How to Configure SL24 / SL48 with Netbackup

Posted by S.Aziz on November 9, 2012

SL24 and SL48 are the Oracle’s entry level of Autoloader/Tape Library.

L24/48 Library are using a single SCSI ID and two logical unit numbers (LUN). LUN 0 controls the tape drive and LUN 1 controls the robotic. So, its require an HBA that supports multiple LUNs. If multiple LUN support is not enabled, the host server cannot scan beyond LUN 0 to discover the Library. It just sees the tape drive.

To check the device and connectivity status from Solaris, please use the show_FCP_dev option: “cfgadm -o show_FCP_dev -al”, instead of “cfgadm -al” command. The robotic or changer will not shown if you use standard “cfgadm -al” command.
If the changer detected already by “cfgadm -o show_FCP_dev -al” command but still not detected by NBU sgscan command, check your NBU device configuration. You need to modify the st.conf file in order to detect the devices on two LUNs.

[Find the following line in the st.conf file:

name=”st” target=0 lun=0;

Replace that line and the following lines through target 5 with the following. Doing so modifies the st.conf file to include searches on non-zero LUNs:

name="st" target=0 lun=0;
name="st" target=0 lun=1;
name="st" target=1 lun=0;
name="st" target=1 lun=1;
name="st" target=2 lun=0;
name="st" target=2 lun=1;
name="st" target=3 lun=0;
name="st" target=3 lun=1;
name="st" target=4 lun=0;
name="st" target=4 lun=1;
name="st" target=5 lun=0;
name="st" target=5 lun=1;
name="st" parent="fp" target=0;
name="st" parent="fp" target=1;
name="st" parent="fp" target=2;
name="st" parent="fp" target=3;
name="st" parent="fp" target=4;
name="st" parent="fp" target=5;
name="st" parent="fp" target=6;

Click here for complete information on how to configure tape drive and robotic devices for Netbackup.

If the SL24/SL48 has the SAS tape drives and you are using LSI SAS HBA, please check and upgrade the SAS HBA driver.

There was an issue with the LSI SAS1 (3GB) HBA with a firmware level of 1.26.00 and below, where the HBA will not see any SAS devices connected to it. Check below document (MOS access required) for more detail.

HBA – LSI SAS HBA Firmware Issue, SAS Devices Not Being Seen by Server (Doc ID 1350564.1)

The NetBackup 6.x will be EOSL soon

Posted by S.Aziz on July 28, 2012

Be aware, the NetBackup 6.x be will EOSL soon. As per Symantec, NetBackup 6.x will reach End of Support Life (EOSL) by 3 October 2012. So, in order to continue receiving NetBackup support from Symantec, upgrade to NetBackup 7.x its highly recommended.

Click link below for more detail:

Netbackup Image cleanup JOB is no longer running

Posted by S.Aziz on January 10, 2011

This is regarding NBU Image Cleanup job that no longer running on activity monitor.

In my case, this problem occurred since customer tried to change the date and time on server but wrong syntax; the year move ahead to 2023. The worst, he didn’t stop the NBU services, so suddenly a few backup policy are running also the image cleanup.

The image cleanup that ran on that day cleaned up most..if not all the images..around 966 images:

log.101923:12:48:48.825 [7854] <4> delete_expired_backups: image delete 45970 ms, image verify 0 ms, tir_info_remove 0 ms, copies delete 0 ms
log.101923:12:48:48.831 [7854] <4> delete_expired_backups: compression 0 ms, # of bptm calls 0
log.101923:12:48:48.831 [7854] <4> delete_expired_backups: deleted 966 expired records, compressed 0, tir removed 0, deleted 0 expired copies
log.101923:12:48:49.561 [7854] <2> delete_expired_backups: OVsystem(/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/nbdelete -allvolumes -jobid 62120) successful
log.101923:12:48:49.573 [7854] <4> delete_expired_backups: Exiting

The date and time fixed on that day, but till last week, there are no image cleanup job was ran.

