Backup Activity Blogs

Tunneling Connection For Restricted Database Server

2012-02-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, we are facing the situation where our database server (here is Oracle engine) is not permitted to administer with directly connection. The directly connection between database server and our third party client software (such like TOAD) is not allowed anymore. The result is we have to type manually the command line trough the UNIX console. For knowing the table space size and status we have to write some sql script, its very difficult to do.

But, thanks for putty software, a little console client software. By using the tunneling features we will have 'as' direct connection our third party database client software directly to our Oracle database.

Here are the steps:

Create new connection configuration. Define hostname/IP Address to a server having connection access to database server (using ssh connection).
Choose "Tunnels" option and fill the option. Fill the New forwarded port with specify numeric and fill the destination with IP Address and oracle port (1521).
Create new connection string at the tnsnames.ora. Point the host to your localhost where the putty connection is running.

Fill the username and password at the TOAD new connection form.

Enjoy your free directly access to browse your restricted database object.

I believe, this is not the only one solution, any body else have their own way and tools for doing this. But this is what I have done and go!.

LTO Tape Drive Sense Key

2011-11-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the list of the LTO key sense code and description. Taken from the eighth edition of the IBM TotalStorage LTO Ultrium Tape Drive SCSI Reference (July 2007).

Sense Key 0 (No Sense)
No Additional Sense Information - (unsolicited, no CA/CC)

Sense Key 1 (Recovered Error)
Write Error: A write error occurred, but was recovered. Data was successfully written to tape.
Read Error: A read error occurred, but was recovered. Data was successfully read from tape.

Sense Key 2 (Not Ready)
Initializing Command Required: A tape is present in the drive, but it is not logically loaded.

Sense Key 3 (Medium Error)
Medium Error/WORM Medium - Integrity Check: Set when the drive rejects a Read operation
because the current cartridge is a Suspicious WORM cartridge, and the WTRE bit is set to 0.

Sense Key 4 (Hardware or Firmware Error)
Manual Intervention Required: A tape is present in the drive but could not be loaded or unloaded
without manual intervention.

Sense Key 5(Illegal Request)
Position Past Beginning of Medium: A command that required the medium to be at BOP was
attempted when the medium was not at BOP (for example, Set Capacity).

Sense Key 6 (Unit Attention)
Transceiver Mode Changed To LVD: The drive detected a transceiver mode change from MSE
mode to LVD mode

Sense Key 7 (Data Protect)
Data Protect/WORM Medium - Integrity Check: Set when the drive rejects a Write operation
because the current cartridge is a Suspicious WORM cartridge

Sense Key 8 (Blank Check)
The drive detected an overtemperature condition. The currently loaded medium has been ejected.

Sense Key B (Aborted Command)
Initiator Detected Error Message Received

Sense Key D (Volume Overflow)
End-of-Partition/Medium Detected

Start and Stop Apache Sevice With SSL Support

2011-11-04T00:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, our secured web server or portal has down unpredictable. We could find the error symptom which located in apache error log. The same what we are facing now, the error log is shown like these :
[Wed May 11 19:21:33 2011] [error] Init: Unable to read server certificate from file /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/server.crt
[Wed May 11 19:21:33 2011] [error] SSL Library Error: 325329960 error:0D063218:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_CHECK_TLEN:wrong tag
[Wed May 11 19:21:33 2011] [error] SSL Library Error: 326295386 error:0D12003A:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_ITEM_EX_D2I:nested asn1 e

When we check the apache daemon will be shown as like this :
root@websvr01 # ps -ef | grep httpd
webadmin 5302 5299 0 07:17:30 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start
webadmin 5310 5299 0 07:17:30 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start
webadmin 5317 5299 0 07:17:30 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start
webadmin 5354 5299 0 07:17:30 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start
root 6842 9512 0 09:29:35 pts/1 0:00 grep httpd
webadmin 7991 5299 0 07:17:30 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start
root 5299 1 0 07:17:30 ? 0:07 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start

* No ssl indicated (-DSSL shown)

The problem is located at the /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/server.crt and /etc/apache2/ssl.key/server.key files. The troubleshoot could be starting by regenerate the server.crt and server.key file. I recomend to regenerate these server on the development/testing server. After all these files are ready we apply to the production servers.

Here's the steps to restart the apache with SSL :

1. shutdown the apache daemon :
/usr/apache2/bin/apachectl stop

2. Put the new certificate file to its right location
/etc/apache2/ssl.crt/server.crt
/etc/apache2/ssl.key/server.key

3. Start the apache daemon with SSL support :
/usr/apache2/bin/apachectl startssl

4. Check if the daemon has been running properly :
root@websvr01 # ps -ef | grep httpd
webadmin 7992 7983 0 10:23:45 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL
webadmin 7989 7983 0 10:23:45 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL
webadmin 7990 7983 0 10:23:45 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL
webadmin 7988 7983 0 10:23:45 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL
root 8740 12512 0 11:53:35 pts/1 0:00 grep httpd
webadmin 7991 7983 0 10:23:45 ? 0:00 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL
root 7983 1 0 10:23:45 ? 0:07 /usr/apache2/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL

The ssl has been established in our portal agian. These steps is only my own way it will be vary. :)

NetBackup 5200

2011-02-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

Symantec has unveiled the NetBackup 5200 appliance series that the company said integrates backup, deduplication and storage capabilities to help customers expand their data protection infrastructure.

The US computer software security firm said the appliance integrates deduplication to reduce storage, thereby eliminating redundant data at the information source besides lowering bandwidth utilisation and facilitating 10 times faster backups.

For client machines that do not have sufficient CPU cycles for deduplication, the processing can be moved to the NetBackup 5200 appliance, Symantec said.

The new appliance, available now in the US and UK, will provide customers the flexibility to manage information in that suits their IT environment with software, appliances and cloud-based solutions, the company said.

It is also the first appliance to offer backup administrators a choice of client or target deduplication based on the type of data being protected, Symantec said.

It easily fits into existing NetBackup environments or new ones without a separate management console, allowing customers to quickly update or expand their backup infrastructure, the company added.

Source : storage.cbronline.com

NetBackup PureDisk

2011-02-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

NetBackup PureDisk is the deduplication engine for NetBackup, enabling efficient, storage-optimized data protection for the data center, remote office and virtual environments. NetBackup PureDisk is a software-based deduplication solution that is tightly integrated with NetBackup. PureDisk is ideal for unique environments that require high performance and scalability.

NetBackup PureDisk 6.6 offers new features that can improve how customers use data deduplication within their remote offices, data center and virtual environments.

Overview of PureDisk Deduplication Technology
PureDisk offers segment level global deduplication for the enterprise. During the backup process, the backup data set is broken down into smaller segments and each segment is assigned a hash value which is calculated based upon the binary content of a file.

This is done so as to uniquely identify the data segments, rather than depending on the file path and name on any given hardware device. Since the sequence can be used to uniquely identify a file by its contents, it is called the fingerprint. The system therefore refers to files in the same manner that the Internet refers to servers. Moreover, files become referable regardless of their position on a given device. The fingerprint is derived from the total contents of the file. The result is that files with the same content will have the same fingerprint, even when the files have different names, locations, attributes, creation or modification dates, and security attributes. Files with different content will lead to a different fingerprint. Indeed, only a comparison of two fingerprints is required to know if two files with different metadata (filename, path name, etc.) are unique or not.

Source : www.symantec.com

How to Mount disk in HP-UX using Native Command

2011-02-07T23:34:00.001-08:00

Sometimes our users need some space for storing their new data to our HP-Ux servers. There are several way for doing this, especially if our servers is using storage controller software, such as : powerpath from EMC or HDLM from HDS.

Here, I will try to share the native HP-UX command for mounting new disk to the system. Here are the steps :

1. run ioscan command
serverdb1:/# ioscan -fnC disk
disk 175 0/0/12/1/0.10.194.0.0.3.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HITACHI OPEN-V
disk 176 1/0/14/1/0.10.16.0.0.3.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HITACHI OPEN-V
we have two link for our new disk

2. run insf -e command
disk 176 1/0/14/1/0.10.16.0.0.3.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HITACHI OPEN-V
/dev/dsk/c20t3d0 /dev/rdsk/c20t3d0
disk 175 0/0/12/1/0.10.194.0.0.3.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HITACHI OPEN-V
/dev/dsk/c22t3d0 /dev/rdsk/c22t3d0

3. Check the disk for ensuring it is the right new disk for preventing from wrong disks
serverdb1:/# diskinfo /dev/rdsk/c22t3d0
SCSI describe of /dev/rdsk/c22t3d0:
vendor: HITACHI
product id: OPEN-V
type: direct access
size: 167772480 Kbytes
bytes per sector: 512

serverdb1:/# pvdisplay /dev/dsk/c22t3d0
pvdisplay: Couldn't find the volume group to which
physical volume "/dev/dsk/c22t3d0" belongs.

4. create new physical
serverdb1:/# pvcreate /dev/rdsk/c22t3d0
serverdb1:/# cd /dev
serverdb1:/# mkdir vgnew
serverdb1:/dev/vgtrtda# pwd
/dev/vgnew

5. create new volume group
serverdb1:/dev/vgtrtda# mknod group c 64 0x050000
serverdb1:/dev/vgtrtda# vgcreate /dev/vgnew /dev/dsk/c22t3d0
Increased the number of physical extents per physical volume to 40960.
vgcreate: Volume group "/dev/vgnew" could not be created:
VGRA for the disk is too big for the specified parameters. Increase the
extent size or decrease max_PVs/max_LVs and try again.

(for disk above 100GB ussualy more than '4' value for -s)
serverdb1:/dev/vgtrtda# vgcreate -s 16 /dev/vgnew /dev/dsk/c22t3d0
Increased the number of physical extents per physical volume to 10240.
Volume group "/dev/vgnew" has been successfully created.
Volume Group configuration for /dev/vgnew has been saved in /etc/lvmconf/vgnew.conf

serverdb1:/dev/vgnew# vgdisplay vgnew
--- Volume groups ---
VG Name /dev/vgnew
VG Write Access read/write
VG Status available
Max LV 255
Cur LV 0
Open LV 0
Max PV 16
Cur PV 1
Act PV 1
Max PE per PV 10240
VGDA 2
PE Size (Mbytes) 16
Total PE 10238
Alloc PE 0
Free PE 10238
Total PVG 0
Total Spare PVs 0
Total Spare PVs in use 0

6. Create Logical Volume
serverdb1:/dev/vgnew# lvcreate -l 10238 /dev/vgnew
Logical volume "/dev/vgnew/lvol1" has been successfully created with
character device "/dev/vgnew/rlvol1".
Logical volume "/dev/vgnew/lvol1" has been successfully extended.
Volume Group configuration for /dev/vgnew has been saved in /etc/lvmconf/vgnew.conf
serverdb1:/dev/vgnew# newfs -F vxfs /dev/vgnew/rlvol1
version 5 layout
167739392 sectors, 167739392 blocks of size 1024, log size 16384 blocks
unlimited inodes, largefiles not supported
167739392 data blocks, 167680712 free data blocks
5119 allocation units of 32768 blocks, 32768 data blocks
serverdb1:/dev/vgtrtda# cd /

