Common Internet Filesystem (CIFS) Backup and Restore
Common Internet Filesystem (CIFS) is useful for backing up file system types (such as Netware servers) that are not directly supported by Amanda Enterprise Edition, or for when you do not wish to install the Zmanda client that is available.
Like other file system backups, CIFS-based backup lets you specify files to exclude, and whether to enable encryption and compression. CIFs-based backup does not support backing up extended file attributes.
mount.cifs versus Network/CIFS Share Backup via Samba
Both methods let you back up Windows filesystems without installing the Zmanda Windows Client (ZWC) on the machine being backed up.
Neither method will back up NTFS extended file attributes or Windows applications. Zmanda Windows client is required to back up applications and attributes. Choose a Backup Type of Windows on the Backup What page to use Zmanda Windows Client.
Network/CIFS share backup method using smbclient can backup using SMB (Server Message Block) protocol. This allows backup of Windows 3.1, Windows NT and older versions of Windows. Newer versions of Windows supports CIFS and can be backed up using mount.cifs method. mount.cifs method works only Linux machines and Solaris 10 platforms.
4. Network/CIFS share backup method using archive bit to track the files backed up. Other backup programs or programs that modify archive bit will impact incremental backups created using this method (some files will not get backed up in incremental backups). The mount.cifs method uses normal Linux filesystem backup program and uses modification time stamps, device number and inodes to identify which files to back up in incremental backups.
Requirements for CIFS Server Backup and Restore
These instructions assume you have already installed and licensed the Amanda Enterprise server.
- Create a backup set that you intend to use for backing up the CIFS share as described here.
- On the Amanda sever, edit the /etc/amanda/backup_set_name/amanda-client.conf file to include the following lines (to make the settings global, make these changes to /etc/amanda/amanda-client.conf ):
property "SMBCLIENT-PATH" "Path_to_smbclient_Binary"
Path_to_smbclient_Binary
The path to the smbclient binary executable file.
For further details on application properties, see amanda-client.conf(5).
Configuring CIFS Backups from the ZMC Backup What Page
On the Backup What page you are prompted to select what type of object you want to back up. Choose CIFS/, and the following options are displayed:
- Host Name
-
The host name of Amanda client. Usually the Amanda server itself is used as the Amanda client. Using the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) is recommended. smbclient (part of the Samba client package) must be installed on the Amanda client.
- Share Name
-
The CIFS share represented in \\CIFSserver\share\sub-directory format (in other words, the Univeral Naming Convention - UNC format). The CIFSserver can be specified by host name or IP address. This is the share backed up by Amanda as a backup object.
- Username
-
User name used to access the SMB share.
- Password
- Password required for the user; please note the password is displayed in plain text as it is typed.
- Domain
-
CIFS server domain name. To find it, open a command window on the Windows client and enter the following command:
smbclient -L <ip address> -U <user name>from the Windows client. User will be prompted for password.
- Exclude Files
- Lists files to be excluded from the backup. Regular expressions are allowed to specify multiple files and paths.
- Encryption & Compression Options
- Lists Encryption and Compression choices. Encryption and Compression of data is described here.
- Advanced Options - Estimate
- If estimates are taking too long and the databases being backed up do not change in size that much from backup to backup, use the the Historical Average calculated from previous backups. In most cases, the default of Reliably Accurate is appropriate.
After you have set the options, click the Add button to add the CIFS share to the backup set. Click Apply Plan to Server to commit the changes; you can then configure the backup set just as you would any other by setting the options on Backup Where, Backup How, and Backup When, etc.