Forum Discussion

joel_blanks's avatar
15 years ago

Mapped Network Drives

How can I get NBU  to recognize a mapped drive on a Server 2003 box?
  • Assume this server named as proxy_server. 

    Double check that your NetBackup Client Service does not use "Local System" account to log in, just because this account cannot be used for the network authentication: use dedicated domain account for your NBU.
    If you don't have such an account in your domain (yet), just create it for that purpose, add it to the Local Admin group and make sure that this account has at least read permissions at the file share. Change NetBackup Client Service logon credentials to that account/password.

    Now go to the NetBackup and create a regular MS-Windows-NT policy, check box "Backup Network Drives", put your server in the client list and \\server\share\...whatever to the backup selection list.

    Basically that's it.

    Some references:
    seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/284831.htm
    seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/199920.htm
    seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/237654.htm

9 Replies

  • Assume this server named as proxy_server. 

    Double check that your NetBackup Client Service does not use "Local System" account to log in, just because this account cannot be used for the network authentication: use dedicated domain account for your NBU.
    If you don't have such an account in your domain (yet), just create it for that purpose, add it to the Local Admin group and make sure that this account has at least read permissions at the file share. Change NetBackup Client Service logon credentials to that account/password.

    Now go to the NetBackup and create a regular MS-Windows-NT policy, check box "Backup Network Drives", put your server in the client list and \\server\share\...whatever to the backup selection list.

    Basically that's it.

    Some references:
    seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/284831.htm
    seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/199920.htm
    seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/237654.htm
  • Good morning Joel,

    How are you looking to utilize the mapped drive? Do you want to back it up or use it as a storage unit? Either way you'll need to use the UNC path name (\\server\share) of the mapped drive. When a drive is mapped in Windows it's for the user not for the system so using the UNC format will be necessary.

    If you want to backup the UNC path you can configure a policy, set your master as the client, and set the backup selection to the UNC path that you want to backup. The NetBackup Client service on the master (or whatever client you choose) must have read/write access to the UNC path.

    Here's a good TechNote discussing the configuration of a UNC path based storage unit:
    http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/266975.htm

    Hopefully this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.
  • Ok, neither is working.  Let me explain a little further.

    I have a system that is in a workgroup and in an enclave, not on Domain.  From a server that is on the domain, I map a drive to this non-domain server using local account info for authentication.  When I look at the policy for this system, all I can see is the local hard drives, not the mapped drive.

    May sound like a weird setup, but I didn't create it, just trying to make it work.  If there is a better way to do this let me know.

    Thanks in advance,
    Joel
  • Joel,

    NetBackup will not be able to backup the drive using the mapped drive letter, you need to point to the UNC path. This should exist even in a workgroup, it will be the following format:

    \\server_name\share_name
    i.e.
    \\fileserver01\documents

    Under the backup selections for this policy you'll need to type this in, you won't be able to browse to it. Also, you will need to ensure the NetBackup Client Service on the client is set to logon as a user with read/write permissions to the share you are backing up.

    Hopefully this clarifies this process for you.
  • Change your NetBackup client to logon as this local user with a permissions at the share
    Use UNC path (\\server\share) in the selection list (don't use "browse", type it manually) not the mapped letter (NetBackup not always recognizes these disks).

    Read my post above one more time, this advice have been tested many times
  • The client is on the server that is on the domain, not the one with the info.
  • It doesn't matter...
    Imagine that your server with NBU client acts as a proxy for your share.


  • Thanks to all.  Still a no-go at this time.  I am going to try and work another angle on this.  It shouldn't be this hard.

    Thanks again,
    Joel
  • We implemented such type of backup by setting up bpstart_notify and bpstop_notify scripts on the client.
    The first script was used to map the drive priort backup with net use command and the second script unmapped the drive after backup.