7. Mount new directory
serverdb1:/# mkdir newdirforu

serverdb1:/dev/vgtrtda# lvcreate -l 10238 /dev/vgnew
Logical volume "/dev/vgnew/lvol1" has been successfully created with
Volume Group configuration for /dev/vgnew has been saved in /etc/lvmconf/vgtrtda.conf

7.1. Filesystem formating
serverdb1:/dev/vgnew# newfs -F vxfs /dev/vgnew/rlvol1
version 5 layout
167739392 sectors, 167739392 blocks of size 1024, log size 16384 blocks
unlimited inodes, largefiles not supported
167739392 data blocks, 167680712 free data blocks
5119 allocation units of 32768 blocks, 32768 data blocks
serverdb1:/dev/vgnew# cd /
serverdb1:/# mkdir trtdadebug
serverdb1:/# mount /dev/vgnew/lvol1 /newdirforu
serverdb1:/# bdf
Filesystem kbytes used avail %used Mounted on
/dev/vg00/lvol3 5242880 690736 4516584 13% /
/dev/vg00/lvol1 10485760 220432 10185224 2% /stand
/dev/vg00/lvol8 10485760 7879504 2586224 75% /var
/dev/vg00/lvol7 6291456 2714464 3549096 43% /usr
/dev/vg00/lvol6 5242880 3066944 2162112 59% /tmp
/dev/vg00/lvol5 10485760 5874848 4574904 56% /opt
/dev/vg00/lvol4 1048576 18792 1021800 2% /home
/dev/vg00/lvol9 17203200 11853334 5018074 70% /app
/dev/vgtrtda/lvol1 167739392 57581 157201705 0% /newdirforu

8. Add on /etc/fstab files
serverdb1:/# more /etc/fstab
# System /etc/fstab file. Static information about the file systems
# See fstab(4) and sam(1M) for further details on configuring devices.
/dev/vg00/lvol3 / vxfs delaylog 0 1
/dev/vg00/lvol1 /stand vxfs tranflush 0 1
/dev/vg00/lvol4 /home vxfs delaylog 0 2
/dev/vg00/lvol5 /opt vxfs delaylog 0 2
/dev/vg00/lvol6 /tmp vxfs delaylog 0 2
/dev/vg00/lvol7 /usr vxfs delaylog 0 2
/dev/vg00/lvol8 /var vxfs delaylog 0 2
/dev/vg00/lvol9 /app vxfs delaylog 0 2
/dev/vgnew/lvol1 /newdirforu vxfs delaylog 0 2

9. Add alternate link :
serverdb1:/# vgextend vgnew /dev/dsk/c20t3d0
Volume group "vgnew" has been successfully extended.
Volume Group configuration for /dev/vgnew has been saved in /etc/lvmconf/vgnew.conf
serverdb1:/# strings /etc/lvmconf/vgnew.conf
CONFIG01
/dev/vgnew
/dev/rdsk/c22t3d0
/dev/rdsk/c20t3d0
LVMREC01
4aMQ
4aMQ
LVMREC01
4aMQ
4aMQ
4aMQ
4aMQ
VGDA0001
VGSA0001MQ

serverdb1:/# vgdisplay -v vgnew
--- Volume groups ---
VG Name /dev/vgnew
VG Write Access read/write
VG Status available
Max LV 255
Cur LV 1
Open LV 1
Max PV 16
Cur PV 1
Act PV 1
Max PE per PV 10240
VGDA 2
PE Size (Mbytes) 16
Total PE 10238
Alloc PE 10238
Free PE 0
Total PVG 0
Total Spare PVs 0
Total Spare PVs in use 0

--- Logical volumes ---
LV Name /dev/vgnew/lvol1
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 163808
Current LE 10238
Allocated PE 10238
Used PV 1

--- Physical volumes ---
PV Name /dev/dsk/c22t3d0
PV Name /dev/dsk/c20t3d0 Alternate Link
PV Status available
Total PE 10238
Free PE 0
Autoswitch On
Proactive Polling On

These steps only for remembering if sometimes i'm forget.

Netbackup Status Code 198 (no active policies contain schedules of the requested type for this client)

2010-12-26T23:22:00.000-08:00

Type of backup "user backup" and "user archive" is used to allow the media server to run its own backup policy from the original server. But sometimes the Status 198 (no active policies contain schedules of the requested type for this client) raised. Its meant if a user backup or archive has been requested, and this client is not in a policy that has a user backup or archive schedule.

From the simple assistance of Netbackup conlose, found, these error could be solved by :

Determine if the client is in any policy that has a schedule of the appropriate type (either user backup or archive).
If the client is in such a policy, check the general policy attributes to verify that the policy is set to active.
If the client is not in such a policy, either add a schedule of the appropriate type to an existing policy that has this client or create a new policy that has this client and a schedule of the appropriate type.
Run the NetBackup Configuration Validation Utility (NCVU) -conf on the master server. Note the policy checks in section five.

Today, I got this error, and I found if the backup policy is not activated yet. After I re-activate the backup policy form the master server, the backup is running well again.

Restart Netbackup 6.x Services

2010-12-23T01:15:00.001-08:00

Sometimes when we are facing to the situation where we have to restart our netbackup service on media servers, here is the steps :

root@svr01 # cd /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies
root@svr01 # ../bpps -x
NB Processes
------------
root 1042 1 0 Jan 15 ? 3:40 /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/nbnos
root 1076 1 0 Jan 15 ? 3:06 /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/nbsl
root 1067 1 0 Jan 15 ? 1:18 /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpcompatd
root 1084 1 0 Jan 15 ? 9:29 /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/nbsvcmon

MM Processes
------------
root 1131 1052 0 Jan 15 ? 0:11 acsd
root 1455 1131 0 Jan 15 ? 0:38 acssel -s 13740
root 1052 1 0 Jan 15 ? 13:46 /usr/openv/volmgr/bin/ltid
root 1816 1131 0 Jan 15 ? 7:31 acsssi 13741
root 1064 1 0 Jan 15 ? 21:58 vmd
root 1454 1052 0 Jan 15 ? 2:34 avrd

Shared VERITAS Processes
------------------------
root 1674 1 0 Jan 15 ? 2:38 /opt/VRTSpbx/bin/pbx_exchange

root@svr01 # ./netbackup stop
stopping the NetBackup Service Monitor
stopping the NetBackup Service Layer
stopping the NetBackup compatibility daemon
stopping the Media Manager device daemon
stopping the Media Manager volume daemon
stopping the Automated Cartridge System Storage Server Interface daemon
stopping the Automated Cartridge System SSI Event Logger daemon
stopping the NetBackup Notification Service
root@svr01 # /opt/VRTSpbx/bin/vxpbx_exchanged stop

root@svr01 # ../bpps -x
NB Processes
------------

MM Processes
------------

Shared VERITAS Processes
------------------------

For restarting the netbackup service, we have to startup the exchange services then netbackup services itself.

root@svr01 # /opt/VRTSpbx/bin/vxpbx_exchanged start
Starting VERITAS Private Branch Exchange
Done.
root@svr01 # ./netbackup start
NetBackup Database Server started.
NetBackup Notification Service started.
NetBackup Enterprise Media Manager started.
NetBackup Resource Broker started.
Media Manager daemons started.
NetBackup request daemon started.
NetBackup compatibility daemon started.
NetBackup Job Manager started.
NetBackup Policy Execution Manager started.
NetBackup Service Layer started.
NetBackup is not configured for clustering.
NetBackup Service Monitor started.

The netbackup and exchange services has been started.

LTO-5 Tape Can't Stop Backup Hardware Trend Toward Disk

2010-12-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

Heading into 2011, reports of the death of tape backup continue to be an exaggeration, and the emergence of faster and denser LTO-5 tape could spark an increase in interest in the age-old backup hardware medium. But the general consensus is that even LTO-5 won't stop the ongoing trend toward disk backup and data deduplication technology.

Last year saw larger, faster and more scalable disk-based hardware product updates hitting the market, typically with improved integration of backup software and support for Symantec Corp.'s OpenStorage Technology (OST) API. Declining reliance on the virtual tape library (VTL) interface also continued, according to a Storage magazine Purchasing Intentions survey.

"Organizations now want preconfigured, pre-tested solutions vs. trying to integrate their own," said Dave Russell, a research vice president at Gartner Inc. "The other trend is that the need for backup software to emulate tape has really diminished now. The backup software has gotten to the point where it understands disk."

Source : searchdatabackup.techtarget.com

SEPATON Forecasts Increased Data Center Complexity for 2011

2010-12-20T00:21:00.000-08:00

Storage professionals seek to leverage advances in new technologies while simplifying management

For large enterprises, data protection is becoming exponentially more complicated every year. Storage administrators are grappling to stay ahead of the explosion in data volume from inside and outside the corporate data center while delivering ever faster backup and recovery times. They are adopting new technologies, such as advanced deduplication, disk-based backup solutions, and 10 Gb Ethernet network protocol, that promise to address their data protection challenges. As a result, many enterprise data centers have become exponentially more complex in the past few years.

“Many enterprises have multiple backup application environments, dozens of discrete backup targets several networking protocols, and a variety of disaster protection technologies to manage,” said Dennis Rolland, director of advanced technology, Office of the CTO, SEPATON, Inc. “Without careful planning, the benefits of new technologies can be offset quickly by the cost and risk of dramatically increased complexity.”

According to Rolland, there are several key factors driving the complexity of data protection. These include:

Data Center Sprawl
Many data centers introduced disk-based backup solutions to their backup environments to improve backup and restore times. However, without grid scalability, enterprise-class deduplication, and massive single-system capacity, these systems can quickly proliferate, causing data center “sprawl”. In these environments, data protection is divided onto numerous individual systems that have to be managed, deduplicated, and tuned individually -- an intrinsically inefficient process. They need to add an entire system every time they need more performance, more capacity, or more deduplication efficiency.

Multi-protocol Choices
Many enterprise data centers want to use 10 Gb Ethernet to improve performance and take advantage of backup applications such as NetBackup with OST. To avoid the cost and complexity of moving the entire data center to 10 Gb Ethernet at once or dividing their backup volume among different disparate solutions, data center manager should consider a phased approach that uses a storage pooling on a single system. This approach reduces complexity and enables a “best of breed” technology adoption.

Cloud Computing and Data Center Consolidation
As large companies increasingly look to private cloud models to consolidate and streamline their data centers, they need a powerful data protection environment that enables them to allocate performance and capacity according to business unit need, instead of physical hardware limitations. They also need to track usage and project capacity requirements on a business-unit level in a secure multi-tenancy model. Companies also need the option to seamlessly create another tier of data protection in a public cloud.

Rolland concluded, “Increased complexity in data protection is a key trend that will guide purchasing decisions in 2011, yet increased complexity is leading to increased costs with more pressure for enterprise-class data protection.”

Source : sepaton.com

How to Kill Oracle Session By its OS PID

2010-12-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we have to face the situation where our Oracle database is locked by the huge processes that hit its resources (memory or CPU). I am not a database Administrator but I got the situation where one of our databases production went no response and no one else who could take the action at the time.

The database process which has been kill only changed the status to the "KILLED" no disappear from the session process lists.

For the newbie in database field, as a 'root' person from the OS, I only use the OEM to kill the process by the console, but it was not going succeeded. Meanwhile, the application user has hard complained.

