Conversion of backup image copies with INFINITE retention during the NetBackup 9.0 upgrade

Problem

NetBackup 9.0 has addressed the limitation around setting retention beyond the year 2038.  NetBackup 9.0 and later versions support the expiration dates that extend beyond the year 2038.  As part of that work, the marker value to represent INFINITY has changed from 2147483647 to 32535212400. To ensure compatibility with previous NetBackup versions, all items with an infinite expiration date are updated to reflect the new infinite expiration date value.

Note: If a custom retention period is used to save backup image copies for longer than the year 2038, NetBackup sets the retention of such images as "INFINITY – 1". NetBackup stores this information with the value 2147483646 in the Sybase database.  These images are going to expire in the year 2038 unless manual steps are taken to adjust these images before the year 2038.  Refer to the Related Article for further details.

Cause

NetBackup allows the user to retain backup images for a specific time duration known as the retention period.  INFINITY is a special retention level in NetBackup. Prior to version 9.0, this is stored as the value 2147483647 in the Sybase database, which translates to the year 2038.

NetBackup 9.0 has addressed this limitation by changing the value representing INFINITY from 2147483647 to 32535212400.  Any image copy records set to a retention of INFINITY will be automatically updated at the time of upgrade to utilize the new value for INFINITY (i.e. the year 3000). 

This is a time-consuming operation and can cause significant delays in the step for the database upgrade.

Solution

The time required to upgrade the records during the upgrade of NetBackup depends on several factors like:

1. The total number of records
2. The number of records that need to be updated.
3. System resources such as CPU, memory, and disk characteristics

Manual conversion estimation methods

A quick manual method to fetch the number of records is by counting the image files in the located here:
UNIX/Linux: /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images
Windows: <install_path>\Veritas\NetBackup\db\images. 

The below command can be used for this.

Linux/UNIX:

# find -L /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images/* -maxdepth 2  -name "*\.f" -o -name "*\.f\.Z" -o -name "*\.f\.Zl" -o -name "*\.f\.Zs" | wc -l

Windows (using Powershell)
PS C:\> Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\db\images\" -Depth 2 -Name "*.f.*"  -Exclude "*.lck"  | Measure-Object -Line

In case ALTPATH is used to redirect specific client data to an alternate location, the above commands also need to be manually executed for these paths.

This is a quick estimate and may not be accurate. If there are more than a million images, it is recommended to get a more accurate estimate as described below.

A more accurate manual estimate can be obtained by running the following command before starting the upgrade procedure.

Linux/UNIX:

# /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/bpimagelist -d 01/01/1970 | grep ' 2147483647 ' | grep -e "^IMAGE" -e "^FRAG [0-9]* 1 " | wc -l

Windows (using Powershell)

PS C:\> cd 'C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\admincmd\'

PS C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\admincmd> .\bpimagelist -d 01/01/1970 | Select-String -Pattern ' 2147483647 ' | Select-String -Pattern '^IMAGE','^FRAG [0-9]* 1 '  | Measure-Object -Line

This command gives the number of images and copies that need conversion.

To get the time estimation (in seconds) for the conversion during the upgrade, divide the number images and copies obtained from the above command by 1000. 

An automatic method is also provided via a new pre-check that has been added into the NetBackup installer to estimate the time required for the conversion depending on the number of images present and the total number of images that need an update. 

Automatic conversion estimate at start of upgrade

At the time of upgrade, the install script counts the number of records that possibly need updating. If the conversion time estimate is less than 15 minutes, the install script proceeds with the upgrade and displays the following message. 

ok infinite_expiration_conversion: NetBackup 9.0 and later versions support the
  expiration dates that extend beyond the year 2038. To ensure compatibility
  with previous NetBackup versions, all items with an infinite expiration date
  are updated to reflect the new infinite expiration date value. This
  conversion may extend the time that is required to complete the upgrade.
  Review the following article for more information:
 
  https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100048600
 
  Date of collection: 2020-10-29 08:44
  NetBackup state: offline
  Records found: 73703
  Conversion time estimate: less than 15 minutes
 
  Please see the linked article to obtain a more accurate estimate of how long
  the conversion may take.

If the conversion time estimate is greater than 15 minutes, the user is prompted - whether they would like to continue with the upgrade or perform the upgrade later. 

not ok infinite_expiration_conversion: NetBackup 9.0 and later versions support the
  expiration dates that extend beyond the year 2038. To ensure compatibility
  with previous NetBackup versions, all items with an infinite expiration date
  are updated to reflect the new infinite expiration date value. This
  conversion may extend the time that is required to complete the upgrade.
  Review the following article for more information:
 
  https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100048600
 
  Date of collection: 2020-10-29 09:10
  NetBackup state: offline
  Records found: 23143691
  Conversion time estimate: 06:25 (hh:mm)
 
  Please see the linked article to obtain a more accurate estimate of how long
  the conversion may take.
 

In the above examples: 
NetBackup state - online means that NetBackup services are up, and the bpimagelist command is used to fetch the number of records (accurate method)

NetBackup state - offline means that NetBackup services are down, and the number of records is fetched by counting the image files under "NetBackup\db\images" directory

During the database upgrade, when the conversion occurs, the below messages are reported in the server.log file

I. 12/25 22:58:35. Updating INFINITY in image records for 2038 retention and this may take some time...
I. 12/25 22:58:35. Updated INFINITY in image records for 2038 retention.
I. 12/25 22:58:35. Updating INFINITY in image copy records for 2038 retention and this may take some time...
I. 12/25 22:58:42. Updated INFINITY in image copy records for 2038 retention.