Master/Media server with multiple NICs, hostnames

[Niall_Porter]

Hi all,

Our NBU 6.5.4 combined master/media server runs on Solaris 10/SPARC (Sun Fire V490).  We have multiple network interfaces, some of which are in trunked aggregate groups for extra bandwidth, some of which are dedicated to back-to-back connection to our Data Domain unit and some more which I want to use as a "management" interface.  For the purposes of my query there are basically two interfaces we are interested in.

Both interfaces are on the same subnet but each has a separate IP address and hostname.  When the server was originally set up it had only one hostname (abzsun02) so this is the name that NBU uses for the name of the master and media server daemons running on the host.  Now I have plumbed in a second interface with its' own IP and hostname (abenbu01) which I want to use for NBU management, both from my Linux machine using jnbSA and for the tape admin guys using the native Windows admin console.  There is a reason we don't want to use the original interface for admin connections but it's covered in a separate query I have on this forum.

The issue is that NBU doesn't "know" about this new interface.  If I try to connect using jnbSA to the new hostname it does connect and work OK but I can't see or manipulate any of the properties of the master server "abenbu01" within Host Properties as it says that this is an invalid hostname.

The Windows admin console does not work at all, however.  If I open it (it connects to the original hostname abzsun02 by default), right click the master server and select "Change Server" then type "abenbu01" and click "OK" it waits for a few moments then says "The server abenbu01 is not a NetBackup master server or a NetBackup media server."

Am I right in thinking this is a case of me having to configure NBU with its' new hostname as an alias in some way so that the Windows client can connect to it on this hostname?

Thanks in advance,
Niall

[jim_dalton]

Have you tried to update bp.conf to include all hostnames as SERVER entries?
My env. I've got a very similar setup to yours and I need to have all my nic addresses (eg SERVER,SERVER-BACKUP,NOM-SERVER,MEDIA-SERVER-1,MEDIA-SERVER-2, etc) in master server bp.conf.

Its not identical to yours I appreciate.

[Darren_Dunham]

Niall Porter:
Our NBU 6.5.4 combined master/media server runs on Solaris 10/SPARC (Sun Fire V490).
Both interfaces are on the same subnet but each has a separate IP address and hostname.

Unless I'm missing something, this is not a supported configuration for Solaris.  Solaris has no means to direct traffic through one particular interface other than the routing table, and the routing table is going to have no way to differentiate between these interfaces unless you're actually going in and setting up individual host routes.  Usually this means that it's going to use one interface almost exclusively for outbound traffic on that subnet.  Take a look at 'netstat -i' and the outbound column and see if one of them has almost no traffic.

You can use both IPs, but your traffic will not be separated on the interfaces the way you might expect.  If there's a particular reason you're using two interfaces instead of two IPs on one interface, then this configuration might not be meeting that need.

-- 
Darren

[Niall_Porter]

Thanks for the response :)

OK so what you're saying is I configure the first SERVER line (the one which NBU reads as the master server) to be like:

  SERVER = abzsun02,abenbu01

Is that correct?

[Niall_Porter]

The other interface is actually two trunked aggregates using Sun Trunking 1.3, the two trunks are grouped into an active/standby pair using IPMP.  For whatever reason, since we introduced this configuration the Windows admin console has been horrifically slow accessing the server, in particular anything to do with media seems to take forever with the message "Opening EMM database".  This eventually does work but the guys that do the tape ejects in imports each day have been moaning at me ever since we put in the trunked groups.  The jnbSA java console still works fine, however but for various other reasons we can't let the tape guys use that.

I did post here asking for help with that issue but haven't got anywhere with it.  I hoped I could configure a spare pair of ordinary interfaces as another active/standby IPMP pair (like we used to have) and just use that for the admin consoles.

EDIT - In fact, thinking about it I guess we don't have to keep the new interface on the same subnet, although I doubt that will fix the actual problem of the Windows admin client not recognising the new address as a master server...?

[Darren_Dunham]

If you have IPMP involved (which I didn't see in the first post), then the configuration may well be perfectly fine.  Just bare interfaces on the subnet don't really work the way you expect.

I was only pointing this out as a support issue.  It shouldn't have anything to do with what you're seeing on the delay.
-- 
Darren

[Niall_Porter]

What we have now is two separate IPMP groups on the same subnet - one is a pair of bare interfaces, the other is a pair of 3-port aggregates with Sun Trunking.  What I'm trying to get working is having the IPMP pair of trunked groups with one address and hostname for the backup traffic and the other IPMP pair (the single interfaces) working for management, other server tasks etc.  Effectively the machine has two interfaces (albeit IPMP 'virtual' interfaces) with different IP's and hostnames on the same subnet.

The problem I'm asking about in this thread is not the performance of the Windows admin console when accessing the trunked interfaces, it's that when attempting to connect the Windows admin console to the new interface created of two single ports using IPMP, it fails to connect saying that the new hostname is not a master server.

[Will_Restore]

Note:  Do not change the host name of a NetBackup server.  This practice is not recommended because it can be necessary to import all previously used media to the server before you can use it under the new host name.

Changing or modifying any NetBackup server host names must be done with extreme care, whether they be Master Servers or Media Servers.

It is highly recommended that any NetBackup Server host name changes be done through Symantec's consulting services. This is due to issues such as the server host name being appended to the images in the catalog.  Simply changing the Master Server host name can cause restores to fail, connection problems with clients and having to import all media back into the catalog.

Changing or modifying the master host name is not supported by Technical Support without the assistance of a qualified Symantec Consultant on site.
 

[Niall_Porter]

I'm not trying to change the hostname of the master server, I've simply added another interface with a new IP address and hostname and I want to try getting the Windows admin console to talk to the master server on this interface.  The old hostname still exists and is valid and all the backup clients communicate with the server on this original interface.

[Nemesis21]

Have you find a solution?

Thanks in advance

[nbuno]

lets me know as well when you find a solution.

-thanks..

[Niall_Porter]

@nemesis, @nbuno,

No, I never found a solution to this as such, the problem I was trying to solve with this configuration was a performance issue connecting to the Master Server using the Windows native admin console.  I solved that problem with a different solution (had to add all hostnames belonging to the master server to the local hosts file on the Windows admin machine) so I unconfigured the new interface I was trying the above configuration with and removed the new hostname associated with it, then went back to connecting the Windows admin console to the machines primary hostname.

What issue were you folks trying to solve with the above configuration?

Niall

[nbuno]

This will help u understand :

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/client-cannot-be-connected-client-host-properties-pan...

[NBU2010]

You should also have the 2nd interface ip configured on the /etc/hosts file

1.2.3.4     1stHostname

5.6.7.8     2ndHostname

And as JIM said also in the bp.conf file...this should work.

I have similar env... and i m able to open the console using the 2nd hostname having another ip address which was not used during initial master setup.

You need to configure the 2nd Hostname ip from the PC/server you are trying to open the console.