (2.2) is now currently being used
for a number of months (with great pleasure and without any major
problems, which can't be said of certain other backup programs I used
in the past). It is a very versatile program which maintains all my
tapes, most of them with backups of my own work, some of them with
complete projects (which have to be maintained for backward reference)
and some with backups of the software I bought.
But even a program like Norton Backup <tm> leaves some whishes for
features. Some of them can be emulated by batch-files and or other
macro-alike structures, some of them can't. NBS was written to be a
helpful addition to the current Norton Backup 2.2 (and even older
versions). It covers a number of 'enhancements'. This is done by
renaming NBACKUP.EXE to another name and to rename NBS.EXE to the name
NBACKUP.EXE. Now, whenever you call NBACKUP (either manually or in an
automatic way, from the NSCHED.COM scheduler program), NBS is called
which, in turn, will call the renamed NBACKUP.EXE. Before Norton
Backup is called, NBS can do some pre-processing and after Norton
Backup has finished, NBS can do some post-processing. In fact, NBS
(which stands for Norton Backup Shell) is an incorrect name. It is, in
fact, some sort of front-end for Norton Backup.
NBS covers the following 'problems':
- Norton Backup has a habit of creating a number of (more or less
temporary) files that can be removed after execution but are not
cleaned automatically. Examples are all NBackup.* files that are
left in the data-directory, the RESTORE.TMP file and all *.BAK files
which are created when you update a SET. NBS can remove these (and
other) files, after Norton Backup has done it's job;
- Norton Backup generates a lot of files in the data-directory (the
one pointed to by the NBACKUP environment variable, see the NB2.2
manual). When you maintain a large number of sets for various
reasons, the data-directory can be as big as 2 to 4 MB (depending on
the cleaning you do). For each set a SET, SAV, SLT and CAT file and
depending on the type of backup one or more *.FUL, *.INC and so on
files. Most of the time you only need one set (with additional
files) at one time and most of these files only stay on disk so you
can restore with some ease. NBS will collect ALL these files into a
single PKWare ZIP archive (so they are compressed and it is one file
and not tons of files) and will extract only the required files from
this ZIP-archive before Norton Backup activates. In my configuration
I reduced the overall HDU-consumption from 3 MB to 400K !
- As time passes, your collection of SET/SAV/SLT/CAT and INC/FUL files
will get mismatches when you manually change files (delete, add) or
when you don't want Norton Backup to remove old catalog-files. This
can be cleaned by NBS. NBS has a special run-time option (/NBSCHK)
which will unpack all SET/SAV/SLT/CAT/INC/FUL (and remaining) files
from the archive and will check all files against others. It will do
some suggestions what to do about orphan or missing files;
- NBS can be very helpful when you work with backup-cycles on tape.
It is advised to use some sort of scheme (see NB2.2 manual) but one
of the most schemes gets some help from NBS. When you start each
cycle (week, twice a week, month, whatever) with a full backup on
the tape and will add (append) the incremental backups to the same
tape until the next cycle (in which cycle you use another tape), NBS
is able to display the tape-number/tape-letter that must be used on
this cycle. NBS will increment the number/letter when a new full
backup is detected at the command-line (/TF, see NB2.2 manual) for
the number of tapes you supply;
- NBS (for tape users) can be very helpful to determine the moment
when to clean the tape-drive. Usually you should clean your drive on
a regular basis (like once every 8 productive hours). NBS will count
the time spend in the actual Norton Backup as the time that the
tape-drive is accessed. After the configured number of minutes of
Norton Backup usage (= aprox. tape-drive usage), NBS will display a
warning to clean the drive;
- NBS will pass the original errorlevel from Norton Backup execution.
Also NBS will be able to run unattended, when /A or a macro-setup is
detected on the Norton Backup command-line. In these cases, all
warnings are displayed (for example the warning to clean the
tape-drive) but there will be no user interaction and the warning
will continue to appear until you run an attended execution of NBS.
NBS will keep a small log-file that can be used as reference when
you ALWAYS run NBS in an unattended fashion;
All in all, a number of pre/post processing options for Norton Backup
that can get even more from Norton Backup.