And finally, I got the answer by asking someone expert and googling too...
Here is the steps ..
1. Login as oracle user to the system
2. login as sysdba to the oracle database
$ pwd
/export/home/oracle
$ sqlplus / as sysdba;

3. find the process pid by its simple query.
SQL> SELECT s.sid,p.spid,s.osuser,s.program FROM v$process p, v$session s WHERE p.addr = s.paddr;
. . .
SID SPID OSUSER PROGRAM
------- ------- --------------- ----------
97 12005 sysadmin jrew.exe
135 7853 appluser TOAD.exe
152 11337 appluser TOAD.exe
111 8158 appluser TOAD.exe
123 8077 appluser TOAD.exe
118 12484 appluser TOAD.exe
149 11639 appluser TOAD.exe
. . .

4. From other session, kill the session from the os with oracle or root user.
root@dbserver1 # bash
root@dbserver1 # kill -9 7853 11337 8158 8077 12484 12484

Eventually, the process can be done by the SQL command, but I choose by the OS command than an SQL. This is only a bit of my sharing and the place where I can discover if I face the same case.

Extending /usr with OnlineJFS on HP-UX

2010-12-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we are facing with the growth of using the vg00 in our HP-UX system. As we know the vg00 is usually used to store the file system of a server. I coincidentally faced with a problem where the /usr mount point greater up to 93%. For the anticipation and keep the system is running we have to increase the volume of the mount point.

/dev/vg00/lvol7 7667712 7130224 533344 93% /usr

On HP-UX are known onlineJFS that can be used for this purpose. Just to share the experiences, here are the steps to extend the /usr mount point using onlineJFS in HP-UX:

1.Perform backups Ignite especially if the system is large and critical. In anticipation of the unexpected matters.

2.Check availability onlineJFS facilities on the system, whether already installed
# swlist | grep -i online
BBBBBBB B.11.23.0609 HP OnLineJFS (Server)
OnlineDiag B.11.23.09.05 HPUX 11.23 Support Tools Bundle, June 2007

3.Check the available volume that can still be used.
vgdisplay v vg00
vgdisplay: Volume group "/dev/v" does not exist in the "/etc/lvmtab" file.
vgdisplay: Cannot display volume group "v".
--- Volume groups ---
VG Name /dev/vg00
VG Write Access read/write
VG Status available
Max LV 255
Cur LV 11
Open LV 11
Max PV 16
Cur PV 2
Act PV 2
Max PE per PV 4356
VGDA 4
PE Size (Mbytes) 32
Total PE 8692
Alloc PE 8574
Free PE 118
Total PVG 0
Total Spare PVs 0
Total Spare PVs in use 0

4.Having completed all the requirements and then execution.
#lvextend -L 13000 /dev/vg00/lvol7
Warning: rounding up logical volume size to extent boundary at size "13024" MB.
Logical volume "/dev/vg00/lvol7" has been successfully extended.
Volume Group configuration for /dev/vg00 has been saved in /etc/lvmconf/vg00.conf
# bc
13000*1024
13312000
# fsadm -b 13312000 /usr
fsadm: /etc/default/fs is used for determining the file system type
UX:vxfs fsadm: INFO: V-3-25942: /dev/vg00/rlvol7 size increased from 7667712 sectors to 13312000 sectors

I think it will be different steps depend on the system and situation. Be careful and please double check the step before going worse.

Netbackup Status Code 23 : Socket Read Failed

2010-11-25T20:19:00.000-08:00

A read operation from a socket failed

There are several clues on Status Code 23 escalation error on Netbackup. The error itself raised depends on the several triggers, i.e : the corrupt of binaries files, OS patches or service pack (on Windows) issues, caches for concurrent disk writes, connectivity between master and media or client, etc.

In my environment, there is a database oracle server where the backup was going smootlhy but suddently the backup was terminated and raised the status "23".

Before I was going to check it deeply, I tried to check the server's environment first at the time of error raised, and I found if the CPU's idle was zero ('0'), because the oracle daemon had taken out all of the CPU and memory resources for processing data.

I had tried to wait, until the processing was end and re-start the backup job. Finally the job was going succeded.

From the experiences, I reached to the conclussion if the system (CPU and memory) resources busy could lead the netbackup status 23 (Socket Read Failed), beside the status code "134". I think it will be varry in every netbackup environment.

Status Code (196) : Client Backup was NOT Attempted Because Backup Window Closed

2010-11-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

Netbackup Status Code 196 usually raised at the 'crowded' environment which means the device/media is not enough to handle all request from the client backup. Finally a backup or archive operation that was queued by the backup scheduler was not attempted because the backup window was no longer open.

The troubleshoot for this problem is to wider the backup window in the backup policy or to upgrade the backup hardware capacity. It's better to reduce the error possibility which lead the media/device to be longer used by one backup/archive job.

From the Netbackup best practice, try the following:

If possible, change the schedule to extend the backup window for this policy and schedule combination so it does not occur again.
If the backup must be run, use the Manual Backup command on the Policy menu in the Backup Policy Management window to perform the backup. Manual backups ignore the backup window.

Status Code 84 : Media Write Error

2010-11-15T06:47:00.000-08:00

Wuihhh, the media write error coming agian. This error related to the media, a place for storing (backup) data. The are so many possibility which lead the backup get the status code 84.

From the tape library changes or limitation, operating system issue or bug which needs the new patch installation.

In the detailed error, I found : "error bpdm cannot write image to disk, attempted write of 1048576 bytes, system wrote 819200"

As I know the bpdm daemon is related to the disk issue, and this server is using the disk staging storage unit as a temporary destination before final destination into the tape. And when I search any references, I found if the error code 84 can be traced at the catalog segment at the /usr/openv/netbackup/logs/admin directory or in the storage unit segment at the /usr/openv/netbackup/logs/bpdm (disk) or /usr/openv/netbackup/logs/bptm (tape).

My conclusion was the error raised because the disk (as temporary) destination was full and must be manual relocated to the tape. After completing the manual relocation, the backup was rerun again, and finally running well.

I think the storage unit issue will be more complicated where the system are big, such as using enterprise tape library (eg.: SL8500) where there is several entities included (eg. ACS servers). The firmware version, patches and all of that.

At the Windows environment the error (status) code 84 is sometimes raised due to persistent binding of tape drive.

Status Code 6 :the backup failed to back up the requested files

2010-11-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

In every business organization, it must be a database entities to store the organization activities. For protecting database from unexpected things, such as : disaster, wrong execution program, intrusion or sabotage to bring the database down, etc. the company need a mechanism to protect the value data. Netbackup has lead a way in protecting data due to database by using its genuine mechanism, such as oracle with RMAN.

By accident, in my organization there are several Oracle database which is protected by Netbackup. If we are think deeply, Netbackup function is only maintaining the devices to be used (such as : tape, disk) and controlling the backup job where the backup itself is done by RMAN.

Not every day backup is running well, sometimes we are facing the database backup is going failed. This morning when I watch the activity monitor, I found the status code '6' in my backup database. When I investigate more deeply, the my backup's failed is caused by the inconsistent archive log sequence, due to insufficient space, where the old archive log has moved to other location.

For ensuring the escalation problem, I checked the .out log file directory, and I found if the archive log sequence is not completed. After several time trying to run manually the error still exist, so I try to run the full online backup policy and ignore all the backup set before the error raised. The backup is running well.

I think this way is not for guidance, but if there is no database administrator at the time problem raised, it is not bad to try.... :)

Fujitsu and NetApp Extend Global Partnership with Shared Storage Portfolio

2010-10-29T01:57:00.000-07:00

Fujitsu and NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today announced they are extending their strong, long-standing global partnership to help customers maximize the value they get from their IT investments. IT leaders today are under increasing pressure to respond faster to the needs of the business. With this agreement, the two companies deliver one-stop shopping for integrated storage solutions that accelerate business results for their customers. The expanded global partnership and extended resale agreements continue a long track record of delivering customer success, allowing business customers to increase their IT efficiency and standardization and satisfy all of their unified storage foundation needs with Fujitsu and NetApp.

As part of the extended partnership, the companies will offer a shared portfolio of products to meet the integrated storage needs of business customers. NetApp will resell the Fujitsu ETERNUS CS800 S2 Data Protection Appliance in 22 countries across EMEA. Fujitsu will expand its resale of NetApp's unified storage systems to more markets worldwide. Maintenance and support services as well as managed services across the full shared portfolio will continue to be supplied by Fujitsu, the third-largest global IT services company.

Designed to broaden access to efficient data protection in the midmarket, the ETERNUS CS800 S2 is a turnkey data protection appliance that provides a simple and affordable solution for customers who follow a disk backup strategy with deduplication. The advanced deduplication technology reduces typical capacity requirements for disk-to-disk backup by as much as 90%, helping customers reduce storage costs. Backup data replication between global sites also uses deduplication to reduce typical network bandwidth needs by a factor of 20 or more.

"Fujitsu's global partnership with NetApp creates a well-matched and comprehensive storage portfolio that benefits our customers first and foremost," said Kazuhiro Igarashi, president of the Storage Systems Unit, Fujitsu Limited. "We've simplified how customers can buy integrated solutions as part of our comprehensive Dynamic Infrastructures portfolio, and helped them increase IT efficiency and flexibility. Fujitsu customers see the value we provide with NetApp, not the least due to Fujitsu's global service expertise across the combined product range."

Fujitsu is an industry leader in enterprise solutions, and its broad portfolio of storage technologies, including the ETERNUS family and NetApp, are critical components of the Fujitsu Dynamic Infrastructures concept of highly reliable data-center products and solutions. NetApp provides an industry-leading unified storage portfolio to build a flexible and efficient shared IT infrastructure today as a foundation for tomorrow's business requirements. Customers can now easily purchase and deploy these complementary, integrated technologies to quickly address their business needs.

"Customers are looking for ways to move to more integrated, shared IT infrastructure solutions to increase the flexibility and speed of the response of IT to the business," said Rick Scurfield, vice president and general manager of Global System Partners, NetApp. "The partnership between NetApp and Fujitsu provides powerful storage products and solutions designed to address this need, along with services and support to help customers accelerate the move to a more integrated and flexible shared IT infrastructure."

As a result of joint research and development efforts during their 10-year global partnership, the companies have delivered tightly integrated and automated data management products, solutions, and services that help customers more quickly adapt to changes in their business environments. To date, Fujitsu has sold over 15,000 NetApp unified storage systems to customers who recognize the flexibility and efficiency that these offerings deliver for their IT environments. For example, NetApp, Fujitsu, and other solutions partners recently teamed up to build a global 50,000-seat desktop virtualization reference architecture, making it easier for customers to replicate and deploy virtualized dynamic infrastructures. Additionally, Fujitsu's ETERNUS SF Storage Cruiser and ServerView Resource Orchestrator now support NetApp unified storage, making it simpler for joint customers to better analyze, control, and automate their shared IT infrastructure.

Source : www.netapp.com

EMC Delivers Integrated Backup Products

2010-10-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

EMC has announced the availability of new EMC® NetWorker® backup software integrated with EMC Data Domain® Boost software. The integration of these products dramatically increases backup speeds and simplifies configuration and management. The NetWorker Management Console now offers control for the full range of Data Domain system functionality, including Data Domain replication for scheduling and monitoring of backups at all sites. EMC also announced new productivity enhancements for NetWorker users, such as checkpoint restart, simplified cloning and new disk load balancing and space management capabilities.

