CHAPTER 7 Customizing the nbkMSGS File

Previous Chapter : Next Chapter : Top


Table of Contents


The `nbkMSGS' file contains configuration parameters that originally are set to default values. You can change these values to optimize BACKUP.UNET performance for your system.


Changing Configuration Parameters

You should exercise care when changing any of the configuration parameters in the `nbkMSGS' file. If you are unsure of the correct values for your environment for any message you would like to alter, contact Caldera Technical Support before proceeding.

  1. Stop the daemons before modifying `nbkMSGS':
    nmaint -stopbrp -stopiop
    

  2. Edit the `nbkMSGS' file using any editor and save your work.
    For example, if you are using vi, enter:
    vi $NBK/nbkMSGS
    

  3. Restart the BACKUP.UNET daemons:
    nmaint -startbrp -startiop
    

    WARNING: Whenever you modify any configuration parameters in the `nbkMSGS' file, the BRP daemon and IOP daemon should be stopped before making changes, and restarted after saving the changes for the new settings to take effect. Call Caldera Technical Support if you have any questions.

    Note: The parameter numbers listed in Table 7 1 do not necessarily correspond to the line number in the `nbkMSGS' file.

TABLE 7-1. Configuration Parameters for `nbkMSGS'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Param.  Default        Description                                             
Number  Argument                                                               
        Values                                                                 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1       58600 90 90    Operator request subsystem controls (refer to           
                       `nbk.opmessage' on page 8 19). Three integer            
                       values are defined as follows:                          

                       Argument 1 - The maximum total amount of                
                       time (in seconds) allowed for a                         
                       BACKUP.UNET operator to mount a requested               
                       volume. A value of 0 for this argument means            
                       there is no time limit.                                 

                       Argument 2 - BACKUP.UNET can be made to                 
                       test a tape drive automatically while a volume          
                       is being requested. When this feature is in             
                       effect, an operator need only mount the                 
                       requested volume and BACKUP.UNET will                   
                       withdraw the request by itself (that is, without        
                       an operator reply) when the proper volume is            
                       detected. When this argument is 0, this feature         
                       is disabled. When it is non 0, it indicates the         
                       amount of time (in seconds) between each tape           
                       drive test.                                             

                       Note: On some systems, accessing a device               
                       when no media is mounted results in a crash or          
                       a disabled device. In these cases, a value of 0 is      
                       recommended for Argument 2.                             
                       Argument 3 - The amount of time (in seconds)            
                       between each operator request prompt.                   
                       Note: A value of 0 for this argument means no           
                       prompts will be displayed. This option is not           
                       recommended.                                            

2       6              List of UNIX signals to ignore. Using the               
                       default value ignores device I/O errors and             
                       instead of aborting, uses arguments in the              
                       `$NBK/nbkdeviceARGS' file to control I/O                
                       operations.                                             
                                                                               
3       1000 500       Volume selection parameter for the nbkup -              
                       append command.                                         

                       Argument 1 - The minimum number of blocks               
                       that must be available on a volume for it to be         
                       considered for use as a backup volume.                  

                       Argument 2 - Compares available blocks for              
                       best fit. Two volumes have equally good fit if          
                       the difference between the number of available          
                       blocks on each and the projected size of the            
                       backup to be appended is less than this value.          
                       When multiple volumes have an equally good              
                       fit, the one with the smallest count is requested.      

                       Note: Argument 2 affects volume selection               
                       only when BACKUP.UNET requests a volume                 
                       for a backup. Any volume that satisfies Argu            
                       ment 1, above, is used.                                 

4       /bin/sh        Full pathname of the shell used to execute pro          
                       cessing escapes and other subcommands.                  

6       /              Pathname relative to which all files are backed         
                       up. The pathname must exist and must end with           
                       a "/".                                                  

7       90             Recommended volume capacity as a percent of             
                       total available volume capacity. Used when              
                       computing storage capacity of a backup vol              
                       ume.                                                    

8       15 1           File locking option, indicated by two integer           
                       values defined as follows:                              

                       Argument 1 - Number of times the backup/                
                       restore processor tries to lock a regular file          
                       before backing up.                                      

                       Argument 2 - Number of seconds that the                 
                       backup/restore processor waits between one              
                       unsuccessful file lock attempt and the next             
                       attempt.                                                
                       If the arguments are not present or Argument 1          
                       is 0, the backup/restore processor does not try         
                       to lock a file before backing it up.                    

9       10             File open failure escape, indicating the number         
                       of seconds for the backup/restore processor to          
                       escape from a file open failure (that is, opening       
                       a file that is automatically locked by another          
                       process) that kills the program.                        