2.2 Requirements
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
NBS requires: - PC XT/AT/386/486 (or more)
- At least 400K free memory;
- DOS 3.xx and higher;
(tested with 4Dos 4.0, should work with lower
versions);
- DOS 2.xx ONLY when registered. In this case, a
customized version will be created;
- HDU optional
- The original Norton Backup <tm> version 2.2
(should work with lower and compatible versions
as well);
- A copy of PKWare's PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE;
2.3 Included files
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The package includes : NBS.EXE The main program
NBS.INI An example configuration file
┌───────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3 │ Installation description │
└───────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3.1 Installation
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The installation of NBS depends upon the way you use Norton Backup.
You can choose either one of the suggested ways. After unpacking the
archive in a temporary directory, you can go as follows:
If your Norton Backup is ALWAYS called from a command-line (either by
hand or in a batch-file) but NOT FROM the NSCHED.COM schedule program
that comes with Norton Backup, the installation is as follows:
- Copy the NBS.EXE file to a directory in the DOS-path;
- Copy the NBS.INI file to the same directory or a directory in the
DOS-path and alter the contents to suit your needs (see later);
- Alter ALL calls to Norton Backup (NBACKUP.EXE) in all your batches
(*.BAT or *.BTM) to NBS.EXE, also always call NBS from the command
line and not NBACKUP;
If your Norton Backup is sometimes called from a command-line (either
by hand or in a batch-file) AND ALSO FROM the schedule program that
comes with Norton Backup (NSCHED.COM), the installation is as follows:
- Rename NBACKUP.EXE in the Norton Backup directory to an alternate
name (NB.EXE for example);
- Copy the NBS.EXE file to the directory where NBACKUP.EXE (that you
should have renamed by now) resides and rename it to NBACKUP.EXE
(NBS.EXE is now called NBACKUP.EXE and the original NBACKUP.EXE also
has another name);
- Copy the NBS.INI file to the same directory or a directory in the
DOS-path and alter the contents to suit your needs (see later). You
MUST add the NortonBackUpProgram option in the [Norton] section of
the NBS.INI file and this MUST now point to the renamed version of
the original NBACKUP.EXE file;
- You can leave all calls to NBACKUP as they were as NBS is now called
instead;
In ALL of the above cases:
- After you have altered NBS.INI, you should start with the first call
to NBS.EXE (called NBS.EXE or NBACKUP.EXE) in the following way:
- NBS /NBSFTM
- NBS will call the Norton Backup Program which you should end at
the same time;
- NBS will create the first NBS.ZIP file in the assigned directory;
This is MANDATORY. The /NBSFTM is used to tell NBS that it is the
first time execution and that no NBS.ZIP file is available. This
could also be automated but this way is a more safe way in those
cases where the NBS.ZIP file is removed by accident.
The above sequence is also important to check your NBS.INI file and to
check if all is working OK.
3.2 The configuration file(s)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
All programs from the NBS package make use of ONE SINGLE configuration
file that is called NBS.INI. The NBS.INI file is typically a file of
the new generation of control-files. The syntax is derived from the
Microsoft Windows <tm>, MS/DOS <tm> (CONFIG.SYS) and OS/2 syntax.
The NBS.INI file is a normal ASCII (flat) file with records that are
terminated by a CR/LF combination. Most present-day (line) editors can
create such a file and also most word-processors have the option to
create a (flat) ASCII file (without control-codes!).
There are no formal rules for the syntax of a Windows-alike *.INI
file. The basic syntax though is in the form of blocks (with a
block-header) with options. All options between a block-header and the
next block-header (or the end of the file) belong to the block for
which the block-header gives a name. A block-header is assigned thru
the use of brackets before and after the name of the block. Like this:
[General]
OptionG1=value1
OptionG2=value2
[Custom]
OptionC1=value1
OptionC2=value2
In the example above, there are two blocks (General and Custom) which
are marked by their block-headers ([General] and [Custom]). The
options OptionG1 and OptionG2 belong to the block 'general' and the
options OptionC1 and OptionC2 belong to the block 'custom'. Until
MS/DOS 6.0 <tm> it seemed like a rule that a *.INI file could not have
duplicate variants of the same options. In such cases, it was common
to use something like this:
[Custom]
ExcludeFile-1 = A.A
ExcludeFile-2 = B.B
or
[Custom]
ExcludeFile = A.A , B.B
and not
[Custom]
ExcludeFile = A.A
ExcludeFile = B.B
Ms/DOS 6.0 <tm> changed this behavior. The 'MenuItem' option is an
example of how to break the 'rules'. DISP programs, like NBS, will now
use all combinations. In most cases, the variant used, is based on the
number of possible values. When you want to exclude more than 100
files, both 'ExcludeFile = A.A, B.B, C.C......' and the form with
'ExcludeFile-1 =', 'ExcludeFile-2='.... and so on, are both useless.