EMC NetWorker with DD Boost Integration Benefits

Speeds Backups: improves NetWorker aggregate throughput to a Data Domain system up to 2X by distributing parts of the deduplication process to the NetWorker storage node.
Simplifies Replication Management: enables NetWorker Management Console to manage EMC Data Domain Replicator software for scheduling and visibility of all backups at both primary and secondary locations including support for separate retention policies.
Simplifies Set-up and Monitoring: wizard-based discovery and configuration streamlines setup of Data Domain systems and new monitoring and reports simplify system administration.

New NetWorker Capabilities

New Simplified Cloning: allows configuration and scheduling via the NetWorker Management Console, eliminating the need for scripting (but still retaining CLI flexibility)
Checkpoint Restart: allows backups to be restarted from the point of interruption as opposed to restarting from the beginning.
Backup to Disk enhancements: optimizes the use of Advanced File Type Devices, including new load balancing capabilities and space management.
New capacity-based licensing option: allows customers to purchase NetWorker based on the amount of source data protected.

Availability
EMC NetWorker 7.6 SP1 is available immediately through EMC and its world-wide reseller base.

For more information on the new NetWorker release, please go to www.EMC.com. NetWorker customers can discuss this new functionality, share best practices and communicate directly with the teams that build and support it at NetWorker Online, part of the EMC Community Network.

In addition, EMC has new Design and Implementation services for customers leveraging NetWorker with Data Domain to maximize the value of their backup environment. EMC Global Services enables customer to fully leverage the depth of EMC’s backup and recovery portfolio, providing a comprehensive approach to information protection by combining next generation backup technology with an unmatched portfolio of professional service offerings.

Source : www.emc.com

Upgrade Netbackup 5.x to Netbackup 7.0

2010-10-21T00:46:00.000-07:00

If we are talking about Backup software, I think Netbackup will be the first choice to be used for all environment. The flexibility for different operating system, database and hardware will be overcoming with Netbackup. Some features are also included in the recents release, namely deduplication and so many features.

But, how about the roadmap/continuity of product itself? I think, Netbackup and others 'big' software has determined its roadmap. Only a recent years ago Netbackup 6.0 has just launched, not too long, the version 6.5 just released. And in the 2010, released the version 7.0.

If our environment and also our bosses :) has awareness of 'so fast' upgrade version, I think it will not be a difficulties in operation but if contrary condition we faced ?. Our job will be double caused the support will be terminated before we upgrade our environment and software version.

If our Netbackup still on 5.x version, I think we will have difficulty to upgrade directly to the last version, or maybe impossible cause the catalog database, entity servers (Master, EMM, Media) will be has different communication and behaviour.

How to updgrade Netbackup 5.x to Netbackup 7.0?? It will not be impossible to directly upgrade, but we could upgrade by upgrading all entity (Master, Media, Client) to version 6.5 GA first other wise scratch all system and install new Netbackup version 7.0.

NetBackup Group EOSL/EOL matrix

2010-10-21T00:30:00.000-07:00

For whom who has Netbackup products in their enviroment, I thing its better to watch out the End of Life Netbackup product matrix to ensure if the software will running properly and has comprehensive support.

The matrix itself, I think will be valuable for the management to take the road maps and budgeting purpose.

Product	Version	End of Standard Support and Start of Partial Support	End of Support Life
NetBackup Enterprise Server	7.x	TBD	1-Feb-17
NetBackup Server	7.x	TBD	1-Feb-17
NetBackup Enterprise Server	6.x	1-Aug-12	3-Oct-12
NetBackup Server	6.x	1-Aug-12	3-Oct-12
NetBackup Enterprise Server	5.x	31-Mar-08	20-Jun-09
NetBackup Server	5.x	31-Mar-08	30-Jun-09
Bare Metal Restore	4.7	3-Oct-07	2-Feb-09
NetBackup DataCenter	4.5	1-Jul-06	29-Apr-07
NetBackup BusinesServer	4.5	1-Jul-06	29-Apr-07
NetBackup DataCenter	3.4	29-Apr-04	31-Dec-05
NetBackup BusinesServer	3.4	29-Apr-04	31-Dec-05
NetBackup	3.2	31-Oct-02	28-Jun-04

Other Products :

Product	Version	End of Standard Support and Start of Partial Support	End of Support Life
Veritas Backup Report	6.x	October 1st, 2012	December 4th, 2013
NetBackup PureDisk	6.x	TBD	March 13th 2013
NetBackup RealTime Protection	6.5	July 4th, 2012	February 2nd, 2016

Source : www.symantec.com

Hitachi Data Systems Introduces New Application and Data Recovery Solutions

2009-11-17T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation has announced the addition of the Hitachi Dynamic Replicator to its replication and data protection software portfolio. In partnership with InMage Systems, a leading independent software vendor of disk-based business application recovery solutions for heterogeneous environments, Hitachi Data Systems meets the operational and economic needs of midrange customers by offering simple, cost-effective disaster recovery solutions for heterogeneous data storage environments.

Hitachi Dynamic Replicator Customer Benefits
For midrange storage customers struggling with business continuity problems in heterogeneous environments, Hitachi Dynamic Replicator solutions leverage the advantages of disk-based data protection to provide application-aware recovery that can meet remote and local requirements. Hitachi Dynamic Replicator enhances the operational efficiencies and resiliency of the Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage 2000 family and Hitachi Storage Reclamation Service by providing midrange storage customers with simplified solutions for outstanding replication performance in heterogeneous environments.

Hitachi Dynamic Replicator brings a high degree of application integration, network optimization and automated management providing compelling recovery and availability benefits to customers struggling with business continuity issues in heterogeneous environments. By combining these capabilities with the key replication features of existing midrange storage systems, Hitachi Data Systems provides organizations with full featured replication based solutions at a price point they have come to expect.

Source : www.hds.com

Thunderbird Flies Higher with NetApp

2009-11-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

School of Global Management Improves Efficiency While Expanding Its Business

NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) has announced it has helped the Thunderbird School of Global Management reduce hardware and administrative costs for its IT network while expanding services for the school's students. By implementing NetApp® MetroCluster and Ethernet storage solutions, Thunderbird has been able to take its business global while maximizing availability and minimizing costs.

Prior to adopting NetApp technology, Thunderbird was trying to expand its courses and degree programs and move them online for a wider audience. This meant also expanding IT capabilities from supporting local students to supporting students around the globe, who would need access around the clock. Thunderbird worked with regional systems integrator Trace3 to develop a solution based on NetApp technology to take the school's programs global.

Thunderbird first upgraded its network backbone to 10 Gigabit Ethernet, which dramatically increased speed and reliability. NetApp 10 Gigabit multiprotocol Ethernet storage was flexible enough to support Thunderbird's NFS with Linux® and UNIX® servers, CIFS for Windows® desktops, and iSCSI for database applications. The ease of sharing and reusing the NetApp storage was a big benefit, as well as supporting different requirements with one storage system. NetApp Ethernet storage also had the benefit of being less costly than the alternative solutions the school looked at.

As Thunderbird's online business succeeded, the school moved to a clustered storage model based on NetApp MetroCluster and VMware® to continue to grow the school's business and improve availability. With MetroCluster running on two FAS3050 systems, Thunderbird has had continuous availability since the moment the system was turned on, even in the event of hardware failures. The school has also taken advantage of MetroCluster's integration with VMware ESXi to provide a completely available environment while reducing server and storage equipment in the data center by approximately 40%. Thunderbird has also saved in power, cooling, and operational costs due to reduced hardware and MetroCluster's automation and administration simplicity.

Source : www.netapp.com

EMC Extends Avamar Deduplication Backup Software to Desktops and Laptops

2009-11-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) has announced enhanced enterprise backup capabilities for desktop and laptop computers, as part of the latest version of EMC® Avamar® software. Businesses and organizations of all sizes can now leverage the same innovative Avamar deduplication technology that protects data centers and remote offices to efficiently backup the information stored on corporate desktops and laptops. With Avamar's simple capacity-based licensing model, customers can easily add this new capability to their environment, without paying a per seat license fee.

The addition of new lightweight clients for Microsoft Windows and Mac, an intuitive end user interface for backups and restores, and powerful tools for administrators, Avamar extends Avamar's enterprise data protection to desktops and laptops. Using Avamar means backups are non-disruptive, and a self-service recovery model makes it easy for end users to restore data. Avamar users never have to backup the same data twice, reducing daily network impact by up to 99%.

EMC has increased Avamar backup capacity by more than 60 percent and added new deduplicated export to tape functionality.

Added Backup Capacity – The next-generation of the Avamar Data Store delivers more than 60 percent more capacity in the same footprint, and offers build-to-order solutions for reduced deployment time and cost. The Avamar Data Store Gen3 is available in 1 to 16 storage node configurations, with up to 3.3TB of capacity per node, for scalability up to 52.8TB of deduplicated capacity in a single grid.
New Avamar Data Transport for Long Term Storage – This capability enables the export of deduplicated data to tape for cost-effective long-term storage, helping to reduce tape storage by up to 50 times. Through policy-driven processes, customers can easily export deduplicated data to tape and leverage searchable file-level catalogs for rapid restores.

EMC Avamar, version 5.0, is available immediately from EMC and its Velocity² and authorized partners.

Source : www.emc.com

Freeze The Veritas Cluster

2009-11-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we have to do shutdown / restart the database in a cluster environment, there are several ways that make us not so sure. Or even if not careful will lead to a more complex problem again.

Here are steps to restart / shutdown the database in a cluster environment:

Freezing Veritas Cluster-group service to existing group:
#haconf -makerw
#hagrp -freeze Oracle-ClusterName
#hagrp -freeze cvm
#hagrp -freeze vtape
#haconf –dump -makero

See whether the service group status was the Freeze
#hastatus –sum |grep G

(Restart / shutdown Oracle DB, or other actions)

To unfreeze Veritas Cluster-group service to existing group:
#haconf -makerw
#hagrp -unfreeze Oracle-ClusterName
#hagrp -unfreeze cvm
#hagrp -unfreeze vtape
#haconf –dump -makero

Veritas Volume manager Command quick reference

2009-11-07T20:08:00.000-08:00

Disk commands

Operation	Command	Example
Initialise Disk	vxdisksetup	vxdisksetup -i c1t9d0
Uninitialise Disks	vxdiskunsetup	vxdiskunsetup -C c1t9d0
List Disks	vxdisk list
List Disk Header	vxdisk list	vxdisk list disk01
List Disk Private Region	vxprivutil list	vxprivutil list /dev/rdsk/c1t9d0s2
Reserve a Disk	vxedit	vxedit -g my-dg set reserve=on my-disk

Disk Group commands

Operation	Command	Example
Create disk group	vxdg init	vxdg init my-dg disk01=c1t9d0
Remove disk group	vxdg destroy	vxdg destroy my-dg
Add disk	vxdg adddisk	vxdg -g my-dg adddisk disk02=c1t8d0
Remove disk	vxdg rmdisk	vxdg -g my-dg rmdisk disk02
Import diskgroup	vxdg import	vxdg import otherdg
Deport diskgroup	vxdg deport	vxdg deport my-dg
List diskgroups	vxdg list
List free space	vxdg free	vxdg -g my-dg free
List total free space	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg maxsize layout=concat

