Advanced Usage and Details
Running backups from the command line:
Once you have defined a backup configuration that suits your needs, you may want to run it in the background or even in an automated way (i.e. as a scheduled task or as a cron job).
Rather than piecing together a command line from different sources and pieces of information, you can just select "Extras" and then "Command line" from the menu bar. Backup Client will display the entire command line you need. You can then choose to copy it to the clipboard or save it to a file.
Sources:
In general, all functions discussed here are available from the "Sources" menu in the menu bar and from the sources context menu (right click in the sources pane). Most functions require that one or multiple sources are selected.Properties
You can view the name of the target archive and the archive mode (compress or copy only) by selecting "Properties" from the context menu or from the "Sources" menu while a source is selected.
Zip vs. Copy
By default a source is zipped and compressed before it is sent to the archive destination(s). This makes sense if the files in the backup source are compressible (i.e. text files) or if you want to keep all files within one zipped file.
Zipped archives always have the extension ".zip". If this extension is not specified in the target name, Backup Client will add it.
It may be desirable to not compress and zip the files but to simply copy them. In this case a directory with the target name and number and with the extension ".bck" will be created in each destination. The content of the source will be copied to this folder.
Changing the default name
You can change the name of the target archive in the context menu of a selected source.
Destinations
Types (Planned for Release 3.0)
Unzipping Files
Choose "Run" from menu bar and then "Unzip" or alternatively click the "Unzip" label on the right hand side. This will bring up the "Choose Zipfile" dialog that lets you select a .zip file (an archive) to be unzipped.
Once you have chosen a .zip file, the "Choose destination" dialog comes up. There, you can specify the destination directory, where the contents of the archive are dumped. You can also specify a new directory which will be created.
Note:
There is currently no feature that allows you to preview the contents of a .zip file, but you can use any standard zip tool to view and unzip .zip files created by backup client.
Log Levels and Log Files
You can set the log level for the log file and for the output on the UI or the console separately. Just set them in the appropriate Combo boxes.
The following log levels are available:
1 = Low, Errors only (recommended for background archive runs that are well tested)
2 = Normal, Errors, Warnings and Status messages (recommended setting for screen output)
3 = High (recommended for file output)
4 = Detailed (recommended to debug things)
You can also specify the log file location and name editing it in the UI (and hitting return) or by double clicking it and using the file chooser to specify it.
Archive Run - Details
Compressed sources:
A compressed source is zipped to a temp file and then copied to the archive destination. Temp files have the prefix "bckClient" and the suffix ".bcktmp".
It also creates a file list, where the names and paths of the files in this archive are stored.
The compressed temp file and the file list are then copied to the destination directory. The name of the archive is "<targetname><number>.zip". The file list is named "<targetname><number>.fl".
By default, the target name is created by substituting colons, backslashes, etc. from the source filename and path with dashes and underscores.
You can view the target name in the properties of a source.
Backup Client checks the destination for existing archives for the target name of the source, finds the highest number and increases it by one for the target name of the next archive.
"Copy Only" sources:
Sources that are "copy only" will not be zipped or compressed. They are just copied to the destination. Backup client will create a directory with the target name and number and the extension ".bck".
Cleaning up:
After the files are copied to the backup destination sucessfully, backup client checks the archives in the destination again and deletes old archives until the number of archives matches the number set in the configuration of the archive destination. If there is an error while the files are copied, backup client will try cleaning up the incomplete attempt. Old files are not deleted in this case.
Command line usage:
Backup client can also be run in the command line. Just start it with the -help option to bring up the following message:
Backup Client Help:
Backup client creates archives and un zips them.Valid Parameters:
-admin: Bring up the admin Console. Overrides -unzip.
-unzip: Unzips a zipfile to a destination.
If no path is given for the zip, unzip tries to find it in the current working directory.-cfg: Specify a configuration file. Valid with -admin and -unzip.
If destination does not exist but its parent does, destination is created in the parent directory.
Usage: -unzip "<zipfilename>" "<destination>", destination must be a directory.
Usage: -cfg "<configfile>"-gentemp: Specify a template configuration file to be created by Backup Client for further editing.
Usage: -gentemp "<template props path and filename>"-loc: Specifies a locale.
Usage: -loc <locale>
Supported Locales are:
enu: English (United States)
deu: German (Germany)
Tip:
Specify a source and a destination, then choose "Extras" - "Command Line" to get the command line for backup client.