This is an exellent post by Bob that I stole without shame. This covers it all quite well.
Thank you Bob!
Are you using this entry in the bp.conf and then cycling the daemons?
FORCE_RESTORE_MEDIA_SERVER = original-media-server new-media-server
Instead you may want to actually change ownership of the media. Please see the technote:
De-commissioning a Media Server and removing it from the NetBackup configuration.
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/230047.htm
Before de-commissioning a Media Server, there are several steps that must be accomplished. These steps are in several broad categories:
updating the internal NetBackup database references to all tapes with active images
allowing restores from a media server other than the Media Server that performed the original backup
un-configuring the Media Server from the system
updating all references involving Storage Units, Classes, and Volume Groups and Pools
changing the configuration so NetBackup will not recognize the old system as a Media Server.
If the images are not moved correctly or if the Media Server is de-commissioned before any of this takes place, any restores will have to be performed by importing the tapes, which is a much longer process.
These are the steps required to decommission a Media Server:
1) Determine which tapes on the Media Server that are being de-commissioned have active images that have not expired. The easiest way to do this is to run the bpmedialist command with the following options:
Note: Use -l to get one line of output per tape.
bpmedialist -mlist -l -h
2) Select another Media Server or the Master Server to inherit the tapes from the Media Server that is being de-commissioned and update the appropriate NetBackup internal databases. This will update the mediaDB files on both the old and new Media Servers and also update the images database on the Master Server. Since the mediaDB files are binary files, they can only be updated by this program, they cannot be updated manually. To update these databases, the bpmedia command must be executed with the following options for each tape identified by step 1:
bpmedia -movedb -ev -oldserver
-newserver
3) Enable restores of the inherited images on the new Media Server (which was determined in the previous step) by adding a line to the bp.conf file in the Media Server that will be inheriting the media. Add the following line to the bottom of the bp.conf file:
FORCE_RESTORE_MEDIA_SERVER = fromhost tohost
where fromhost is the Media Server that was used in the previous step for the -oldserver parameter and tohost is the Media Server that was used in the previous step for the -newserver parameter.
4) Move all tapes in all robots attached to the Media Server being de-commissioned to non-robotic status (standalone). This is easiest if done using the Media and Device Management GUI. Select each robot attached to the Media Manager being decommissioned, highlight all tapes, and Move them to Standalone.
5) After moving all tapes in all robots attached to the Media Manager being decommissioned to Standalone, use the Media and Device Management GUI to delete first the Tape Drives and then the Robots from the Media Server to be de-commissioned. Once the Tape Drives and Robots are deleted from the Media Server being de-commissioned, use the Storage Unit Management GUI to delete all Storage Units associated with all robots associated with the Media Server that is being de-commissioned.
6) If any Robots from the de-commissioned Media Server are being moved to other Media Servers, power down the affected servers and make any cabling changes required to physically attach the Robots to the new Media Servers. Once the Robots are recognized by the operating systems on the new Media Servers, add the Robot and Tape Drives to those Media Server with the Media and Device Management GUI. Then, using the Storage Unit Management GUI, create the appropriate Storage Units. Finally, Inventory the Robots for any Robots attached to new Media Servers to cause the location of all tapes in those robots to be known to NetBackup.
7) Modify any Classes that explicitly specified any of the Storage Units on the Media Server that is being de-commissioned. These Classes must point to any other defined Storage Units in the NetBackup configuration or to Any Available as appropriate.
8) Update the bp.conf and vm.conf files (or their equivalent on NT) on the Master Server and all Media Servers in the NetBackup configuration to remove any reference to the Media Server that is being de-commissioned. Also update the Server List on all Clients to no longer include a reference to the Media Server being de-commissioned. Cycle the NetBackup daemons on any system where these files are modified.
