Veritas NetBackup™ Administrator's Guide, Volume II

bpstart_notify script (UNIX clients)

On UNIX clients, NetBackup calls the bpstart_notify script each time the client starts a backup or an archive.

To use this script, copy the following file from the server:

/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies/bpstart_notify

Then place the script in the following location on the UNIX client:

/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/

Modify the script and ensure that you have permission to run the script.

The bpstart_notify script runs each time a backup or an archive starts and initialization is completed. The script runs before the tape is positioned. This script must exit with a status of 0 for the calling program to continue and for the backup or archive to proceed. A nonzero status causes the client backup or archive to exit with a status of bpstart_notify failed.

If the /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpstart_notify script exists, it runs in the foreground. The bpbkar process on the client waits for the script to complete before it continues. Any commands in the script that do not end with an ampersand character (&) run serially.

The server expects the client to respond with a continue message within the time that the BPSTART_TIMEOUT option specifies on the server. The default for BPSTART_TIMEOUT is 300 seconds. If the script needs more time than 300 seconds, increase the value to allow more time. (The BPSTART_TIMEOUT option corresponds to the Backup start notify timeout on the Timeouts host properties.)

NetBackup passes the following parameters to the script:

For example:

bpstart_notify client1 pol_cd4000s sched_fulls FULL
bpstart_notify client2 pol_cd4000s sched_incrementals INCR
bpstart_notify client3 pol_cd4000s sched_fulls FULL
bpstart_notify client4 pol_cd4000s sched_user_backups UBAK
bpstart_notify client5 pol_cd4000s sched_user_archive UARC

To create a bpstart_notify script for a specific policy or policy and schedule combination, create script files with a .policyname or .policyname.schedulename suffix. The following are two examples of script names for a policy (production) that has a schedule (fulls):

/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpstart_notify.production
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpstart_notify.production.fulls

The first script affects all scheduled backups in the policy that are named production. The second script affects scheduled backups in the policy that is named production only when the schedule is named fulls.

The bpstart_notify script can use the following environment variables:

BACKUPID
UNIXBACKUPTIME
BACKUPTIME

The NetBackup bpbkar process creates these variables. The following are examples of the strings that are available to the script to use to record information about a backup:

BACKUPID=client1_0857340526
UNIXBACKUPTIME=0857340526
BACKUPTIME=Sun Mar 2 16:08:46 2016

In addition, the following environment variables can be used to support multiple data streams.