Forum Discussion

vinay1's avatar
vinay1
Level 3
11 years ago
Solved

Tape data is erased

Hi Techies,

I am new to netbackup. somehow the data from tape is erased and just want to know if there is any logs from where we can trace with whom id or who erased it.

regards

VK

 

 

7.5
Backup and Recovery
NetBackup
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • RiaanBadenhorst's avatar
    RiaanBadenhorst
    11 years ago

    Hi,

     

    If it was done by bpexdate then, providing netbackup didn't use the tape again, you can import the tape and restore the images from it.

     

    See the process here http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH43584

     

    It would also seem that you need to lock down your system as the administrators don't understand how NetBackup works. bpexdate is not to be used unless you're sure what you're doing. Many customers use this command frequently which points to a misconfiguration in their environment. NetBackup handles the expiration of media, it does not require manual intervention from us. Retention periods must be setup correctly.

16 Replies

  • RiaanBadenhorst's avatar
    RiaanBadenhorst
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Hi,

     

    Please explain in more details. NetBackup never erases tapes, its an administrative function. See the note

     

    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH144380

     

    So if someone actually went and erased it you wont know unless you've got auditing and netbackup access control installed.

  • RamNagalla's avatar
    RamNagalla
    Moderator
    11 years ago

    Does the data is written by netbackup?

    does it have valid retenctions?

    how did you confirm that the data on tape has been erased....?

  • vinay1's avatar
    vinay1
    Level 3
    11 years ago

    data was written on the tape by netbackup and somehow it was erased. it could be by support technician. just want to know if there is any log in netbackup by which we can verify when and who has erased data from tape.

  • SaurabhHeda's avatar
    SaurabhHeda
    Level 4
    11 years ago

     

    Hi All,

    As Riaan said you need to define what excatly you mean by Erase?

    NetBackup keeps the information of the image, If you have lost the image then you can try and import this tape unless this tape has not been overwritten. If the tape has been overwritten you can not recover the data. 

    Step-by-step procedure on how to import NetBackup backup images via the NetBackup Administration Console GUI.

    http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH43584

    Also if the retention of the image is over NetBackup will expire this tape. But this can be done manually by running "bpexpdate" command. You can check admin logs if you think that someone has ran this command to delete the images. Path for admin logs: <install_path>\Netbackup\logs\admin

    Hope this helps.

    Regards,

    Saurabh

  • vinay1's avatar
    vinay1
    Level 3
    11 years ago

    Hi Saurabh,

    i believe it is done manually by bpexpdate command. I couldnt find "admin" folder in the path "C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\logs". 

    regards

    VK

     

  • RiaanBadenhorst's avatar
    RiaanBadenhorst
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Hi,

     

    If it was done by bpexdate then, providing netbackup didn't use the tape again, you can import the tape and restore the images from it.

     

    See the process here http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH43584

     

    It would also seem that you need to lock down your system as the administrators don't understand how NetBackup works. bpexdate is not to be used unless you're sure what you're doing. Many customers use this command frequently which points to a misconfiguration in their environment. NetBackup handles the expiration of media, it does not require manual intervention from us. Retention periods must be setup correctly.

  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    Level 6
    11 years ago

    Bear in mind that image expiration (bpexpdate) does not wipe, erase or do anything for that matter to the tape. All it does is to remove catalog information on the master server for all images on that tape.

    So, the data is still on tape if it was not used for new backups. You can verify with this command:
    C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\admincmd\nbemmcmd -listmedia -mediaid <media-id> 
    If output shows no Assign Time and no valid images, you will be able to import it.

    Follow steps in Riaan's post to import images on the tape.

    In the meantime, create admin folder under logs directory where all 'admincmd' commands will be logged.

  • SaurabhHeda's avatar
    SaurabhHeda
    Level 4
    11 years ago

    Hi Vinay,

    You have to create admin folder and then it logs the information in it. Otherwise there would be no information being logged. So if there is no folder you cannot find who ran the "bpexpdate" command.

    As Marianne said bpexpdate does not erase the data from the tape. It just deletes the information which netbackup has about the image.

    You can do the import on the tape and recover the data.

    Mark as a solution if we guys were able to help you.

    Thanks,

    Saurabh

  • vinay1's avatar
    vinay1
    Level 3
    11 years ago

    Thanks Marianne and Saurabh for the suggestion.

    a last question. what if i put a retention of 4 months. will my netbackup delete data after 4 months from tape or it will keep the data after the retention period is over.