BACKUP_SETEXP(8)

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version 1.8.16.1 · 10 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

👑 BACKUP_SETEXP 💅

okay bestie, welcome to BACKUP_SETEXP(8) — that's the page for the backup setexp command in the AFS Command Reference, and yes we are gonna get you fluent in it, no cap ✨

🎀 NAME 🎀

backup_setexp — sets the expiration date for existing dump levels. that's the whole gig. iconic, honestly.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

backup setexp -dump <dump level name>+
    [-expires <expiration date>+] [-localauth]
    [-cell <cell name>] [-help]

backup se -d <dump level name>+
    [-e <expiration date>+]
    [-l] [-c <cell name>] [-h]

like, two whole spellings, short and long, pick your fighter 💖

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so backup setexp sets or changes the expiration date that's attached to each dump level you name — and heads up, those dump levels must already exist in the dump hierarchy. you can't just manifest them, bestie 🙈

use the -expires argument to hook an expiration date onto each dump level. later on, when the Backup System makes a dump at that dump level, it uses the value you gave to work out the dump's expiration date, and it writes that date on the label of the tape (or backup data file 👀). and here's the tea: the Backup System will not overwrite a tape until after the latest expiration date of any dump sitting on that tape — unless you go and relabel it with the backup labeltape command. and if a dump level has no expiration date at all? the Backup System treats dumps created at that level as expired the literal second it creates them 💀

ngl, important side note: the Backup System does not automatically remove a dump's record from the Backup Database when the dump hits its expiration date — that only happens if the tape holding the dump gets recycled or relabeled. to clear out expired and other obsolete dump records, use the backup deletedump command. iykyk.

you can define either an absolute or a relative expiration date:

  • an absolute expiration date pins down the month/day/year (and, optionally, hour and minutes) at which a dump expires. if the expiration date is before the dump creation time, the Backup System immediately treats the dump as expired. brutal but fair.
  • a relative date says how many years, months, or days (or any combo of the three) after the dump's creation it expires. when the Backup System creates a dump at the dump level, it calculates an actual expiration date by adding the relative date to the start time of the dump operation. math queen behavior 🧮

and if you use this command to change an existing expiration date on a dump level, the new date applies only to dumps created after the change. existing dumps keep the expiration date they were assigned when they were born. periodt.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -dump <dump level name>+ — specifies the full pathname of each dump level you're assigning the expiration date (the one from -expires) to. one or more, bring the whole squad.
  • -expires <expiration date>+ — defines the absolute or relative expiration date to associate with each dump level named by the -dump argument. absolute expiration dates look like this:
[at] {NEVER | <mm>/<dd>/<yyyy> [<hh>:<MM>] }

where the optional word at is followed either by the string "NEVER" — meaning dumps created at that dump level never expire, live forever bestie — or by a date value with a required portion (<mm> for month, <dd> for day, and <yyyy> for year) and an optional portion (<hh> for hours and <MM> for minutes).

leave out the <hh>:<MM> portion and you get the default of midnight (00:00 hours), or provide a value in 24-hour format (for example, "20:30" is 8:30 p.m. — yes we're doing military time, she's efficient 🌙). valid values for the year range from 1970 to 2037; higher values are not valid because the latest possible date in the standard UNIX representation is in February 2038. the command interpreter automatically reduces later dates down to the max value, no arguments.

relative expiration dates look like this:

[in] [<years>y] [<months>m] [<days>d]

where the optional word in is followed by at least one of: a number of years (maximum 9999) followed by the letter y, a number of months (maximum 12) followed by the letter m, or a number of days (maximum 31) followed by the letter d. if you're giving more than one of the three, list them in that order — years, then months, then days, don't freestyle it 🦋. and if adding the relative expiration value to a dump's creation time lands you later than the latest possible date in the UNIX time representation, the Backup System automatically reduces it to that date.

  • -localauth — constructs a server ticket using a key from the local /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile file. the backup command interpreter presents it to the Backup Server, Volume Server and VL Server during mutual authentication. do not combine this flag with the -cell argument. for more details, see backup(8).
  • -cell <cell name> — names the cell in which to run the command. do not combine this argument with the -localauth flag. for more details, see backup(8).
  • -help — prints the online help for this command. all other valid options are ignored — she said what she said.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

the following example associates an absolute expiration date of 10:00 p.m. on 31 December 1999 with the dump level "/1998/december":

% backup setexp -dump /1998/december -expires at 12/31/1999 22:00

the following example associates a relative expiration date of 7 days with the two dump levels "/monthly/week1" and "/monthly/week2":

% backup setexp -dump /monthly/week1 /monthly/week -expires 7d

🔥 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 🔥

the issuer must be listed in the /etc/openafs/server/UserList file on every machine where the Backup Server is running, or must be logged onto a server machine as the local superuser "root" if the -localauth flag is included. main character privileges only 👑

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

backup(8), backup_adddump(8), backup_deldump(8), backup_listdumps(8)

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell.

okay that's the whole page, you ate that 🍓 go forth and set some expiration dates. this was the OpenAFS version from 2026-07-27, mwah 💋

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