Importing BackupExec tapes

[adrianmarsh]

Hi,

If I import Backupexec 10.1d tapes, into a netbackup 7.1 system, should I then be able to report on those images in the Images On Tape report ?

I've done phase 1 and phase 2 imports, but that report shows nothing for those tapes.  imports all apparently went ok. netbackup lists them as part of Volument Pool BackupExec.

Before I raise it as a bug, I just thought I'd check to see if other people had successfully done this or not.

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Try

bpimmedia -U [-mediaid <media_id>]

And see if you still get nothing.

[adrianmarsh]

I started again..

Ran vmphyinv to get the GUIDd. I'm not sure when to run bpimmedia, so I ran it at this point and got:

C:\Users\adm1n>bpimmedia -U -mediaid UBI043
no entity was found

I'm trying to follow the guide from here:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH125069

I'll do phase 1 and phase 2 again, see where I get to there.

[adrianmarsh]

I think I've figured out one of the issues - but don't know how to fix it.

One set of tapes I'm trying to import, was my 12 month archive, where the retention period in BackupExec was 12 months.

I run the vmphyinv, and then run the phase 1 import, but when i try to run the phase 2 it says theres nothing to import on that tape.

When I run a Tape Contents report on that tape, the images from backupexec are there, but they're all set to 2 weeks retention.  As the last one on that tape was done in April, i think that NB is ignoring them, as they'd all of "expired".... anyway to override the retention on the phase 1 import ??

[nesel]

Hi Adrianmarsh,

May I know what are you trying to achive doing the import? are you trying or preparing this backup images from BE to restore in NBU?

As what you've said, you've done the import phase 1 and 2 successful...right? The next thing to verify is that:

1.  go to the BAR GUI > Specify Netbackup Machines and Policy Type.

2. Edit client list (specify the source client hostname or IP address) > Destination Client > Specify Policy Type > OK

3. Go to Select for Restore > Restore from Backup Exec Backup

4. Backup Images will be listed. If you want to restore the file, select the file you want to restore and start retoring.

By doing this, it means that your tapes are imported successfully. Please take note also the limitations of importing BEWS images to NBU.

Hope this will help.

Thanks

[adrianmarsh]

Hi nesel,

No my problem is that the images don't appear in the GUI for the phase 2 import.  but as I've said above, I found on a physical read of the tape, that it thinks they're on a 2 week import.

I've just run a 'bpimport' command on its own, and it now says its running a phase 2 import, of an image that says was created in March, and therefore expired in April (but not according to me BackupExec setup that says it should've expired 12 months later).  I'm letting that run, hoping it will pull in all the phase 2 data.

This is in preperation for if a restore from those Archive tapes is required.

[adrianmarsh]

sigh... no thats not worked... I don't know why its picked up on that one image from March, but the only other image it picked up on was a different tape. I'm still letting it run through though.

original issue still stands though: How to import the BackupExec tape (where the image expiry dates appear to be wrong).

[Andy_Welburn]

1) Perform steps upto and including Phase I import.

Now for "normal" imports images certainly should  appear on "Images on Tape" report. They should also show an expiration date of 1 week in advance of the time the Phase I import was carried out.

2) Carry out Phase II import by selecting a date range well in excess of what you are expecting, to be on the safe side (e.g. 01/01/2000 to 15/08/2011). This should ensure that this phase picks up all images on tape for Phase II. Carry out Import for selected images.

Again, for "normal" imports, the data expiration should be the time the import was carried out plus the retention period.

Have just carried the above out on  "normal" NetBackup media as unfortunately we don't have any BackupExec media (we did, but it's since been "binned"). So whether there are  minor differences between the two (e.g. initial retention 2 weeks as opposed to 1 & original retention cannot be applied?) I honestly couldn't say. But essentially I would imagine that the procedure at least should be the same.

***EDIT***

That old BE media ended up being on my desk! So just run an import from very beginning:

• loaded this unlabelled media into library & inventoried (allocated media_id A00000)
• ran vmphyinv against this media (A00000) which updated GUID/volume pool etc
• under Catalog/Actions/Initiate Import, ran Phase I successfully
• ran "Images on Tape" showed the expected one image with a retention period of 2 weeks (default?) but an expiry in a weeks time
  (this will probably be the period within which you need to carry out the Phase II)
• ran catalog import search facility with criteria A00000, from 01/01/2000 to 31/07/2011
• this found the one image detailed in the "Images on Tape" report
• right-click on that image & "Import"
• ran "Images on Tape" report which strangely no longer showed any images - what you're seeing?
• images can be restored via BAR GUI (select Restore from Backup Exec backup....)
• looking in media list, media has a retention period of 1 (2 weeks) and will expire in 2 weeks. (Obviously a limit to what NB can do with regards to honouring BackupExecs retention periods etc.