In these cases, multiple (duplicate) variants of the same option are
used.
The format of the *.INI file is rather free. The block-headers must be
coded as given and must be enclosed in brackets. The header (and the
options) can start on any position in the *.INI file as long as they
are preceded with 'white' spaces. Options (and headers) that are
preceded with a comment-character ('%'), are not used, nor are empty
lines and invalid options ! The options have the format:
Optionname = value
The '=' character is used to separate the option and its value(s). If
multiple values precede the '=' character, they are separated by a
comma or another character (like Optionname = value,value,value). The
number of white spaces between the optionname and the '=' character
and the '=' character and the value(s) is irrelevant. An option will
never exceed one line and a line can never be more than 255 characters
long. The case (upper/lower) of all options, block-headers and values
is not important, unless specified.
The names used thru all DISP <tm> products are as follows:
- Block-name
The name of the block that is preceded with a block-header and will
be active until the next block-header or the end of file (which
comes first);
- Option
The name of the options within a block;
- Parameter or values
These are the actual values that belong to an option. Sometimes they
are called parameter, but most of the time we will call them a
value.
The descriptive syntax of all options is:
[.....] this value is MANDATORY, it MUST be present and have a valid
value;
{.....} this value is OPTIONAL. If it is NOT present, some default
is used;
'value' Values between quotes must be coded WITHOUT the quotes
themself, UNLESS specified;
The DISP programs (including the programs in the NBS package) will
look for the control-file (NBS.INI in case of the NBS package) in the
following way:
- First the current directory is searched for the NBS.INI file;
- If not present in the current directory, a search thru the DOS-path
is performed until the NBS.INI file is found;
- If the NBS.INI file is not found in the current directory and/or the
DOS-path, the directory where the EXE-file resides (if this is not
the same directory as the current directory) will be examined. This
search is only performed with DOS releases 3.xx and higher;
It is advised to place the NBS.INI file alongside the programs and/or
somewhere in the DOS-path.
The following chapter will contain the various statements you can
use in the file.
3.3 INI options
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The next chapters contain the options for all programs in the
NBS package.
The descriptions are grouped together in the same blocks as they have
to appear in NBS.INI. Please refer to the example NBS.INI that is
supplied with this package !
3.3.1 [General] options
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The following options, if defined, must be defined inside the block
with block-header [General]
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TemporaryDirectory = [dir] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : NBS will create some temporary files and a temporary
directory. This option (if available) will point to the
directory where these temporary files/directory is placed.
When the option is NOT available in NBS.INI, NBS will check
for the directory that is set in the environment variable
TEMP. If this variable is also NOT available, NBS will abort,
[dir] Must point to a valid directory. The program will
test if the directory is available and will abort if
this is not the case. You can use relative paths !
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ StoreDirectory = [dir] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : NBS will create and use a special file NBS.ZIP (PKZIP archive)
which will contain all sets, catalogs and other related files.
NBS will extract files from this archive into the NBackup
data-directory (see NB2.2 manual, NBACKUP env. variable). You
CAN place this file in the same directory but I advise to use
another directory where you store these kind of important
files. The StoreDirectory option IS MANDATORY and should point
to a valid directory where NBS.ZIP is placed and read from.
[dir] Must point to a valid directory. The program will
test if the directory is available and will abort if
this is not the case.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ LogPath = [path] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : NBS can create a log-file with all actions. This log-file can
be reused, in which case NBS will append to the file, with all
next executions. If you want to have a log-file maintained by
NBS, you must include this option.
