2011: Backup Runs, But Doesn't Remember
A couple of days ago, I noticed that the backup directory, on my file server was much larger than I expected. The backups I run are configured to delete after 3 version chains. What I found, was that for one machine, this had stopped happening, and there were then 9 chains available.
Checking on the machine itself, it looks like the backups are running correctly, according to the schedule I have, but TIH isn't keeping track of these.
If you look at the main backup screen shot, you can see that the backup today was successful, but the total size is 0 bytes. Also, the Recover Last Version button, and the Explore All Versions link are missing, as it thinks there are none available.
The mount backup screen, also doesn't think there are any current backups available.
Any ideas why this might have happened, and how do I get it to recover from this dose of alzheimer's and remember what it's doing, and keep track.
Cheers.
It is not clear what all can confuse the ati internal database that tracks tasks and backups but it is known that it can go wonky form time to time. I know some folks that have given up checking up on ati and just create and manage backups manually because it's easier and more reliable and, well, if you're checking up on ati, then you're manually exploring into these directories anyhow. Some might consider that draconian. Short of going that route, follow Grover's excellent advice.
Well, I'd like to try and start a new task.
But before, I'd love to know how I get rid of the broken one first:
There's no Delete option. :-)
Or is Remove the equivalent to trash the task.
Cheers.
Poke around, iirc, you clock on the task
s sprocket or right click it and delete is one of the options offered. It will also delete the associated backups if you haven't moved them. If you have the deletion might generate an error message-- ignore and proceed with the delete.
There is no Delete option offered anywhere. The screen shot I posted earlier is all there is. Delete only appears once ATI thinks it has some data to delete.
So, I Removed the task, and created a new one. It ran, according to schedule, but it still thinks there is no data. I have exactly the same problem with the new task.
So, next idea please.
Cheers.
Not sure exactly what type backups you are doing, but here are some examples of what has worked. You can adjust the 6 and 4 settings to your own needs. Space (temporary) needed for 1 more full backup than whatever number retained.
Point the new task to its own empty folder or sub-folder. My recommendations are to each task should have its own folder so backup files from other tasks are not intermixed.
If full backup type used:
sites/default/files/mvp/user285/2012-5545/2012-backup-scheme-full.gif
--------------------
If full plus incremental used
sites/default/files/mvp/user285/2012-5545/2012-backup-scheme-inc.gif
-------------------------
;If full plus differential used.
sites/default/files/mvp/user285/2012-5545/2012-backup-scheme-dif.gif
If you need to delete tasks, one option would be to find the scripts folder and delete the specific script. Notepad will display their contents if needed.
Grover,
I have my task set up *exactly* as you show for Full plus 6 Incremental. Which has been working fine, for about 6 months now. The backup where I noticed the issue was week 29.
Looking in the scripts directory, I only see the new task I created a couple of days ago, so the Remove appears to have taken care of the "old" one.
I did notice, that in the Database directory, the archives.xml file was a zero length one, dated some time in February, which is about the point it stopped cleaning up the old backups. My bet is that this is the cause of my problems. At some point, this file got written out empty, and so subsequent attempts to update it failed, finding the empty file.
Let's see if deleting it, causes it to be recreated correctly.
Cheers.
You might look at the log file for same date and time in February to see what information is available.