[adrianmarsh]

Hi,

No my problem today is that the BE backups aren't appearing after Phase 1, so after your step 3 above I can't see them to select.

[adrianmarsh]

Ok,

I've removed the tapes from the catalog, and am repeating your steps above. Its just doing the phase 1 import now, and I'll see tomorrow where that gets me.

[Andy_Welburn]

It looks like you managed to get this to successfully work in your initial post, & you were just querying whether the images should appear on the "Images on Tape" report or not.

Are you still struggling with those very first images that you seemed to think initially went thru' ok?

Is it worth expiring those BE tapes & starting again from the very beginning? Or have you done that too?

[adrianmarsh]

Hi,

Yes I started again, expiring all the tapes, deleteing them from the inventory and re-loading them. This is the 3rd time, but now I'm documenting everything as I go.

I'm now seeing pretty much the same as Andy.  After phase 1 I can see the tape images in Images On Tape. Expiry was set to one weeks time (not what backupexec says).  Those images also show up in a Images On Media Report.

I then import one of the images (Phase 2).

That image doesn't seem to show up in any report after that. I've tried Images On Tape, Images On Media, Client Backups - it dissapears completely.

The only place I seem to find the backup at all is in BAR, and that assumes that I already know the Original Computers name - which without the reports or prior documentation, I don't!    When I list it in BAR (using Restore from Backup Exec backup), it shows the expiry time in 2 weeks time. Both expiry times are incorrect, and really should be (according to my BackupExec server, 2 May 2012).

I can change the Tape Expiry time to 2 May 2012. Will that protect the images until then ?

Shouldn't post- Phase 2 images be showing in the reports *somewhere* ?

[Andy_Welburn]

*somewhere* ?"

You would hope so, but we seem to have found that they aren't!

"that assumes that I already know the Original Computers name" -  you should be able to see that just prior Phase 2 where you select the actual images to do a Phase II on or in the Job Details for the Phase II import in the Activity monitor. I saw it at one or the other or both as I didn't know the client name either initially.

If retention is incorrect not sure if changing expiration time of media will help or not. It may be a better idea to bpexpdate the actual images themselves.

[adrianmarsh]

Well hopefully the support person will be able to help me.

For me, Its almost manageable to record BE details away in documentation, but I can imagine for larger companies that wouldn't be feasable. I'm assuming this is a bug until told/justified otherwise. Will comment back later what I find.

[Andy_Welburn]

Make the most of it tho' as the BETR won't be around forever:

"Future Plans
There are no plans to improve or expand coverage beyond the current capabilities, nor support any images after Backup Exec 12.

BETR functionality is planned to be discontinued after the NetBackup 7.x lifecycle."

from:

DOCUMENTATION: Statement of support for the importing of Backup Exec images in NetBackup 7.x using the Backup Exec Tape Reader
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH125836

[adrianmarsh]

Hi Andy,

Yes thats what I've seen too, which won't be a problem once my data expires off the tapes.

One thing I forgot to mention, is that my BE offsite tapes I'm testing with are Encrypted.

Are yours ??

I've had a note from the support engineer saying that BE encrypted tapes aren't supported:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH125836

That kind of sucks, as the NB Import process specifically has the 'password' section to it during Phase 1 import, so they obviously did at some point.

[Andy_Welburn]

That is what the manual says tho:

"Backup Exec Tape Reader limitations
The following are Backup Exec Tape Reader limitations:
■ Support is limited to images residing on tape media supported by the NetBackup
media server.
■ Importing from disk backups is not supported.
■ Importing encrypted images is not supported.
......"

Think the password field is another aspect altogether - just password protection as opposed to encryption.

Would've thought your imports would've failed more "positively", shall we say, if the media was encrypted?

[adrianmarsh]

Yes so would I..  But except for one image that failed to restore I've been able to pull the data back onto a SAN, and I'm now re-backing it up to a new NB-based 12 month archive instead.

On checking my timestamps of the other BE backups I have (probably encrypted too), most of them have now expired, so I would be able to simply just wipe those - and my problems solved..

[Andy_Welburn]

.... but it does (to a fashion). Cool!  ;)