SUMMARY
In Systems Management Server 2.0, you are able to back up your site server. When the SMS Backup service (SMS_BACKUP) runs, it reads the SMS Backup control file, Smsbkup.ctl, which is located in the SMS\Inboxes\Smsbkup.box directory. You can configure the SMS Backup control file to change the behavior of SMS_BACKUP.
If you make additions to the [Tokens] section, such as adding comments, you can cause the standard backup variables to either not be set, or to be set incorrectly. This can cause the unexpected deletion of files when you run the
rmdir command at the beginning of the backup.
Note: Microsoft recommends that you do not modify the [Tokens] section of the Smsbkup.ctl file, and that you test any modifications to the Smsbkup.ctl file before releasing it to the production environment.
The following example demonstrates how a simple modification can cause a backup to remove all files from the SMS drive because it is unable to set the BACKUP_DESTINATION variable:
[Tokens]
# Set Variables:
BACKUP_DESTINATION=BACKUP_DEST_DIR\SITE_CODE
SITE_SERVER_DEST=BACKUP_DESTINATION\SiteServer
METERING_SERVER_DEST=BACKUP_DESTINATION\MeteringServer
SITE_DB_SERVER_DEST=BACKUP_DESTINATION\SiteDBServer
METERING_DB_SERVER_DEST=BACKUP_DESTINATION\MeteringDBServer
PROVIDER_SERVER_DEST=BACKUP_DESTINATION\ProviderServer
If the [Tokens] section was modified as shown above, the BACKUP_DESTINATION variable would not be set correctly, even though BACKUP_DEST_DIR and SITE_CODE are set correctly in this instance.
Use of a comment prior to setting the BACKUP_DESTINATION variable without a carriage return (
/) between it and the setting of the variable, prevents the variable from being set correctly. This is only true if the backup destination variable is indented by use of the TAB key. If the variable is not indented, the comment does not cause any difficulties.
Microsoft therefore recommends that you do not modify the [Tokens] section of the Smsbkup.ctl file.