Backup Exec 15 locate level 0 dumps for incremental backups

[kerimtav]

Hello everyone I'm Kerim,

We have an issue with incremental backups. "Date of last level 0 dump: Tue Aug  8 16:32:08 2017"

Last level 0 dump is created with a full backup on 20.07.2020, logs can be seen below. Somehow incremental backups can't locate or read our level 0 dump files and takes full backup instead. 

Our tapes are almost doubled their numbers and it's growing further because of this issue.

Is there any possible solution without deleting and creating any jobs ?

Full backup logs and incremental backup logs are below.

Set Information – *server*/vol/ESXADM

Backup Set Information Family Name: "Media created 7/17/2020 8:00:00 PM" Backup of "*server*/vol/ESXADM" Backup set #19 on storage media #4 Backup set description: "" Backup Method: Level 0 - Full backup Backup started on 7/20/2020 at 7:43:45 PM. Backup Set Detail Information NDMP Log NDMP Log Message: DUMP: creating "/vol/ESXADM/../snapshot_for_backup.1388" snapshot. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Using Full Volume Dump NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump snapshot: Mon Jul 20 19:43:45 2020. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: the epoch. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Dumping /vol/ESXADM to NDMP connection NDMP Log Message: DUMP: mapping (Pass I)[regular files] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Reference time for next incremental dump is : Wed Feb 26 13:02:52 2020. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: mapping (Pass II)[directories] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: estimated 53372854 KB. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Mon Jul 20 19:48:47 2020 : We have written 31065780 KB. NDMP Log Message: ENHANCED_DAR_ENABLED is 'T' NDMP Log Message: ACL_START is '54654028800' NDMP Log Message: DUMP: dumping (Pass V) [ACLs] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: 53373082 KB NDMP Log Message: DUMP: DUMP IS DONE NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Deleting "/vol/ESXADM/../snapshot_for_backup.1388" snapshot. NDMP Log Message: Mover: Data connection closed by foreign host. NDMP Data Halted: Succesful NDMP Mover Halted: Connect Closed ================  NDMP ENVIRONMENT  ================ ACL_START=54654028800 ENHANCED_DAR_ENABLED=T BASE_DATE=-1 PATHNAME_SEPARATOR=/ NDMP_VERSION=4 MULTI_SUBTREE_NAMES= DMP_NAME=Backup Selection List 00002 DATA_BLOCK_SIZE=64 HIST=Y NO_ACLS=N UPDATE=Y DUMP_DATE=-1 LEVEL=0 FILESYSTEM=/vol/ESXADM ===============  NDMP ENVIRONMENT END  =============== Backup completed on 7/20/2020 at 7:52:37 PM. Backup Set Summary Backed up 79 files in 21 directories. Processed 54,654,035,968 bytes in  8 minutes and  52 seconds. Throughput rate: 5878 MB/min Compression Type: Hardware

Set Information - //*server*/vol/ESXADM

Backup Set Information Family Name: "Media created 7/17/2020 8:00:00 PM" Backup of "//*server* /vol/ESXADM" Backup set #61 on storage media #10 Backup set description: "" Backup Method: Level 2 - Backs up new or modified files since level 1 Backup started on 7/24/2020 at 1:09:53 AM. Backup Set Detail Information NDMP Log NDMP Log Message: DUMP: creating "/vol/ESXADM/../snapshot_for_backup.1400" snapshot. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Using inowalk incremental dump for Full Volume NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Cannot find the data that describes base dump. Using this incremental dump can result in data loss. Running a new level 0 dump is recommended. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Cannot open meta file required by incremental dump. Using this incremental dump can result in erroneous results. Running a new level 0 dump is recommended. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Date of this level 2 dump snapshot: Fri Jul 24 01:09:54 2020. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: Tue Aug  8 16:32:08 2017. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Dumping /vol/ESXADM to NDMP connection NDMP Log Message: DUMP: mapping (Pass I)[regular files] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Reference time for next incremental dump is : Wed Feb 26 11:08:53 2020. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: mapping (Pass II)[directories] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: estimated 18968999 KB. NDMP Log Message: DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files] NDMP Log Message: ENHANCED_DAR_ENABLED is 'T' NDMP Log Message: ACL_START is '19424487424' NDMP Log Message: DUMP: dumping (Pass V) [ACLs] NDMP Log Message: DUMP: 18969233 KB NDMP Log Message: DUMP: DUMP IS DONE NDMP Log Message: DUMP: Deleting "/vol/ESXADM/../snapshot_for_backup.1400" snapshot. NDMP Data Halted: Succesful NDMP Log Message: Mover: Data connection closed by foreign host. NDMP Mover Halted: Connect Closed ================  NDMP ENVIRONMENT  ================ ACL_START=19424487424 ENHANCED_DAR_ENABLED=T BASE_DATE=-1 PATHNAME_SEPARATOR=/ NDMP_VERSION=4 MULTI_SUBTREE_NAMES= DMP_NAME=Backup Selection List 00002 DATA_BLOCK_SIZE=64 HIST=Y NO_ACLS=N UPDATE=Y DUMP_DATE=-1 LEVEL=2 FILESYSTEM=/vol/ESXADM ===============  NDMP ENVIRONMENT END  =============== Backup completed on 7/24/2020 at 1:13:29 AM. Backup Set Summary Backed up 33 files in 13 directories. Processed 19,424,494,592 bytes in  3 minutes and  36 seconds. Throughput rate: 5146 MB/min Compression Type: Hardware

[pkh]

For your incremental backups, did you select the different NDMP levels in your job definition. e..g.

incr. 1 - level 1

incr 2 - level 2

...

incr 9 - level 9

See the article below on how you should configure your NDMP backups.

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100009409

[Marianne]

@kerimtav 

Please also ask the filer admin to double-check /etc/dumpdates on the filer. 
What is the modification date on the file? 
And contents of the file - what is last entry? 

Is the filer date/time correct? 

[kerimtav · Accepted solution]

After cancelling the full backup and then manually initiating one time backup fixed the issue. I wasn't able to contact filer admin since he was on vacation. Dump date has been changed to 18 August 2020 from 2017.

I didn't want to dig into this too much since we will be upgrading the system next year.

Thank you for the response