Migrate 4.5 Catalog to 6.5 Server

[Mincom_NT]

We are in the process of comissioning a new 6.5 NBU Server. to eventually replace our Ageing 4.5 Server. We are running the 2 in parallel. But eventually we will need to Migrate (More like Merge) the Catalog from the 4.5 server to the 6.5 server.

Is there a standard process to convert and then merge the catalog to 6.5 format

[Derek_Black]

Depending on your requirements and setup, you could do a phased upgrade of the NBU4.5 infrastructure to 6.5 (4.5 --> 5.1 --> 6.5) or you could do direct imports of the tapes from 4.5 into 6.5.   While the 2nd option sound like a lot of work, I suspect it may be less painful than the 1st on the basis that the shortcut usually ends up the long way round...especially in IT.

[scored_well2]

There is no easy way to merge two catalogs together. Symantec apparently offer the service through their consultancy but expect to pay through the nose for that.

I would recommend upgrading the 4.5 version via 5.1 to 6.5. Then, place that version on new hardware and any new storage by doing a new install and recovering the catalog. Re-configure this to be able to address the new storage hardware. Finally, import the tapes / media from the original v6.5 into the newly upgraded v6.5.

This is assuming that you have far fewer tapes in the original v6.5 setup than in the legacy 4.5 / newly upgraded v6.5.

[Omar_Villa]

I will highly recommend you to follow this:

NBU - Veritas NetBackup (tm) 6.5 Upgrade Portal!

http://support.veritas.com/docs/290185

[Mincom_NT]

Ok

So it appears that it is going to be too difficult to migrate the catalog from the old server to the new server. How about this for an option

Old Master Server - BACKUP01

Running Netbackup 4.5 mp9

New Master Server - BACKUP02

Running Netbackup 6.5.1

Would it be possible to use BACKUP02 as an alternative restore server. Both servers use the same IBM Tape Library with partitioning set so that BACKUP01 can access the 4 LTO3 Drives and BACKUP02 can access the 4 LTO1 drives. During our cutover weekend, we will be swapping the Drive partitioning over when we go into full production. BACKUP01 will still be in use for several months backing up small clients to LTO1 and BACKUP02 will be performing the bulk of our backups. What I need to be able to do is perform restores from the LTO3 media that was written by BACKUP01.

Our long term plan is to import all of the 800+ tapes into BACKUP02's Catalog, but as a quick solution would it be possible for admins to initiate a backup from BACKUP01 that then uses BACKUP02 to actually perform the restore operation. I noticed that there is a setting under the Restore tab on the Master server properties for alternate restore server. So is this a simple case of entering BACKUP02 as the host???

[Mincom_NT]

anyone?

[Joe_Despres]

OK.....  Here's my 2 cents worth:

1:  LTO3 can read LTO1 tapes....  This is good....
2:  How many restores do you usually perform?
3:  What are your retention(s) for backup01?
4:  Collect info on your tapes:  Then store those tapes with the tab set to read only...

    volsers, images, clients, retentions, etc, etc....

    Pretty much who, when, what, and where....

5:  If a restore is called for....  Identify the tapes for that restore...
6:  Import those tapes....
7:  Perform your restore...

Note:  Might be a good idea to test this out with a few test imports!

Joe Despres

[Mincom_NT]

Thanks for that. I will be using that method anyway as a last resort, but since we have 800+ tapes with valid images on them, it is not very practical to import them all, hence my question on a more elegant solution. We perform on average 5 restores per day, so being able to restore previous data is extremely important and we have tight SLA's for restores.

So waiting for 5 minutes per individual bpimport -create_db_info on a set of 40 tapes in a backup set and then the full (average 4 hour) bpimport for an image that is on those tapes is not a practical option.

[Stumpr2]

Here is the source from Tek-Tips participant MaineDCAdmin. I do not know if it will work for you. Use it at your own risk.

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1360335&page=1

Note sure if this is what you are looking for or not... but you can do a recovery without import in the following manner (the document has been taken down from the Veritas site). FWIW, I have used this procedure successfully with NBU 5.1

Document ID: 266673
http://support.veritas.com/docs/266673

Recovery without Import
Details:
VERITAS now supports a method of recovering image information without having to import from a tape. There are some very important caveats; please carefully read the entire procedure before attempting it.

The goal of this document is to establish the procedure to allow for quicker recovery of a system or VERITAS NetBackup (tm) domain for backup tapes without importing the individual backup images. Implied in this procedure, is that the receiving site has a fully functional master. If this is being done as part of a disaster recovery plan, there are many other steps that are required and which must be addressed. This procedure is only intended to allow tapes to be moved between master servers.

