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vilhena
Level 4
14 years ago
Solved

Granular restore can't browse backed up objects

Hello.

 

Today I discovered something rather strange with no, apparently, explanation. Someone asked me to restore an  e-mail from a backed up mailbox. I'm using netbackup 7.1 and I have the exchange servers with granular backups. When I started to browse the objects of the backup I realized that I couldn't, i mean, I see the main objects, but I can't see the granular ones (the mailboxes and the e-mails).

 

What I find strange is that this behaviour is not verified on the objects if my last backup (April 30th), but it happens from on all the backups that happened before that.

 

Did I made myself clear? Hope so ;)

 

Is this behaviour normal? Do you know what logs could I use.

 

The master is running on a RHEL 5 64bits.

  • Hi,

     

    Please see below and verify its configured like this.

     

    Disabling the cataloging for duplications of Exchange backups using Granular Recovery Technology (GRT)
    Unlike a duplication of a backup that uses Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) from tape to disk, duplication of the same backup from disk to tape takes extra time. NetBackup requires this extra time to catalog the granular Exchange information. You can choose not to catalog the granular information so that the duplication is performed more quickly. However, then users are not able to browse for individual items on the image that was duplicated to tape if the disk copy expires.
    During the duplication process, NetBackup writes log entries periodically to show the progress of the job.
    To disable the cataloging of Exchange backups using Granular Recovery Technology 1    On the master server, open the NetBackup Administration Console. 2    In the left pane, expand Host Properties. 3    Click Master Servers.
    4    In the right pane, right-click the master server click Properties.
    5    Click General Server.
    6    Uncheck Enable message-level cataloging when duplicating Exchange images that use Granular Recovery Technology.
    7    Click OK.

  • Hi,

     

    Well first thing would to check that the previous jobs ended with status 0 (and not 1). Silly I know, but lets check that first.

     

    Another thing that it could be is that you've staged the backups to tape. The details about the individual mails could have been lost then, depending on your configuration.

  • Hello Riaan.

    Yes, the jobs terminated with status=0.

    I'll send you a screenshot so that I can better explain myself.

    In that screenshot, I've selected the backups from the 24 and 23 of April, you can see that in the red circle I've drawed, there isn't any granular objects, just the global objects in which should be the mailboxes and e-mails.

     

    But if I select the backups of April 30 and May 1 I can successfully browse all the objects (mailboxes and mails).

     

    I believe that the backups are staged to tape, if that's true, it means that I can't see the granular objects?

    Thanks,

    Ricardo Vilhena

  • Hi,

     

    Please see below and verify its configured like this.

     

    Disabling the cataloging for duplications of Exchange backups using Granular Recovery Technology (GRT)
    Unlike a duplication of a backup that uses Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) from tape to disk, duplication of the same backup from disk to tape takes extra time. NetBackup requires this extra time to catalog the granular Exchange information. You can choose not to catalog the granular information so that the duplication is performed more quickly. However, then users are not able to browse for individual items on the image that was duplicated to tape if the disk copy expires.
    During the duplication process, NetBackup writes log entries periodically to show the progress of the job.
    To disable the cataloging of Exchange backups using Granular Recovery Technology 1    On the master server, open the NetBackup Administration Console. 2    In the left pane, expand Host Properties. 3    Click Master Servers.
    4    In the right pane, right-click the master server click Properties.
    5    Click General Server.
    6    Uncheck Enable message-level cataloging when duplicating Exchange images that use Granular Recovery Technology.
    7    Click OK.

  • I realised now that the client's version is 7.0.1 and the master is 7.1, could this be generating the problem?

     

    Thanks.

     

    Regards,

    Ricardo Vilhena

  • Thanks man, that explains what's happening!!!

     

    But how can I recover that information, I mean, if I really want to restore an e-mail, how can I find it? Because if the backup exists (which is true) there must be a way to restore it right?

     

    Thanks again!

     

    Regards,

    Ricardo Vilhena

  • The backup that you need to perform GRT restore from MUST be on disk. If you need GRT restore for 24 and 23  April, and those backups are no longer on disk, you will have to duplicate the tape backups back to disk.

    The reason for this is documented in the NBU for Exchange Guide - the disk backup needs to mapped to a drive letter on the Exchange server in order to access individual items.

  • Hi,

     

    Agree with Marianne, duplicate it back to disk. And I suspect you'll need to change the copy on disk to be the primary copy as well.

  • Thanks :)

     

    I'll take a look at that document!

     

    Regards,

    Ricardo Vilhena