Short Term LBackup Project Road Map

Released Monday 14th September 2009

• Improve the defaults so that a basic configuration file will be simpler to setup
• Look at a locking system for when the backup is taking place
• Bundle a post hook script which will generate accurate date and time symbolic links to backup sections.

Released Friday 6th November 2009

• Consider a source check for local backups.
• Consider a destination check for local backups.
• On Darwin systems implement automatic checking on destination volume for permissions.

Released Thursday 21st January 2010

• Pre-rotation backup set integrity check (already available in the alpha builds)
• Warnings if there are unmanaged rotations within the backups set (already available in the alpha builds)
• Email report template customization functionality.
• Improved configuration input parameter parsing
  • Check for number of rotations is 1 or greater and is not blank
  • Check the recipient email address has been modified (eg. it is no longer the default and is not empty)

• Check that the source exists for local backups
• Check that the destination exits for local backups

• On Darwin systems implement automatic checking of access control lists on destination volumes.
• lmail will check for a backup lock - this needs some thought regarding potential implications.
• Improved configuration input parameter parsing
  • Check there is a value for the source (eg. not empty)
  • Check there is a value for the destination (eg. not empty)
• Timing reporting options
• Timing feature for pre / post action scripts
• Example Script Additions
  • Ability to cancel the backup if the backup was completed within less than a specified period of time.
• Log rotation improvements - requires investigation into various options
• Basic system logging of events
  • Requires investigation into various options (possibly using logger?)
  • Initially events such as backup started / completed / failed to be included

• Add in checks so that if SSH is not enabled then the ping test is automatically disabled.
  • At the least a warning regarding the configuration is issued.
• Tool to build a configuration set by asking you some questions.
• Add data verification features by incorporating bundling and incorporating the fingerprint (or similar) project.
  • Requires looking at the excludes file (rsync syntax) in depth with regards the approach of data verification.
• Add easier support for encrypted backups
• Add improved built in support for backup of VMWare Fusion virtual machines
• Improve built in support for the backup of virtual machines (how, what, when?)
• Localize more of the documentation into Japanese to support this community.
• Look at improved Drobo integration and automatic setup.
• Improve the ease of the backup scan application
• Improve the output of the backup scan application
• Bundle backup scan into the primary download.
• Ensure that any references to md5 or md5sum are correct based upon the operating system upon which LBackup is running.
• Look at a way to offer more advanced configuration
• Investigate improvements to multiple sources via a source file and possibly multiple destinations though a destinations file.
• Improve the bundled multi-destination support so that it is easier to configure.
• Include an option to not force the coping of permissions. This would mean it is easier to setup backups to remote (ie AFP mounted) file systems. Such a feature would require proof of concept testing before implementation or development.
• Option for storage of multiple incomplete backup attempts - requires investigation.
• Option for referencing of multiple incomplete / complete backup snapshots when hard linking (–link-dest).