Plex commands

peration	Command	Example
Create a plex	vxmake	vxmake -g my-dg plex my-plex sd=my-sd
Associate a plex	vxplex	vxplex -g my-dgatt my-vol my-plex
Dis-associate a plex	vxplex	vxplex -g my-dg dis my-plex
Attach a plex	vxplex	vxplex -g my-dg att my-vol my-plex
Detach a plex	vxplex	vxplex -g my-dg det my-plex
List Plexes	vxprint	vxprint -lp
Remove a plex	vxedit	vxedit -g my-dg rm my-plex

Subdisk Command

Operation	Command	Example
Create a subdisk	vxmake sd	vxmake -g my-dg my-sd disk1,1,5000
Remove subdisk	vxedit rm	vxedit -g my-dg rm my-sd
Display subdisk info	vxprint -st
Associate subdisk to plex	vxsd assoc	vxsd -g my-dg assoc my-plex my-sd
Disassociate subdisk	vxsd dis	vxsd -g my-dg dis my-sd

Volume commands

Operation	Command	Example
Create a volume	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg make my-vol 1G
Create a volume	vxassist	vxassist make my-vol 1G layout=stripe
Delete a volume	vxedit	vxedit -g my-dg -r rm my-vol
Display volume info	vxprint	vxprint -g my-dg -vt
Display volume info	vxinfo	vxinfo -g my-dg my-vol
Resize a volume	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg growto my-vol 2G
Resize a volume	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg growby my-vol 600M
Start a volume	vxvol	vxvol -g my-dg start my-vol
Stop a volume	vxvol	vxvol -g my-dg stop my-vol
Initialise a volume	vxvol	vxvol -g my-dg init active my-vol
Recover a volume	vxrecover	vxrecover -g my-dg my-vol
Mirror a volume	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg mirror my-vol
Add log to a volume	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg addlog my-vol
Snapshot a volume	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg snapstart my-vol
Snapshot a volume	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg snapshot my-vol my-snap
Change volume layout	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg relayout my-vol layout=stripe
Convert volume type	vxassist	vxassist -g my-dg convert my-vol layout=stripe-mirror

Source : users.telenet.be

Hitachi Data Systems Introduces New Agile Cloud Solutions

2009-10-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation announced the new portfolio of agile cloud technologies to accelerate and simplify the adoption of enterprise cloud computing environments. Specifically, the portfolio delivers the industry’s most integrated set of computing resources to create a single pool of virtualized block, file and content storage to support the diverse uses that are evolving in cloud computing today, and enables organizations to adopt cloud services at their own pace. As part of the cloud offerings, Hitachi Data Systems also unveiled the new Hitachi Content Platform that provides essential security, reliability and multitenancy for cloud infrastructures.

Hitachi Cloud Customer Benefits
With sophisticated storage virtualization, Hitachi Data Systems enables a secure, multitenant environment that ensures privacy among various constituents within a shared infrastructure that can be managed from a single command suite. Supporting a variety of protocols and third party technology, enterprises and service providers can further leverage existing investments in hardware and software and allow legacy devices to inherit cloud attributes, thereby preventing cloud from becoming just another silo and eliminating the need for a complete refresh or update of hardware and software or the need to rewrite applications. As a result, Hitachi Data Systems cloud solutions enable enterprise customers to choose the best possible technologies to address their challenges at their desired pace and budget resources. By offering an integrated set of cloud solutions, Hitachi Data Systems can deliver an agile cloud infrastructure that empowers customers to look at their existing IT infrastructure in new ways, enabling them to:

Provide efficient IT management and increase productivity through automation
Meet changing performance, availability and storage needs
Ensure security in a shared environment
Cost effectively improve data protection
Make information easy to locate and use, anywhere, at any time

For more information about Hitachi Data Systems Agile Cloud can be found at this datasheest link.

Source : www.hds.com

Netbackup Component Definitions

2009-10-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

Netbackup Component Definitions (Veritas Netbackup 6.x):

Master server
A server that is designated to control the backup and recovery activities for the clients assigned to it. Specially, master server track what files are backed up to which backup media.

Media Server
A server that has some form of storage (a tape drive, tape library, optical driv, or disk) attached to it -either directly or through the network. Media servers manage the writing and reading of data to and from media.

Enterprise Media Manager (EMM) server
A centralized data store and group of services that perform the management and allocation of resources

Client
Any machines that have data to back up.

SAN Media
A specialized server that can only back up its own data to devices. This server is not allowed to back up data residing on any other clients on the network

Veritas Netbackup Command Related to Catalog and Media

2009-09-08T18:17:00.001-07:00

To determine what images are associated with a given piece of media (found in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd directory):

bpimmedia -mediaid

Example: bpimmedia -mediaid ABC123

To delete a specific image from a piece of media (found in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd directory):

bpexpdate -backupid -d

Example: bpexpdate -backupid server01_1028941878 -d 0

To delete all images associated with a piece of media (found in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd directory):

bpexpdate -m -d

Example: bpexpdate -m ABC123 -d 0

To deassign the media (found in the /usr/openv/volmgr/bin directory):

vmquery -deassignbyid

Example: vmquery -deassignbyid ABC123 1 0

To determine current pool number and status of a piece of media (found in the /usr/openv/volmgr/bin directory):

vmquery -m

Example: vmquery -m ABC123

To display media associated with an image (found in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd directory):

bpimagelist -L -backupid

Example: bpimagelist -L -backupid server01_1028941878

Source : http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/286238.htm

(Status 57) Client connection refused escalation for Solaris 10 (one of)

2009-05-13T00:53:00.000-07:00

Sometime when we configure a fresh new Solaris 10 Media server (Netbackup Version 5.0) , we got the problem that the installation is note completed successful. The status on Host properties --> Client is : (Status 57) Client connection refused escalation for Solaris 10.

Even, we have verified on /etc/hosts and bp.conf, the problem is still exist. When we investigate, the root cause is inetd daemon on new media server must be restart. And before we restart we must convert the parameters to an xml format by using command inetconv -i /etc/inet/inetd.conf.

mediasvr01 #inetconv -i /etc/inet/inetd.conf
inetconv: Notice: Service manifest for 100235/1 already generated as /var/svc/manifest/network/rpc/100235_1-rpc_ticotsord.xml, skipped
inetconv: Notice: Service manifest for tftp already generated as /var/svc/manifest/network/tftp-udp6.xml, skipped
inetconv: Notice: Service manifest for 100083/1 already generated as /var/svc/manifest/network/rpc/100083_1-rpc_tcp.xml, skipped
inetconv: Notice: Service manifest for 100068/2-5 already generated as /var/svc/manifest/network/rpc/100068_2-5-rpc_udp.xml, skipped
inetconv: Notice: Service manifest for 100153/1 already generated as /var/svc/manifest/network/rpc/100153_1-rpc_udp.xml, skipped
bpcd -> /var/svc/manifest/network/bpcd-tcp.xml
Importing bpcd-tcp.xml ...Done
vnetd -> /var/svc/manifest/network/vnetd-tcp.xml
Importing vnetd-tcp.xml ...Done
vopied -> /var/svc/manifest/network/vopied-tcp.xml
Importing vopied-tcp.xml ...Done
bpjava-msvc -> /var/svc/manifest/network/bpjava-msvc-tcp.xml
Importing bpjava-msvc-tcp.xml ...Done

mediasvr01# svcadm restart svc:/network/inetd:default
mediasvr01# svcs inetd
STATE STIME FMRI
online 13:10:56 svc:/network/inetd:default

After we restart the inted daemon agian, the problem is solved.

Hitachi Data Systems Announces the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V and VM are Fully Compatible with IBM Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex

2009-03-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

Successful Testing Results Demonstrate Interoperability with IBM Enterprise Servers and Storage

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, today announced that the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform™ (USP) V and VM are now certified with IBM’s Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex (GDPS) system solution.

"Hitachi consistently strives to support the latest mainframe environments in order to provide our customers and partners with additional resources for their mission-critical applications,” said Roberto Basilio, vice president, Storage Platforms Product Management, Hitachi Data Systems. "By completing the qualification testing, we continue to grow our partnership with IBM, in addition to reducing cost, complexity and risk for our end-users. The qualification testing is a rigorous process and a testament to the superiority of the Hitachi USP V and VM.”

"Today’s announcement of the testing completion is a significant result for customers when evaluating storage solutions to effectively consolidate and manage the optimized storage solutions on mainframe environments," said Shuji Sugimoto, general manager, Storage Systems Development, Disk Array Systems Division, Hitachi, Ltd. "With the increasing prevalence of heterogeneous storage environments, true interoperability is more important than ever. We are pleased to continue our collaboration with IBM to provide our mutual customers reliable disk storage systems and reduce complexity."

Interoperability with IBM servers is a mandatory requirement for mainframe users. Many of the world’s largest organizations in the financial services, telecommunications and other key industries rely on IBM mainframe systems to run mission-critical applications.

Compatibility and interoperability certification with IBM’s GDPS system now allows customers to mix Hitachi storage and IBM storage in the mainframe environment to deliver the performance, reliability and availability they expect for the most demanding applications. Additionally, interoperability support from Hitachi offers customers an end-to-end solution designed to improve their mainframe environments. Hitachi’s approach enables customers to deliver centrally managed storage services such as business continuity, hierarchical storage management, data migration and enhanced disaster recovery solutions, as opposed to utilizing multiple isolated islands of storage to perform similar functions.

The testing of Hitachi's Enterprise System Connection™ (ESCON®), Fiber Connection (FICON®) and Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) connectivity for select configurations of IBM GDPS was also included.

Source : www.hds.com

EMC Named Leader in Storage Software Market

2009-03-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

Breadth of Storage Software Helps Extend EMC’s Leadership Position

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), the world leader in information infrastructure solutions, led the worldwide storage software market in total revenue again for 2008, according to the latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software Tracker, March 2009.

In addition to leading the overall storage software market for the full year of 2008, EMC also led in three storage software categories – storage replication, storage device management and storage management. In the storage device management software segment in 2008, EMC grew revenue more than six times the revenue share of its closest competitor. In addition, EMC grew revenue more than 20%, year-over-year, in the data protection and recovery software segment for the full year, outpacing the market and all of the top four competitors.

According to EMC, the company achieved 11% annual growth in software license and maintenance revenue during 2008, when combining its storage software market leadership and other areas of software leadership like virtualization, enterprise content management and archive, resource management and information security. Software made up approximately 40% of EMC’s overall revenue for 2008.

“EMC continues to show the strength and breadth in its storage software portfolio by again leading the overall market,” said BJ Jenkins, EMC’s Senior Vice President, Global Marketing. “In 2008, we were able to deliver new and updated software functionality that helped customers lower costs, simplify the management of expanding environments, meet new data protection requirements and control explosive data growth. We continued to expand our broad software support for virtual environments by adding functionality in the areas of backup, data deduplication, replication and resource management. Additionally, we continued to expand key integration points between EMC storage software and hardware products in 2008, helping customers with turnkey solutions that drive efficiency, mitigate risk and reduce total cost of ownership.”

Additionally, EMC announced on March 6, 2009 that it was the #1 provider of external disk storage systems again in 2008, according to the latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker, March 2009.

Source : indonesia.emc.com

Privacy Policy

2008-11-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

At http://backupzone.blogspot.com, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by http://backupzone.blogspot.com and how it is used.

