A few questions about XSIBackup ...

NextLevel · 2019-03-19 16:28:17

While evaluate the fantastic XSIBackup, a few questions came up, that are not covered fully in the man page and docs (or not found).
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Q: Supress Proceeding lines in log

While logging a backup job, progress is written for each block. If you watch (tail) the log this is nice to have, but if you just locking at logs later, you just got thousands of these lines. Is there an option to stop this verbosity?

A: not currently, we will include this as a feature request

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Q: The man pages reads: only 3 digit allowed for job-id.

But the GUI allows up to 5 chars. So is it save to use an Id like DAILY ?

A: no, always use 000-999, we'll fix that in the GUI

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Q: what is the difference of --check-repo and -check-xsitoolsrepo?

The man page is not entirely clear: --check-repo is used in a backup while -check-xsitoolsrepo is a standalone call? And is job --check-repo=full the same as -check-xsitoolsrepo?

A: none, there are two kinds of check: full | fast.

Fast just checks the block existence and size. Full will recalculate the hash for the block's data
Default check is full.
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Q: does a error found in a standalone repository check trigger the --on-error event?

If you run a --check-xsitoolsrepo, does the on-error event fire if errors are found in the repo?

A: no, check of XSITools repositories are performed out of the scope of the backup job

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Q: whenever I want use the numpad to enter numbers, the GUI quits. Why?

While the numpad works fine in the shell, within the GUI it kick me out immediately (or acts as F1) when pressing a numpad key.
Can this behavior be changed?

A: we'll study this.

The GUI is based on dialog, the nCurses Linux binary (untouched), so we might not have control on this
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Q: the GUI complains that I have to define both --on-error AND --on-success.

If I left on empty: Error: you must set both event handlers.
What to enter if there is nothing to do on success? Do I have to create a dummy job?

A: yes, you must define both.

Point it to an empty job, i.e.: 000?
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Q: how to gracefully end a continuous backup

I can create a continuous backup just be using --on--success to recall the same job again and again.
But how do I stop this job gracefully (i.e. end the continuous recall after 19.00h). I can schedule a dummy job at this time, but this will kill the running process in the middle of it (and may leave an inconsistent repository).
Any idea how I can just stop the recall after 19.00h? Can I maybe force the running job to run into on-error?

UPDATE: Sometimes the solution is to simple to see . Simply rename the job file does the job. The current job keeps running to the end and stops the chain because the job file is gone. It does not even throw an error. Fits for me.

A: you must use some scripting to control that.

You can create a custom backup job that uses a counter recorded in a file or that behaves depending on the system date
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Q: can I suppress the creation of ESX backup file

Every job creates a *-config-tgz file. Can this be suppressed?

A: no, those are included in the backup by default.

They weight nothing and the ESXi system backup just takes a couple of seconds

Thank you for your product and support.

Last edited by NextLevel (2019-03-20 12:13:15)

NextLevel · 2019-03-20 12:27:39

Thank you for the answers

Q: what is the difference of --check-repo and -check-xsitoolsrepo?

I'm aware of the fast and full option of --check-xsitoolsrepo. The question is, what is the difference to --check-repo ?

A: no, always use 000-999, we'll fix that in the GUI

Oh, I already use job ids like BRXTC because this allows me to set meaningful, brain compatible, abbreviations. Makes it much easier to define chains. And it seem to work w/o problems. Hope you don't change that .

admin · 2019-03-23 11:42:15

There isn't any difference, both options check the repository

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#1 2019-03-19 16:28:17