Can NBU force program shut down

[felonious_caper]

On a client PC i have created a bpstart_notify.bat file based off of the sample one on the master server

The file is now located in C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin

The only modification made to this file is

C:\Windows\System32\Taskkill.exe /IM outlook.exe

and it is placed before the "if full or inc" statement.

The file IS executable for all users.

BP_RES.txt is not updated or recreated when deleted. And when I see the automatic backup for that client start, i check the task manager to see if bpbkar is starting, and I do not see that it is.

What am I doing wrong? Why doesn't the script work?

I know for a fact the command I've entered works, but it doesn't seem like the bpstart_notify.bat is starting or being run at all.

This is when i try to manually run it via the command prompt

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin>b

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin>■
'■@' is not recognized as an internal or
operable program or batch file.

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin>

[Will_Restore]

"If you fail to close out your session before you leave for the day you cannot have any expectation of recovering your work sometime in the future."  That usually does wonders.

[VirtualED]

Please review the bpstart scripts provided in NetBackup.  You can use it to run taskkill on a process name.  Or to shutdown services.

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH52762

Technically this should not be needed if the OS has an quiescing agent.  For example VSS should  be able to quiesce the data on the filesystem and perform a backup of open files.  However if you disable the Windows Open File backup on the client, then you have to trust the user to close there open programs.

[felonious_caper]

Where would nbstart and nbnotify be located on netbackup client 7.0.0?

I checked in the /bin and /bin/goodies directories but could not find them.

[Will_Restore]

you'd find sample bpstart_notify.bat on the Master, under <installpath>\bin\goodies

copy to the client <installpath>\bin directory and modify to suit your situation

(see page 102 of Admin Guide II for all the details)

[felonious_caper]

So each client must have this batch file, there is no way to keep the batch file on the master and have it run from there? I'm only asking because we have ~300 clients and aren't running active directory so there's no way to push this file to all the clients with having the manually work our way around to all of the PC's

[felonious_caper]

So copied the batch file to

C:\Program files\veritas\netbackup\bin

Here is the snippit of code I modified

@REM --------------------------------------------------------------------

C:\program files\veritas\netbackup\bin\killoutlook.bat

@if "%4" == "FULL" goto FULL
@if "%4" == "CINC" goto CINC
@if "%4" == "" goto FAIL

and here is the killoutlook.bat file

taskkill /IM outlook.exe

This still doesn't work. I know the killoutlook.bat works because when i run it from the command prompt it kills outlook, but when i try running a backup (initiated by the master server) outlook won't close.

After comparing log files with others, mine doesn't show that the script even starts. Here is a snippit of the log from bpbrm

14:34:25.020 [1980] <2> vnet_vnetd_connect_forward_socket_begin: ../../libvlibs/vnet_vnetd.c.558: ipc_string: 49582
14:34:25.081 [1980] <2> bpbrm start_bpcd_stat: DATA_SOCK from bpcr = 5
14:34:25.082 [1980] <2> bpbrm start_bpcd_stat: NAME_SOCK from bpcr = 8
14:34:25.090 [1980] <2> read_config_file: using 262144 value from /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
14:34:25.093 [1980] <2> bpbrm main: send_3_0_client_params = 1
14:34:25.121 [1980] <2> vnet_vnetd_service_socket: ../../libvlibs/vnet_vnetd.c.2054: VN_REQUEST_SERVICE_SOCKET: 6 0x00000006
14:34:25.121 [1980] <2> vnet_vnetd_service_socket: ../../libvlibs/vnet_vnetd.c.2068: service: bpcd
14:34:25.331 [1980] <2> logconnections: BPCD CONNECT FROM 192.9.200.104.53231 TO 192.9.200.27.13724
14:34:25.333 [1980] <2> vnet_connect_to_vnetd_extra: ../../libvlibs/vnet_vnetd.c.188: msg: VNETD CONNECT FROM 192.9.200.104.53232 TO 192.9.200.27.13724 fd = 8

[Will_Restore]

sample script sends output to <installpath>/bin/BP_RES.txt

if nothing there make sure bpstart_notify.bat is executable

also, rather than call another script, just enter the command directly

@REM --------------------------------------------------------------------

C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /IM outlook.exe

@if "%4" == "FULL" goto FULL
@if "%4" == "CINC" goto CINC
@if "%4" == "" goto FAIL

[felonious_caper]

BP_RES was a file in that directory, but the date modified wasn't current, So i deleted it and ran the backup again and it does not recreate this file. I checked the persmissions on bpstart_notify.bat and double checked the persmissions, and it is infact executable for all users.

Also if the @ symbol is a comment, then everything in this script is commented out except for the line that i have added so it wouldn't echo anything to the .txt file

[felonious_caper]

first post has been updated for clarity.

[Marianne]

I still feel that Bill's post is the best solution:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/can-nbu-force-program-shut-down#comment-6558531

Pass the resposibility back to the users. Don't over-think, over-complicate the solution.

Just now you get blamed for another application document that was not backed up because the user did not close it...

[felonious_caper · Accepted solution]

Unfortuneatly, it doesn't work that way here. It is my responsibility. The people who don't close outlook are the executives that NEED their outlook open at night so that it can foreward important mail to their personal emails since we do not have webaccess to email -.-

Either way, I've found (a very convoluted) solution to my problem that I'm just running some testing on.

I'm going to use bpstart_notify.bat to terminate the application with

C:\Windows\System32\Taskkill.exe /S localhost /IM outlook.exe

And then about 3 minutes after the the backup completes, VSS times out sending event ID 8224 to The windows Application log which I then use as a trigger for the Task Schuduler to fire off outlook again if there are no running instances.

[Will_Restore]

is very apropos then

[Marianne]

I can think of a good number of authentic South African gasps! And I thought that I was living in DARK AFRICA! Even here we have OWA and company email on our smart phones.

You have ALL my sympathy my friend!