10      60 3           Device busy timeout, indicated by two integer           
                       values defined as follows:                              

                       Argument 1 - Total amount of time (in seconds)          
                       to attempt to open a device while it is busy            
                       (that is, the system sets "errno" to "EBUSY"            
                       after the open system call). This is useful to          
                       allow for device rewind time or other users             
                       using the device. 0 means try forever.                  

                       Argument 2 - Amount of time (in seconds)                
                       between device open attempts. 0 means attempt           
                       to open the device only once and give up if the         
                       device is busy.                                         

11      6 128 768      Shared memory limitations, indicated by three           
                       integer values defined as follows:                      

                       Argument 1 - Total number of shared memory              
                       segments allowed per process.                           

                       Argument 2 - Maximum size (in Kbytes) for               
                       one shared memory segment.                              

                       Argument 3 - Maximum amount (in Kbytes) of              
                       attached shared memory per process.                     

12      8              Double buffering. BACKUP.UNET employs a                 
                       double buffering scheme to improve data                 
                       throughput to devices. This means that process          
                       ing data need not wait for device I/O and vice          
                       versa. To accomplish this, data is buffered             
                       between the device and BACKUP.UNET. This                
                       parameter is the number of buffers                      
                       BACKUP.UNET will attempt to use. The num                
                       ber of buffers actually used may be fewer,              
                       depending on the tape blocking and shared               
                       memory resource limitations. The maximum                
                       value is 64.                                            

13      65536          Ulimit value for maximum database table size            
                       (in 512 byte blocks). 65536 is equivalent to 32         
                       Mbytes. The ulimit also affects the size of a file      
                       that can be restored.                                   

14      1              Loop type; describes the buffering between the          
                       device and BACKUP.UNET using one of the                 
                       following values:                                       

                       1 - indicates one buffer at a time                      
                       2 - indicates in blocks of as many buffers as           
                       available                                               

                       Use the value 2 if the device is slow, so that          
                       more than one buffer can be written at a time.          
                       Use the value 1 for a fast device since one             
                       buffer can be filled and passed more quickly.           

15      14400 86400    Timeout value (in seconds) for remote proce             
                       dure calls (RPCs). A longer and a shorter               
                       default timeout value is provided. For opera            
                       tions expected to take longer amounts of time,          
                       the invoking program selects the longer value.          

16      1000000        Maximum log file size before `nbkLOG' is                
                       spun to `nbkLOG 1'.                                     

17      0              Date format. Determines the format in which             
                       the date is to be entered and displayed.                
                       0 or not present    - U.S. (MM/DD/YY)                   
                       1         - European (DD/MM/YY)                         

18      1              Who can start backups and recycle dumps:                

                       0 - no one                                              
                       1 - administrator only                                  
                       2 - operator only                                       
                       3 - both administrator and operator                     

19      0              Whether users with administrator privileges             
                       can restore files owned by other users:                 
                       0 - cannot restore files                                
                       1 - can restore files                                   

20      80000          Batch size for batched RPCs.                            

21      0              When to back up NFS mounted files:                      
                       0 or not present - skip over NFS mounted files          
                       in worklist                                             
                       1    - back up NFS mounted files in worklist            
                       WARNING:  Because of the "state less" nature            
                       of NFS, MTI does not guarantee or support the           
                       backup of NFS mounted filesystems.                      

22      0              BRP daemon priority.                                    
                       BRP sub process that performs full and incre            
                       mental backups using the UNIX nice system               
                       call; values range from +19 to  19:                     
                       0    -  no change from current priority                 
                       10   -  typical value for low priority                  
                       18   -  very low priority                               
                       -5   -  raise priority                                  

23      5 60 60 1440   Volume table synchronization frequency. Spec            
        1440           ifies how frequently (in minutes) a host's IOP          
                       attempts to synchronize its volume table with           
                       any hosts that are poolmasters for its media            
                       pools, in order to serve requests for pools that        
                       are not the poolmasters. If all five intervals are      
                       not specified, the last one specified becomes           
                       the final interval. If no intervals are specified or    
                       if the message is omitted from the `nbkMSGS'            
                       file, the initial and final interval is five minutes.   

                       Argument 1 - Initial interval; if at least one          
                       media pool requires synchronization, the IOP            
                       waits this long between attempts.                       

                       Argument 2 - The length of time for which the           
                       initial interval is valid.                              

                       Argument 3 - Secondary interval; interval used          
                       when the initial interval is no longer valid.           

