Veritas NetBackup™ for NDMP Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.1)
  1. Introduction to NetBackup for NDMP
    1. About NetBackup for NDMP
      1.  
        NetBackup for NDMP features
      2.  
        NetBackup for NDMP terminology
    2.  
      About Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP)
    3. Types of NDMP backup
      1.  
        NDMP local backup
      2.  
        NDMP three-way backup
      3.  
        Backup to Media Manager storage units (remote NDMP)
    4.  
      About NDMP policies in NetBackup
    5.  
      About NetBackup storage units
    6. About assigning tape drives to different hosts
      1.  
        About robotics control
    7.  
      About the NDMP backup process
    8.  
      About the NDMP restore process
    9.  
      About Direct Access Recovery (DAR)
    10.  
      Snapshot Client assistance
    11.  
      About NDMP multiplexing
    12.  
      About NDMP support for Replication Director
    13.  
      Limitations of Replication Director with NDMP
    14.  
      About NDMP support for NetApp clustered Data ONTAP (cDOT)
  2. Installation Notes for NetBackup for NDMP
    1.  
      NetBackup for NDMP installation prerequisites
    2.  
      About existing NetApp cDOT configurations before you upgrade
  3. Configuring NDMP backup to NDMP-attached devices
    1.  
      About configuring NDMP-attached devices
    2.  
      Authorizing NetBackup access to a NAS (NDMP) host
    3.  
      About access for three-way backups and remote NDMP
    4. About Media and Device Management configuration
      1.  
        Adding a robot directly attached to an NDMP host
      2.  
        Adding a tape drive
      3.  
        Checking the device configuration
    5.  
      Using the Device Configuration Wizard to configure an NDMP filer
    6.  
      About adding volumes
    7.  
      About verifying NDMP password and robot connection
    8.  
      Adding NDMP storage units
    9. About creating an NDMP policy
      1.  
        Attributes tab options for an NDMP policy
      2.  
        Schedules tab options for an NDMP policy with Accelerator for NDMP enabled
      3.  
        Clients tab options for an NDMP policy
      4. Backup selection options for an NDMP policy
        1.  
          Wildcard characters in backup selections for an NDMP policy
        2.  
          ALL_FILESYSTEMS and VOLUME_EXCLUDE_LIST directives
      5.  
        About environment variables in the backup selections list
      6.  
        About appropriate host selection for NetApp cDOT backup policies
      7.  
        About backup types in a schedule for an NDMP policy
    10. About enabling or disabling DAR
      1.  
        Disabling DAR for file and directory restores
      2.  
        Disabling DAR for directory restores only
    11.  
      Configuring NetBackup for NDMP in a clustered environment
  4. Configuring NDMP backup to NetBackup media servers (remote NDMP)
    1.  
      About remote NDMP
    2.  
      Configuring NDMP backup to Media Manager storage units
  5. Configuring NDMP DirectCopy
    1. About NDMP DirectCopy
      1.  
        Prerequisites for using NDMP DirectCopy
      2.  
        NDMP DirectCopy with VTL
      3.  
        NDMP DirectCopy without VTL
    2.  
      Configuring NDMP DirectCopy
    3. Using NDMP DirectCopy to duplicate a backup image
      1. Requirements to use NDMP DirectCopy for image duplication
        1.  
          NetBackup policy type for image duplication
      2.  
        Initiating NDMP DirectCopy with the NetBackup Administration Console
  6. Accelerator for NDMP
    1.  
      About NetBackup Accelerator for NDMP
    2. About the track log for Accelerator for NDMP
      1.  
        How to redirect track logs for Accelerator for NDMP
    3.  
      Accelerator messages in the NDMP backup job details log
    4.  
      NetBackup logs for Accelerator for NDMP
  7. Remote NDMP and disk devices
    1.  
      About remote NDMP and disk devices
    2.  
      Configuring remote NDMP
  8. Using the Shared Storage Option (SSO)
    1.  
      About the Shared Storage Option (SSO) with NetBackup for NDMP
    2.  
      Setting up SSO with NetBackup for NDMP
    3.  
      Using the NetBackup Device Configuration Wizard for NDMP hosts
  9. Backup and restore procedures
    1.  
      About NDMP backups and restores
    2.  
      Performing a manual backup with an NDMP policy
    3.  
      Performing an NDMP restore from the server
  10. Troubleshooting
    1. About NetBackup for NDMP logs
      1.  
        Viewing NetBackup for NDMP logs
      2.  
        NDMP backup levels
    2.  
      General NetBackup for NDMP operating notes and restrictions
    3. NetBackup for NDMP troubleshooting suggestions
      1.  
        Troubleshooting NDMP media and devices on Windows
      2.  
        Troubleshooting NDMP media and devices on UNIX
      3.  
        Troubleshooting NDMP DirectCopy
      4.  
        Troubleshooting Direct Access Recovery (DAR) with NetBackup for NDMP
    4. About robot tests
      1.  
        TL8 robot test example for Windows
      2.  
        TLD robot test example for UNIX
      3.  
        TLH robot test example for UNIX
  11. Using NetBackup for NDMP scripts
    1.  
      About the NetBackup for NDMP scripts
    2.  
      ndmp_start_notify script (UNIX)
    3.  
      ndmp_start_notify.cmd script (Microsoft Windows)
    4.  
      ndmp_end_notify script (UNIX)
    5.  
      ndmp_end_notify.cmd script (Microsoft Windows)
    6.  
      ndmp_start_path_notify script (UNIX)
    7.  
      ndmp_start_path_notify.cmd script (Microsoft Windows)
    8.  
      ndmp_end_path_notify script (UNIX)
    9.  
      ndmp_end_path_notify.cmd script (Microsoft Windows)
    10.  
      ndmp_moving_path_notify script (UNIX)
    11.  
      ndmp_moving_path_notify.cmd script (Microsoft Windows)

