Christopher Greaves

416-621-9348 cgreaves@chrisgreaves.com
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Encryption And Off-site Backup Storage (Home) ; Overview ; The Problem ; The Essence Of The Solution ; How Long Does It Take To Do A Backup? ; Assumptions ; Breakdown Of Tasks ; The Stand-Alone Solution ; The Networked Solution ; Let’s Get Started ; Mounting The Backup Drive ; Mounting An Encrypted Drive ; Waiting For The Backup Drive ; Processing Each Local Drive ; RoboCopy New And Later Files ; RoboCopy Parameter Files ; Append Session Details To A Log File ; Shutting Down the Computer ; Review For Local Systems ; Putting Together The Local Backup System ; SUBSTituting A Drive For A Folder ; Assembling The Batch File ; ( TITLE commands ); Running The Backup Batch File ; Examining Our Results ; Waiting For A Set Of Drives ; Issue the Backup Command To A Set Of Drives ; Modifying The Driving Batch File ; What About The Log File? ; The Upgraded Set Of Batch Files ; Encryption of backup data ; What Is Involved In Encrypting A Backup Device? ; ( Advice On Passwords ); What Is Involved In Mounting An Encrypted Device? ; User Mounted Or Automated? ; Using A DOS Batch File To Facilitate Mounting ; Using A DOS Batch File To Facilitate Dismounts ; Making The External Drives Available Across The Network ; Mounting A Shared Drive For Sharing ; Installing On A Networked Computer ; Running On The Big Beige Box ; An Improved Method Of Waiting ; Shutdown Or Restart? ; At Long Last! A Working Version! ; The Backup.BAT file ; The Mount.BAT file ; The ProcessDrive.BAT file ; The Shutdown.BAT File ; The Encryption Process

Toronto and Mississauga, Thursday, March 18, 2010 6:43 PM

What About The Log File?

In our original backup-to-a-single-drive concept, once we had completed the RoboCopy command, we issued a statement to the log file .

Now that we issue RoboCopy commands to several backup drives, should we isuse a log statement as each drive is used?

I believe that we should not.

Our log file serves to let the network server know when it can shut itself down, making the backup drives unavailable for further access.

Our server needs to know when a local computer has completed all its work, and it needs to know for each of the local compters.

The signal that each local computer must send to the log file is “I am done. As far as I’m concerned, you can take away the backup drives. I’m shutting myself off, anyway”.

Sending a statement to the log file is the last thing that a local computer should do before shuttig down.

We would like to see the log file statement sent to EACH backup drive, so that for recovery purposes, the backup drive will show us the date/time of the most recent backup for any local computer.

As each local computer (e.g. “LAP”) finishes its RoboCopy to a backup drive ( RoboCopy New And Later Files ), it will append a statement to the individual backup drive.

Thus the batch file “ProcessDrive.BAT” will be modified so that it issues the ECHO statement sending the details to the backup drive log file.

The details will consist of the local computer name (passed as a parameter), the date and time, and the name of the log file on any backup drive, together with the backup drive letter.

The Upgraded Set Of Batch Files

Toronto and Mississauga, Thursday, March 18, 2010 6:43 PM