BE2012 and custom reporting

[jaywhp]

I am looking for a way to easily get a list of what files are on each tape.

Our workflow is as follows:

When employees are done with a job, they archive files from our of software to a folder on our SAN.  Backup Exec 2012 backs this folder up to tape every night.

At some point, not every day, an employee enters information into a custom database that includes things like the client, job number, etc.  One field in this database is the tape(s) that the final archive ended up on.

Backup Exec doesn't seem to have a way to create a report showing what data is on each tape.  The only way I can get this information is by going to each slot in our library, going to details, backup sets, and compiling into a spreadsheet what files ended up on the tape.  This is very time consuming.

I've tried getting this information with custom reports and with the PowerShell CLI, but this doesn't seem to be possible.  The only other method I can think of to get this information is to hand compile it from the reports that get emailed after the job runs, but I have a few problems with this.  First, the HTML reports only seem to work in Internet Explorer and the only Windows machine we have in the entire company is the Backup Exec server.  Second, the plain text reports are a mess and it's very difficult to get the information out of it for our "backup admin."  Third, I'd really like to automate this and I see that as being very hard to do with individual emails.

How can I get the information I need out of the software?

[pkh · Accepted solution]

There are 2 ways to get the list of files backed up.

1) change the summary level of the job to include files/folders and ask BE to e-mail the joblog to you.

Click on the BE button ---> Configuration and Settings ---> Job Defaults ---> Backup to Disk and then click on Job Log

Note that if you choose to include more information in your joblog, i.e. include files/folders backed up, the job log can be quite voluminuous and the setting applies to all jobs   Make sure that you have sufficient disk space to accommodate all these extra information.

2) use CatTools to dump the catalog after the job is done.

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH136392

[jaywhp]

1) For others looking for this setting, in BE2012 it is BE button ---> Configuration and Settings ---> Job Logs

The problem with this is that I can't seem to get it to just tell my the tapes used and the files on each tape without getting a whole bunch of other information that is difficult to parse in plain text.  HTML reports are not an option as they only work in IE.

2)  I will attempt the CatTools and report back.  2012 link for those looking: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH198906

[-Peter]

Or you could adress your SQL administrator and tell him to look at the Backup Exec database using SQL Server Management Studio 2005.

[pkh]

How would this help?  The catalogs are not kept in the BEDB.