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datadeno's avatar
datadeno
Level 3
9 months ago

DR procedures with duplicated backup images

Hello everyone.

I have the following scenario in NetBackup 10.3 environment

Primary Server (FLEX but now BYO for testing): Fails in a disaster.
Media Server 1 (FLEX but now BYO for testing): Located in the same environment as the primary server; also destroyed in the disaster.
Media Server 2 (BYO) - DR Media: Located in a separate location.
SLPs: Configured to send the primary backup copy to Media Server 1 (MSDP) and duplicate to Media Server 2. The same configuration applies to Advanced Disks.
I have a Red Hat server in the DR Media environment, synced with DR packages, and ready to become the new primary server. I've also wrote a script that takes hostname and IP of the destroyed primary server.

Testing the configuration seems successful. However, I cannot recover the catalog during the failover process because the new primary server attempts to restore it from the now-destroyed Media Server 1 (copy 1).

Questions:

1 - How can I configure the new primary server to recover the catalog from Media Server 2 (copy 2)?
2 - Are there specific procedures for this type of disaster recovery scenario?

Thank you so much!!

    • datadeno's avatar
      datadeno
      Level 3

      This is a helpful article, and the scenario aligns well with my own setup. While I'm not currently using tape libraries at the DR site, I think I can adapt the solution to fit my needs. I'll investigate further and provide an update.

      If anyone else has some interesting tips for my case, please share them!

      • datadeno's avatar
        datadeno
        Level 3

        The article was very interesting. However, I have a few difficulties now:

        1) I manually added the media server (mbemmcmd -addhost...) that received duplicate backup images from the primary server that was destroyed. So, they are copy 2. But how do I create the storage server that actually accesses those images? Is the PureDisk deduplication tool the right choice?

        2) Once the catalog restore is done, will I still be able to perform the restore even if NetBackup assigns a different media ID (the previous one was @aaaab, now it's @aaaac

        Thank you very much for the help.