NBU 6.5 Restore from specific media

[thickage]

I would like to know how to restore from a specific tape, rather than attempt a restore by date. Example, we recently impored a tape and inventoried/cataloged successfully - let's call it A00020, but how do I select specific files from A00020 to restore? I know how to restore based on the date and how to find the associated media with a particular date/backup, but can't seem to find out how to select a tape and view the contents to restore.  

[bills]

As far as I know you can't, at least not through NetBackup.  NetBackup restores files; that's the only thing it knows about.  The rest (tape, date, etc.) are only means to locate the file to restore.  You've imported the tape - you can get a list of images on the tape (bpimmedia), then get a list of files on those images (bpflist), then find those files in the backup&restore gui (selecting the appropriate dates, of course).

I do remember seeing a method of extracting files from a tape without using NetBackup - it involved using NetBackup's tar with some special options, plus knowing how to take headers and such into account.  You can always give that a shot, though I think bpimmedia and bpflist would probably be easier.

Bill

[thickage]

Doesn't it seem rudimentary to be able to select a tape, view the contents, and select files to restore? (Rhetorical)

Thanks for your input - I'll give the bpimmedia/bpflist commands a go.

[bills]

It has always slightly bothered me that you can't easily view files on tape.  I think it's because the physical level is supposed to be abstracted, so you don't care what tape the file is on (and let's face it, that is usually the case), but it seems that it would be a fairly easy thing to make possible, and highly useful in some situations...

Bill

[J_H_Is_gone]

if you imported the tape then you know what date that tape was backed (you would have seen that when you imported)  (best way to see this is to change the view in the BAR to NOT show as time line)

Then go to the bar and just choose the image from that date, then choose a file, then do media preview and see if you are getting the tape you thought you wanted.  If you have select just one date then the restore will be for only the that contains that dates backups.

[Marianne]

If you look at the way that NBU stores image info in the catalogs. it makes sense that restoring from a specific tape will be very 'challenging'.

Have a look at the .../netbackup/db/images folder - you will find folders for client names. inside the client folder you will find folders that are date/time related. Inside these folders are image files that contain file/folder info and a header file that contains all media id's where this backup image is backed up to.

Why do you need to restore this way?
A restore request normally comes in the form of user on client xx requesting a restore of file yyy backed up last month.

[thickage]

... Most of our user requests don't come with specific filenames and dates. A typical request is, "I think the filename was myfile.doc and I might have deleted it last Friday." The reality is that most end users don't realize that their files are missing for days, weeks, sometimes months. 

NBU makes it unbelievably hard to identify files in that manner. I think it's pretty ridiculous, actually. Especially since that has been available in ANY backup software EVER made. Even their sister product - which is superior in administrative use - Backup Exec allows an administrator to select files to restore from a specific tape.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. Now that you've mentioned the /images folder, it makes sense why NBU is limited, but don't you think that's a design flaw?

[Andy_Welburn]

I think the users make it harder if "I think the filename was myfile.doc and I might have deleted it last Friday." is anything to go by!

If they're unsure of the name or time how are you sure that it's on that one piece of media? Must admit though, it's something that I've come across on more than one occasion!

[thickage]

Users do make it harder. And, frankly, we can't even assume it's on a specific tape if they're not sure - but, it certainly makes hunting a whole lot more difficult if we can't easily retrieve archived information.

Thanks to all for your input.

[J_H_Is_gone]

I have no issues when I get requests like that. ( so long as the tapes have not expired)

Go to the bar - select a number of images for that system.

Say they think they deleted it within the last week.

Then from the bar I would choose last nights backups through a month ago.

NB by default shows the last time any file in that time frame was backed up.

So if it was deleted 2 weeks ago it would be within the time frame I choose of one month.

Then I drill to the dir they said it was in and there it is.

Most files in that  dir would show last backed up over the weekend.  This one file will show last backed up 16 days ago.  (which shows when it was deleted)  select that file and do a media preview - I now know what tape I need to do the restore. 

I find this quite easy.

Also helpful when they say it got overwritten but don't know when.

I again select a months worth of backups - drill to the file then tell the GUI to show me all versions of that file that were backuped (with in the time period of images I selected)  I can then see it was of 2000 kb with a modified date of 2 weeks ago, and I see that I also have a copy at 100 kb with a modify date of 2 days ago.  I now know I can go back 3 days to 2 weeks and restore that version before it was over written.  I just select the one I want and do a media preview and I know what tape I need.

I have had no issues finding a missing file, so long as it IS on my backups tapes.  Only  problem I have is when it was deleted so long ago that it is no longer on my backups.