Volume Root?

[corestudio]

OK, I have what seems like an easy one. We generally build our backup sets around calendar years. So I want a script that backs up all enclosed files in folders beginning with certain characters. i.e.:

 

JOBS/1001_jobA

JOBS/1002_jobB

 

but not:

 

JOBS/0955_jobA

JOBS/0956_jobB

 

etc

 

where "JOBS" is the sharepoint. i.e. /Volumes/JOBS/

 

backing up the folder and everything inside every night at midnight. schedule is easy. But every combination of Folder/Enclosing folder is Volume Root AND Enclosing folder begins with "10" is met with failure. I try them in different orders of execution, etc. Either Retro backs up everything, including the 09 jobs, or backs up nothing.

 

Any advice? thanks!

 

[Lennart_T]

Try creating ("Configure") two "subvolumes", one for each folder in the "1000" series. Then backup the subvolumes as Target.

[corestudio]

Thanks Lennart. But then I would need to do that every time we add a job, correct? I'm trying to find a way that when anybody adds a job starting with 10... it gets backed up by that script.

 

so we'll have

 

JOBS/1001_jobA

JOBS/1002_jobB

JOBS/1003_jobC

 

etc

[rhwalker]

You seem to be asking for autocreation of sources for backup scripts. That can't be done.

 

Another thing you could do is to define the JOBS folder as a "subvolume", have Retrospect back up everything down that filesystem subtree. If you just want to catch additions / changes in the JOBS/10* folders, then add a selector to the script using the JOBS subvolume to back up files with the enclosing folder name does start with 10

 

Your selector is not doing what you think it is doing.

 

To me, though, what you really need/want to do is just define JOBS as a subvolume and back up the entire JOBS subvolume, with no selector filtering. If nothing has been added/changed in the 09xx* folders, then nothing will be backed up from them, and you will have a snapshot that lets you recover from any year's jobs.

 

Russ

[corestudio]

Hi Russ. Thanks for the reply. No, I don't want autocreation. What I want is what you describe, but Retrospect doesn't seem to be doing it properly. Or rather it's probably user error, but I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

 

JOBS is on the fileserver, and is mounted as a volume. And I do have the script that says only backup enclosing folders that start with 10*

 

The problem, and the reason for the whole Volume Root effort is that the JOBS folder might be holding 09 jobs as well, and I'd rather the 10* script not even bother scanning those folders. And I don't want the 10* script backing up folders buried deep within the 09* (or even 08*) folders that might start with 10*

 

What I'm not understanding is how to tell Retrospect to scan and backup

 

Volumes/JOBS/1001_jobA

Volumes/JOBS/1002_jobB

Volumes/JOBS/1003_jobC

 

etc

 

but don't even bother looking at

 

Volumes/JOBS/0967_jobA

Volumes/JOBS/0968_jobB

Volumes/JOBS/0969_jobC

 

etc

 

 

[rhwalker]

JOBS is on the fileserver, and is mounted as a volume. And I do have the script that says only backup enclosing folders that start with 10*

 

The problem, and the reason for the whole Volume Root effort is that the JOBS folder might be holding 09 jobs as well, and I'd rather the 10* script not even bother scanning those folders.

There's no way to do what you ask if the problem is stated exactly as you have stated it.

 

You have to understand the design of Retrospect (not that the design shouldn't be different, but, for us users, it is what it is).

 

The "subvolumes" (or "Favorites" for Retrospect 8) instructs Retrospect to do a "chroot" for that subvolume (or Favorite) and treat that subvolume as if the filesystem starts there, recurse down from that. You might want to read the man page for chroot to get a better understanding ("man chroot" in terminal, without the quotes, of course).

 

Retrospect uses selectors (Rules in Retrospect 8) as filters after it has built (scanned) the file list to be backed up. So, if you are trying to do this by selectors driven off of a JOBS subvolume, there's no way to avoid scanning the 09* filesystem tree.

 

The closest approximation to what you are trying to do would be to have a JOBS/2009 folder with all of the 09* jobs in that, and a JOBS/2010 folder with all of the 10* jobs in that, etc., and then define the JOBS/2010 folder as a "subvolume" to be backed up. That seems to be the only way, with the present design, to do what you want.

 

And I don't want the 10* script backing up folders buried deep within the 09* (or even 08*) folders that might start with 10*

Well, the way to do that is to define JOBS as a subvolume, then have a selector that has the condition:

enclosing folder path name does start with /JOBS/10

 

Again, read the man page for chroot, and reflect a bit on why this works.

 

What I'm not understanding is how to tell Retrospect to scan and backup

 

Volumes/JOBS/1001_jobA

Volumes/JOBS/1002_jobB

Volumes/JOBS/1003_jobC

 

etc

 

but don't even bother looking at

 

Volumes/JOBS/0967_jobA

Volumes/JOBS/0968_jobB

Volumes/JOBS/0969_jobC

 

etc

With that precise statement of the problem, it can't be done with the current design of Retrospect. See above. Certainly the design of Retrospect 6.x will never change because it's a dead product. Requests have been made many times over the years to change the design, but it would be a major change from the present "scan by recursing from the source filesystem root, then filter" approach.

 

Russ