[path] must either point to a valid directory (with drive and
directory-name), in which case NBS will create NBS.LOG
inside this directory or must point to a fully
specified name (drive, directory and filename) of you
log-file, if you want to use another name than NBS.LOG.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ MergeNBackupLog = [true | false] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : If your Norton Backup sets are configured to create a history
log-file (not to be confused with the *.INC and *.FUL files)
with one or more items included inside this log, NBS is able
to merge this log into the NBS log-file (if set, see above).
In this case, NBS will append all created *.RPT files in the
Norton Backup data-directory into the configured NBS log-file
AND will delete these *.RPT files from the data-directory. If
you do not specify this option (or set it to FALSE), the *.RPT
will be kept in the data-directory and will be moved into the
NBS.ZIP file by NBS after Norton Backup has terminated. It
will also be extracted if next actions on this set are
required so Norton Backup is still able to append new
information to the *.RPT file.
You can either use the TRUE or FALSE values or use the Y or N
values in NBS.INI.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ UseEMS = [true | false] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage: NBS will swap itself out of memory before PKZIP/PKUNZIP and
the Norton Backup program are called.
Normally the swap routine will use XMS (first), EMS
(second) or DISK (third), depending on the available
resources.
If you don't want to use EMS as a candidate for swapping,
you should supply 'UseEMS = false' or 'UseEMS = N' (both are
valid values for this option).
The default (when you don't supply the option in NBS.INI)
is to use EMS when selected, available and when enough EMS
memory is available.
You can supply both UseEMS and UseXMS together, to
allow either any type of memory (both set to true), one
type of memory (one set to true, the other to false) or
NO type of memory (both set to false).
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ UseXMS = [true | false] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : NBS will swap itself out of memory before PKZIP/PKUNZIP and
the Norton Backup program are called.
Normally the swap routine will use XMS (first), EMS
(second) or DISK (third), depending on the available
resources.
If you don't want to use XMS as a candidate for swapping,
you should supply 'UseXMS = false' or 'UseXMS = N' (both are
valid values for this option).
The default (when you don't supply the option in NBS.INI)
is to use XMS when selected, available and when enough XMS
memory is available.
You can supply both UseEMS and UseXMS together, to
allow either any type of memory (both set to true), one
type of memory (one set to true, the other to false) or
NO type of memory (both set to false).
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PKZIPProgram = [path] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : NBS will need a copy of the PKZIP.EXE file (from PKWare) to
create the NBS.ZIP file. Any version from 1.00 and up will do.
This option can point to the PKZIP.EXE program. If the option
is not available, NBS will try to find PKZIP.EXE in the DOS
path.
[path] Must point to the valid directory and file-name of the
PKZIP program.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PKUNZIPProgram = [path] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : NBS will need a copy of the PKUNZIP.EXE file (from PKWare) to
create the NBS.ZIP file. Any version from 1.00 and up will do.
This option can point to the PKUNZIP.EXE program. If the
option is not available, NBS will try to find PKUNZIP.EXE in
the DOS path.
[path] Must point to the valid directory and file-name of the
PKZIP program.
3.3.2 [Norton] options
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The following options, if defined, must be defined inside the block
with block-header [Norton].
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NortonBackupProgram = [path] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : NBS will need a copy of the Norton Backup program (NBACKUP.EXE
or a renamed equivalent, see chapter 3.1). This option can
point to the Norton Backup program. If the option is not
available, NBS will try to find the NBACKUP.EXE program in the
DOS-path. This can cause loops if NBS.EXE is renamed to
NBACKUP.EXE, so be careful to include this option with the
correct name of the renamed NBACKUP.EXE when this is the case
!!
[path] Must point to the valid directory and file-name of the
Norton Backup program.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ NortonFilesDir = [dir] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : Normally NBS will use a separate data-directory (see the NB2.2
manual about the NBACKUP env.var.). This data-directory will
contain the SET/CAT/SLT/SAV/INC/FUL (and so on) files. If the
NBACKUP env.var. is not set, the Norton Backup directory is
used.
If the NBACKUP environment variable is NOT set, the usage of
this NortonFilesDir option is MANDATORY, even if you use the
Norton Backup directory. NBS needs to know WHERE to place the
files that come from NBS.ZIP. If the NBACKUP env.var. is set,
you can leave out this option !
