Problems recovering NetBackup Catalog from an old server ...

[Didi7]

Hello everybody, I am trying to recover a NetBackup catalog from an old server and get the following error ...

ERR - Failed to execute command C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\bprestore.exe -w -T -X -K -C OLDSERVER -t 35 -p DU10_CAT_02 -e 1635493171 -priority 90000 -L "C:\Program Files\Veritas\netbackup\logs\user_ops\NEWSERVER\Administrator\logs\jbpRestore-20220325140534.log" -f "C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\temp\bprecoverfilelist.tmp" on host NEWSERVER (5)

The old server 'OLDSERVER' was running Windows Server 2012R2, the new server 'NEWSERVER' runs Windows Server 2016. OLDSERVER had NetBackup 8.2 installed, NEWSERVER has NetBackup 8.2 installed.

Is it possible to recover the NetBackup catalog from OLDSERVER on a new server NEWSERVER, which runs a different Windows version, same NetBackup version, but has different name and IP address?

If not, what must be the same and is it possible to recover the catalog and later import it into another server, which has a different name and IP address?

Best regards,

Didi7

[Nicolai]

hi @Didi7 

For catalog recovery to work, NEWSERVER must have the same name as OLDSERVER.

• OS can different as long as it the same "vendor". Cross "vendor" restore is not supported, e.g. Windows to Linux.
• Netbackup version cannot be different. This is due to differences in the EMM database.
• IP can be different.

If you need to fake the hostname, remove all DNS entries from NEWSERVER, and control name resolution in the Windows host name file.

What is written in  C:\Program Files\Veritas\netbackup\logs\user_ops\NEWSERVER\Administrator\logs\jbpRestore-20220325140534.log ?

/Nicolai

[Didi7]

Hello Nicolai,

first of all, thanks for replying so fast. No problem, in this case we moved from Windows Server 2012R2 to Windows Server 2016, but we changed the name and IP address. Obviously IP address change is not the problem, so the name is the real issue then. NetBackup version is also the same.

I suppose the drive and directories for the catalog must also be the same, as on the source server?

I will have a look into the log later!

Questions (as soon as I have recovered the NetBackup Catalog with tricking the host name)

1) Can we change the path of the catalog and dr files?

2) Can we upgrade the server from 8.2 to a more recent version and export the catalog for later use?

3) Can we get rid of the old name 'OLDSERVER' somehow?

Regards,

Didi7

[davidmoline]

Hi @Didi7 

You should review the NetBackup troubleshooting guide for your version. This has details on recovery operations such as you are attempting in the Disaster Recovery section. Also there is this article which describes (possible) what you are looking to do https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100022623 "How to use catalog backup and recovery to transfer NetBackup catalogs between Windows master servers as part of a hardware refresh".

Now to your questions:

1. There are limits to what you can do for the catalog path. It is safer to build the new server with the same paths and make sure you have sufficient room for everything. There is the nbdb_move command which allows you to move the NBDB database, and you can possible move the catalog directory with the use of a junction. I'd strongly recommend against doing this other than at initial install though - it may break lots of things (test before committing). 
2. Once you have recovered the old master, yes you should be able to upgrade.
3. You cannot change the master server name without Veritas consulting (CatMan) services. So you will have to keep the OLDSERVER name. 

Cheers
David