How to merge catalog from one master and some media servers in 5.1 without "bpmedia -movedb"?

[Droesel]

Hi there,

having a production environment with NBU 5.1 master and some
media servers we need to create a copy of this master on
another machine in a testing environment.

In this test environment the master will have the same name
as the original so no problems should arise. The testing
environment will not have any media servers - But i need the
catalog data from the original media servers in the new testing
System.

I cannot use the procedure for decommisioning a media server
with "bpmedia -movedb", because i'm not allowed to touch the
original system.

So here is my question: How can i merge the catalog from the one
master and these media servers to one master without touching the
original servers?

best regards Stefan

[Marianne]

What exactly is the purpose of the test master server? You only need media server mediaDB's if you want to use media written by those media servers for backups.
If you want to setup the test master as standby or for test restores, have a look at the 'recovery without import' white paper: eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/products/White_Papers/Data_Protection/nbu_wp_replicatingbucatalogs_103003...  mediaDB's are not required for restores.

[Droesel]

Hi Marianne,

thanks for your answer, this is a very interesting article. It does not mention media servers at all
but it gives me the feeling that this FORCE_RESTORE_MEDIA_SERVER is enough? I'm now
asking myself what information does reside on a mediaserver?

The prupose for this move of the system is a recovery site. The (old) productive system will
be switched off in the near future - the customer want's to use another product for backup.
My task is to build a "restore only" system from the old netbackup. For this i only have a
master server while the original system has several media servers. I planned to get the
database from the old system when it is switched off, so i would be able to use "bmedia -movedb".
But now i have to be finished before the old system is switched off - this gives me no chance
to do this movedb...

   best regards
       Stefan

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

Hi Stefan

In a backup environment where images and media need to expire and existing media appended to, it is extremely that all the databases on the master and media servers remain in sync. Roles of all the databases are explained in this TechNote:
The role of the Volume, Media, and Image databases . Results of missing mediaDB and/or manual deassign of media is described in this TechNote: seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/247898.htm.

In a RESTORE ONLY situation, mediaDB is not required. All you need are the tapes (with entries in volDB) and the images. If the DR site should become the new backup site after the recovery, you will need all databases.

Things are a lot easier in NBU 6.x with all databases centralized on the master.