Congifg and permissions for duplication

[SteveLaw]

Hi,

We're using Netbackup 7.5 on two-sites with DataDomain backup and duplication between them. Mainly using the Admin Console on a Windows 2008 Master Server. 

I have some general questions:

1) When Netbackup 7.5 is installed on a client, should it automatically show up in the clients list on the Master server? Some of ours do, and some don't. Does this matter and how should I fix it? I guess there is a simple -addclient command...

2) Do clients need to be added to the Server list of media servers? 

3) Why do clients have a server list? Is it for adding media servers? Does it allow only specified media servers to back them up?

4) I don't understand the process of duplication between the Data Domain boxes. Example: on Site1 a backup of Client1 is written to Storage Unit1 by Media Server1, and for this to happen Media Server1 must be enabled on Storage Unit1.

Once the backup is complete a duplication job appears, with the Master as the client and Media Server2 on Site2 as the media server. Media Server2 seems to 'manage' the duplication, requesting the DataDomain box on Site1 to duplicate the backup image to the Data Domain box on Site2. All well and good, but: 

Does the Site2 Media Server2 managing the duplication need to be enabled on Storage Unit1, or added to the Server list of Media Server1? Is Media Server1 involved at all? Is the orignal source Client1 involved, or is the duplication purely between the DD boxes and Media Server 2?

Thanks very much!

[Nicolai · Accepted solution]

1: No - You must add the client to a backup policy.

2: No - it the other way around. A client has a server list where the media server in use must be listed. The master server must always be first in the list

3: You are right - it a safety option -  it allow only specified media servers to perform backup. 

4: A client is not involved in duplication. OST enabled operation enable Netbackup to instruct a Data Domain to send a backup image direct from one Data Domain to another. Netbackup as such does not perform any "magic" - but the power of the OST plug-in framework let Netbackup use the facilities developed by EMC.

[SteveLaw]

Thanks for your response Nikolai! 

"1: No - You must add the client to a backup policy."

The client won't show up in the clients list until it is added to a policy?

"2: No - it the other way around. A client has a server list where the media server in use must be listed. The master server must always be first in the list"

Excellent, very useful. 

"4: A client is not involved in duplication. OST enabled operation enable Netbackup to instruct a Data Domain to send a backup image direct from one Data Domain to another. Netbackup as such does not perform any "magic" - but the power of the OST plug-in framework let Netbackup use the facilities developed by EMC."

Ok. Are there any specific permissions required for the media server that handles the duplication? I understand thaat you can run the command "nbemmcmd -changesetting -common_server_for_dup" which forces the duplication to always try to use the original media server. Why do you need to do that?

We are having some duplications fail with this error:

04/07/2013 23:39:46 - Critical bpdm(pid=8364) sts_get_cred failed: error 2 emmerr 25       

04/07/2013 23:39:46 - Critical bpdm(pid=8364) failure to open sts for storage server media1.corp.net: plug-in reports error 2060001 one or more invalid arguments

04/07/2013 23:39:46 - Error bpduplicate(pid=4924) host media2.corp.net backup id tw03vm02.dcsit.net_1372965205 optimized duplication failed, media open error (83). 

04/07/2013 23:39:46 - Error bpduplicate(pid=4924) Duplicate of backupid tw03vm02.dcsit.net_1372965205 failed, media open error (83).    

04/07/2013 23:39:46 - requesting resource @aaaad

....where media1 is on the site where the backup was performed (but was not the media server which performed the backup) and media2 is on the second site where the duplicate is being sent to. I'm wondering if there is a media server assignment or similar that is missing?

Thanks

[Topher-lab]

On point 4, this is a Storage Server Credential configuration requirement.

For an "Optimized Duplication" (which is the faster DataDomain to DataDomain operation in your case), the two Storage Servers (i,e, DataDomain hostnames) must have at least one media server in common.  Which media server that is depends on how you want the data "pushed" or "pulled".

COMMON_SERVER_FOR_DUP has three settings: default, preferred and required.   All of these boil down to what to do only when there actually is a COMMON media server that can be used to both READ and WRITE that image.

In your example then, mediaserver2 can write to stu2, but can also read from the disk pool associated with stu1, so it would be a possible "common" media server.

The error you cite does not reflect that issue, however. 

"Critical bpdm(pid=8364) sts_get_cred failed: error 2 emmerr 25" is more likely related to the version of the DataDomain plugin (2.6 is now available from EMC for most supported DataDomain models).

Otherwise, an analysis of the BPDM log would be the next step.

[SteveLaw]

Hi, 

I'm a newbie, these questions might be dumb :)

On point 4:

General Question:    Having a common media server would be one that is enabled on the storage units that are configured (in the Storage Lifecycle Policy) as the send & receive for the post-backup duplication job? 

On a seperate recent post of mine (https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/how-control-which-media-server-runs-which-backup-policy) I asked about how to control which media server picks up which policy, as I'm concerned about media servers attempting to backup across the WAN link. It seemed most sensible to only enable media servers on one site to write to the main SU on that site. 

But if for duplication the same media server needs to see both the source and destination SU on both sites, that ruins my plan. How then should I control which media server runs which policy - by only adding 'local' media servers to the client's server list? 

