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asousie's avatar
asousie
Level 2
8 years ago

Netbackup 7.1 Linux File Recovery

Hello everyone,

     I have a client that was using netbackup 7.1 to back up their servers to tape.  This was done with a Windows Server 2008 standard SP2 machine.  I need to recover a old Linux clients files but as we know I can not do this with my Windows machine but I do not have the software or any of the license information for the clients account.  Is there another product for Linux that will be able to recover the files from the tape?  Or are they Netbackup specific (I assume the latter).

     I do have access to both Hyper-V and ESXi if i could make a vmdk file from the image, but windows seemed to not know how to handle the files still and I do not think this will work either.

Thanks,
Adam

Linux
NetBackup 7.1
  • Michal_Mikulik1's avatar
    Michal_Mikulik1
    8 years ago

    Hello,

    you can backup/restore Linux clients with Windows Master/Media Servers and vice versa. Remember NetBackup is heterogenous system and the rule about Linux Master would be a large restriction.

    regards

    Michal

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  • Michael_G_Ander's avatar
    Michael_G_Ander
    Level 6
    8 years ago

    In principle you need Netbackup tar to read Netbackup images, it might still be possible with gnutar which the Netbackup tar is based on originally. But is a lot of work to read tapes that way, and you might run into problems with the difference in the way Windows and Linux handle tape.

    Ontrack might have a file option, but that also requires a license

    I would avoid any virtualization as it usually does not play well with tape and introduce yet another layer of something to not go quite right.

    Have you considered talking with Veritas about trial/short term license ? Using Netbackup would save you a lot of trouble I think.

  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    Level 6
    8 years ago
    If my understanding is right, the Linux client was backed up to tape by a Windows master/media server?
    You now need to restore Linux file but do not have a Linux machine to install as client?

    If my understanding is right, then yes. Linux restore is only supported to another Linux or Unix system.

    Although not supported, have you tried to restore to a Windows machine? The file should be restored fine, but Linux file attributes such as ownership and permission cannot be restored.
    And Windows will not know how to open the restored file.
    If you don't have a Linux machine, how would you read/access the restored files?

    The problem is not really with NBU restore, but same as with any Linux/Unix file other than plain text where Windows does not have a program to open the file.

    Can you setup a Linux client as VM?
    NBU for Linux software should not be difficult to find and no license keys go on a client.



    • asousie's avatar
      asousie
      Level 2
      8 years ago
      Marianne wrote:
      If my understanding is right, the Linux client was backed up to tape by a Windows master/media server?
      You now need to restore Linux file but do not have a Linux machine to install as client?

      Marrianne,

            To your first question you are correct, on the second one not so much.  I do have linux clients.  Are you saying that I can restore to a Linux client with my Windows master?  From my understanding if you wanted to restore a Linux machine you had to have a Linux master.  But if that is incorrect then I will give that a try shortly and let you know how it goes.

      • Michal_Mikulik1's avatar
        Michal_Mikulik1
        Moderator
        8 years ago

        Hello,

        you can backup/restore Linux clients with Windows Master/Media Servers and vice versa. Remember NetBackup is heterogenous system and the rule about Linux Master would be a large restriction.

        regards

        Michal