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, http://backupzone.blogspot.com makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
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DoubleClick DART Cookie
.:: Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on http://backupzone.blogspot.com. .:: Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to users based on their visit to http://backupzone.blogspot.com and other sites on the Internet. .:: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include ....
Google Adsense
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These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on http://backupzone.blogspot.com send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see. http://backupzone.blogspot.com has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. http://backupzone.blogspot.com's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.

Netbackup Tuning Parameters

2007-07-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

Here is some information on undocumented features for setting the Network Buffer Size, Data Buffer Size, and Number of Data Buffers used by NetBackup (tm) on UNIX platforms.

TCP/IP Network Buffer Size.

/usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ is a file containing a number indicating the TCP/IP socket buffer size that should be used for data transfers between the NetBackup media server and its clients. If the file does not exist, the default value used is 32032 bytes.

The default value can be changed by creating the file /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ on the NetBackup media server and client systems.

The /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ file is a text file containing a single line specifying the value of the Network Buffer Size in bytes in decimal format.

For example, a Network Buffer Size of 64KB could be configured and checked like this:

# echo "65536" > /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ
# cat /usr/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ
65536
#

Specifying a larger value in the NET_BUFFER_SZ file may improve the performance of backups and restores. It is recommended that if NET_BUFFER_SZ is used, the same value should be set on all the NetBackup media servers and clients.

Data Buffer Size and Number of Data Buffers.

The NetBackup media server uses shared memory to buffer data between the network and the tape drive (or between the disk and the tape drive if the NetBackup media server and client are the same system). By default, NetBackup uses a default value of 8 x 32KB shared memory buffers for non-multiplexed backups and 4 x 64KB for a multiplexed backup.

These buffers can be configured by creating the files /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS on the NetBackup media server. These parameters are meant exclusively for media servers, and should not be used on a pure master server or client.

The SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS file should contain a single line specifying the data buffer size in bytes in decimal format.
The NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS file should contain a single line specifying the number of data buffers in decimal format.

The value in the SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS file has to be a multiple of 1024B.
It is common to increase SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS to 256KB and NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS to 16.

IMPORTANT: Because the data buffer size equals the tape I/O size, the value specified in SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS must not exceed the maximum tape I/O size supported by the tape drive or operating system. This is usually 256 KB or 128 KB.

In order to configure NetBackup to use 16 x 256 KB data buffers, specify 262144 (256 x 1024) in SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and 16 in NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS:

# echo "262144" > /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
# echo "16" > /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS
# cat /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
262144
# cat /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS
16
#

Care should be taken when changing these values. For example, increasing the tape buffer size can cause some backups to run slower and there have been cases where there have been restore problems.

IMPORTANT: After making any changes, it is vitally important to verify that the following tests can be completed successfully:

1. Run a backup
2. Restore data from the new backup created in step 1
3. Restore data from a backup created prior to the changes to SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS and NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS

taken from : http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/183702.htm

Status Code 191 -- (NetBackup Error 191: no images were successfully processed)

2007-07-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Error 191 raised when relocation of images to tape or duplication processes is get trouble. For Example when the duplication is going in progress and suddenly socket on media server is failed (status code 24 --socket write failed) the status of this job is going to be 191.

If a duplication fails with any error code, the parent "__DSSU_POLICY" relocation job always returns a Status 0 (successful) in NetBackup 5.x. Since the parent job receives a Status 0, and not a Status 134, the job is never retried. Duplications from a tape or disk storage unit also need to be retried manually if an error is encountered.
The bpduplicate command does not contain any method to retry failed duplication jobs. This is normal behavior for NetBackup. Any failed duplication jobs from tape, disk, or a DSSU will need to be retried manually in order to complete successfully.

So, my suggest when this status code occurs, the first thing to do is clarifying what is the first error happened that caused this job to be 191 status code, and solve this problem first, after this problem OK, then retry manually relocation job, because the bpduplicate command does not contain any method to retry failed duplication jobs.

Reference : http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/279718.htm

status code 41 -- network connection time out

2007-07-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

This morning, when I open an 'Activity Monitor' Netbackup java console, I found that one of media server in our backup domain is failed. I 've just known, if this media server has replaced by a new one. Formerly no problems with this media server, everything is going well. This media server is a production, there is an oracle database with archive mode.

First, I try to escalate to know what was going wrong?
On 'Host properties' java console, I found if this media server had "status code 41 -- network connection time out". The server did not receive any information from the client/master for too long a period of time. This can occur when a network connection is broken during a backup or restore. This can also occur when a NetBackup timeout is exceeded. In my case the problems occur, before the backup schedule run. And I try to test the port binding from master to this media server, and the result is failed.

The second, when the problem is on Network problem, I try to localize the main core problem by comparing the parameters in bp.conf, /etc/hosts with others media server, and found if nothing strange. And I tried to check the network services on this media server, and again I found nothing strange. But ... Finally I found if the /etc/nsswitch.conf is not available yet and unfortunately if this (new) media server is not listed on DNS.
I add /etc/nsswitch.conf and define if the system must read the file on /etc/hosts first before DNS. After it added, the problem is solved. And archiving an archive log is normally run.

Some reference is taken from http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/278422.htm.

Symantec Delivers Next Generation Data Protection with Veritas NetBackup 6.5

2007-06-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

Veritas NetBackup provides single platform to unify recovery management across all protection technologies and delivers innovative new disk-based data protection solutions

LAS VEGAS – Symantec Vision 2007 – June 12, 2007 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced the latest release of Veritas NetBackup, the market-leading enterprise data protection solution¹. Veritas NetBackup offers the industry’s only platform to unite leading next-generation data protection offerings including tape, virtual tape libraries (VTLs), disk backup, data deduplication, continuous data protection (CDP), snapshots and replication – across all major vendors. To support this platform, NetBackup 6.5 introduces a host of new features and enhancements including native disk-based backup, data deduplication, deep integration with intelligent backup appliances and VTLs, heterogeneous snapshot management, granular recovery for critical applications and virtual machines, and innovative new licensing and pricing programs.

“Our goal is to maximize IT resources and reduce costs whileimproving performance. As part of our initiatives, we increasingly leverage disk in our backup environments and Veritas NetBackup provides us with a single, integrated platform for disk-based protection and data deduplication,” said Brian Glowacki vice president, lead architect, JPMorgan Chase Global Storage Technology. “NetBackup 6.5 will help reduce data loss and speed recovery, while driving down operating costs and improving the accessibility of our data. With Symantec, our critical information is secure and available.”

NetBackup Platform Delivers Next-Generation Data Protection
Symantec has unified its enterprise data protection technologies into a single flagship offering — the NetBackup platform, a single solution for centralized, end-to-end management of heterogeneous data protection technologies. Many enterprises are interested in deploying next-generation data protection technologies, but have been reluctant to do so because of the complexity introduced by numerous disparate point products – each with their own agents, policies, schedulers, recovery processes, user interfaces and reporting tools. With the NetBackup platform, enterprises get the best of both worlds: unprecedented choice and flexibility to select best-of-breed technologies in replication, snapshots, CDP, data deduplication, encryption, virtual tape and traditional tape – either from Symantec or leading third-party storage vendors. In addition, the NetBackup platform provides a single tool to manage all these various vendors and technologies, which means a single approach to agents, policy management, recovery processes, security, backup reporting and the data catalog.

By deploying the NetBackup platform, enterprises can reduce data loss, operating costs, backup windows, recovery time and the data footprint for backup operations while enhancing manageability and their confidence in meeting internal andexternal compliance requirements. The NetBackup platform is differentiated in a number of key respects from its competitors. Rather than offering separate, isolated tools to enable advanced new capabilities like data deduplication, enterprise reporting, disk backup, and CDP, NetBackup integrates and delivers all these features as part of NetBackup. Second, in addition to these native, integrated capabilities, the NetBackup platform is unmatched in its broad support for managing and controlling a wide variety of advanced data protection technologies from third party vendors.

“As disk-based data protection becomes the mainstream strategy for enterprises, users require a more robust set of enterprise disk features that enhance capacity, flexibility, performance and reliability and allow them to customize backup and recovery according to their application needs,” said Lauren Whitehouse, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “Symantec is delivering a rich set of features that provide better utilization of disk technologies, along with an integrated platform to centrally manage all key data protection technologies.”

Innovative Disk-Based Backup Technologies Improve Backup Operations
As the cost of high capacity disk continues to fall, more storage professionals are leveraging disk as a core element of their enterprise protection strategy to improve backup operations, speed recovery and shrink backup windows. NetBackup 6.5 features four new capabilities that allow users to take full advantage of the power of disk-based data protection:

Native data deduplication that can be leveraged by the entire NetBackup environment extending from desktops and laptops, to remote office servers, to enterprise data centers
Native disk backup capabilities which enable pooling, sharing and backup over the SAN to a large pool of shared disk
Deep integration with intelligent backup appliances and VTLs
Heterogeneous snapshot and CDP management

With its PureDisk Deduplication Option, NetBackup 6.5 integrates Symantec’s PureDisk deduplication technology into the core of NetBackup to ensure that redundant backup information is only stored once across the entire enterprise backup environment, consolidating desktops and laptops, remote offices and data centers. This global approach to deduplication has commonly yielded 50-500X data deduplication rates when compared to traditional backup methods. In addition, the new Flexible Disk Option enables backup administrators to perform high speed SAN backup to a disk pool shared by the entire backup environment. This speeds performance and also delivers better utilization of both the network and the storage.

For customers deploying intelligent backup appliances and VTLs, NetBackup 6.5 delivers deep integration and powerful management capabilities. Virtual Tape Option enhances the performance and manageability of virtual tape devices by copying data directly from the VTL to tape, using a process that is controlled by NetBackup in a catalog-consistent manner. NetBackup integration with such intelligent backup appliances is even further enhanced through the OpenStorage Option, which leverages Symantec’s innovative OpenStorage API, allowing intelligent backup appliances to integrate natively with NetBackup. An industry first, the OpenStorage API enables NetBackup to treat these devices as disk, enabling users to take full advantage of the performance and features offered by disk while at the same time relying on NetBackup as the single interface to control and manage these advanced capabilities. Announced in late 2006, the OpenStorage program demonstrates Symantec’s commitment to offer the industry’s deepest integration with intelligent disk devices and has garnered support from nearly every major vendor of intelligent backup devices.

“Disk is fundamentally changing the data protection landscape,” said Kris Hagerman, group president, Data Center Management, Symantec. “NetBackup 6.5 enables customers to unlock the full potential of disk for increased flexibility and performance in backup and recovery, while providing a single platform to manage across all the exciting new technologies driving the next generation of data protection.”

Advanced Recovery for Virtual Machines and Enterprise Applications Improve Recovery Time
Responding to the growing popularity of virtual machines and the challenges associated with backing up those environments, NetBackup 6.5 delivers a comprehensive solution for VMware protection, providing consolidated backup, granular file-level and image-level recovery from a single backup, and deduplication for VMware backups. NetBackup leverages VMware Consolidated Backup, a capability provided by VMware, to guarantee consistency and remove the backup burden from the primary VMware server host. NetBackup 6.5 also goes a step further, by introducing a breakthrough capability to enable a single image-level backup to deliver both full-image or granular file-level recovery. Finally, VMware backups can be performed to tape or disk, and can apply the new PureDisk Deduplication Option for deduplication and replication of VMware backups. This comprehensive approach enables fast, low-impact VMware backups and data deduplication, and at the same time delivers unprecedented flexibility to restore the entire virtual machine or individual files, all through a single backup process.