Tried to follow this guide but still no luck:
http://98.129.119.162/connect/pt-br/forums/image-cleanup-job
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH63221

[GENERAL ERROR: The VERITAS NetBackup ™ image database does not clean up expired images on the expiration date:
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH10828

[GENERAL ERROR: Image cleanup is no longer running:
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH125429

The case was solved by today ^_^, if you got the same problem, what you need to do are:

1) Stop NBU
2) rm /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/cleanup.lock
3) rm /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpsched.d/lastClean
4) rm /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpsched.d/last_time_expired_media
5) rm /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpsched.d/cleanup (if exists)
6) rm /usr/openv/netbackup/db/jobs/pempersist
7) Restart NBU
8) Check if cleanup job runs by itself.

After finished on step number 7, on NBU GUI you will find Cleanup job running on activity monitor. To make sure, you have to wait till next couple hours, depend on the image cleanup interval configuration (default is 12 hours).

Upgrade from Netbackup 6.5 to Netbackup 7

Posted by S.Aziz on August 11, 2010

When you upgrade from NetBackup 6.x to 7.0, Symantec recommends the following order of tasks:
– Back up the current 6.x NetBackup databases
– Upgrade NetBackup Access Control (if installed) on all master servers to be upgraded to 7.0
– Upgrade master servers
– Upgrade media servers
– Upgrade NetBackup Remote Administration Consoles
– Upgrade NetBackup clients
– Upgrade any NetBackup add-on products (such as language packs)

*Upgrading server software from version 6.x to 7.0*
NOTE:
-NetBackup 7.0 server software is 64-bit compatible only and cannot be installed on 32-bit systems.
-If you have 32-bit systems with NetBackup 6.x master servers that you want to upgrade, you must first migrate
the NetBackup catalog and databases to a supported 64-bit system.
-Starting with NetBackup 7.0, most of the add-on products and database agents are now installed with the NetBackup
server or the client package. Separate installation for these products is no longer needed.

#To upgrade server software from version 6.x to 7.0:
– back up the existing NetBackup 6.x databases
– Deactivate all NetBackup policies and storage lifecycle policies
– Deactivate disk staging storage units
>Netbackup Management > Storage Unit > Double Click Disk Staging Storage Unit > Staging Schedule > Exclude Dates
-Deactivate all media servers
>Media and Device Management > Devices > Host >select media server > deactivate

– For Solaris servers only, remove the “6.x versions of all add-on products” and database agents
(The script also offers to remove these earlier versions for you and Symantec recommends this method)

-Remove the current NetBackup server package by using the appropriate command:
for version 6.0 : pkgrm VRTSnetbp
for version 6.5 : pkgrm sYMCnetbp

The following prompt appears:
Are you doing this pkgrm as a step in an upgrade process?, enter Y

-Ensure that you have license keys for all of the NetBackup servers, clients, options, and agents that you ordered.
-Insert NBU DVD, then run “./install” script.

-After you have finished the upgrade, you can install and configureNetBackup Access Control (NBAC).

-After all servers are upgraded, reactivate the following in the order as shown:
-All media servers
-All disk staging storage units
-All NetBackup policies
-All storage lifecycle policies

===============================================
Upgrading clients after servers are upgraded:

The “update_clients” installation script lets you push client software to clients.
It does not let you push client software to a remote client that is also a NetBackup media or master server. You cannot push software this way because the server software and client binaries must be of the same version on a single host.
The update_clients installation script can determine the full client list that is configured on the server.When it is run without any parameters, it attempts to update all clients
(as determined by /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/bpplclients).

If you do not want to upgrade all clients, you can specify a subset of clients. Use the hardware type and operating system parameters or use the -ClientList parameter.

You can run update_clients from a media server

A Windows host can only push client software toWindows clients.
A NetBackup UNIX server can only push client software to UNIX clients.

