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Backup usually require for a lot of storage space, and so we always hope to preform some compression. Default style of Bacula on Debian is coming "without" compression, which means all txt/bmp/wav files will store as original size. You can configure Bacula director to use GZIP during backup, and the compression will preform in File Daemon (FD, which means your backup client) locally before send to Storage Daemon (SD) though network, which means it will also save some of your bandwidth usage. But for sure, it trade some performance for the benefits.

To configure Bacula director to use GZIP compression is quite simple: within the director configuration file (/etc/bacula/bacula-dir.conf), just add the line compression = GZIP under your FileSet ->Include -> Options section, e.g.:

Before software compression option on, your log report should have line as below:

Restart all of your Bacula daemons, and preform a full backup if possible. Now you may see the difference within the log report with line similar as:

So that's it :-)

System backup is a complicated task, including backup, keep trace of record and restore. As the most simple method, you may just *.tar.gz your data and rsync them to remote storage. This maybe useful when you have only 1 server with simple backup architecture, but for sure not enough if you have number of production server with GB scale backup. Therefore Bacula (http://www.bacula.org/) show be your cup of tea.

From Bacula (http://www.bacula.org/):

Bacula is a set of computer programs that permit you (or the system administrator) to manage backup, recovery, and verification of computer data across a network of computers of different kinds.

Bacula split all roles within backup procedure into a very detail and elegant style, so once you understand how its work, you will never get lose. It also support number of backup storage devices, e.g. harddisk, tap, DVD, USB flash driver and so on. It even support different type of database backend, e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite. Moreover, you can setup email report whenever backup process is complete, or browse backup statistic though a simple but elegant web interface. Long story short: it is a fairly complete backup solution that a system administrator should learn about it :-)

This mini-HOWTO will guide you though the installation and configuration of Bacula on top of Debian sid, setup the web GUI for report, and some basic daily operation.