[dir] Must point to a valid directory. The program will
test if the directory is available and will abort if
this is not the case.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DeleteNortonTemp = [mask] {,mask} {,mask} {,mask} {,mask} │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : This option will trigger a NBS post-processing option. NBS
will delete all files that match one or more of the masks that
you supply overhere. For example:
DeleteNortonTemp= NBACKUP.* RESTORE.TMP *.BAK
Will delete NBACKUP.LOG, NBACKUP.RST, NBACKUP.TMP, RESTORE.TMP
and *.BAK file AFTER Norton Backup has finished processing.
This keeps the Norton Backup directory (and the NBS.ZIP file
that is maintained by NBS) clean.
[mask] must be a valid DOS mask (like *.BAK or FILE.NOW).
There must be at least one mask set and optionally you
can supply more masks (20) which must be separated by a
comma.
3.3.3 [Cycle] options
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The following options, if defined, must be defined inside the block
with block-header [Cycle].
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CycleSet1 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
│ CycleSet2 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
│ CycleSet3 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
│ CycleSet4 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
│ CycleSet5 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
│ CycleSet6 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
│ CycleSet7 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
│ CycleSet8 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
│ CycleSet9 = [set-name], [count], [text] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : You can instruct NBS that you maintain sets of media for the
backup-process. In this case (mostly used with tapes), you
maintain, for instance, 3 tapes. The first tape is used to
keep a full backup and all next incremental backups until the
next full backup is performed. When this is the case, you will
then store the next full backup (and its incremental backups)
on the 2nd tape until the next full backup. In that case you
will use the 3th tape. When the next full backup is now
requested you start to reuse the 1th tape and the cycle starts
again.
To accommodate this feature (for up to 10 different set), you
can supply the CycleSet[x] option, where [x] has the value 1
to 9. If present (and match the current set to be worked on),
NBS will display a message which tape to use. There is NO
check to see if this is the correct tape. This is left to
Norton Backup or yourself. If you run unattended, the message
will appear but NBS will not wait for a key-stroke. If you run
attended, NBS will beep and wait for a keystroke.
Each option will name the point to the set it applies to, it
will contain the number of backup device-sets (tapes) you want
to use and contains a text to be displayed. This text can
either contain a variable tape-number or tape-letter which can
be incorporated inside the text.
[set-name] This must contain the name of the set for which
the cycle control is active. Don't supply an
extension, only the name.
[count] This must be set to the number of backup-device
sets (tapes) you want to maintain for this backup
(or restore). You can supply any number but when
your (virtual) tape-labels have letters (like TAPE
A, TAPE B and so on), you can only supply a number
up to 26;
[text] This must be the text that you want to be
displayed by NBS. You can include three macros. $A
will be substituted by the correct letter (A, if
it is the first set, B for the second and so on).
$N will be substituted by the correct number (1
for the first tape, 2 for the second and so on).
You can also supply $N1, $N2... $N9 in which case
the number will be padded with 0 to 8 zeroes
before the number (the length of the number will
be 1 to 9). $S will be substituted with the name of
the SET that is currently in use;
For example, you use TAPE 001, TAPE 002 and TAPE 003 for your
3-week cycle of backups of your hard-disk. The Norton Backup
set that is used, is called FULLBACK.SET:
CycleSet1 = FULLBACK, 3 , Use TAPE $N3 this week for $S
NBS will display the first week:
'Use TAPE 001 this week for FULLBACK'
And the 3th week:
'Use TAPE 003 this week for FULLBACK'
It is up to you (and the Norton Backup schedular) to maintain
the correct sequence of full and incremental backups. The
options will only work when /TF (full) or /TI (incremental)
command-line parameters are included with the call to the
Norton Backup program. NSCHED will do this !
See also chapter 4 for specific details about the NBS.STA
file.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CycleClean = [minutes] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Usage : You can instruct NBS to track the number of minutes that the
backup-device is used. This is an estimate, because NBS will
start to count when Norton Backup is called and will stop when
Norton Backup is finished. Usually you will perform automatic
actions with Norton Backup but if you include many manual
input during the activation of Norton Backup, this time will
also be counted.
