LBackup Frequntly Asked Questions

Q : What is LBackup?
A : LBackup is a backup wrapper for rsync. LBackup is aimed at system administrators who require reliable backups.
- LBackup is designed to work with POSIX compliant, *NIX based systems; including Mac OS X, Debian, Ubuntu, BSD and more.

Q : Should I be using LBackup?
A : Maybe. We recommend that you use a backup tool which meets the requirements of your backup policy.
- If you have questions relating to LBackup then post a message to the discussion mailing list.
- If you are looking for an alternative backup tool you may wish to visit the alternatives page.

Q : Where can I learn about about LBackup and its' features?
A : Visit the about page. Also you are welcome to post questions relating to LBackup to the discussion mailing list.

Q : Are there mailing lists for discussing the development or asking questions regarding LBackup?
A : Yes. Visit the mailing lists page.

Q : Where do I report a bug in LBackup?
A : You may report bugs, request features and submit patches to the LBackup discussion mailing list.

Q : How can I see LBackup in action without having to go though the install process?
A : Visit the screencats page, and see for yourself how LBackup works.

Q : How much do I have to pay to use LBackup?
A : You pay nothing. But that's not all, act now and take advantage of our amazing buy one get one free offer.

Q : How do I check all my backups are working.
A : If you are looking for more than regular email reports, then visit the monitoring multiple backup logs page.

Q : How do I know that LBackup is safe to run on my computer?
A : Take our word for it.
A : Inspect the source code yourself.
A : Assume that because LBackup is used by various prominent institutions that it is safe.
A : Use some anti-malware software to scan the LBackup download.

Q : Will LBackup preserve the various Mac OS X specific meta data?
A : Some versions of rsync preserve various Mac OS X related metadata.
A : Setup a backup and confirm that your backups preserve the metadata required by your backup policy.
A : Mac OS X specific metadata such as ACL's and resource forks may be preserved provided the following criteria are meet :
- The backup is performed by rsync v3 and is compiled according to these instructions.
- Backup destination is a HFS+ file system which has ACL support enabled.

Q : WARNING : This copy of RSYNC may not support certain Mac OS X meta-data. What does this message mean?
A : Some versions of rsync will not preserve certain Mac OS X related metadata.
A : Check that your backups contain all the metadata your backup policy requires.
A : You are not using rsync v3 compiled according to these instructions.

Q : LBackup hangs towards the end of a backup on Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard)?
A : If you are using a custom version of rsync then it is recommended that you compile a new version for your system.
A : This issue is outlined on the upgrade notes page.

Q : What is the following error : “LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed”?
A : On Mac OS X this part of system security.
A : A pre or post action script may be trying to interact with the GUI, and is not being granted access.

Q: What is the following warning : “some files vanished before they could be transferred (code 24) at main.c(1042)”?
A : If a file which is scanned for transfer is removed from the file system is removed then rsync will output this error.
- It is possible to use this rsync wrapper shell script if this is rsync warning is causing problems with your backup.

Q: What is the following warning : “rsync: rsync_xal_set: lsetxattr(<snip>) failed: Invalid argument (22)”?
A : This kind of error is a problem with transferring an extended attribute.
- It is possible to use the xattr command to edit / modify the extended attributes of any problimatic files. If you require assistance then please contact us.

Q : I would like to install LBackup on an operating system other than Mac OS X, is this possible?
A : Yes, provided your system has meets the LBackup requirements.
A : Yes, visit the operating system specific builds page.

Q : How do I install LBackup on an operating system for which there is no install package?
A : You can install LBackup on a variety of operating systems from the source.

Q : Will LBackup support the backup of multiple source directories / files with a single configuration directory?
A : No. At this point you are limited to one backup directory source per backup configuration.
- It is possible to backup the root directory of a system and then add entries into the excludes file.
- It is possible to configure multiple backup configuration directories; one for each source directory / file.

Q : How do I restore files made with LBackup?
A : Jump to details from the documentation. It may be important disable any automated backups prior to restore.

Q : What is the recommended destination file system type when running on Darwin (Mac OS X)?
A : HFS+ is the typically the recommended choice. Many other file systems will also work.
- Some file systems will not support hard linking, files greater than 4GB or special file types such as symbolic links. If you are having success using a destination file system other than HFS+ on Mac OS X then please share your experiences.

Q : I would like to backup data in the cloud, is LBackup an option?
A : Yes (for some services). LBackup requires no graphical interface for setup, maintenance, backup or restore.
- LBackup is fully configurable via a console. Backup to and from servers within a cloud evniroment on which you have a shell account and which also meet the other LBackup requirements is not only possible but is also reliable. Further details regarding cloud computing are available from this Wikipedia article.

Q : Backup server running Mac OS X is slow or unresponsive even when no backup is taking place.
A : As a first step visit the spotlight wiki page and check to see if spotlight is enabled on your backup volume.
- If disabling spotlight on your system has not resolved the speed issue then please contact us or post a message to the discussion mailing list.
A : Next it may be that build_hd_index is working to catalog all the files within your backup.
- Visit the build_hd_index page for further information.
A : Use a system monitoring tool (OS X - /Applications/Activity Monitor.app) to further investigate.
- If you need additional assistance then contact us] or post a message to the [[mailing lists|discussion mailing list.

Q : Seeing the following error : “rsync: unpack_smb_acl: sys_acl_get_info(): Undefined error: 0 (0)”
A : Try making initiating a full backup. It may be that the ACL's are not matching between systems.
- This may happen after a major system upgrade or migration. The users for the ACL's may not not be correct. Hence this error is being issued.