Catalog Replication

[Krutina]

Hello

We are currently using NBU 7.5.x with 1 master and 5 media servers across 2 sites. We also have a DR site where we have a secondary master server deployed but not in network. We have a defined procedure for catalog backup and recovery of the master server from the catalog backup.

And i was told that the same procedure would still be applicable for bringing back the Secondary Master in a DR situation.

In this Case, There is a quite a lot of manual work involved in the moving the catalog backup's to the other site. Now, we were exploring the option of using Veritas Volume Replicator to replicate as it helps in achieving the asynchronous replication over IP.

Now, My question is...Should we use replicator to replicate the Netbackup files along with EMM, Netbackup Image Files and other related files to a DR site or

Should i do a catalog backup to a volume and then replicate the volume to the DR Site?

Appreciate your quick help in understanding the benefits and any other issues forseen.

Thanks

[revarooo]

Have you considered AIR?

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO88954

It might be a way of doing what you want to do?

[Marianne]

Air is good if all your backups are deduplicated and you have network between sites. 

If no dedupe, Catalog replication is an excellent idea.

NetBackup in Highly Available Environments Administrator's Guide  decribes the process and requirements.
In short, NBU config and images db as well as EMM database needs to be moved to a volume that will be replcated to remote site.

See Chapter 4: About site loss protection with auto image and catalog replication

[Krutina]

Yes, We did. However, we want to have a single NBU domain and hence, AIR is not possible.

That was the primary reason for us to think abt Veritas Volume Manager.

[SymTerry]

Not knowing to much about volume replicator, and what it will take from the Master Server, you will want to test this. You would have to replicate the whole NetBackup install, or more likely the whole volume NetBackup is installed on. One NetBackup Master to another identical Master server. This means exact hardware, OS version, IP, and Name. If you have the luxury of testing at your DR site, try and see if NetBackup functions after the replication. Its support would be very limited though if servers are not identical.

The second option falls more with what would be supported by NetBackup support for a DR site using catalog recovery. You would just point to the replicated volume that has the catalog backup and start a catalog recovery. I would recommend this to avoid headaches.

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

Nope - not entire installation. Just NBU catalogs as per HA Guide above...

Ideal solution. And yes, OS, NBU version and hostname needs to be the same.
No need for same IP. OS-level lookup just needs to be fixed before DR master is started up.

[SymTerry · Accepted solution]

Marianne, your correct the IP address is indeed not required as long as OS lookup is fixed. Thank you for correcting me on that.

Also, after reviewing the HA Guide, it states:

Only the catalog data is replicated between servers and must all be co-located

on a single volume or volume set for replication....For non-clustered master servers, for details of the paths that must be linked to

a volume set for replication, See “About non-clustered NetBackup master server with catalog replication” on page 53.

You will have to set up both Master servers for a non-clustered replicated configuration. This process is pretty involved, so you would want to prepare for that. Page 53 (Pretty much Chapter 5) talks about getting both master servers ready to do this.

When it is all setup, the end result would be ideal.

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

Correct... Quite involved. And all catalog components must be moved to same volume. (I have seen users only moving images. This will not work.)

The manual contains detailed steps, but I feel that the process should not be attempted by an inexperienced backup admin. Good OS and NBU skills are needed.

Successful catalog backup before one starts is crucial.