Validate backup files with absctl restore

When you run absctl restore with --validate, it reads and decodes backup files end-to-end and fails if it encounters invalid or corrupted content.

Validate mode works with --directory, --input-file, and --directory-list to specify backup sources. It ignores data selection and Aerospike connection options because it does not connect to the database. To validate backups in an Amazon S3 bucket, you must still connect to S3.

Example

The following example illustrates the process to create a backup file and validate it.

Create a test backup

Back up a single record to a directory:

absctl backup --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3000 --namespace test --directory test-backup-dir

Inspect the backup file:

cat test-backup-dir/test_00000.asb

Backup file content

Version 3.1
# namespace test
# first-file
+ k S 4 key1
+ n test
+ d 7JEZLUt/jONdXXjTS8ply6qqyWA=
+ s demo
+ g 1
+ t 430086781
+ b 3
- I foo 123
- S bar 3 abc
- Z baz T

Corrupt the backup file

Create corruption in the backup file:

sed -i '' -e 's/S/2/g' ./test-backup-dir/test_00000.asb

Verify the corruption:

cat test-backup-dir/test_00000.asb

Corrupted backup file content

Version 3.1
# namespace test
# first-file
+ k 2 4 key1
+ n test
+ d 7JEZLUt/jONdXXjT28ply6qqyWA=
+ s demo
+ g 1
+ t 430086781
+ b 3
- I foo 123
- 2 bar 3 abc
- Z baz T

Validate the backup directory

Run absctl restore in validate mode:

absctl restore --validate -d test-backup-dir

Validate mode output

validation failed: failed to perform asb validation: failed to read data: error while reading asb data: 0_test_3.asb line 24 col 4 (total byte 5756): error while reading section: records: invalid character, read t, expected