===============================================
Listing of Symantec NetBackup ™ 7.0 Manuals:
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH126327

Netbackup 7 FAQ
Netbackup 7 Software Compatibility List

NetBackup Support Utility (NBSU)

Posted by S.Aziz on April 13, 2010

Did you know what is NBSU or NetBackup Support Utility? this is a great tools to gather diagnostic information in where Netbackup is installed and running. Its replaced what is known as “nbsupport” in previous versions.

“The NetBackup Support Utility (NBSU) is a Symantec utility used to gather diagnostic information about the system on which the utility is run. By default, NBSU gathers appropriate diagnostic information based on the Operating System and NetBackup environment. With the availability of many command line options, the diagnostic information gathered can be tuned as desired”.

Actually, if you install Netbackup on Solaris, you can also run the Explorer command using an option “nbu_extended” like this:

/opt/SUNWexplo/bin/explorer -w default,nbu_extended

with “nbu_extended” option, the Explorer will collects Extended NetBackup information. Its not only gather the log, it will also run a few commands, collect the directories and more. see here to know what Explorer with nbu_extended do later on your systems.

Back to NBSU, for more detail about this great tools and to understand well on how to run nbsu commands, please click the link below:

DOCUMENTATION: What is the nbsupport utility and where can it be found?
http://support.veritas.com/docs/264785

DOCUMENTATION AND DOWNLOAD: NetBackup Support Utility (NBSU) Usage and Examples for 6.x. NBSU was released with 6.5, 6.0 MP6, and 5.1 MP7, and replaces what is known as “nbsupport” in previous versions.
http://support.veritas.com/docs/323434

Configure Persistent Binding for Tape Devices

Posted by S.Aziz on April 13, 2010

If you have a lot of tape drives connected to your host/server, sometimes its not easy to know the tape drives order between tape library and drive order on host.

Lets say, all tape drive order on tape library and host are starting from 0 (zero).You try to mount cartridge to tape drive number 6 on tape library using the utility (example SL Console or move command). After mounting succeeded, you may guess that the cartridges is mounted to drive order number 6 also on your host/server. You run the command “mt -f /dev/rmt/6cbn status” to check the result, but guess what? the cartridges is not in there..

This is because, cbn number is picked automatically by devfsadm during enumeration of new devices. Every new tape logical unit number (LUN) found by devfsadm gets the next available number in “/dev/rmt”. So, cbn number order its not same with drive number order on tape library.

Since the /dev/rmt name depends on the order in which devices appear in the device tree, it changes from host to host. For a given tape drive that is seen by two or more different hosts, the /dev/rmt link can be different on each of these hosts. Also, if the drive is replaced the links change unless the vendor provides a way to retain the port World-Wide Name (PWWN) of the drive.

So, now what we need to do is just to configure persistent binding for all tape devices. on Solaris, we only need to edit “/etc/devlink.tab” file. First of all, list all tape drives on current configuration:

Example:

# ls -ltr /dev/rmt/*cbn

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 75 Mar 1 15:50 /dev/rmt/3cbn -> ../../devices/pci@8,600000/SUNW,emlxs@1,1/fp@0,0/st@w500108f00056a81c,0:cbn
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 75 Mar 1 15:50 /dev/rmt/2cbn -> ../../devices/pci@8,600000/SUNW,emlxs@1,1/fp@0,0/st@w500108f00056a81b,0:cbn
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 75 Mar 1 15:50 /dev/rmt/1cbn -> ../../devices/pci@8,600000/SUNW,emlxs@1,1/fp@0,0/st@w500108f00056a81a,0:cbn
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 75 Mar 1 15:50 /dev/rmt/0cbn -> ../../devices/pci@8,600000/SUNW,emlxs@1,1/fp@0,0/st@w500108f00056a81d,0:cbn

So, there are 4 tape drives, the current config is like this:
drive 0cbn: w500108f00056a81d,0
drive 1cbn: w500108f00056a81a,0
drive 2cbn: w500108f00056a81b,0
drive 3cbn: w500108f00056a81c,0

