Restore Novell Netware Backups made with 5.1 for Linux to local file

[symbolicus]

Hi!

I am looking for the best practice to restore tape backups of acquired Netbackup environment.

Scenario:

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About 300 tapes (400 GB each) containing 3 years of backups from various Novell Netware servers.

Netbackup used: 5.1 for Linux (2 servers: Master + Media server). Backups baked with some nifty 2 tape device robots.

Host names changed, IP addresses have changed, DNS mostly defected.

Netbackup licenses removed - Software available (version 5.1).

Goal:

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I am not going to buy Symantec services, I am a do-it-yourself guy, what I am going to do is to be able to restore every file from every point in time from every server based on the catalogues and bar-coded tapes that exist on both 2 Linux servers.

The on-demand restored files will be saved locally, hence the physical backed up servers are in Nirvana now and they are not going to be resurrected. 

I guess I will need to buy the licenses, but I would be thankful if someone could give me a hint whether its fine to upgrade the Netbackup or just use the 5.1 for restore. NO NEW BACKUPS are going to be made.

Thanks and regards!

Symbolicus

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Hi,

You can simply install a new linux master and import on the media. You can use any version greater or equal to what was used to write the backups. Version 7 would be the easiest to find though. That is the import method.

If you know which media contains a backup of the catalog, and what the specific patch level of NetBackup was, you could simply restore the catalog directly and not have to import the media. And if you can find someone with 5.1 media... Lots of if's.

[Bill_Johnson1]

I am a little confused. Are you trying to restore NetWare data to a Linux server? If so, you cannot do this. This document will explain the issues.

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH52680

Please note, this is not a version limitation. NetBackup cannot migrate data from NetWare clients to Linux/UNIX or Windows clients.

If you are restoring back to a NetWare client, you can use any version of NetBackup from 5.1 to 7.1 to restore the data.

Please let me know if this is what you are doing.

Bill

[symbolicus]

We bought a NetBackup 5.1 environment:

- 2 Linux Master/Media Servers

- Backup Devices connected to the above servers

- 300 barcoded Tapes

- NO LICENSE KEYS (The keys habe been removed during the acquisition)

All client computers (which were backed up to tapes) have been removed. 

We want to restore the data from the tapes because the information/files are valuable for us. We will NOT restore to a new client computer. We will only restore files to a chosen destination (local file system) to be able to forward the data to other parties.

The 2 Linux server mentioned above still have NB 5.1 installed. But since the license keys are removed, no "bprestore, bplist" are possible.

The question is how to restore data in the above scenario.

Idea 1: Buy 5.1 licenses. --> Impossible, says our Symantec vendor.

Idea 2: Buy and Setup new Netbackup 7 Server and reread all tapes --> lots of unnecessary work, change 300 slow tapes? Never!

Idea 3: Buy and Setup new Netbackup 7 Server and import catalogs from the existing 5.1 Netbackup installation. Will it work? If yes how to do it?

Thank you in advance.

Symbolicus

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Hi,

Did you read the note Bill posted? (i missed that point originally)

 Data that was backed up from a NetWare client using NetBackup must be restored to a NetWare client.

Do you have netware clients/servers to restore the data to?

[symbolicus]

Hi,

thats an obnoxious restriction, data is data, a file is a file, isnt it? 

Anyways. The solutions to this thread is interesting for us because, not only Netware Servers were backed up. Also a minor number of Linux servers, including the Master Server were backed up, and all of them carried valuable data.

So, I need to find 1 in 300 Tapes which carries the catalogue??? Is that data not stored on the Master Server, in a database? I mean, an index of all files backed up with the dates/file names.

regards,

Symbolicus

[J_H_Is_gone]

There was a database design change from 5.x to 6.x  it was a major major upgrade.

So if you buy a 7 license you cannot just do a catalog recovery from the 5.x catalog backup.

And on the other point some files do not restore to other OS well.

some window files will NOT go onto a unix server.  Files backed up with NDMP will not retore any place then to another NAS device of the same brand.

Flat files file will be no problem from windows to unix.

[RiaanBadenhorst]

Hi,

Well it unfortunately its a limitation with Netware. Same thing sort of also applies with NDMP backups. Its not so much that its data, but rather way that the data is produced by the client. You would have seen in the note that the stream is unusual in that it produces a security stream and a data stream. Anyways, that is the limitation, cant do much about that.

The linux servers data can be restored, In their case, data is just data.

The catalogue media contains the "database" which by the way in 5.1 was just a specific file structure. A folder containing on the images (what was backed up, and on which media) and the volume and media databases. That is your index if you want to call it that, you find that tape and you find it all. No need to import (read) every other tape.

In a running NetBackup environment particular care would have been payed to the catalog media i.e the tape numbers etc. In most companies they're even kept in separate containers from the rest. I suppose you're new and the people who new all about the netbackup setup have moved on?

****EDIT**** Having said all that, it relies on having 5.1 and license keys available. As J stated below, you cant simply import a catalog from 5.x on 7.0. Dont think you could do that between 6.x and 7.x either.

[symbolicus]

Hi guys!

Thank you for your help. Netbackup 5.1 is neat, now its working with NetBackup 5.0 Demo Keys 60-days supplied free of charge by our vendor. I have found some hints about Linux running Novell emulation mode, to be able to restore Novell backups. Let's see how it works out...

Thanks again!

Symbolicus