Netbackup 6.X backup policy

[pkunk]

Does anyone know if Netbackup 6.5 or 6.0 have a new feature to restart an individual volume path in a backup policy job? I am currently using netbackup 5.1 mp4 and to re-run a failed volume path I have usually create a new policy job or re-run the same policy over and canceling the completed volume paths.
thx,
pkunk

[Stumpr2]

Did you read this thread?

https://forums.symantec.com/syment/board/message?board.id=21&thread.id=42305&jump=true

[pkunk]

I've just read the link but I am still trying to double check if that feature of re-running an individual stream is possible in 6.5 without going through the trouble of extra steps.  Maybe i'll write a script just to do this in the future, in the meantime I've been working on scripting all the data from netbackup to a mysql database.  Here I can write more scripts comparing the difference in previous backups vs. current backups (volume_growth, duration), Tape Usage for incremental, full_backup, offsite, and even tracing down to the last detail of which barcode was used to backup the individual streams so I do not need to uncompress the catalog for a old restore.

-pkunk

[Ron_Cohn]

In NBU 6.0 MP5 (I'm talking about Windows - no clue about other platforms), through the Admin Consolue GUI, you can run a specific schedule and client within a policy.   Just "right click" on the policy in question, select "Manual Backup" and a window will pop-up displaying a list of schedules in one pane and a list of clients in another.  Just select the schedule and client(s) you would like to backup.

[pkunk]

ops, forgot to mentioned that I am running on unix.  Haven't test out window version of Netbackup that much.  Are you also able to select the particular volume path or stream after right clicking and selecting manual backup?

Thanks,
-pkunk

[Ron_Cohn]

When you do the manual backup, you are still using the directives for that policy.  If the policy has "All Local Drives", then it will execute that directive.  As for the capabilities of what can be done via command line....?

[pkunk]

For example your policy name is  test_full
include files or directives  has c:/blah
                                                 d:/blah2  (failed)
Just double checking, so for window you can do a manual backup of d:/blah2 in test_full without having c:/blah to restart over?

Here's a gist of what I got from the 6.0 manual.

Performing a Manual Backup Using  the GUI
-Select Actions -> Manual Backup.
-Right click the policy and select Manual Backup

-dialog box will pop up

-Select a schedule and clients you want to back up.
(The user selects the files)  <-------  {{{{not sure where's this comes in, maybe a new popup window will appear where you can select the files}}}}

[Ron_Cohn]

In NBU 6.0 MP5, all you can select is the schedule and client...  Unless NBU 6.5 has enhanced the manual backup process.

[Omar_Villa]

you cannot do it on 6.5 also, but to make it fast, copy the original policy to a temp one, modify the include list with the folders/files you need to backup, run a manual backup, wait until is done, then you can delete the temp policy, is the best I can get.

regards

[Ron_Cohn]

The only problem with that it is a "new" policy, therefore NBU will (or should) perform a full the 1st time the backup is executed.

[pkunk]

hahah, thx for all the inputs , guess I'll add this to my todo list for scripting.
well hopefully I'll get my website up soon and I can share all my cool scripts/ monitoring system. (includes graphing, charts, web interface)

-pkunk

[Jim_Miller]

I'll throw this one out there since I didn't see it mentioned. This is from a purely windows guy, but I also backup HP-UX clients.

In each policy, I have "Take checkpoints every" set to 15 minutes. In conjunction with the master server setting "Schedule backup attempts" (which I have set to 5 per 12 hours) this gives me retries after media (84) errors.

With these settings I rarely have a backup that completely fails.

From the helpfile:

The Take checkpoints every check box specifies whether NetBackup takes checkpoints during a backup job. Indicate how often the policy should take checkpoints.

Checkpoints during a backup are beneficial if a backup fails. Without Take checkpoints every enabled, a failed backup restarts from the beginning of the job. By taking checkpoints periodically during the backup, NetBackup can retry a failed backup from the beginning of the last checkpoint rather than restart the entire job. Note that checkpoints cannot occur while a file is backed up. Checkpoints are saved at file boundaries, and point to the next file in the list.

The Schedule backup attempts Global Attributes host property indicates the number of times that NetBackup tries a failed backup.

Policy types MS-Windows-NT (for Windows clients) and Standard (for UNIX clients) support this policy attribute. To see if this feature is supported for a specific agent or option, refer to the manual for that agent or option.