ShadowCopy

ShadowCopy

DRAFT HOWTO

Overview

This Howto is based on information contained in bug report http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1549

ShadowCopy takes a snapshot of ibays & user home folders at scheduled intervals and allows network users to restore previous versions of files via the Windows Explorer file properties page. A client is installed by default in Windows XP. To obtain a client for Windows 2000SP3+ download from here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/windowsserver/bb405951.aspx

This functionality is included in e-smith-samba, but requires further testing & verification

It requires e-smith-samba-1.14.0-20

sme7.3 has e-smith-samba-1.14.1-3.el4.sme

Please report any bugs to bugzilla, using this bug number http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1549

Configuration

To check the installed rpm version

rpm -qa e-smith-samba

On a sme7.3 server this gives e-smith-samba-1.14.1-3.el4.sme so the installed rpm is more recent than that required (e-smith-samba-1.14.0-20)

Initially disable ShadowCopy for specific ibays or users you don't wish to take snapshots for eg

db accounts setprop user1 ShadowCopy disabled
db accounts setprop user2 ShadowCopy disabled
db accounts setprop ibay1 ShadowCopy disabled
db accounts setprop ibay2 ShadowCopy disabled

Note: For the script to work correctly, leave two or more users enabled

Then enable and expand templates

config setprop smb ShadowCopy enabled
signal-event ibay-modify Primary

You need to schedule shadow copy to take snapshots. You can do this manually from the command prompt or run a cron job as often as required. Snapshots are only taken if there are changes.

At the command prompt do

/etc/e-smith/events/actions/shadow-copy-rotate

Note: You will need enough free disk space to take a copy of the entire /home/e-smith/files directory plus any changes that take place.

A suitable cron job that runs the script every hour from 10am to 5pm on weekdays would contain the following:

Create a file

pico -w /etc/cron.d/shadowcopysnapshot

which contains

# Shadow Copy snapshot Crond Entry
#+-----------------------Minute           (0-59)
#|    +-------------------Hour of Day    (0-23)
#|    |    +---------------Day of Month  (1-31)
#|    |    |    +-----------Month of Year (1-12)
#|    |    |    |    +-------Day of Week   (0=Sun,6=Sat)
#v   v   v   v   v
00    10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17   *    *   1,2,3,4,5   root /etc/e-smith/events/actions/shadow-copy-rotate

To save

Ctrl o 

To exit

Ctrl x

After saving the above script do

/etc/init.d/crond restart

In Windows access the snapshot files via Windows Explorer file properties page, Previous Versions tab.

A Windows client exists in WinXP SP2

To obtain a client for Windows 2000SP3+ download from here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/windowsserver/bb405951.aspx

ShadowCopy files are located in:

/home/e-smith/files/.shadow/1
/home/e-smith/files/.shadow/2
/home/e-smith/files/.shadow/3
and so on...

The number of subfolders depends on how many snapshots have been taken.

Note that a new snapshot is only taken if files have changed.

Feedback to the bug tracker at http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1549

References:

http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1549

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=39954.0

For background information re alternative Linux implementation, although this contrib is not used here

http://www.wlug.org.nz/SambaShadowCopyHowto

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