                       Argument 4 - The length of time after the first         
                       synchronization attempt until the finalinterval         
                       becomes valid.                                          

                       Argument 5 - Final interval.                            

24      0              Read "eats" (skips) tape marks. Allows the use          
                       of the BACKUP.UNET append feature, which                
                       enables multiple backups to be written onto one         
                       tape.                                                   
                       Concerns the behavior of tape devices (for              
                       example, 9 track and 8mm drives) that support           
                       tape marks (MTIO interface). This setting on a          
                       system affects IOP behavior running on the              
                       system.                                                 

                       0         - Tells the IOP when a "read" UNIX sys        
                       tem call is performed on a device that has              
                       encountered a tape mark on the media (tape), it         
                       must explicitly          instruct the device to skip    
                       over the tape mark with an "ioctl" UNIX sys             
                       tem call to continue reading the tape. (The             
                       device does not advance automatically over the          
                       tape          mark.)                                    

                       Non 0     -  (Normally 1), tells the IOP when a         
                       "read" UNIX system call is perormed on a                
                       device that has encountered a tape mark on the          
                       media, the device automatically skips over the          
                       tape mark and the "ioctl"  system call is not           
                       needed to advance.                                      

25      CPIOC          Default format for labeling tapes and backups.          
                       Possible formats are:                                   
                       CPIO           ANSI                                     
                       CPIOC          ANSI MAGTAPE                             
                       TAR                                                     

26      24000 24000    Network buffer size. RPC bytes wise transfer            
                       size.                                                   

27      390200         RPC program numbers.                                    
        390201         Do not change this message without first con            
        390202         sulting Caldera Technical Support.                      
        390203         WARNING:   The daemons must be stopped                  
                       before this message is changed.                         

28      1 1 1 1        RPC procedure version number.                           

                       WARNING:   Changing this setting is not rec             
                       ommended. However, if you do change the set             
                       ting, the daemons must be stopped before the            
                       message setting is changed.                             

29      2              Data table locking type, indicating the levels of       
                       the database locking mechanism.                         

                       WARNING:   The daemons must be stopped                  
                       before the message setting is changed.                  

                       1  -  Automatic record locking; this setting is         
                       not recommended.                                        

                       2  -  Allows multiple access to the database.           
                       Note:      Incremental backups automatically            
                       use level 2 database locking, regardless of the         
                       value already set.                                      

                       3  -  Exclusive locking; increases backup speed.

                       No other operations are allowed on the data             
                       base tables while the initial operation is run          
                       ning. This setting is recommended for                   
                       nighttime backups.                                      

                       Note:      Recycling operations automatically           
                       use level 3 database locking, regardless of the         
                       value already set.                                      

30      5              Shared memory key. During the installation              
                       process, a check is performed to determine if           
                       this shared memory key is being used by                 
                       another application in your system. If so, it is        
                       automatically changed to the next available             
                       value. If after installation, another application       
                       needs to use this shared memory key, the value          
                       for BACKUP.UNET can be changed.                         

                       WARNING:   The daemons must be stopped                  
                       before this message setting is changed.                 

31      6              "No media in device" error codes, which are             
                       returned by a device when an attempt is made            
                       to read or write a tape and there is no tape in         
                       the drive.                                              
                       See Note in parameter 32.                               
                       6 = ENXIO                                               

32      16             "Device busy" error codes, which are returned           
                       by a device when an attempt is made to read or          
                       write a tape and another process is using the           
                       drive, preventing BACKUP.UNET from doing                
                       so.                                                     
                       16 = EBUSY                                              
                       Note: For both messages 31 and 32, because              
                       the error codes returned are determined by the          
                       device driver, different devices may return dif         
                       ferent error codes for the same condition.              
                       BACKUP.UNET allows you to specify more                  
                       than one error code per condition that will indi        
                       cate the condition for which they were listed.          
                       Do not list the same error code in both mes             
                       sages.                                                  
                       BACKUP.UNET is shipped with these two                   
                       messages set to values found to be accurate on          
                       the system type on which it is intended to be           
                       run. If you run a device with a third party or          
                       non standard device driver and this driver does         
                       not return the expected error codes, you will           
                       need to add the codes to these messages.                
i
33      0              Describes a tape drive's ability to skip tape           
                       marks.                                                  

                       0    -  No tape mark skip limitation; can skip          
                       any number of tape marks at one time. This is           
                       the default, makes argument 2 meaningless.              

