Synthetic backup failing with status code 79

[dsw1225hou]

I am running NetBackup 7.5.0.1 with backups being sent to an HP StoreOnce B6200 (Disk).  I am using the HP StoreOnce Catalyst software plug-in for NetBackup.  The Catalyst software is set to have deduplication take place on the client prior to sending the data to the storage device.  Synthetic backups are supported on disk storage units so I believe I am playing fair.

My normal full and incremental backups are running successfully.  But when I try to run a Synthetic full backup it fails with the following error:

     "unsupported image format for the requested database query(79)"

According to Symantec Support, this error message is telling me that one or more of the images to be synthesized was encrypted and that these images cannot be synthesized.

My backup policy does not have encryption selected, so I am not sure where to go from here.  It is possible that NetBackup is detecting that the data is encrypted (?) because the data is being deduplicated by the Catalyst software first before being sent to the storage device, but I am unclear on how NetBackup is interpreting this data.

Any suggestions would be quite helpful.

Thank you...

[Andy_Welburn]

Have you run an initial full backup (i.e. a 'normal' full backup) prior to running any incrementals or the synthetic?

When performing a Synthetic Full backup, a status 79 may be seen if a full backup has not previously run, or has expired before the synthetic schedule runs.
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH72852

When performing a Synthetic Full backup, a status 79 may be seen if a full backup has not previously run, or has expired before the synthetic schedule runs.

Can't personally comment on the Catalyst s/w - we use NetApp storage where any dedup is carried out at the filer & have encountered no issues with the few synthetics that we do run.

[mph999]

Suspect this will fix it ,..

If not, would need to look in the bpsynth log.

martin

[dsw1225hou]

Yes, I have run several normal full and incremental backups successfully prior to running the synthetic full backup.

Also, I have my synthetic full backup set in a separate policy, but this still is not working.

I have tried running the synthetic full backup manually and have allowed the scheduler to run the job but the same error occurs no matter what I do.

[mph999]

OK, what is in the bpsynth log ?

Martin

[Andy_Welburn]

but this still is not working."

I presume this was just as a test as they should be in the same policy as the normal full backups?

Maybe worth seeing the output of the policy as well as the log info Martin has requested.

bppllist policy_name -U

[NBU35]

is the following option is checked in attributes part of policy Collect true image restore information : With move detection If not, then please check this option and again take a traditional full backup and then try the synthetic backup.

[NBU35]

Is following option checked in attributes part of policy Collect true image restore information : With move detection If not, then please check this option and again take a traditional full backup and then try the synthetic backup.

[Marianne]

I agree with Andy  - your Full, Incremental and Synthetic full must be in the same policy.

[dsw1225hou]

Thanks for all of the feedback.  Here is my current status:

1.     I have started over, deleting all policies, and created a new single policy which includes Full, Incremental, and Synthetic Full schedules.

2.     In the main policy properties I have the "Collect true image restore information" and "with move detection" options checked.

3.     The Full and Incremental schedules are the traditional or "normal" backups.

4.     The Synthetic Full schedule has the "Synthetic backup" option checked.

5.     I have run several manual full and incremental "traditional" backups successfully.

6.     But when I run a manual synthetic full backup I get this error:

                media write error(84)

I’m not sure where this error is coming from since I have successfully written data from the full and incremental backups to the disk target.

I have attached the bppllist log which shows the details of my policy setup.

I have also attached the bpsynth log.

Thank you very much for the feedback and suggestions.  It is very much appreciated.

[Andy_Welburn]

altho' I'm a little concerned/confused over the backup windows - for all policies schedule window is open for the full 7 days with a frequency of 7 days. What will run when?? Or is that just a test policy again?

Personally I have:

(a) a "One Off" FULL schedule that I run manually (no backup window) initially to 'seed' the backup as it were & can run again manually at any time in the future if the need arises (some say it's a good idea to have a regular FULL at some point anyway?).

(b) a daily INCREMENTAL. Window opens each day for n hours with a frequency of n+1 hours

(c) a weekly SYNTHETIC that runs once a week with the window opening just after the incremental window on the same day closes - this means the synthetic is as up-to-date as possible.

- but that's just how I do it. Things could be different for you out of necessity.

The above aside, I created a test policy that matched as best I could yours (*nix environment tho') & had no issues manually running the full, incremental & then synthetic - so as I said above there's nothing wrong with the policy per se.

You're backing up G:\30GB_Dataset - is this a local drive or mapped?

As far as your EC=84 in your last test - how's the health of the DSU? Is it full? There's also some mention in the "Help" for this code:

* If NetBackup writes backups to a disk file, verify the following: the fragment size that is configured for the disk storage unit is not greater than the maximum file size that the operating system specifies.

- altho' not something I could test here & not sure of its relevance to you.

[CRZ · Accepted solution]

 I am using the HP StoreOnce Catalyst software plug-in for NetBackup.

Do synths complete successfully when you take this plug-in out of the equation?  (Have you tried this?)

[dsw1225hou]

I understand your confusion about the policy schedules.  These schedule time windows were created in a test environment with me trying to get the synthetic backup to work.

I deleted the policy and created a new one and created 3 new schedules...Full, Incremental, Synthetic...all without any schedule time windows.

I manually ran the full backup and incremental backup, both completed successfully.

Then I manually ran the synthetic backup and while it was running, an image cleanup job started.  So now I had two jobs active and running at the same time.  Then the image cleanup completed successfully, then the synthetic backup job failed with media write error (84).

The G:\30GB_Dataset is a local drive (a presented LUN from an EVA 8400).

The DSU (b6200) health is good.  I have over 27TB free space.

Interestingly enough, I created a NAS share (CIFS) on the same storage target (b6200) and was able to run a synthetic backup successfully to the CIFS share.

So this tells me that the issue is related to the NetBackup Catalyst plug-in software and how it is communicating with the DSU (b6200)...or the lack thereof.

[dsw1225hou]

Yes, the synthetic backups work when I take the NetBackup Catalyst plug-in out of the equation.

I have double-checked all of the required settings for synthetic backups and they are good.

Any further suggestions would be very helpful.

Thank you...

[dsw1225hou]

I found out that the Catalyst plug-in for NetBackup and Synthetic backups is not supported on the b6200.

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

[mph999]

Really chris' post should be marked as the solution as he provided the answer.

Martin

[mph999]

Really chris' post should be marked as the solution as he provided the answer.

Martin