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Veritas NetBackup™ Troubleshooting Guide

Last Published: 2019-07-01

Product(s): NetBackup (8.2)

About the bpclntcmd utility

The bpclntcmd utility resolves IP addresses into host names and host names into IP addresses. It uses the same system calls as the NetBackup application modules.

With the - pn option, bpclntcmd connects to the master server and returns how the master server sees the connecting host: source IP address and port number, host name to which the IP resolves, and policy client for that host name. Add the - verbose option to see additional connection details including the host certificates that NetBackup uses to authenticate the hosts.

The following directory contains the command that starts the utility:

Windows	install_path\NetBackup\bin
UNIX	/usr/openv/netbackup/bin

On Windows, run this bpclntcmd command in an MS-DOS command window so you can see the results.

The bpclntcmd options that are useful for testing the functionality of the host name and IP address resolution are -ip, -hn, -sv, and -pn. The following topics explain each of these options:

-ip	bpclntcmd -ip IP_Address The -ip option lets you specify an IP address. bpclntcmd uses gethostbyaddr() on the NetBackup node and gethostbyaddr() returns the host name with the IP address as defined in the following: the node's DNS, WINS, NIS, or local hosts file entries. No connection is established with the NetBackup server.
-hn	bpclntcmd -hn Hostname The -hn option specifies a host name. bpclntcmd uses gethostbyname() on the NetBackup node to obtain the IP address that is associated with the host name defined in the following: the node's DNS, WINS, NIS, or local hosts file entries. No connection is established with the NetBackup server.
-sv	bpclntcmd -sv The -sv option displays the NetBackup version number on the master server.
-pn	When the -pn option is run on a NetBackup client, it initiates an inquiry to the NetBackup master server. The server then returns information to the requesting client. First, the server is the first server in the server list. Then it displays the information that the server returns. The information the server returns is from the perspective of the master server and describes how the master server sees the connecting client. For example: bpclntcmd -pn expecting response from server rabbit.friendlyanimals.com dove.friendlyanimals.com dove 123.145.167.3 57141 The following is true of this command example: expecting response from server rabbit.friendlyanimals.com is the master server entry from the server list on the client. dove.friendlyanimals.com is the connection name (peer name) returned by the master server. The master server obtained this name through getaddrinfo(). dove is the client name configured in the NetBackup policy client list. 123.145.167.3 is the source IP address from which the client connected to the master server. 57141 is the source port number of the connection from the client.
-verbose	Use with the -pn option to display more details about the connection and the host certificates used. The following is an example of the output: $ bpclntcmd -pn -verbose expecting response from server rabbit.friendlyanimals.com 127.0.0.1:34923 -> 127.0.0.1:50464 PROXY 123.145.167.3:27082 -> 192.168.0.15:1556 LOCAL_CERT_ISSUER_NAME = /CN=broker/OU=root@ rabbit.friendlyanimals.com /O=vx LOCAL_CERT_SUBJECT_COMMON_NAME = fad46a25-1fe2-4143-a62b-2dc0642d8c45 PEER_CERT_ISSUER_NAME = /CN=broker/OU=root@ rabbit.friendlyanimals.com /O=vx PEER_CERT_SUBJECT_COMMON_NAME = 3ca8ab18-8eb3-4c8e-825d-faee9f9320d1 PEER_IP = 123.145.167.3 PEER_PORT = 27082 PEER_NAME = dove.friendlyanimals.com POLICY_CLIENT = dove

Use -ip and -hn to verify the ability of a NetBackup node to resolve the IP addresses and host names of other NetBackup nodes.

For example, to verify that a NetBackup server can connect to a client, do the following:

On the NetBackup server, use bpclntcmd -hn to verify the following: The operating system can resolve the host name of the NetBackup client (as configured in the client list for the policy) to an IP address. The IP address is then used in the node's routing tables to route a network message from the NetBackup server.
On the NetBackup client, use bpclntcmd -ip to verify that the operating system can resolve the IP address of the NetBackup server. (The IP address is in the message that arrives at the client's network interface.)

Note:

The bpclntcmd command logs messages to the usr/openv/netbackup/logs/bpclntcmd directory (UNIX) or the install_path\NetBackup\logs\bpclntcmd (Windows). For earlier versions of NetBackup, bpclntcmd logs are sent to the bplist directory, not the bpclntcmd directory.