Removing file lists from the backup history

System Administration Guide
Chapter 3, Backing up filesystems

If you specified that the backup contents lists be saved, the Backup Manager automatically saves the names of the files and directories that were backed up each time you perform a scheduled backup.

You should retain these file lists online for the backup media that you archive. When you rotate your media, you should also remove the file lists from your hard disk.

To remove these file lists automatically, add an entry in the root crontab file to specify that cron(C) run the bshrink(ADM) utility at the desired times. The bshrink utility removes the stored file lists from the backup history after they have aged a specified number of days; bshrink does not remove any other backup history records.

The syntax for bshrink is:

bshrink [ -h hostname ] "filesystem backup_level days" [...]

hostname

the host to manage (optional). Unless specified, bshrink removes files from the local host.

filesystem

the filesystem device name (for example, /dev/u).

backup_level

the backup level:

COMPLETE: Level 0 backup
INCR1: Incremental Level 1 backup
INCR2: Incremental Level 2 backup

days

an integer defining the number of days to save the backup file lists for the given filesystem and level.

To exclude a filesystem name or backup level, precede it with the keyword NOT. To include all filesystems or backup levels, replace the option with the keyword ANY.

If you use the media rotation schedule in ``Rotating and archiving backup media'', use this schedule to remove the backup lists from your hard disk:

 ------------------------------------------------
 Backup level   Remove after   bshrink options
 ------------------------------------------------
 2              3 weeks        "ANY INCR2 21"
 1              4 months       "ANY INCR1 120"
 0 (Complete)   1 year         "ANY COMPLETE 365"

Once you decide on a backup list removal schedule, add a line to the /usr/spool/cron/crontabs/root file to run bshrink according to your schedule.

For example, to run bshrink at 2:00am every morning on the local host, add this bshrink line:

   0 2 * * * /usr/bin/bshrink "ANY COMPLETE 365" "ANY INCR1 120" "ANY INCR2 21"

In this case, bshrink removes file lists from the local host for:

Level 0 (Complete) backups older than 365 days (1 year) of any filesystem.
Level 1 backups older than 120 days (4 months) of any filesystem.
Level 2 backups older than 21 days (3 weeks) of any filesystem.

To run bshrink at 5:00 pm every Sunday morning on the host pdxbox, add this bshrink line:

0 17 * * 7 /usr/bin/bshrink -h pdxbox "ANY COMPLETE 365" "ANY INCR1 120" "ANY INCR2 21"

NOTE: For each host from which you want to remove file lists, you must specify a separate cron entry.