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#1 2020-01-07 23:30:00

jmcsys
Member
Registered: 2019-11-12
Posts: 7

--install-cron does not create the expected files, or any

I run ./xsibackup --install-cron and it runs the whole installer, but no files get created.

Also as a side note, the /var/log/xsibackup.log file never gets any entries no matter what I do. It remains at 0kb.

I can manually make a backup.

I ssh as root into the esxi server.

Any ideas how to get cron to work? why the files are not being created when the installer runs?

If I try to run ./xsibackup --install-cron again it prompts to run --remove-cron, which also completes.

Thanks!

Last edited by jmcsys (2020-01-08 00:06:26)

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#2 2020-01-08 10:49:51

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,055

Re: --install-cron does not create the expected files, or any

You most probably have a misconception on what the --install-cron argument does. What it does is to add a line to /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh so that each time the ESXi host is rebooted the cron schedules are re-added to the ESXi crontab. This is necessary as the ESXi OS volume is not persistent, any changes added will be lost on every reboot. So, why do you expect this argument to create any file?

(c)XSIBackup Classic: troubleshooting the (c)ESXi cron

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#3 2020-01-08 17:24:26

jmcsys
Member
Registered: 2019-11-12
Posts: 7

Re: --install-cron does not create the expected files, or any

Thank you for replying. The reason I expect to see at least one new file (xsibackup-cron) is because the ./xsibackup --help says this should be the case.

It does not mention anything about /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh, thanks for that info I will look into that.

Below is from the --help

OPTIONS:

--install-cron      This will install the cron system and file xsibackup-cron to the current dir.
            You can add as many XSIBackup commands as you want into this file, one per line.
            The only thing you have to do is add the parameter --time, i.e. --time="Mon 23:30".
            You can find detailed instructions in the sample xsibackup-cron file.


I was hoping to "find detailed instructions in the sample xsibackup-cron file"

Do you know where I find this file?

Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

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#4 2020-01-08 17:57:52

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,055

Re: --install-cron does not create the expected files, or any

The argument you are looking for is --update-cron

From the Manpage at: https://33hops.com/xsibackup-help-man-p … updatecron

--update-cron (v. 11.0.1 and above)
Copies the active contents of the <user name>-crontab file to the corresponding ESXi crontab file at /var/spool/cron/crontabs/<user name>.

In almost every case we will be talking about the conf/root-crontab file copied to /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root. This command is also automatically executed when the host is rebooted.

Just use

./xsibackup --update-cron

The above command will create the conf/root-crontab, then just add your schedules there and run --update-cron again to have them copied to the ESXi crontab. You can also add your schedules to the ESXi crontab directly, but that will be lost upon a reboot. If you want your schedules to be persistent acros reboots use the conf/root-crontab

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#5 2020-01-09 00:20:50

jmcsys
Member
Registered: 2019-11-12
Posts: 7

Re: --install-cron does not create the expected files, or any

I ran ./xsibackup --update-cron

I get "nothing to add to the root crontab"

Which makes sense to me because I never had a xsibackup-cron file created whereby I could put a cron job.

I could attempt to create a xsibackup-cron file from scratch but the help says "You can find detailed instructions in the sample xsibackup-cron file."

So without these detailed instructions I probably will not create it correctly.

Are we expected to run ./xsibackup --update-cron without a xsibackup-cron file in the same folder? Where does ./xsibackup --update-cron look for jobs to add to the crontab?

Thanks.

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#6 2020-01-09 02:33:55

jmcsys
Member
Registered: 2019-11-12
Posts: 7

Re: --install-cron does not create the expected files, or any

(c)XSIBackup Classic: changes in version 11.0.0

I now see things have changed.

/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/xsi-dir/jobs/000

Is the only way to backup to a remote server to do it manually or with pro?


tail -f xsibackup.log
|                              USE DISCOUNT COUPON: XSIDREWYI                              |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                 Launching remote jobs is not available in XSIBACKUP-FREE                 |
|                          Get XSIBACKUP-PRO at https://33hops.com                          |
|                              USE DISCOUNT COUPON: XSIDREWYI                              |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Killed

At least I got something from the log file finally smile

Last edited by jmcsys (2020-01-09 02:56:06)

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#7 2020-01-09 17:02:25

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,055

Re: --install-cron does not create the expected files, or any

The xsibackup-cron file was deprecated in v. 11.0.0
The man page and our previous answer clearly state that --update-cron creates the file conf/root-crontab
Add regular cron schedules there and then run --update-cron again so that those schedules are copied to the ESXi crontab.

i.e.:

Add this to the /scratch/XSI/XSIBackup-Pro/conf/root-crontab file

0 2 * * * "/scratch/XSI/XSIBackup-Pro/jobs/001" > /dev/null 2>&1

#Run job 001 everyday at 02:00

Then run --update-cron to copy that schedule to the ESXi crontab

# /scratch/XSI/XSIBackup-Pro/xsibackup --update-cron

(*) Get Pro and do it in the GUI. This redundant crontab is required due to ESXi's non persistent OS partition, the GUI abstracts you from having to deal with that.

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