Why do you think Bacula has been so successful around the world?
Probably because there's no other fully Open Source backup solution out there that can scale up to meet the needs of a truly large enterprise. Large enterprises seem to represent the majority of our users. What can I say? People just like it!

But if open source is just made of code from contributors, how can it attain such high quality?
If, instead of having just a couple of eyeballs reading the source code you have hundreds or thousands of programmers that can read, modify, and contribute to the source code, the software evolves very rapidly. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. Then mix in the lead developers that manage the open source projects at Bacula, for example, and you get an idea of the secret recipe.

Bacula Systems Partner Spotlight: Software Products Italia

With offices in Florence, Milan and Rome, Software Products Italia (SPI) provides IT distribution and support services throughout Italy. SPI provides database infrastructure and management, Internet, and storage solutions to many IT industry-leaders, and became an authorized Bacula Systems Distributor in November 2008. SPI's strongpoint has always been its quality of support for the products it distributes to its selected network of VAR and System Integrators. SPI also supports end-users directly, with a highly-responsive technical support team and an extended range of professional services oriented towards systems integration. SPI also offers training services related to its products. Since 1989, SPI has counted some of the most important Italian companies amongst its customers, from the Financial, Industrial, Government, Telecommunications and Educational sectors.

Industry focus:	Financial, Industrial, Government,Telco and Educational sectors
Country:	Italy
Bacula Systems Partner Level:	Distributor
Core competencies:	Data Management, Component Factory, Internet Solutions Systems Integration, Deployment, Migration, individual custom development, installation, configuration, tuning and on-site/remote administration of Database, Replication Servers, Application Servers
Web site:	www.softpi.com

How To Be A Bacula Developer

This issue, we give you a brief snapshot of what it's like to be a developer in Bacula's Open Source Community. This edition, we talk to Marco van Wieringen, in Holland.

Marco, how did you first get involved in contributing code to the Bacula Project?
I was looking for an Open Source alternative to replace my ageing, 8 year-old Legato Networker setup. As I wanted to implement disk-to-disk-to-tape backups, I needed a replacement product, as Legato has very annoying licenses for each extra feature. I looked at amanda, but that didn't give me the flexibility I needed. Then I found Bacula. The first thing I noticed was that Bacula has very good documentation. Then I looked at the source code of Bacula, and I was struck by the straightforward way most of it is written. So I dived in! I was in a position to try out some really bleeding-edge code, and when it was ready, I emailed Kern to ask what he thought of it. He replied that my patches were “very nice” and that I had “grasped the Bacula programming style”, which encouraged me. I do find Bacula code to be well designed and very understandable for programmers.

What's your favourite part of Bacula that you have worked on?
Well, probably the second patch I added. It was a bigger one than the first which was the
ability to use so called shared libraries to reuse big chunks of code between the different parts of Bacula. I asked Kern first if he thought it would make sense to do so and after getting positive feedback from him, I took the plunge.

What's your favourite time of day to work on it? Why?
With a consultancy job during the day, I focus mainly on system integration issues for customers, so Bacula is my evening and weekend hobby. I like to work and deliver things, but also every now and then, step back and think conceptually about how to solve problems.

What do you feel has been your best piece of code for Bacula?
Personally, I'm very pleased with the overhaul of the ACL code. After getting some very valuable input from Kern, I started designing the new code, and the majority was implemented in a couple of days. The first version didn't even compile. So for the first time in years, I single-stepped using gdb through some code on Linux, which was kind of fun, and brought back lots of great memories about earlier coding exercises I did years back.

Do you have any advice for other people wanting to get involved in being a Bacula developer?
Read the documentation well, have a good look at the source code. This also helps to code in the same style that Bacula is written in. I really like to spar with Kern on some things, he always has good input and has a much better overall view of things. Then again, he is working on it for 8 years, I'm just starting!

Read the full interview with Marco

Sigma Group Chooses Bacula

"Sigma's IT department was pleasantly surprised by the impressive level of reliability and scalability demonstrated by Bacula's modular technology. Ultimately though, it was the extraordinarily close support we received from Bacula Systems that enabled us to commit to them.”
                        - Christian Savy, IT Director, Sigma Group.

The Challenge
Sigma's previous backup solution was creating an unacceptably high level of warnings and errors as the company's requirements grew. Eventually the situation became untenable, and even with attempts by the backup company to rectify the situation, it became clear after some time that the problem could not be resolved. Sigma's backup infrastructure was struggling to cope, operating at maximum capacity.

The Solution
Sigma made the decision to switch its backup solution to Bacula, and set about implementing the actual migration process. “Bacula's support staff demonstrated flexibility, creativity, and an ability to find solutions to any migration issues with remarkable speed. The support that the Bacula Systems staff provided was effective and swift. In addition to this, some of Sigma’s further technical requirements were identified as being part of Bacula's roadmap, and the promised roadmap features were delivered by Bacula, on time”, said Christian.

The Results
"Sigma find Bacula to be a very mature technology. All the main features an enterprise needs are there. These features include full statistics in order to be able to bill customers accurately, advanced tools for effective restores, comprehensive scheduling and monitoring features. In addition to this, Bacula’s fully open architecture meant that we were able to do further customization", said Christian.

Read the full case study here

Bacula Presents at Open Source Meets Business

Bacula Systems’ Peter Buschman and Arno Lehmann will be presenting on Bacula Systems at the annual “Open Source Meets Business” event, January 27-29, in Nuremberg, Germany. This is your chance to meet Peter and Arno, along with other Bacula Systems representatives, and get your questions answered face-to-face. Conference details here.