On the Duplication Error:

All our plugins are at v2.4.1, but some of the duplication jobs succeed..? They are mixed Unix/Windows. 

On the media server which ran the duplication there is no BPDM.log. On the master server the BPDM log has no entries after 7pm last night, which seems a bit odd. But these duplication failures were much later. The logs of two are below - they may have been the same dupe job rerun, hard to tell, but the media server, client and targets SU are the same in both cases.

Succeeded:

*************

File list: tw03vm02.corp.net_1372965778

05/07/2013 11:52:36 - requesting resource LCM_MKDD002_MBSF_DD_MK

05/07/2013 11:52:36 - granted resource LCM_MKDD002_MBSF_DD_MK

05/07/2013 11:52:36 - started process RUNCMD (8512)

05/07/2013 11:52:36 - ended process 0 (8512)

05/07/2013 11:52:37 - begin Duplicate

05/07/2013 11:56:45 - requesting resource MKDD002_MBSF_DD_MK

05/07/2013 11:56:45 - reserving resource @aaaad

05/07/2013 11:56:46 - reserved resource @aaaad

05/07/2013 11:56:46 - granted resource MediaID=@aaaab;DiskVolume=MBSF_MK;DiskPool=MBSF_MK;Path=MBSF_MK;StorageServer=mkdd002.corp.net;MediaServer=server01.corpbsf.net

05/07/2013 11:56:46 - granted resource MKDD002_MBSF_DD_MK

05/07/2013 11:56:47 - Info Duplicate(pid=8512) Initiating optimized duplication from @aaaad to @aaaab      

05/07/2013 11:56:47 - requesting resource @aaaad

05/07/2013 11:56:47 - granted resource MediaID=@aaaad;DiskVolume=MBSF_BAS;DiskPool=MBSF_BAS;Path=MBSF_BAS;StorageServer=basdd002.corp.net;MediaServer=server01.corpbsf.net

05/07/2013 11:56:48 - Info bpdm(pid=5876) started            

05/07/2013 11:56:48 - started process bpdm (5876)

05/07/2013 11:56:49 - Info bpdm(pid=5876) requesting nbjm for media         

05/07/2013 12:00:44 - begin writing

05/07/2013 12:00:45 - end writing; write time: 00:00:01

05/07/2013 12:00:47 - end Duplicate; elapsed time: 00:08:10

the requested operation was successfully completed(0)

Failed

*******

File List:  tw03vm02.corp.net_1372965778

05/07/2013 07:51:38 - begin Duplicate

05/07/2013 07:51:38 - requesting resource LCM_MKDD002_MBSF_DD_MK

05/07/2013 07:51:38 - granted resource LCM_MKDD002_MBSF_DD_MK

05/07/2013 07:51:38 - started process RUNCMD (10388)

05/07/2013 07:51:38 - ended process 0 (10388)

05/07/2013 07:52:37 - requesting resource MKDD002_MBSF_DD_MK

05/07/2013 07:52:37 - reserving resource @aaaad

05/07/2013 07:52:37 - reserved resource @aaaad

05/07/2013 07:52:37 - granted resource MediaID=@aaaab;DiskVolume=MBSF_MK;DiskPool=MBSF_MK;Path=MBSF_MK;StorageServer=mkdd002.corp.net;MediaServer=server01.corpbsf.net

05/07/2013 07:52:37 - granted resource MKDD002_MBSF_DD_MK

05/07/2013 07:52:38 - Info Duplicate(pid=10388) Initiating optimized duplication from @aaaad to @aaaab      

05/07/2013 07:52:38 - requesting resource @aaaad

05/07/2013 07:52:38 - granted resource MediaID=@aaaad;DiskVolume=MBSF_BAS;DiskPool=MBSF_BAS;Path=MBSF_BAS;StorageServer=basdd002.corp.net;MediaServer=server01.corpbsf.net

05/07/2013 07:52:39 - Info bpdm(pid=7156) started            

05/07/2013 07:52:39 - started process bpdm (7156)

05/07/2013 07:52:41 - Info bpdm(pid=7156) requesting nbjm for media         

05/07/2013 07:55:49 - Critical bpdm(pid=7156) sts_get_cred failed: error 2 emmerr 25       

05/07/2013 07:55:50 - Critical bpdm(pid=7156) failure to open sts for storage server basdd002.corp.net: plug-in reports error 2060001 one or more invalid arguments

05/07/2013 07:55:50 - Error bpduplicate(pid=10388) host server01.corpbsf.net backup id tw03vm02.corp.net_1372965778 optimized duplication failed, media open error (83). 

05/07/2013 07:55:50 - Error bpduplicate(pid=10388) Duplicate of backupid tw03vm02.corp.net_1372965778 failed, media open error (83).    

05/07/2013 07:55:50 - Error bpduplicate(pid=10388) Status = no images were successfully processed.      

05/07/2013 07:55:50 - end Duplicate; elapsed time: 00:04:12

media open error(83)

Thanks for your invaluable help!

[Nicolai]

1: A client must somwhow be involved with Netbackup to show up in the client list.

If you have a client in the list but can't find the policy where it's hiding - try this command:

bpplclients -allunique

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO43675