This is a Front-end utiltity ONLY! It in no way alters the programming or function of BackMaster. This utility uses the command-line/parameter interface of BackMaster as documented in the manual. Hopefully, this utility saves you time as you run your backups by handling multiple drives and FSS's in an easier manner.
Only the backup function has been included as the backup is done quite often, and hopefully the restore function is seldom performed. If you need to perform a restore/recovery, please refer to the BackMaster manual.
This utility aids in performing the following backup functions:
Full Backup - normally performed once a week, resets the archive flags
Incremental Backup - normally performed daily, includes only new/changed files
Selective Backup - may be used whenever, requires one or more FSS's
File Save Sets (FSS) are described in the BackMaster manual and are used to select a subset of directories and/or files on a single drive. They are useful when only some directories, where you frequently add/alter data, should be backed up.
INSTALL
This utility package consists of three other files:
BACKUP.EXE
The main program - may be placed anywhere. The "Program Path and File" point to this file. The "Working Directory" should be the BackMast\FSS sub-directory. See below.
BACKUP.INI
The Backup utility's initialization file. All Setup values are stored in this file, so it must be in the "Working Directory" defined in the Program object. If you are using FSS's, this must be the BackMast\FSS directory so BackMaster can locate the FSS files when called by this Backup Utility.
VROBJ.DLL
The Rexx Run-time library. You should have this file, if you installed Warp. It needs to be in the LIBPATH search sequence. This version matches the level of the developed program, other levels of Rexx may not work or give warning messages.
DO NOT OVERLAY AN EXISTING VROBJ.DLL, rename the old file instead. Other Rexx applications may require your existing VROBJ.DLL.
USAGE
1. Prepare - Setup
First, perform the Setup function under the Prepare menu. This is where -
- the logical disk drives are defined, which you want to back up (Full/Incremental backups)
- the capacity (in MB) of your tape drive, this is used for calculation purposes in the Erase Tapes function
- any File Save Sets (FSS) to be used in the Selective Backup function
- the options for Compression and Auto-Verify are set (on the Device page)
At least one logical drive and any number of FSS's may be specified in their respective fields. The checking of values stops at the first null or blank entry.
The last page of the Setup notebook shows the generated BackMaster command based on the selected options. This command shows the FSS version of the command, the Full or Incremental versions are slightly different. If you Click on the command field, it will update if you just changed any values on the other pages.
Prepare - Erase Tapes
The Erase Tapes function will perform a calculation using the drives defined and the tape capacity provided to come up with a number of tapes that should be needed. It is usually correct as it rounds up to allow for partial tapes. At the most it should be only 1 tape off. When it prompts with the number of tapes, you may override this number by entering ANY number. If you believe the backup will need more tapes, alter the number and let the erase process prepare additional tape(s).
The Erase Tape process is in descending sequence on purpose, so when the last tape is erased, it is tape #1, ready for the backup process to begin.
Backups
The tape numbers used in BackMaster prompts will be relative tape numbers for each logical drive or FSS. This is additionally confused by the fact that when BackMaster is ending a multi-tape backup, it requests for Cartridge #1 again. This is to update the header for the backup file. Then the backup of that particular drive or FSS ends. If there are more drives of FSS's to process, the BM Backup Utility will prompt you to verify the highest-used tape is in the drive and from now on to consider this tape cartridge #1.
Below is a sample of a multi-tape backup and the actual vs. relative tape cartridge numbers:
Disk Drive Physical Tape Relative Tape
C: #1 #1
C: #2 #2 So far, so good, Drive C: took 2 tapes.
D: #2 #1 Drive D: starts where Drive C: left off
D: #3 #2 Drive D: continues on a second tape
When the Drive C: backup is finishing, BackMaster will ask you to insert the #1 tape, this really is tape #1. After this, the Drive D: process begins and the tape in the drive is still #1. The Backup Utility prompt reminds you to replace the #1 tape with the highest-used tape. In this case it is tape #2. To the Drive D: backup, this is tape #1 and if the Drive D: backup goes beyond 1 tape, it will prompt for Cartridge #2 (really tape #3) when processing the files, and it will ask for tape #1 when it is finishing the backup.
If you never beyond one tape, you will never have to worry about this. If you number tapes by drive or FSS, rather by backup (weekly or daily), you will waste space on tape, but it will be less confusing. The same backup is shown below with drive-specific tapes:
Disk Drive Physical Tape Relative Tape
C: C: #1 #1
C: C: #2 #2 Drive C: took 2 tapes.
D: D: #1 #1 Drive D: starts with it's own set
D: D: #2 #2 continues on a second tape
LIMITS
Known limits of this utility are:
1. Only 8 Logical Drives and FSS's may be defined at this time. This should be enough for most users, but let me know if anyone needs more.
2. Occasionally, BackMaster will terminate prematurely without an error code. This utility will not know there is a problem and will continue with the next drive or FSS, if there are more. In this case, some data has not been backed up. You can the process again and Skip all the drives/FSS's which worked to perform the one which did not. I have seen where BackMaster may quit if the tape drive is not in the status it expected.
NOTICES
This utility was written using the VX-REXX development tool from Watcom and developed solely by:
John McCarron
4343 16st Street, Suite 122
Moline IL 61265
Phone/Fax 309-736-1925
Please contact me, John McCarron about this utility and contact MSR Development about the BackMaster program.