NetBackup 6.5 improves recovery time for many key enterprise applications by offering granular recovery of files and objects to allow businesses to get up and running fast in the wake of an outage. For Microsoft SharePoint environments, NetBackup 6.5 offers database and document-level recovery from the same backup, eliminating the need for multiple backups of the same system. For Microsoft Exchange environments, NetBackup provides an instant recovery feature that enables administrators to recover from a disk-based snapshot, enabling faster recovery and minimizing disruptions.

Industry’s First Capacity-Based Pricing Model Offers Increased Flexibility
Responding to growing customer interest in aligning their purchasing model for data protection software with their approach to storage hardware procurement, Symantec has introduced the industry’s first capacity-based pricing option for an enterprise data protection software offering. With NetBackup 6.5, customers now have the choice of licensing NetBackup infrastructure on a capacity-based model (based upon the total amount of data being protected) or continuing to use the traditional per-server model. In addition, customers that remain on the traditional server-based pricing approach will benefit from a dramatically simplified pricing structure in which dozens of clients, agents and modules are now grouped into three easy-to-order options. Symantec has also included some advanced features (such as heterogeneous bare metal restore), which previously were separately priced options, and incorporated them into the standard NetBackup client at no additional fee.

Symantec Global Services Help Customers Move to Next Generation Backup Technology
Symantec next-generation Data Protection Assessment and Upgrade consulting services help customers take full advantage of the NetBackup platform. These new services deliver a comprehensive assessment to determine the optimal blend and use of the latest NetBackup technologies, along with a smooth upgrade path and product deployment for existing NetBackup 5.x or 6.0 environments to the latest advanced capabilities of NetBackup 6.5. For sustained management of enterprise NetBackup environments, Symantec offers Data Protection Operational and Residency services, providing cost-effective outsourcing and staff-augmentation services. Symantec Education Services also offer technical training, IT best practices education, and custom learning services to help organizations optimize their data protection solutions.

*all information is taken from http://www.symantec.com/about/news/release/article.jsp?prid=20070612_02

Rebuild the /dev/sg/* and /dev/rmt/* devices on a Solaris server without rebooting

2007-06-12T19:11:00.001-07:00

On Solaris Server sometimes the fault is happened and the driver could not be recognized by the OS. Unfortunately the server is production and could not be rebooted. Here are the basic steps to rebuild the /dev/sg/* and /dev/rmt/* devices on a Solaris server without rebooting.

1. Create a backup copy of the current st.conf file:
# cp /kernel/drv/st.conf /kernel/drv/st.conf.`date +%m%d%y_%H%M%S`

2. Move the existing sg.conf to a backup (this must be a move, otherwise a later step will fail):
# mv /kernel/drv/sg.conf /kernel/drv/sg.conf.`date +%m%d%y_%H%M%S`

3. Create a backup copy of the current devlink.tab file:
# cp /etc/devlink.tab /etc/devlink.tab.`date +%m%d%y_%H%M%S`

4. Delete SCSI targets/LUNs from the /kernel/drv/st.conf file:
name="st" class="scsi"
target=0 lun=0;

All of these entries should be removed, otherwise duplicates will be added later.

5. Delete SCSI targets/LUNs from /etc/devlink.tab. This is typically the section near the end of the file and the entries are typically of the form:

# begin SCSA Generic devlinks file - creates nodes in /dev/sg
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=0,0; sg/c\N0t0l0
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=1,0; sg/c\N0t1l0
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=2,0; sg/c\N0t2l0
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=3,0; sg/c\N0t3l0
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=4,0; sg/c\N0t4l0
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=5,0; sg/c\N0t5l0
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=6,0; sg/c\N0t6l0
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=0,1; sg/c\N0t0l1
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=1,1; sg/c\N0t1l1
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=2,1; sg/c\N0t2l1
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=3,1; sg/c\N0t3l1
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=4,1; sg/c\N0t4l1
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=5,1; sg/c\N0t5l1
type=ddi_pseudo;name=sg;addr=6,1; sg/c\N0t6l1
# end SCSA devlinks

Everything in this section should be removed, inclusive of the beginning and ending lines.

6. Change to the appropriate directory to run commands:
# cd /usr/openv/volmgr/bin/driver

7. Generate the configuration files (st.conf, sg.conf and sg.links):
../sg.build all -mt -ml

Note: You will need to know what the max_target and max_lun values will need to be (this is the maximum SCSI Target and LUN value).

8. Append the generated st.conf entries to the OS configuration file:
# cat st.conf >> /kernel/drv/st.conf

9. Unload the sg driver:
# rem_drv sg

10. Use the provided script to re-create the /kernel/drv/sg.conf file, append the SCSA entries to /etc/devlink.tab and reload the sg driver:
# ./sg.install

11. Now sgscan should see the appropriate devices:
# /usr/openv/volmgr/bin/sgscan all conf -v*these information is taken from http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/266501.htm

Backup Exec

2007-06-12T01:24:00.000-07:00

Symantec Backup Exec for Windows Servers, formerly Veritas Backup Exec, is backup software for Microsoft Windows environments. Backup Exec was developed by Arcada Software which was later acquired by Seagate Software and moved to Veritas via the 2000 acquisition of Seagate Software. A runtime version of the Arcada version was part of the Windows NT 3.5 and listed as "NT Backup."
Backup Exec is a data protection solution that provides continuous disk-to-disk-to-tape backup and recovery. Continuous protection is now available for Microsoft® Exchange and SQL Server in addition to file servers and workstations, eliminating daily backups and providing point-in-time recovery.
Backup Exec 11d added improved protection for Microsoft applications. Individual Microsoft Exchange messages, folders, and mailboxes can be recovered in seconds without the need for mailbox backups, reducing backup time and speeding recovery. Backup Exec 11d enables single-document recovery of Microsoft SharePoint Portal Servers, and can recover SQL Server 2005 snapshots. Backup Exec 11d introduces protection and recovery for IBM® DB2®, Oracle® RAC, and Oracle RMAN.
The Backup Exec Central Admin Server Option (CASO) provides centralized management of multiple Backup Exec servers. Learn how Microsoft uses Backup Exec with CASO to protect more than 5000 servers worldwide.

taken from wikipidea.org and symantec

bp.conf file

2007-05-30T03:18:00.000-07:00

The bp.conf is the master configuration file for the backup client software. With it the allowed servers and other options are included. On NetBackup UNIX clients, the main bp.conf file is located in the following pathname: /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf. As installed, NetBackup uses internal software defaults for all options in the bp.conf file, except SERVER. During installation, NetBackup sets the SERVER option to the name of the master server where the software is installed. Note The SERVER option must be in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on all NetBackup UNIX clients. It is also the only required entry in this file.

If a single UNIX system is running as both a client and a server, both the server and client options are in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file.

Each nonroot user on a UNIX client can have a personal bp.conf file in their home directory as follows: $HOME/bp.conf The options in personal bp.conf files apply only to user operations. During a user operation, NetBackup checks the $HOME/bp.conf file before /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf. Root users do not have personal bp.conf files.
NetBackup uses the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file for root users. The following topics describe the options that you can specify in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a NetBackup UNIX client. Note PC clients provide similar options that you can change either through the client-user interface or in a configuration file, depending on the client.

ALLOW_NON_RESERVED_PORTS
Specifies that the NetBackup client daemon (bpcd) can accept remote connections from non-privileged ports (port numbers 1024 or greater). If this entry is not present, then bpcd requires remote connections to come from privileged ports (port numbers less than 1024). This option can be useful when NetBackup clients and servers are on opposite sides of a firewall. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client. In addition to adding ALLOW_NON_RESERVED_PORTS to the client, execute the following commands as root on the master server. cd /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd ./bpclient -client client_name -add -connect_nr_port 1 Where client_name is the name of the client where you added the ALLOW_NON_RESERVED_PORTS option. These commands instruct the master server to use nonprivileged ports.

BPARCHIVE_POLICY
Specifies the name of the policy to use for user archives. Default: BPARCHIVE_POLICY is not in any bp.conf file and NetBackup uses the first policy that it finds that has the client and a user archive schedule. For example: BPARCHIVE_POLICY = arch_1 You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. The value in the user’s $HOME/bp.conf file takes precedence if it exists.

BPARCHIVE_SCHED
Specifies the name of the schedule for user archives. Default: BPARCHIVE_SCHED is not in any bp.conf file and NetBackup uses the first archive schedule in the first policy that it finds that has this client. For example BPARCHIVE_SCHED = user_arch1 You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. The value in the user’s $HOME/bp.conf file takes precedence if it exists.

BPBACKUP_POLICY
Specifies the name of the policy name to use for user backups. Default: BPBACKUP_POLICY, is not in any bp.conf file and NetBackup uses the first policy it finds that has both the client and a user backup schedule. For example, BPBACKUP_POLICY = userback_1 You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and (or) $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. The value in user’s $HOME/bp.conf file takes precedence if it exists. NetBackup Configuration Options

BPBACKUP_SCHED
Specifies the name of the schedule to use for user backups. Default: BPBACKUP_SCHED is not in any bp.conf file and NetBackup uses the first policy it finds that has both the client and a user backup schedule. For example: BPBACKUP_SCHED = user_back1 You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. The value in the user’s $HOME/bp.conf file takes precedence if it exists.

BUSY_FILE_ACTION
Note This parameter does not apply to Apollo clients. Directs the action that NetBackup performs on busy files when busy-file processing is enabled. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. The value in the user’s $HOME/bp.conf file takes precedence if it exists. There can be multiple entries of the following form: BUSY_FILE_ACTION = filename_template action_template Where

BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY filename_template is the absolute pathname and file name of the busy file. The shell language metacharacters *, ?, [], [ - ] can be used for pattern matching of filenames or parts of filenames. BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY action_template is one of the following: MAIL | mail Directs NetBackup to E-mail a busy file notification message to the user specified by the BUSY_FILE_NOTIFY_USER option. REPEAT | repeat [repeat_count] Directs NetBackup to retry the backup on the specified busy file. A repeat count can be specified to control the number of backup attempts. The default repeat count is 1. IGNORE | ignore Directs NetBackup to exclude the busy file from busy file processing.

BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY
Note This parameter does not apply to Apollo clients. The BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY option specifies the path to the busy-files working directory when busy-file processing is enabled. Default: BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY is not in any bp.conf file and NetBackup creates the busy_files directory in /usr/openv/netbackup. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. The value in the user’s $HOME/bp.conf file takes precedence, if it exists.

BUSY_FILE_NOTIFY_USER
Note This parameter does not apply to Apollo clients. The BUSY_FILE_NOTIFY_USER option specifies the recipient of the busy file notification message when BUSY_FILE_ACTION is set to MAIL or mail. Default: BUSY_FILE_NOTIFY_USER is not in any bp.conf file and the E-mail recipient is root. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. The value in the user’s $HOME/bp.conf file takes precedence, if it exists.

BUSY_FILE_PROCESSING
Note This parameter does not apply to Apollo clients. The BUSY_FILE_PROCESSING option lets the user control the actions that NetBackup performs when it determines that a file is changing while it is being backed up. Default: BUSY_FILE_PROCESSING option is not in bp.conf and busy-file processing does not occur. (See “Busy-File Processing (UNIX Clients Only)” on page 449 for instructions on setting this option.) You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client.

