Forum Discussion

nicholasteock's avatar
nicholasteock
Level 2
9 years ago

SLP Duplication Operation

Being rather new to NetBackup, there is something I hope to clarify, with regards to monitoring duplication operations in SLPs.

In my setup, after the backup operation, I have a duplication operation scheduled.

To track the progress of the operation, I use the following CLI command:

nbstlutil stlilist -U -copy_type duplicate

This is the part where I am a little confused. The output of the command is similar to this:

Image img_0001 for Lifecycle slp_01 is IN_PROCESS
Copy to copy_dest_01 of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS
Image img_0002 for Lifecycle slp_02 is IN_PROCESS
Copy to copy_dest_02 of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS
Image img_0003 for Lifecycle slp_02 is IN_PROCESS
Copy to copy_dest_02 of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS
Image img_0004 for Lifecycle slp_01 is IN_PROCESS
Copy to copy_dest_01 of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS
Image img_0005 for Lifecycle slp_03 is IN_PROCESS
Copy to copy_dest_03 of type DUPLICATE is NOT_STARTED

My question is this: Does the "Image ... IN_PROCESS" entry relate directly to the "Copy ... IN_PROCESS" entry beneath it? In other words, is the "Copy ... IN_PROCESS" entry awaiting the completion of creating the image? In that case then why is there a "Copy ... NOT_STARTED" as well? Tried searching around for how the nbstlutil entries are created but can't seem to get much from it.

Any help would be greatly beneficial. Thanks in advance!

Backup and Recovery
NetBackup
SLP
  • mph999's avatar
    mph999
    9 years ago

    When a SLP backup is complete, it will appear as ...

    root@womble tar_logs_media $ nbstlutil stlilist -U
    Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is NOT_STARTED

    A few minutes later, it will show:

    Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is IN_PROCESS
    Copy to womble-hcart of type DUPLICATE is NOT_STARTED

    This is because, nbstserv, the process that controls SLP runs in a cycle, I think by default the cycle restarts every 10 minutes.  During this time it is working on processing and batching up images for duplication.

    A few minutes after that. it will move to this state

    Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is IN_PROCESS
    Copy to womble-hcart of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS

    (at this point the duplication was happeneing) and finally after the duplication completes, it will show as complete.

  • mph999's avatar
    mph999
    9 years ago

    So as long as I see an entry

        Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is <STATUS>

    We can presume that the backup image i.e The operation preceding the duplication has been completed and the SLP is now preparing for the duplication operation.

    >>>  Yes, providing all is working correctly and nothing has got 'stuck' ...

    With SLP a good idea to make sure that there is no backlog building up, that is, images backing up but not duplicating.  It shouldn't happen, but there are many reasons it could and it's best to catch it early if it does.

     

  • watsons's avatar
    watsons
    Level 6
    9 years ago

    Welcome to Netbackup world.. 

    First of all, in Netbackup concept, 1 single image can have multiple copies.

    In a SLP setup, you can actually create a backup (copy1), and have it duplicated to multiple storage units. Let say if you duplicate to 2 more destinations, you will end up seeing output like:

    Image img_0001 for Lifecycle slp_01 is IN_PROCESS
Copy to copy_dest_01 of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS
    Copy to copy_dest_02 of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS

    Only when the 2 duplicate copies are COMPLETE, you will then see the image is COMPLETE as well. It's not about copy relying on image because image (backup copy) is already there. It just needs to create more copies.

    As for the NOT_STARTED, SLP has its own batching algorithm to kick off duplication jobs, some image may not be batched together so this is perfectly normal.

    • nicholasteock's avatar
      nicholasteock
      Level 2
      9 years ago

      Thank you watsons for the explanation.

      So when I see this: 

      Image img_0001 for Lifecycle slp_01 is IN_PROCESS

      it means that the SLP is still creating the image, which is under the Backup operation of the SLP.

      And in the case of  

      Copy to copy_dest_01 of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS

      it would mean that the image has been created, but copying is still in process? One thing I noticed was that the way the nbstlutil output shows the COPY entry to be slightly indented under the Image entry, as such:

      Image img_0001 for Lifecycle slp_01 is IN_PROCESS
        Copy to copy_dest_01 of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS

      it's as if to show that these 2 entries are seemingly related.

      But shouldn't the Image have to be Completed before the Copy can be initiated? Meaning the Copy should be of status NOT_STARTED, right?

      Thanks again for taking the time to help clarify this. :)

      • watsons's avatar
        watsons
        Level 6
        9 years ago

        Remember, nbstlutil output will only show SLP-managed images. For all images, we use bpimagelist.

        I believe, by the time you can see something in your nbstlutil output, it means the backup has been done - i.e. image has been created. That is your primary backup copy.

        And the subsequent duplication copy will be either IN_PROCESS or NOT_STARTED. As mentioned, image would have been created during backup, so that "Image" line is just an indication of its subsequent duplicaton operations. 

        The indentation is following what you defined in your SLP.  It can be hierarchical or in parallel. For example:

        A 
           B
           C

        ==> means backup to A, then duplicate to B & C. The duplication source are both from A

        If it's instead:

        A
           B
              C

        ==> means backup to A, then duplicate to B, and then to C. The duplication source of B is from A, duplication source of C is from B.

        This is how they relate in term of operations. Not really the relationship between image and copy, but rather, among the copies.

  • mph999's avatar
    mph999
    Level 6
    9 years ago

    When a SLP backup is complete, it will appear as ...

    root@womble tar_logs_media $ nbstlutil stlilist -U
    Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is NOT_STARTED

    A few minutes later, it will show:

    Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is IN_PROCESS
    Copy to womble-hcart of type DUPLICATE is NOT_STARTED

    This is because, nbstserv, the process that controls SLP runs in a cycle, I think by default the cycle restarts every 10 minutes.  During this time it is working on processing and batching up images for duplication.

    A few minutes after that. it will move to this state

    Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is IN_PROCESS
    Copy to womble-hcart of type DUPLICATE is IN_PROCESS

    (at this point the duplication was happeneing) and finally after the duplication completes, it will show as complete.

    • nicholasteock's avatar
      nicholasteock
      Level 2
      9 years ago

      Thank you watsons and mph999 again :D

      So as long as I see an entry

          Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is <STATUS>

      We can presume that the backup image i.e The operation preceding the duplication has been completed and the SLP is now preparing for the duplication operation. That said, per watsons answer, the indentation shown from the output implies that the Copy entry is for the Image it is indented under.

      Furthermore, once the duplication is complete, both the Image entry and the indented Copy entry beneath it would then be shown as COMPLETED.

      Is that correct?

      • mph999's avatar
        mph999
        Level 6
        9 years ago

        So as long as I see an entry

            Image womble_1473747910 for Lifecycle womble_slp is <STATUS>

        We can presume that the backup image i.e The operation preceding the duplication has been completed and the SLP is now preparing for the duplication operation.

        >>>  Yes, providing all is working correctly and nothing has got 'stuck' ...

        With SLP a good idea to make sure that there is no backlog building up, that is, images backing up but not duplicating.  It shouldn't happen, but there are many reasons it could and it's best to catch it early if it does.