                       1    -  Limited tape mark skip capability. Reads        
                       second argument to determine how many tape              
                       marks to skip per "ioctl" call.                         
                       Note: For the Sun 4.1.2 environment, set the            
                       value to 1 1.                                           

34                     Tape device or devices that are able to write           
                       more than two gigabytes of data to a tape vol           
                       ume. Default is blank field (no such device).           
                       Sample device is /dev/rmt0.                             

35      2              Number of FRP reader processes per stream.              

36      8              Number of buffers used between NWP and                  
                       FRP processes. Unless this setting conflicts            
                       with other applications on your system, we rec          
                       ommend that it not be changed.                          

38      6              Debug shared memory id.  During the installa            
                       tion process, a check is performed to determine         
                       if this shared memory key is being used by              
                       another application in your system. If so, it is        
                       automatically changed to the next available             
                       value. If after installation, another application       
                       needs to use this shared memory key, the value          
                       for BACKUP.UNET can be changed.                         

                       WARNING:   The daemons must be stopped                  
                       before the message setting is changed.                  

39      0 or not       Reserved for IBM append feature on 8mm tape             
        present        drives. Certain 8mm tape drives, for example            
                       those on IBM RS6000 systems, must perform a             
                       "backspace file" operation before attempting to         
                       append to a tape.                                       

                       0 or not present       "Backspace file" is not          
                       needed. This is the default.                            
                       1              The program must backspace before        
                       attempting to append.                                   

40      90             Volume percentage cutoff number. If the per             
                       centage used threshold is greater than this             
                       value, the volume will only be considered for a         
                       backup after all other volumes have been con            
                       sidered.                                                

41      0              Volume selection scheme.                                

                       0    Choose volume(s) that have the lowest per          
                       centage used.                                           
                       1    Choose volume(s) with the most blocks              
                       available.                                              

42      4096           Buffer size used to communicate between the             
                       FRP and the NWP. This parameter also indi               
                       cates the amount of data the FRP will try to            
                       read in a single read operation. If the blocksize       
                       on your filesystem is higher, you may want to           
                       increase this value. For example, if your file          
                       system blocksize is 8K, you may want to                 
                       change this parameter value to 8192.                    

44      nbk-BATCH      Batch job directory name. Indicates the direc           
                       tory in which files are placed during a backup          
                       to update the catalog after the backup com              
                       pletes successfully. Pathnames are interpreted          
                       relative to the BACKUP.UNET home direc                  
                       tory.                                                   

45      0              FRP and IOD read/write operation.                       

                       0    The FRP and IOD read and write directly to         
                       shared memory.                                          

                       1    The FRP and IOD copy data to or from               
                       shared memory to local memory before reading            
                       and writing, respectively. This setting may be          
                       faster on some systems.                                 

47      0              Restore a file's last accessed time.                    

                       0    Restores the last access time of a file to its     
                       original value after the file is backed up. The         
                       inode change time of the file is automatically          
                       updated. Applications that make use of the              
                       inode change time (for example, dump) may               
                       want to use a value of 1.                               

                       1    Does not restore the file's last accessed          
                       time.                                                   

48      1 300          Backup scheduler operation, indicated by two            
                       integer values defined as follows:                      

                       Argument 1 - Scheduler operation.                       
                       0    Do not run the scheduler.                          
                       1    Run the scheduler.                                 

                       Argument 2 - How often (in seconds) the sched           
                       uler daemon checks for when to initiate a               
                       backup.                                                 

49                     Mount table file name, if not `/etc/mtab'. Indi         
                       cates the file to be accessed for the list of cur       
                       rently mounted filesystems.                             

50      0              Backup streaming operation.                             

                       0    Start the backup with as many currently            
                       available devices to serve the streams. For             
                       example, if 5 streams are specified but only 3          
                       devices are available, the backup is started with       
                       only 3 streams using the 3 available devices.           

                       1    Do not start the backup until there are            
                       enough devices available to serve all streams.          
                       For example, if 5 streams are specified, the            
                       backup will not start until there are 5 devices         
                       available to service the 5 backup streams.              

503     trot13 -key    trot13 represents the name of the encryption fil        
        example -      ter (program), -key example and -salt represent         
        salt %s%d      arguments that affect the algorithm used for the        
                       encryption. Refer to page 4-19 for more infor           
                       mation about encryption filters.                        

504     trot13 -key    trot13 represents the name of the decryption fil        
        example -      ter (program), -key example and -salt represent         
        salt %s%d      arguments that affect the algorithm used for the        
                       decryption. Refer to page 4-19 for more infor           
                       mation about decryption filters.                        
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------