Usually this option is only useful when you use a tape-drive.
Diskette drives are also used outside Norton Backup but the
tape-drive is (normally) only accessed by Norton Backup for
long periods. Tape drives should be cleaned on a regular
frequency (see the manual of your tape-drive).
NBS will add each time that Norton Backup was called to the
previous total. If the total has become bigger than the
configured number of minutes, NBS will supply a message on the
screen. If NBS runs unattended, the message will appear but no
keystroke is needed. In this case the message will reappear
until an attended call to NBS is made (no /A or a
marco-execution on the command-line). If NBS run attended, NBS
will display the message, will wait for a keystroke and will
then reset the cycle (after which the counting will start all
over). This is independent of the fact if you actually cleaned
the drive. This is your job and can not be monitored by NBS.
[minutes] should be set to the estimate number of minutes
after which a cleaning action of your backup device
is needed. If no cleaning cycle is needed, supply
the value 0.
See also chapter 4 for specific details about the NBS.STA
file.
┌───────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 4 │ Runtime information │
└───────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
4.1 Modes of operation
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
NBS can be operated in various modes:
- NBS will be used to call Norton Backup, while performing some
processes before Norton Backup is called (pre-processing) and
performing some processed after Norton Backup finished (called
post-processing). Optionally, you must supply a NBS-specific
parameter to tell NBS that it is the first time it will execute (it
will then assume that there is no NBS.ZIP file available and will
create a new one at the end of this process);
- NBS will be used to checkout the current collection of SET, SAV, SLT
and CAT files against INC, DIF and FUL files. In this process the
files from COPY-functions of Norton Backup are ignored. In this
mode, Norton Backup itself is NOT called;
- NBS can update the NBS.STA (statistical) file to values you like;
It is advised to run NBS in the check-operation the first time (or as
soon as possible). In the installation we recommended to call NBS in
the mode that calls Norton Backup because most of you will read until
they know how to install. In that case, the chapter about checking
(see later) is not read and it would be possible that the user gets
messages and questions that can not be answered with full knowledge of
what is happening.
4.1.1 First time execution
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
As said, the first time you call NBS, there is no NBS.ZIP file
present. NBS could detect this itself, but for security reasons, we
force the user to actually supply options that will tell NBS that
there is no NBS.ZIP (it could be possible that the NBS.ZIP file could
not be accessed while it IS present. In this case NBS would assume a
first run and would make a mess of the next call to Norton Backup).
To tell NBS that it executes the first time, you must supply the
command-line parameter /NBSCHK to NBS. This is an unknown command for
Norton Backup and is filtered out by NBS before NBS calls the Norton
Backup program.
4.1.2 Standard calls
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
With a standard call, we mean a call to Norton Backup, either from a
normal batch file or from the command-line. The call can be meant for
a specific SET or for a non-specific reason (like a tape-directory or
the creation of a new SET).
All calls that don't include the /NBSCHK command-line parameters are
treated as normal calls to Norton Backup. When NBS receives a normal
call, the following sequence is performed:
- Check NBS command-line to see if there is a specific SET specified
(like NBS Fullback /TI /A, where FULLBACK is the name of the SET);
- Check NBS command-line to see if there is a macro execution involved
or an automated process (either NBS @FULLBACK /TI or NBS FULLBACK
/TI /A);
- Check to see if /NBSFTM is on the command-line parameters;
- If no /NBSFTM is included, unpack the SET and its related components
from NBS.ZIP. If NO SET is specified, unpack ALL SETs and their
related components;
- If no /NBSFTM is included, unpack the PROTECT.LST file (if present)
from the NBS.ZIP (REMAINDR.NBS directory inside the ZIP);
- Copy the PROTECT.LST to the PROTECT.NBS file;
- Determine the backup-device set (tape), if cycle-control is active
and matches the set that will be worked on;
- Call Norton Backup;
- Calculate the number of minutes the backup/restore-device was used
and trigger when the total time expired the configured period;
- On return from Norton Backup, remove all temporary files as specified
in NBS.INI;
- Merge any *.RPT (report) file to the NBS.LOG (if configured);
- Intelligently merge the PROTECT.NBS and the new PROTECT.LST together
and create a new PROTECT.LST. This is needed because Norton Backup
will create a new PROTECT.LST each time it executes;
- Pack all (new and old) files into the NBS.ZIP, even new SETs which
are created during the execution of Norton Backup, are added to the
NBS.ZIP file, so don't worry;
- Terminate NBS with the errorlevel returned by Norton Backup;
NBS will manipulate the PROTECT.LST file in a special way, because of
the way Norton Backup maintains this file. The result will be a
complete (!) and correct protection-list, even when Norton Backup can
not detect all protected SETs because these files are not extracted
from the NBS.ZIP file.