There are many different ways to recover data on a different master than the one used for the original backups. Several of these methods are documented by consulting, and one method -- catalog replication using VERITAS Volume Replicator (tm) -- is being formalized in the near future. This document will give a specific procedure to follow along with the restrictions and caveats. This should allow customers to accomplish their goals in a manner that will be safe, reliable, and supported.

If data is being moved from one active NetBackup domain to another for recovery purposes only or being sent to a disaster recovery site, this procedure can be used. You must follow all the restrictions and caveats.

Restrictions:

1. All tapes being moved must have unique barcodes.
2. All client names must be unique.
3. None of the tapes being moved will be used for backups at the new location.
4. There exists a library at the new location to support the correct tape format.
5. Both masters must be running the same release of NetBackup.
6. Both masters must be of similar architecture (both UNIX or both Windows).

Procedure:

1. Perform a catalog backup on both masters. This will allow you to recover from any errors that might occur during this process.
2. Configure a special volume pool at the new site that will never be used for backups.
3. Setup barcode rules for the incoming tapes to put them in the special volume pool.
4. Ensure there are no active backups for the desired clients. One way to ensure this is to stop the NetBackup services/daemons on the master server.
5. Copy the desired client directories at the originating site. This would be the contents of /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images/<client name> or \Program Files\VERITAS\netbackup\db\images\<client name>.
7. You can now move the client data (tapes) and catalog data to the new site.
8. Merge the copied images into the catalog at the new location.
9. Put the tapes in the library at the new location.
10. To ensure none of the moved tapes can be overwritten, you might want to write-protect them.
11. Inventory the robot containing the moved tapes.
12. Put the appropriate FORCE_RESTORE_MEDIA_SERVER entry or entries in bp.conf. When you put this entry in bp.conf, you will need to recycle bprd.
13. If you moved primary copies of the tapes, then you are ready to restore. If you moved non-primary tapes, then you will need to change the primary copy for all the images being moved.

Caveats:

Since this procedure assumes you will not be using the moved tapes for backups, it did not require moving the volume database or the media database. If these tapes are to be returned to the original site, the image directory will not be gracefully cleaned up. When the image or images expire, they will be deleted from the image directory but there will be an error logged in the bptm log that states: "Could not find media ID xxxxxx in database, nothing to delete."

It would be advisable to delete the images from the catalog, preferably by removing the data when the restores are finished and the tapes are removed from the library. When you eject the tapes, you should also consider removing the entries from the volume database. If you want to permanently move the tapes and images, then you are looking at a master merge which is a documented service offered by VERITAS Enterprise Consulting Services.

To make this entire process more easily managed, it would be advisable to ensure that the policies are correctly configured on the originating master. Some things to consider are, having the target backups not multiplexed to ensure only the desired images are sent offsite. Also, directing the target backups to a specific unique volume pool should be done to make it easier to identify and track the required media. This will also ensure that only the desired images are taken offsite. If the originating site has multiple storage units, it would be easiest to define this special volume pool on one storage unit. Another way to achieve this would be to duplicate the images that are going to be sent to the new location using either Vault or bpduplicate and directing the duplicate images to a special volume pool. Careful planning in the configuration at the originating site can make this process work more smoothly.

[Stumpr2]

Also read wileywombat reply in the same thread as above.

Here it is:

The problem with the procedure is that it requires that the 2 master servers are of the same type. You will have issues copying the NBU images files from windows master to the linux master.

The 41 could have been that you hit the CLIENT_READ_TIMEOUT you might want to try increasing it.

Or as a last resort you can restore from the partial import if you need to.

If the import fails then count the number of files that were imported then minus 2, you can do this from the view status in the import window.

Then under the path /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images/<client-name>/<10-digit-number>/<header-file>, open the header file.

Note : The header file will have the same 10 digit c-time as the backup id displayed in the import.

Change the value for IMAGE_TYPE from 1 to 2, this indicates the phase 2 completed.

Change the NUM_FILES to the value from the failed import don't forget to minus 2.

Then under the path /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images/<client-name>/<10-digit-number>/<header-file>/catstore/tmp directory there will be 11 or so files with the same c-time value in their name. You need to remove the file with "creating" in the name.

You will then be able to browse the files for restore.

[Mincom_NT]

Thank you for the detailed post re the quick import of Tapes. I will keep that in mind. however, can I get an answer on post number 5 in this thread at all please.