If you check on tape library, the drive order is like this:

drive o: w500108f00056a81a,0
drive 1: w500108f00056a81b,0
drive 2: w500108f00056a81c,0
drive 3: w500108f00056a81d,0

Now, ho to match drives order between tape library and your host? okay, here we go:

1. Edit “/etc/devlink.tab” file.

2. add these line:

type=ddi_byte:tape;addr=w500108f00056a81a,0;    rmt/0\M0
type=ddi_byte:tape;addr=w500108f00056a81b,0;    rmt/1\M0
type=ddi_byte:tape;addr=w500108f00056a81c,0;    rmt/2\M0
type=ddi_byte:tape;addr=w500108f00056a81d,0;    rmt/3\M0

3. Remove existing links from /dev/rmt by running the rm /dev/rmt/* command.

4. run “devfsadm” command. run “reboot — -r” if needed.

5. Finish,

See the result by manualy mounting cartridges and check with “mt -f /dev/rmt/Xcbn status” command.

Type “man devlinks” for more information..

Data Deduplication on Netbackup 7

Posted by S.Aziz on March 22, 2010

Learn the reasons why you should Deduplicate everywhere to get the most out of your IT. Symantec’s latest release of NetBackup 7 comes with Deduplication software already installed, making one of the things you need most right where you want it. Joe Pfeiffer (Product Manager with NetBackup) will take you through all you need to know about this great feature:

Data deduplication is a specific form of compression where redundant data is eliminated, typically to improve storage utilization. In the deduplication process, duplicate data is deleted, leaving only one copy of the data to be stored. However, indexing of all data is still retained should that data ever be required.

Deduplication is able to reduce the required storage capacity since only the unique data is stored. For example, a typical email system might contain 100 instances of the same one megabyte (MB) file attachment. If the email platform is backed up or archived, all 100 instances are saved, requiring 100 MB storage space. With data deduplication, only one instance of the attachment is actually stored; each subsequent instance is just referenced back to the one saved copy. In this example, a 100 MB storage demand could be reduced to only 1 MB. Different applications have different levels of data redundancy. Backup applications generally benefit the most from de-duplication due to the nature of repeated full backups of an existing file system (Wikipedia).

Symantec NetBackup 7

Posted by S.Aziz on January 24, 2010

Still waiting for Symantec NetBackup 7 release announcement. It has not been released yet, but actually since Dec 2009, Symantec has been offered what they call as Symantec NetBackup 7.0 First Availability (FA) program.

What’s New In Symantec NetBackup 7

Just a little bit overview of new features in the latest NetBackup 7.0 release:

Integrated Deduplication

Includes native deduplication within the NetBackup client and allows customers to increase the speed of backups in remote offices, the data center, and virtual environments.

Built-in client-side deduplication improves physical & virtual backups speeds by up to 10x
Software-based deduplication reduces costs by up to 70% versus appliance approaches
Integrated client and target-side deduplication provides more coverage with fewer tools
Manage and improve the performance of 3rd party deduplication appliances using OpenStorage

Simple & Comprehensive Data Protection for Virtual Environments

Simplifies virtual server data protection by standardizing backup of Hyper-V and VMware.

New VMware data protection improves speed by 50% and reduces storage by up to 40%
Only NetBackup offers instant file recovery from any type of VMware or Hyper-V backup
Complete deduplication across all virtual and physical systems regardless of backup method
No backup or recovery compromises for customers who backup directly to tape

Faster Disaster Recovery with Global Data Protection

Ensure rapid and easy recovery of critical applications and backup data at other sites with integrated replication features.

Recover terabytes of application data in seconds from anywhere at any point-in-time
Efficiently manage and move up to 80% less data between different sites with optimized replication
Unified analytics and reporting reduces recovery risk across locations and backup products

Improved Management Console and Usability

Provides centralized console for integrated reporting, monitoring, alerting and management for multiple backup and archive domains.