When NBS extracts files from NBS.ZIP, it will reset the attributes to
0, so Norton Backup will only backup them with a full backup but not
with every incremental backup. The same goes for PROTECT.LST,
PROTECT.NBS and every other file EXPECT NBS.ZIP.
4.1.3 Automated (scheduled) calls
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
An automated or scheduled call is performed when you install the
Norton Scheduler program (NSCHED.COM). NSCHED will call Norton Backup
with a certain command-line on the scheduled dates, for a scheduled
action or when you call Norton Backup from a batch with either a
macro-execution (the @ before the name of the SET) or with the /A
switch.
The actions that NBS performs with an automated call, are the same as
with standard calls, all expect one difference. The difference between
the two modes is the fact that NBS will never wait for a user
keystroke on a question. This means that:
- NBS will display any pending tape-number for a backup starts (if any
CycleSetx option matches the SET) but NBS will not stop. It is up to
the user that the correct media is inserted in the drive;
- NBS will display any pending expiration of the cleaning cycle but
that it will NOT reset the cleaning-cycle until after the first
NON-automated call of NBS;
The current version of NSCHED will call Norton Backup with all options
that need to be supplied (both /TF and /TI are of any interest to NBS)
independent of the installed defaults for a given SET. With other
words if your default for FULLBACK.SET is an incremental backup and
NSCHED has to perform an incremental backup, /TI is still supplied.
4.1.4 Checking
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
After a certain time it could be possible that there are mismatches in
your Norton Backup data-files. This is not the case if you use the
correct options AND leave all your data as-is, but normally it will
happen that you create an invalid SET (wrong name), export certain
INC/FUL files to other media or for other reasons. NBS is able to
check the majority of data-files that reside in the Norton Backup
data-dir. This is done by calling NBS with the /NBSCHK command-line
parameter. NBS will do the following:
- NBS will unpack ALL files from NBS.ZIP into the data-directory;
- It will read all catalog (CAT) files;
- It will compare all SET's against CAT's. If a CATalog has no
matching SET file, a message is displayed. You now have the option
to delete the CAT(alog) file and all other related files. These are
the SAV, SLT, BAK and RPT files with the same name as the CAT(alog);
- It will compare all CAT's against SET's. If a SET has no catalog, a
message is displayed. You now have the option to delete the SET and
all belonging files (see previous point);
- Now NBS will compare CAT files against the files that belong to that
CAT file. If a CAT points to a file (f.i. a *.INC or *.FUL file) and
that file is NOT present, you have the option to delete the CAT file
and all remaining (related) files. You can also do this by hand. The
fact remains that the CAT-file points to an incomplete set of files.
Another option is to restore one or more of the *.INC/*.FUL files
from the backup-media (if present);
- The reversed is tested. NBS will check if there remain files (INC,
FUL DIF and so on) that don't belong to any catalog. You have the
option to remove that orphan file or you can check manually;
- Last, NBS will check if there are files that belong to multiple CAT
files. This can happen when Norton Backup creates a backup with a
file like CE30910A.FUL (for FULLBACK.SET/FULLBACK.CAT), you delete
the CE30910A.FUL file and make a backup for NEWSET.SET/NEWSET.CAT
after this delete. Chances are, that the resulting file also has the
name CE30910A.FUL. Now FULLBACK.CAT and NEWSET.CAT both have an
entry for CE30910A.FUL. NBS can detect this and will display up to 5
CAT files that point to the same file. No automatic action is
possible, because NBS will not do a deep examination of the files.
