Creating Multiple Post Office Backups Within a Day (Intra-day Backups)

Reload only runs one backup per day; however, what if a server crashed in the middle of the day?  All of the mail sent/received since the nightly backup would be lost.

How can an organization minimize its exposure to risk?  Is there a way to run more than one backup per day in Reload?

Only one backup per day can be configured within the Reload administration console; however, you can leverage the functionality of the Linux cron system to run multiple backups per day.  We call these "intra-day" backups.

 

Setting Up Cron Jobs

Utilize the Reload "Run Job Creation Utility" (reloadj) in conjunction with the Linux cron utility to make the intra-day backups.  In this example, we'll set up 4 jobs to run during the day before the standard nightly job runs (as configured within Reload).

1.  Edit the crontab file in /etc directory.

2.  Add the following four lines:

0 6 * * 1-5      root   /usr/sbin/reloadj -p poedu -i
0 9 * * 1-5      root   /usr/sbin/reloadj -p poedu -i
0 12 * * 1-5    root   /usr/sbin/reloadj -p poedu -i
0 15 * * 1-5    root   /usr/sbin/reloadj -p poedu -i

3.  Restart the cron daemon:  /etc/init.d/cron restart

These backups run without SmartPurge enable; however, the nightly job configured within Reload will perform the SmartPurge operation on the post office.

What This Does

1. The backup at 6:00 A.M. creates the first backup of the day. However it does not run the Reload SmartPurge Agent. Because of this, a backup is created, but users are not able to purge mail that was backed up from the 6:00 A.M. Job.

2. The backup at 9:00 A.M. creates the second backup of the day. However it does not run the Reload SmartPurge Agent. Because of this a backup is created, but users are not able to purge mail that was backed up from the 9:00 A.M. Job. When the 9:00 A.M. Job finishes, it encounters the backup set from 6:00 A.M.. The 9:00 A.M. Job is guaranteed to have everything within it that the 6:00 A.M. Job had, so Reload discards of the 6:00 A.M. Job.

3. The backup at 12:00 P.M. creates the third backup of the day. However it does not run the Reload SmartPurge Agent. Because of this, a backup is created, but users are not able to purge mail that was backed up from the 12:00 P.M. Job. When the 12:00 P.M. Job finishes, it encounters the backup set from 9:00 A.M.. The 12:00 P.M. Job is guaranteed to have everything within it that the 9:00 A.M. Job had. So Reload discards of the 9:00 A.M. Job.

4. The backup at 3:00 P.M. (15:00) creates the fourth backup of the day. However it does not run the Reload SmartPurge Agent. Because of this, a backup is created, but users are not able to purge mail that was backed up from the 3:00 P.M. (15:00) Job. When the 3:00 P.M. (15:00) Job finishes, it encounters the backup set from 12:00 P.M.. The 3:00 P.M. (15:00) Job is guaranteed to have everything within it that the 12:00 P.M. Job had. So Reload discards of the 12:00 P.M. Job.

5. The backup at 7:30 P.M. (19:30) creates the fifth backup of the day. And the Reload SmartPurge Agent does run. Because the Reload SmartPurge Agent ran on the final backup, items that are received prior to 7:30 P.M. (19:30) are purgeable from post office. When the 7:30 P.M. (19:30) Job finishes, it encounters the backup set from 3:00 P.M. (15:00). The 7:30 P.M. (19:30) Job is guaranteed to have everything within it that the 3:00 P.M. (15:00) Job had, so Reload discards of the 3:00 P.M. (15:00) Job.

Further Reading:  Refer to the Reload manual on our support website or the documentation on the Reload server and search for crontab.

Crontab Summary

Minute (0-59)	Hour (0-23)	Day (1-31)	Month (1-12)	Weekday (0-6) 0=Sun	User	Command
*	*	*	*	*	<run as user>”	<command to run>

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EXAMPLE #1:   Run reloadh as the root user every minute without end

*/1 * * * *     root /usr/sbin/reloadh  

Minute (0-59)	Hour (0-23)	Day (1-31)	Month (1-12)	Weekday (0-6) 0=Sun	User	Command
*/1	*	*	*	*	root	/usr/sbin/reloadh

NOTE:  “/” before the number says to repeat every x number (e.g., “ */1 * * * * “ says to repeat the command every minute; otherwise - without the “/” - it would issue the command on the first minute.

---

EXAMPLE #2:   Run reloadj on PO profile “po1” without SmartPurge enabled.

Run on the 6th, 9th, 12th, and 15th hour on Mon (1) through Fri (5).

0 6 * * 1-5 root   /usr/sbin/reloadj -p po1 -i

0 9 * * 1-5 root   /usr/sbin/reloadj -p po1 -i

0 12 * * 1-5 root   /usr/sbin/reloadj -p po1 -i

0 15 * * 1-5 root   /usr/sbin/reloadj -p po1 -i

Minute (0-59)	Hour (0-23)	Day (1-31)	Month (1-12)	Weekday (0-6) 0=Sun	User	Command
0	6	*	*	1-5	root	/user/sbin/reloadj -p po1 -i
0	9	*	*	1-5	root	/user/sbin/reloadj -p po1 -i
0	12	*	*	1-5	root	/user/sbin/reloadj -p po1 -i
0	15	*	*	1-5	root	/user/sbin/reloadj -p po1 -i

For additional help on modifying a crontab file, consider searching for “linux crontab” at http://www.google.com.

 

This article was originally published in the GWAVA knowledgebase as article ID 239.