multiple questions for newbie

[gkman]

Hello, I am still new to netbackup- and there are some questions I haven't found answers to: 1) so far I understand that some jobs triggers child jobs in order to complete the backup- why does sql backup trigger child jobs, how many (according to what it opens new child processes), and what other backups open child jobs (other than vmware that I know of) 2) what happens if a backup doesn't complete in it's window? does it pause until the next window, fail or complete the backup anyway? can I configure the action I want? 3) how can I tell what tapes can I take out of the robot to ship to a DR site? can it be a few different backups on the same tapes? I bet that more questions will come up the more I get to know the system, but that's it for now. thanks for the help

[sdo]

Hi gkman, welcome to the world of NetBackup.  :)

Q1) So far I understand that some jobs triggers child jobs in order to complete the backup- why does sql backup trigger child jobs, how many (according to what it opens new child processes), and what other backups open child jobs (other than vmware that I know of)

A1) We don't worry about which jobs ceate child jobs.  We just take it the way it is.  This isn't a question that I've ever had to ask.  NetBackup does what it does by design.

Q2) What happens if a backup doesn't complete in it's window? does it pause until the next window, fail or complete the backup anyway? can I configure the action I want?

A2) If a job starts before the run window ends then it will be allowed to run to completion or failure, scheduling will not stop the job.  If it doesn;t start before the end of the run Window, that a status 196 will occur for the job.  No you cannot configure it to abort if it doesn't complete by the end ofteh run Window.

Q3) How can I tell what tapes can I take out of the robot to ship to a DR site? can it be a few different backups on the same tapes?

A3) Your best bet is to read up on NetBackup Vault.

IMO, I really think that you could do with attending a proper course.  You'll get up to speed so much more quickly.  I do hope you get to attend a course.  It is in your employers best interest to skill you up.

[gkman]

thanks for the informative answer, I have a few followup questions:

Q1)  in response to the to your reply that I shouldn't worry about child jobs. The reason I asked was because some of the child jobs failed, and I wanted to understand how I should go about troubleshooting and fixing the problem. Only later I figured that each child job back's up a different database. Now I would like to learn how to manual backup one database that failed the last backup attempt rather than backing up all the databases again. (I backup manually by right clicking the policy in the administrative console and choosing manual backup..)

Q2) Is Netbackup Vault is the only way to go setting up a DR site- tape shipping solution? because as far as I can tell we (my work place) don't use it, even though we have a license for it. (the guy that was in charge of backups before me was fired and nobody else really knows). 

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

1) About multiple streams for a database backup :
because the streams are generated from by the agent on the client, there is nothing we can do on a NetBackup master to rerun or retry the failed stream.
You need to troubleshoot the reason with the help of the dba on the client.
Most agents have retry parameters that can be added to the backup script to ensure the failed db backup is retried.
Here is a forum post with example for SQL: SQL Backup retries  
Similar query over here: Database Backup Cancellation 

2) There should be documented instruction from management level with regards to offsite shipping.
This document should tell you who the offsite tape company is, how often they come to collect and if certain or all tapes should be shipped offsite on daily or weekly basis.

If you do not have NBU Vault option, you need to have your documentation (e.g. spreadsheet) with Media ID, Date of Offsite, Date of Return, etc. etc.

You can use NBU reports to help you.
To identify tapes to send offsite, use Tape Written report (enter the start and end period of tapes to be searched).
To know when tapes will expire (to be brought back onsite), use Tape Summary Report with Verbose option selected.
Please note that above reports will only show media-ids of tapes containing valid backups.
It will not show new/blank/expired tapes.