Forum Discussion

veritasjvr's avatar
veritasjvr
Level 2
20 years ago

Restore after bpimport shows no backups available

This or related issues seem to have shown up in the list before but I have not found a working solution yet.

I need to restore files from a backup that was interrupted before it completed its run. However this cannot be done on the original backup server (Netbackup Datacenter 3.4.1).
So I built another backup server and installed the Netbackup software on it (same version as above) and imported the media into the new system.
Both import stages completed successfully (the backup consists of 5 fragments) although at the end of the last fragment it reports an unexpected EOF and then that the import was partially successfull.

Checking ...\VERITAS\NetBackup\db\images directory I find a subdirectory with the client name of the original backup source and in another subdirectory under that two files. (srcclientname.FULL and srcclientname.FULL.f)
They contain the correct info and a complete list of the files found during the second import stage.

I can however not list any backups to choose from for a restore in the gui.
bpimmedia lists the image with the fragments so the system knows about them.
bpimagelist -U gives "no entity was found"
bplist gives "EXIT STATUS 227: no entity was found"

OS: Windows 2000
Version: Netbackup Datacenter 3.4.1

Any help is appreciated.
7.1.x and Earlier
Backup and Recovery
NetBackup
  • Stumpr2's avatar
    Stumpr2
    Level 6
    20 years ago
    Is the client OS windows based? If it is then I don't think you will be able to use tar to extract any of the files because:
    1. The procedure for image recovery with tar detailed in the NetBackup System Administrator's Guide for UNIX is not valid and does not work for backup images of Windows clients.
    2. The procedure for image recovery with tar detailed in the NetBackup System Administrator's Guide for UNIX is further limited to a backup image of 2 GB or less.

    BUT,
    If the client was UNIX then perhaps you could import the tape onto a temporary UNIX server and then use the procedure for image recovery with tar. I don't know if that would work either, but if I had the resources, then I would give that a try.
  • Jeffrey_Redingt's avatar
    Jeffrey_Redingt
    Level 5
    20 years ago
    You can restore from a partial import by modifying the .f file if you are not using binary catalog files. After the phase 2 import completes look at the .f file. It will show a line called num_fragments and a number which is the total number of fragments that were supposed to be imported. Then when you scroll down it will show the actual number of fragments imported. Then look at the other image file that has the file list and it will show total number of files that were imported. Modify the .f file to show the total number of files that were imported and then stop and restart the NetBackup services and you can restore from the partial import at that point. Keep in mind this is not supported by Veritas and is only a workaround and only works on non binary catalogs because binary catalogs you can not see the total files imported.
  • Stumpr2's avatar
    Stumpr2
    Level 6
    20 years ago
    cool!
    Can you use cat_convert to change the imported binary catalog to ascii and then follow the same procedure?
  • Jeffrey_Redingt's avatar
    Jeffrey_Redingt
    Level 5
    20 years ago
    I didn't think about that but I don't see why not. It should work fine after the catalog file is converted. It is a useful procedure but should only be used as a last resort.
  • Stumpr2's avatar
    Stumpr2
    Level 6
    20 years ago
    veritasjvr,
    Please mark JRedington's response as "correct" if you are able to follow the directions and restore the data. That way points will be awarded. If you just mark the post as "answered" then no points will be awarded.
    I found the post very informative and I've squirreled away the procedure for future use.
  • veritasjvr's avatar
    veritasjvr
    Level 2
    20 years ago
    First of all thank you for your answers so far.
    Unfortunatly no success yet. I just want to make sure that I have things straight. My server is a windows 2000 server. The image files I found are located in a directory
    c:\Program Files\VERITAS\NetBackup\db\images\\1107000000. I have two files. Both are ASCII files. In my case the .f file is the file listing the recovered files. The second file (without the .f) contains a summary of the image recovered/imported.
    This summary file shows NUM_FRAGMENTS 5 and also lists these fragments at the bottom of the file. I include it here for clarity:

    KBYTES 712433984
    NUM_FRAGMENTS 5
    COPIES 1
    VERSION 3
    CLIENT_TYPE 13
    RETENTION_LEVEL 1
    SCHEDULE_TYPE 0
    COMPRESSION 0
    ENCRYPTION 0
    FILES_FILE_COMPRESSED 0
    MPX 0
    TIR_INFO 0
    TIR_EXPIRATION 0
    PRIMARY_COPY 1
    IMAGE_TYPE 1
    ELAPSED 0
    EXPIRATION 1110397088
    NUM_FILES 1051808 <<<----- Was '0', changed to nr of files
    EXTENDED_SECURITY_INFO 0
    REQUEST_PID 0
    IND_FILE_RESTORE_FROM_RAW 0
    IMAGE_DUMP_LEVEL 0
    FILE_SYSTEM_ONLY 0
    PREV_BLOCK_INCR_TIME 0
    BLOCK_INCR_FULL_TIME 0
    STREAM_NUMBER 0
    CATARC 0
    BACKUP_STATUS 0
    # FRAG: c# f# K rem mt den fn id/path host bs off md dwo f_flags f_unused1 exp mpx u3 u2 u1
    FRAGMENT 1 1 160294912 0 2 6 6 1199L1 bserver01 65536 22450 1107803599 -1 0 *NULL* 1110397088 0 0 0 0
    FRAGMENT 1 2 129268544 0 2 6 1 1135L1 bserver01 65536 2 1107834868 -1 0 *NULL* 0 0 0 0 0
    FRAGMENT 1 3 150127296 0 2 6 1 0134L1 bserver01 65536 2 1107834868 -1 0 *NULL* 0 0 0 0 0
    FRAGMENT 1 4 161026944 0 2 6 1 0274L1 bserver01 65536 2 1107834868 -1 0 *NULL* 0 0 0 0 0
    FRAGMENT 1 5 111716288 0 2 6 1 1120L1 bserver01 65536 2 1107834868 -1 0 *NULL* 0 0 0 0 0
    BACKUP_ID client01_1107834868
    CREATOR root
    SCHED_LABEL Full
    FILES_FILE client01-Weekly_1107834868_FULL.f
    HISTO_INFO -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1

    According to your recommendation I changed the NUM_FILES value from 0 to the number found in the .f file and restarted NetBackup services. Still when I attempt a restore from backup in the GUI for client 'client' it will not list the available backups to choose from. The command
    "bpimmedia -client client01" (display info on images on media) however lists the imported backup:

    Backup-ID Class Type RL Files C E T PC Expires
    Copy Frag KB Type Density FNum Off Host DWO MPX Expires MediaID
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    client01_1107834868 client01 FULL 1 1051808 N N P 1 11:38 03/09/2005
    1 1 160294912 RMed hcart 6 22450 bserver01 -1 N 11:38 03/09/2005 1199L1
    1 2 129268544 RMed hcart 1 2 bserver01 -1 1135L1
    1 3 150127296 RMed hcart 1 2 bserver01 -1 0134L1
    1 4 161026944 RMed hcart 1 2 bserver01 -1 0274L1
    1 5 111716288 RMed hcart 1 2 bserver01 -1 1120L1

    So, the backup server in some way does know about it. Did I not fully complete the import ?

    "bplist -C client01" (list backed up and archived files on the server) responds with "EXIT STATUS 227: no entity was found"
    "bpimagelist -client client01" (list backed up and archived files on the server) gives a similar answer "no entity was found"
  • Jeffrey_Redingt's avatar
    Jeffrey_Redingt
    Level 5
    20 years ago
    No, it appears the import completed as it should. The problem may be that you are not specifying the correct policy type and thus it responds there is no backup. For instance, specifying Windows-NT instead of Standard. If the bpimmedia lists the images you should be able to browse them. Are you trying the restore from the client or from the master/media server?
  • Jeffrey_Redingt's avatar
    Jeffrey_Redingt
    Level 5
    20 years ago
    I forgot one import other step in the procedure. Change the image type entry in the non .f file from 1 to 0 to indicate to NetBackup that the import is complete. The 1 tells NetBackup that it isn't. Sorry about that, I haven't done the procedure in a while but I remembered when looking at your posted file.
  • veritasjvr's avatar
    veritasjvr
    Level 2
    20 years ago
    That was the missing piece. After I changed the IMAGE_TYPE value from 1 to 0 and restarted NetBackup services the backup appeared in the list of available backups to choose from. I have been able to successfully restore files. Thank you all for your help.