relocate a NBU unix client and change hostname

[FlyMountain]

Hi All,

We are lately planning to relocate some NBU 7.1 UNIX clients to different location and change hostname/IP.  All previous images will need to be still valid for restore. What kind of changes should we make on policy and client property?

thanks, 

[Mark_Solutions]

You have 2 choice really - and the first one I would say is most reccomended:

1. Rename you host and change its IP address. Change its host name in its bp.conf. Change your policies to use the new name. (Do this just before a Full backup, otherwise incrementals will run as full until the next full has run). Make a note of what it used to be called to find old backups for restore.

2. Just add a hosts file entry on the client for the old host name against its new IP address. Add hosts file entires on the Master and Media Servers for the old names against their new IP addresses. The trouble here is that as time goes on you will find yourself wanting to back them up using the new names.

Hope this helps

[Marianne]

I would go with option 1 in Mark's post.

If your Master is Unix/Linux, create a symbolic link from existing to new client name under /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images before you start to do backups using new name in policies. This way all images will be kept in same place and restores will work with old or new name.

[FlyMountain]

1. For old client hostname, should i delete it from Netbackup or keep it for restore purpose?

2. For new client hostname, should i create a new client or can i rename it from existed?

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

The images folder for old name under ...netbackup/db/images needs to remain for restore purposes. Create symbolic link as mentioned previously to allow usage of old or new name for restores.

Delete old name in policies and replace with new name. As per Mark's advice - do this when a Full backup is due to prevent incrementals from running as full.

NBU Admin Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume II  http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC3651 also describes the process on p. 138.

The heading is wrong and should read 'To update the master after client name change':

To update NetBackup after a master server name change
1 On the master server, delete the client’s old name from all policies where it
exists and add the client’s new name to those policies. You do not need to
reinstall NetBackup software on the client. The client continues to have access
to all previous backups.
2 Create a symbolic link from the client’s old image directory to its new image
directory. For example,
cd /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images ln -s old_client_name new_client_name

To update NetBackup after a client name change
1 OnPC clients, change the client name setting either through the user interface
or in a configuration file.
See the online Help in the Backup, Archive, and Restore client interface.
2 On UNIX clients, change the CLIENT_NAME value in the bp.conf file to the
new name.
If users on UNIX clients have a bp.conf file in the $HOME directory, users must
change CLIENT_NAME in that file to the new name.

[Will_Restore]

lest you undo the changes that you made to the client

and the hostname and/or IP reverts to the original