Better predict backup and archiving storage consumption
Analyze risk and quantify exposure and assess the recoverability of clients and applications
Easily track backup success rates by backup application across the entire organization

Expanded Support for Windows Server and Applications

NetBackup 7 fully supports Windows 2008 R2, Vista/XP/Windows 7, and Storage Server 2008
NetBackup 7 offers full backup and recovery support for Exchange 2010 DAG environments and Exchange 2003

For more detail, you can attend the Webcast: What’s New in Symantec NetBackup 7 on Tuesday, February 2 2010 @ 9:00 AM PT Presented By: Peter Elliman, Senior Product Marketing Manager, NetBackup.

Attend this webcast and learn how NetBackup 7 can enable your company to:

Reduce backup storage growth and network utilization by up to 80-90%
Streamline global backup and recovery management across both physical and virtual environments
Simplify and speed recovery of critical information from anywhere

Related docs:

NetBackup 7.0 Upgrade Portal (Updated Jan 19th, 2010):
The NetBackup 7.0 Upgrade Portal contains important information regarding upgrading to NetBackup 7.0 from a previous 6.x version.

UPDATE:

Netbackup 7 released already. Read the manual guide:

Installation:

NetBackup 7.0 Upgrade Portal http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/332137
NetBackup Release Notes http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/340098
Additional Operational Notes http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/337179
Installation Guide for Windows http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/340100
Installation Guide for UNIX and Linux http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/340101
LiveUpdate Guide http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/340102

Administrator Guides:

For complete manual guides, go to here:

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/341274.htm

Top 10 Recommended Veritas NetBackup TechNotes

Posted by S.Aziz on January 7, 2010

Document ID: 284146

http://support.veritas.com/docs/284146

Top 10 Recommended Veritas NetBackup ™ TechNotes

Details:

TechNote ID	Description
183702	NET_BUFFER_SZ, SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS – how they work and how to configure them
276739	STATUS CODE: 156 “snapshot error encountered” occurs when utilizing VSP or VSS for open file backups.
290185	Welcome to the Veritas NetBackup ™ 6.5 Upgrade Portal!
254809	DOCUMENTATION: How to configure email notifications for Windows clients using BLAT and nbmail.cmd in Veritas NetBackup ™
274063	Robtest commands that can be used to test the SCSI functionality of a robot
280202	GENERAL ERROR: When attempting to expire a media in Veritas NetBackup ™ 6.0 with the bpexpdate command, the message “requested media id was not found in the EMM database” is received.
278533	STATUS CODE: 800, NetBackup 6.0 jobs are failing with Status 800 (resource request failed).
244652	DOCUMENTATION: How to configure buffers for NetBackup in a Windows NT/2000 environment to improve performance
264924	DOCUMENTATION: How to restore an Exchange 2000/2003 database to the same or alternate client
245184	DOCUMENTATION: How to configure NetBackup for Mailbox backups of an Exchange 2000/2003 server

Note: Links to each of the documents listed in the following chart (by TechNote ID) can be found below, in the Related Documents section.

Veritas Netbackup Status Code and Troubleshooting Guide

Posted by S.Aziz on December 11, 2009

If you got failed or error with Netbackup, sometimes it’s not easy to troubleshoot. The common error that always faced with my customer is ‘status code 196 : client backup was not attempted because backup window closed‘, or the worst is the got ‘status code 96 : unable to allocate new media for backup, storage unit has none available‘.

I think if you familiar with Netbackup, and somebody told you about these error code, probably with confident smile you will say, “Owh, its easy man; for status code 196, check the backup schedule then re-arrange the backup window time between all server, client and mediaserver and then for status code 96, just simply put new cartridges on its volume pool, then run backup again, I bet 100% the error code will gone. right?.

But do you remember the whole Netbackup status code and how to troubleshoot? If you don’t then here are the Technote contains a table for NetBackup’s Status Codes, with links to potential resolutions for each:

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/301522.htm

or, you can also directly go to this page:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/overview.jsp?pid=15143

then just put the keyword, exp: “status code 196”.