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TKLBAM backups: annotations + forks/branches?

Supporttklbam

I wish to ask two rather fundemental questions regarding TKLBAM:

  1. To what extent does TKL support today the annotation of an individual TKLBAM backup (with, say, the current revision-level of the project, or a short summary of what has changed since the last backup)?
    • I found a way to add such annotations using the Webmin interface:
      System -> Backup and Migration (TKLBAM) -> View Log -> {individual backup} -> "Action Details" : "Log entry annotation"
       
    • Feature-request: the ability to somehow specify this annotation up-front, using the Webmin interface and/or the TKLBAM command-line.
       
    • Feature-request: the ability to somehow see this annotation when listing the current set of backups (in the Hub, the Webmin interface, and using the tklbam-list command-line)
  2. Does TKLBAM provide any way to "fork" the backup history?
    • My current understanding is that once tklbam-init is invoked for a given server-instance, a unique (simple integer) "Backup ID" is created and permanently assigned to that instance.  Moreover, each individual tklbam-backup that is subsequently invoked appends another backup to the simple, linear, list of backups associated with that ID.
       
    • Is there any way today to extend this linear scheme with support for forks and branches?  If not, can you please record my feature-request?
      • Bonus: maybe the "Backup ID" could be changed from a simple integer to a "dotted-revision-number", that could also capture the "branching lineage" of any individual backup?

Replies (3)

Great work.

Reply 1

I notice that you already have a supporter! :)

Yes it is. Another user has just posted about a similar (but different) goal here on the forums. See this thread. When you wish to keep your backup within your existing Hub account, I don't recall whether you actually need to delete the existing Hub API key to create a new backup ID (it would definitely work but it may be overkill). You might wish to have a play with that.

Let me know how you go. If you get stuck I might be able to find some time to help you in greater depth.

tracker issue created + new question

Reply 2

Thanks.

I created issue #291 on the GitHub tracker for my feature-request regarding #1.

Regarding #2:

  • I agree that using the Hub's "Restore this backup to a new cloud server" can serve as a workaround.
     
  • Question: is it possible to somehow re-initialize TKLBAM and allocate a new "Backup ID"?

Some responses...

Reply 3

1. Beyond what you've discovered there is no real facility to provide notes/summary of the backup. The option to add a comment that could be browsed from the Hub would be cool though.

2. It doesn't do that either. You can migrate a backup to a new server and make it independent (of it's parent) but not fork or branch it in the sense that you suggest.

Feature requests are always welcome though. We have an Issue tracker (on GitHub) that we use for bugs and feature requests. You can find it here: https://github.com/turnkeylinux/tracker/issues