General NetBackup for NDMP operating notes and restrictions

Before you try to troubleshoot a suspected problem, review the following operating notes:

  • A tape that was created on an NDMP storage unit is in backup format. It cannot be restored from a non-NDMP storage unit. If you duplicate an NDMP backup image, the new copy is still in backup format. It cannot be used for restores on a non-NDMP storage unit.

  • In the backup selections list for an NDMP policy, you can include only directory paths. Individual file names are not allowed. Wildcard characters are allowed in backup selections, though some limitations apply to some filers. More information about wildcards in NDMP backup selections is available:

    See Wildcard characters in backup selections for an NDMP policy.

  • In a NetBackup NDMP policy, you cannot include a path in the file list that is more than 1024 characters long. This limitation may be further restricted for certain vendors. See the NetBackup NAS Appliance Information guide for path name length information for specific filers.

  • Observe the following restrictions to the use of the ALL_FILESYSTEM directive and the VOLUME_EXCLUDE_LIST directive:

    • A VOLUME_EXCLUDE_LIST statement may include a maximum of 256 characters. Create multiple VOLUME_EXCLUDE_LIST statements if necessary to avoid exceeding the limit of 256 characters. If you specify more than 256 characters, the volume list is truncated. A truncated statement may result in a backup job failure, and the error message Invalid command parameter(20) is displayed. VOLUME_EXCLUDE_LIST applies only to ALL_FILESYSTEMS. It does not apply to explicit backup selections or wildcard-based backup selections.

    • With NetBackup Replication Director, if the backup selection includes read-only volumes or full volumes, an NDMP backup job fails with the status code 20 (Invalid command parameter(20)). If you encounter a similar NDMP backup job error, review the ostfi logs to identify the volumes for which the failure occurred. You can use VOLUME_EXCLUDE_LIST statements with the ALL_FILESYSTEMS statement to exclude the read-only volumes and the volumes with insufficient space.

      Note:

      This restriction applies only to NetBackup Replication Director environments.

    More information about these directives is available:

    See ALL_FILESYSTEMS and VOLUME_EXCLUDE_LIST directives.

  • The NDMP protocol uses port 10000 for communication.

  • On UNIX systems, the NetBackup avrd process uses Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) to ping NDMP hosts to verify network connectivity. This protocol is required for the NetBackup for NDMP product.

  • If backup jobs or restore jobs are running slowly, verify that the network interface cards (NIC) are set to full duplex. Half-duplex often causes poor performance. For assistance viewing and resetting duplex mode for a particular NAS host, consult the documentation that the manufacturer provides. You may be able to use the ifconfig (or ipconfig) command, as explained in the NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide.

  • Do not perform incremental backups of the same NDMP data from two different policies. Incremental backups performed by one of the policies may be incomplete, because NDMP filers perform level-based incremental backups instead of time-based incremental backups. Consider the following example:

    Policy A performs a full backup of /vol/vol1 (level 0).

    Policy B then performs a full backup of /vol/vol1 (level 0). The filer now considers the policy B backup to be the last full (level 0) backup of /vol/vol1.

    Policy A performs an incremental backup of /vol/vol1 (level 1). The policy A incremental backup captures only the data that changed since the full backup that was done by policy B. The incremental backup misses any changes that occurred between the policy A full backup and the policy B full backup.

  • NDMP restore jobs may complete successfully even though no data (0 KB) has been restored. This situation can occur when a target volume does not have enough space for an image you are trying to restore.

    • Workaround: Check the restore job details for entries similar to the following messages:

      mm/dd/yyy hh:mm:ss PM - Info ndmpagent(pid=11071) fas2050c1: RESTORE: We recommend that 19 
        inodes and 907620 kbytes of disk space be available on the target volume order to restore 
        this dump.	You have 466260 inodes and 5316 kbytes of disk space on volume /vol/abc_15gb
      mm/dd/yyy hh:mm:ss PM - Info ndmpagent(pid=11071) fas2050c1: RESTORE: This restore will
        proceed, but may fail when it runs out of inodes and/or disk space on this volume.

      Confirm that the target volume does not have enough space for the restore image. If it does not, either free up enough space on the volume to complete the restore job successfully or specify a different restore volume.