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jim_dalton's avatar
jim_dalton
Level 6
14 years ago
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Catalog backup doesnt pick active media...sometimes

Hello All

I've got a set of tapes in a pool I write catalog backups to, I want these to be a constant set of tapes.

The catalog b/up fires off and picks the media from the pool to do BMRDB + etc backup to.

Then rather annoyingly and not all the time, it then gets to the rest of the catalog data, the next phase (new job in netbackup) and doesnt use the media it just wrote to! The first phase only writes 300MB of data in 23 seconds, the media is not full..Both tapes it picks are blank: in both cases it writes file 1.

So my question is :why the hell doesnt it use the media its used first off?

The previous days catalog backup used just the one piece of media, which is my intention.

Other oddities:at 17:30 the process starts, doing the staging of the various 'real' dbs.This ends at 17:35:56, but the task that writes these out to tape has ended at 17:32.46. The bulk of the data are then written starting at 17:36:01 for 45minutes or so.Maybe thats the way it is, maybe it does this work in parallel.

Netb 7.1 on Solaris with misc media servers in this case a Windows server/robot.LTO4.The master server and the media server are geopgraphically many miles apart, if this matters.

Your input appreciated,Jim 

7.1.x and Earlier
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
NetBackup
Troubleshooting
  • Mark_Solutions's avatar
    Mark_Solutions
    14 years ago

    Ah - but they didn't protect it from the command line!

    vmpool -update -pn CatalogBackup -mpf 1

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  • jim_dalton's avatar
    jim_dalton
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    Just spotted the Andy Welburn note on this (create a storage unit with max concurrent drives write =1) :will try this out...

  • J_H_Is_gone's avatar
    J_H_Is_gone
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    In fact I suggested that to Andy a long while back.

    also verify the catalog pool you created has the check mark saying it is a catalog pool - and none of the other pools say that - and make sure your Hot catalog policy says to use it as well.

    If it has used a tape from another pool and you want that tape used again for normal backups you have to do a special expire on it ( other wise the software sees it as a catalog tape and will never allow anything else to write to it.

    http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH35506&actp=search&viewlocale=en_US&searchid=1331832545097

  • mph999's avatar
    mph999
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    JH makes some excellent points.  However, I think at 6.5.x there is no special expire needed on Catalog media (if hot catalog backups are used).

    If media starts off in scratch and is moved to a vol pool for a backup, when it expires (by default) it will go back to scratch.

    Catalog media will not, it will stay in the catalog pool, even when it expires.  However, it can be manually expired without an issue, and manually moved to another pool.

    The TN /  procedure mentioned is needed at 5.1 and below, and I suspect at 6.x if COLD catalog backups are used, but not hot.

    Just thought i'd mention it ...

     

    Martin

  • jim_dalton's avatar
    jim_dalton
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    Thank for input so far all.Sadly it doesnt seem to work as described: last night with change implemented

     

          * wxxxmb01     000035       DailyHotCalalogue_CHN_1331833053_FULL
          * wxxxmb01     000099       DailyHotCalalogue_CHN_1331832638_FULL

    two media...

    Stunit is correct,. max concurrent drives=1, so I conclude this isnt a concurrency problem after all.

    One comment:JHinch...you implied theres only one pool for catalog tapes:I dont think this needs to be the case and indeed logically it doesnt make sense (happy to be proved otherwise). I have two  pools, both for catalogs: one 'onsite' at the main datacentre another offsite at remote site , both with own robots, media servers and pools of tapes.

    I'll review the other comments in due course.

    Jim

  • mph999's avatar
    mph999
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    In the Catalog volume pool, just set the number of partially full media to 1.

    This way, only 1 partially full media is allowed at once, therefore, it must fill this tape before moving on ...

    (Might have to filter through, as at the moment you have > 1 ) - Guess you could tmp eject these tapes for testing purposes.

     

    Martin

  • jim_dalton's avatar
    jim_dalton
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    Confirmed in the online doc:search on catalog backup volume pool and the first result :volume pool properties and the text states :'Multiple catalog backup volume pools are allowed'.

    So, still hunting for the elusive solution, seems like a bug, but it doesnt seem to affect my primary site so much.

    jim

  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    Jim, are you saying the manual is wrong?

    Extract from NBU Admin Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume I  http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC3650 under the topic About online, hot catalog backups:

    Online, hot catalog backups use media from the CatalogBackup volume pool only.

     

    It is indeed possible to select other pools when using SLPs, but the Best practice guide for SLP and AIR says the following:

    When writing to tape or VTL catalog backups must be directed to volume pools which have the ‗catalog backup‘ attribute set. This attribute is not checked when an SLP is configured for use with a catalog backup policy so you must check the pool attributes are set correctly when you create the storage destinations in the SLP.

  • jim_dalton's avatar
    jim_dalton
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    No the manual is correct MVDB, I was correcting JHs comment. Its quite happy having multiple pools that are for catalog backups and are recognised as such.

    mph999 forcing of the partially full media limit to 1 in the pool would work assuming it refers to media in the pool and also in the robot. I have several in the pool , none are full, but only one is in the robot.The one I want it to use! But Symantec have made it difficult...that attribute is greyed out so its fixed at 0, ie unlimited.

    Close but no cigar....

    It must be related to mount/dismount or latency. Or a bug.

    Jim

  • Mark_Solutions's avatar
    Mark_Solutions
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    Ah - but they didn't protect it from the command line!

    vmpool -update -pn CatalogBackup -mpf 1

  • J_H_Is_gone's avatar
    J_H_Is_gone
    Level 6
    14 years ago

    did not know you were running the catalog backup twice  - once for onsite and once for offsite.

    but was trying to impart that they must be tagged as catalog pools (because othe backups will not overwrite a catalog tape unless you force it into a normal tape)