Catalog Archive Completed but my catalog backup is the same size

[LeeClayton]

I've performed a catalog archive with the command below

E:\Program Files\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\admincmd\bpcatlist -client all -before Jan 1 2009 | bpcatarc | bpcatrm

I have a policy called catarc configure with the two paths to where my images are

E:\Program Files\VERITAS\NetBackup\db\images
F:\alt_images

the job runs ok to tape - it backs up 35GB. When I did a hot catalog backup it was the same size as before (150GB). I must be missing something....

any help appreciated

[Abesama]

Try removing the files again by running "bpcatlist -offline | bpcatrm"

Or backup again like "bpcatlist -client all -before Jan 1 2009 | bpcatarc -remove_dotf"

If it still does not work, perhaps catalog archive (removal) does not work well with alt images directory ... a bug?

All those commands are sitting in admincmd directory, which means you can create ...\NetBackup\logs\admin (and pull up VERBOSE level) to monitor their behavior.

Abe

[LeeClayton]

Thanks for the info, I've just found an article

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/274027.htm

and this mentions that the catarc policy should be standard, I had mine set to MS-windows so maybe that caused the problem? My backups are still running so I will try again later. I will try this 1st.

By the way I notice your archive command was different than mine, I've a guess what the -remove_dotf"
does but can you confirm, also is it needed?

[LeeClayton]

Have peformed the backup again and it backups 35GB to tape but doesn't delete anything. If I run

bpcatlist -offline | bpcatrm"

I get no entity found which is odd as its just backed up old data.

going nuts

[Abesama]

as you can see from the man page, remove_dotf is (supposed to work the) same as the bpcatrm.

yes, it makes sense now, NBU is failing to see anything's been archived, so it has not removed anything, and your catalog backup is still the same size - which is all wrong, of course

you run bpcatlist -offline (did you run it without piping to bpcatrm, just to check?) and it says 227 no entity found ... definitely it has troubles seeing those archived files as in offline status, for some strange reason

you performed backup again - this time, was it with the remove_dotf, like I suggested?

after all, I think all this may really have something to do with the alt images directory on F drive - bpcatlist and bpcatrm may have some bugs so that it does not really work well with the alt images directory

looking at the admin log and talking to SYMC Tech Support are two options I can think of

oh, the "Standard" policy type is for UNIX, your master is Win, so MS-Windoes-NT should be fine, don't worry about the document 274027.

OK ... I was about to hit the Save button for this comment, and just then I found this technote, which says "windows master sometimes fails to bpcatrm properly"

at first it may not look like your situation, but keep reading on - I think this will solve your catarc problem

http://support.veritas.com/docs/295569

Good luck mate!

Abe

[LeeClayton · Accepted solution]

My Netbackup master server has 2 DNS entries, I was using the wrong one!!!!! DOH!!!!!

sorry guys, that was the answer, once I changed the dns entry in the catarc policy all the catalog archives worked a treat, my catalog has gone from 150Gb to 40GB