You must write them down and correct the error by hand.
If you perform a regular check (/NBSCHK) and clean all incorrect
entries (either by hand or automatically), you will end with a
complete clean set of files. You can run /NBSCHK as many times as you
like, to see if the final result is clean. After that, perform a
/NBSCHK once in a while to see if the files are still correct.
4.1.5 Updating NBS.STA
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
NBS will maintain a file called NBS.STA. This file contains information
about the last execution of either NBS and Norton Backup, as well as
the values for the CycleSetx parameters (the current tape to use) and
the seconds passed since the last cleaning operation of the backup
device.
The first time, there will be no NBS.STA. In this case, NBS will create
the file (with default values) from scratch. All next times, NBS will
change and update the file. For example if you change CycleSet1 from
FULLBACK.SET to FULL.SET, NBS will update the NBS.STA file itself and
will reset all the counters involved.
There are 2 specific command-line paramaters that can be used to
update the NBS.STA file (it is a binary file, so you need to use NBS
to do this job for you).
/NBSCLN will update the number of seconds passed after the last clean
action to a value of 0. This comes in handy when you cleaned the drive
inbetween and without NBS telling you so. After the clean action, you
run NBS /NBSCLN only once and the counting starts over from scratch.
/NBSCSx=y will update the current tape-number to use for the CycleSetx
to a value of y. If 'y' is higher than the maximum number of tapes you
allow on the CycleSetx option, NBS will abort.
When you specify either /NBSCLN or /NBSCSx=y on the command-line, there
will be NO call to Norton Backup (or the renamed version), nor will
there be any extraction (and archiving) of files from the NBS.ZIP file.
4.2 Command-line parameters
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The general syntax of a call to NBS is the same as a call to Norton
Backup but there are a few new parameters that will trigger NBS itself
without interfering with Norton Backup. These extra parameters are:
/NBSFTM You instruct NBS that it is the first execution and that a
NBS.ZIP has to be created and is NOT already available;
/NBSCHK You perform checking of the files in the Norton Backup
data-directory. Norton Backup itself is NOT executed;
/NBSCLN Will reset the clean-counter in NBS.ZIP to 0 seconds. Use
this if you cleaned the drive in-between;
/NBSCSx=y Will reset the current tape number in CycleSetx (where x is
1 to 9) to the value 'y'. 'y' can not be higher than the
maximum number you allow on the CycleSetx option.
Newer versions of NBS will have some extra options for certain special
functions (user requests). If they have to be interpreted by NBS, they
will always begin with /NBS......
4.3 Errors
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
All has been done to keep the number of possible errors as small as
possible. Some errors have to do with incorrect options in NBS.INI and
are self-explaining.
┌───────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 5 │ Version information and credits │
└───────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
5.1 The BETA-team
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Look into the file SUPPORT.NBS for a full list of all beta-testers and
support nodes. Not all beta-testers will test this program, because
only a few of them own their own copy of Norton Backup. The remaining
members will only distribute the NBS package.
5.2 Credits
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Thanks to the following people (besides my eternal thanks for the
BETA team):
- Symantec Corporation for creating Norton Backup;
- All paying, registered users. You made it possible to enhance
NBS with nice features;
- All users who did write me bug reports, suggestions and so on;
5.3 Version history
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌───────┬────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.01 │ First version │
└───────┴────────────────────────────┘
■ First public version;
NBS is tested with PKWare PKZIP version 2.04g and Norton Backup 2.2. ,
5.4 Copyright, Trademarks
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Norton Backup is a trademark of Symantec Corporation
PKZIP and PKUNZIP are trademarks of PKWare Inc.
Windows is a trademark of The Microsoft Corporation
Ms/DOS is a trademark of The Microsoft Corporation
4Dos is a trademark of J.P. Software/R.C. Conn/T. Rawson
NBS is written in Borland Pascal 7.0, with help of the Turbo Debugger
3.0 and makes extensive use of Object Professional V 1.20.
Borland Pascal is a trademark of Borland International
Turbo Debugger is a trademark of Borland International
Object Professional is a trademark of TurboPower Inc.
Asynch Professional is a trademark of TurboPower Inc.
[======================== END OF DOCUMENT ============================]