CLIENT_NAME
Specifies the name of the client as it is known to NetBackup. There can be one CLIENT_NAME entry and it must match the name used in the policy that is backing up the client. The only exception is for an alternate client restore, where the name must match that of the client whose files are being restored. (See “Allowing Redirected Restores” on NetBackup Configuration Options 486 NetBackup DataCenter System Administrator’s Guide - UNIX page 309.) The client installation procedures automatically set CLIENT_NAME to the value specified on the ftp_to_client or install_client command in the installation scripts. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client. It can also be added to a $HOME/bp.conf file on a UNIX client but this is normally done only for alternate-client restores. If the value is not in any bp.conf file, NetBackup uses the value returned by the gethostname() library function.

CLIENT_PORT_WINDOW
Specifies the range of nonreserved ports on this computer that are used for connecting to NetBackup on other computers. (See “CLIENT_PORT_WINDOW” on page 467.)

CLIENT_READ_TIMEOUT
Specifies the number of seconds for the client-read timeout on a server or a database agent. (See “CLIENT_READ_TIMEOUT” on page 467.)

CLIENT_RESERVED_PORT_WINDOW
Specifies the range of reserved ports on this computer that are used for connecting to NetBackup on other computers. (See “CLIENT_RESERVED_PORT_WINDOW” on page 468.)

COMPRESS_SUFFIX
Note This option has a reasonable default and has to be changed only if problems are encountered. This option does not apply to Apollo clients. Specifies a list of file extensions. During a backup, NetBackup does not compress files with these extensions because the file can already be in a compressed format. Default, COMPRESS_SUFFIX is not in the bp.conf file. (See “Compression” on page 112 for more information on compressing files.) You cannot use wildcards when specifying these extensions. For example, you can specify the following: .A1 You cannot specify either of the following: .A* or .A[1-9] You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client.

CRYPT_OPTION
Note CRYPT_OPTION applies only to clients that have the NetBackup Encryption option installed. See the NetBackup Encryption System Administrator’s Guide.

CRYPT_OPTION specifies the encryption options on NetBackup clients. NetBackup creates this entry automatically in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client when you run the bpinst_crypt command on the NetBackup master server. Do not alter the entry or create this file manually unless it has been accidentally deleted. The allowable values follow: DENIED|denied Specifies that the client does not permit encrypted backups. If the server requests an encrypted backup, it is considered an error. This option is the default for a client that has not been configured for encryption. ALLOWED|allowed Specifies that the client allows either encrypted or unencrypted backups. REQUIRED|required Specifies that the client requires encrypted backups. If this value is specified and the server requests an unencrypted backup, it is considered an error.

CRYPT_STRENGTH
Note CRYPT_STRENGTH applies only to clients that have the NetBackup Encryption option installed. See the NetBackup Encryption System Administrator’s Guide. Specifies the encryption strength on NetBackup clients. NetBackup creates this entry automatically in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client when you run the bpinst_crypt command on the NetBackup master server. Do not alter the entry or create it manually unless it has been accidentally deleted. The possible values follow: DES_40|des_40 Specifies 40-bit DES encryption. This is the default value for a client that has not been configured for encryption. DES_56|des_56 NetBackup Configuration Options 488 NetBackup DataCenter System Administrator’s Guide - UNIX Specifies 56-bit DES encryption.

CRYPT_LIBPATH
Note CRYPT_LIBPATH applies only to clients that have the NetBackup Encryption option installed. See the NetBackup Encryption System Administrator’s Guide. Specifies the directory that contains the encryption libraries for NetBackup clients. NetBackup creates this entry automatically in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client when you run the bpinst_crypt command on the NetBackup master server. Do not alter the entry or create it manually unless it has been accidentally deleted. BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY The following is the default value on UNIX systems: /usr/openv/lib/ BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY The following is the default value on Windows systems: install_path\bin\ Where install_path is the directory where NetBackup is installed and by default is C:\Program Files\VERITAS. BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY The following is the default value on Macintosh systems: :System Folder:Extensions:

CRYPT_KEYFILE
Note CRYPT_KEYFILE applies only to clients that have the NetBackup Encryption option installed. See the NetBackup Encryption System Administrator’s Guide. Specifies the file that contains the encryption keys on NetBackup clients. NetBackup creates this entry automatically in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client when you run the bpinst_crypt command on the NetBackup master server. Do not alter the entry or create it manually unless it has been accidentally deleted. The default values follow: BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY On UNIX systems: /usr/openv/netbackup/keyfile BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY On Windows systems: install_path\bin\keyfile.dat Where install_path is the directory where NetBackup is installed and by default is C:\Program Files\VERITAS. Chapter 10, Additional Configuration 489 NetBackup Configuration Options BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY On Macintosh systems: :System Folder:Preferences:NetBackup:keyfile

DISALLOW_SERVER_FILE_WRITES
Prevents the NetBackup server from creating files on the NetBackup client. For example, this prevents server-directed restores or server-directed updates of the bp.conf file on the client. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client. By default, server writes are allowed.

DO_NOT_RESET_FILE_ACCESS_TIME
Note DO_NOT_RESET_FILE_ACCESS_TIME does not apply to Apollo clients. This setting affects software and administration scripts that examine a file’s access time. DO NOT use this option or USE_CTIME_FOR_INCREMENTALS if you are running Storage Migrator on the system. Setting these options causes the atime for files to be updated every time they are backed up. This makes it appear as if the files are frequently used and stops Storage Migrator from selecting them for migration. Specifies that if a file is backed up, its access time (atime) will show the time of the backup. Default: NetBackup preserves the access time by resetting it to the value it had before the backup. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client.

GENERATE_ENGLISH_LOGS
Enables the generation of an English error log, and English trace logs for the bparchive, bpbackup, bpduplicate, bpimport, and bprestore commands. This option is useful to support personnel assisting in distributed environments where differing locales result in logs with various languages. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on NetBackup servers and clients.

INFORMIX_HOME
Specifies the path to the Informix home directory and is required when the client is using NetBackup for Informix. NetBackup Configuration Options 490 NetBackup DataCenter System Administrator’s Guide - UNIX You must add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on UNIX clients that are running NetBackup for Informix.

INITIAL_BROWSE_SEARCH_LIMIT
Reduces the default number of days back that NetBackup searches for files to restore. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on NetBackup master servers and clients. (See “INITIAL_BROWSE_SEARCH_LIMIT” on page 472.)

KEEP_DATABASE_COMM_FILE
Causes NetBackup to keep database agent logs for seven days. Default: NetBackup keeps database agent logs for only one day. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX database agent (for example, a client that is running NetBackup for Informix). KEEP_LOGS_DAYS Specifies the number of days to keep job and progress logs generated by the NetBackup Java program, Backup, Archive, and Restore. NetBackup writes these files in the usr/openv/netbackup/logs/user_ops/username/jobs and /usr/openv/netbackup/logs/user_ops/username/logs directories. There is a directory for each user that uses the Backup, Archive, and Restore program. Default: Three days. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client. LIST_FILES_TIMEOUT Specifies the number of minutes to wait for a response from the NetBackup server when listing files by using the client-user interface or bplist. If this time is exceeded, the user receives a socket read failed error even if the server is still processing the user’s request. Default: LIST_FILES_TIMEOUT is not in any bp.conf file and NetBackup uses a value of 30 minutes. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. The value in the user’s $HOME/bp.conf file takes precedence if it exists.

LOCKED_FILE_ACTION
Note This parameter does not apply to Apollo clients. Specifies the behavior of NetBackup when it tries to back up a file that has mandatory file locking enabled in its file mode (see chmod(1)). If LOCKED_FILE_ACTION is specified and has a value of SKIP (the only legal value), NetBackup skips files that currently have mandatory locking set by another process and logs a message to this effect. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. Default: NetBackup waits for files to become unlocked.

MEDIA_SERVER
Specifies that the listed machine is a media server only. Machines listed as media servers can back up and restore clients, but have limited administrative privileges.

MEGABYTES_OF_MEMORY
Note This option does not apply to Apollo clients. This option has a reasonable default and has to be changed only if problems are encountered. Specifies how much memory is available on the client to use when compressing files during backup. If you select compression, the client software uses this value to determine how much space to request for the compression tables. The more memory that is available to the compress code, the greater the compression. The percentage of machine resources used is also greater. If other processes also need memory, it is generally best to use a maximum value of 1/2 the actual physical memory on a machine to avoid excessive swapping. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client. Default: NetBackup assumes a value of one megabyte.

NFS_ACCESS_TIMEOUT
Specifies the number of seconds that the backup process waits when processing an NFS mount table before considering an NFS file system unavailable. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client. Default: Timeout period is five seconds. Note Only NetBackup DataCenter can back up NFS-mounted files. NetBackup Configuration Options 492 NetBackup DataCenter System Administrator’s Guide - UNIX

RANDOM_PORTS
Specifies whether NetBackup chooses port numbers randomly or sequentially when it requires one for communication with NetBackup on other computers. (See “RANDOM_PORTS” on page 168.)

RESTORE_RETRIES
Note This option has a reasonable default and will have to be changed only if problems are encountered. Specifies the number of times to retry a restore after a failure. Default: There are no retries. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client.

REQUIRED_INTERFACE
Specifies the network interface that NetBackup uses when connecting to another NetBackup client or server. (See “REQUIRED_INTERFACE” on page 168.)

SERVER_PORT_WINDOW
Specifies the range of nonreserved ports on which this computer accepts connections from NetBackup on other computers.

SERVER
Defines the list of NetBackup master servers and media servers that can access the NetBackup client. During client installation, the SERVER is set to the name of the primary master server for this client. Other SERVER entries can be added for any other master servers for this client, and for media servers for this client. (Media servers for this NetBackup client can also be added using the MEDIA_SERVER option.) If you configure media servers, you must have a SERVER or MEDIA_SERVER entry for each media server in the NetBackup client’s bp.conf file. The following is an example bp.conf file on a client: SERVER = Master_server (default master server) SERVER = NBU_server (other master server) SERVER = Media_server_#1 MEDIA_SERVER = Media_server_#2 . . . The first SERVER entry denotes the master server to which the client would connect by default for any requests (for example, backing up, listing or restoring files). The SERVER option must be present in the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on all UNIX clients. It is also the only required entry in the bp.conf file for clients. This option is not used in a $HOME/bp.conf file. On NetBackup UNIX servers, the SERVER entry applies to the both the client and the server. SYBASE_HOME Specifies the path to the Sybase home directory and is required when using NetBackup for Sybase to back up Sybase databases. Default: SYBASE_HOME is not in the bp.conf file. You must add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a NetBackup for Sybase client.

USE_CTIME_FOR_INCREMENTALS
Note If you specify USE_CTIME_FOR_INCREMENTALS, you must also specify

DO_NOT_RESET_FILE_ACCESS_TIME
DO NOT use these options if you are running Storage Migrator on the system. Setting these options causes the atime for files to be updated every time they are backed up. This makes it appear as if the files are frequently used and stops Storage Migrator from selecting them for migration. Causes NetBackup client software to use both modification time (mtime) and inode change time (ctime) during incremental backups to determine if a file has changed. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client. Default: NetBackup uses only mtime.

USEMAIL
Specifies the E-mail address where NetBackup sends status on the outcome of operations for a UNIX client. Default: USEMAIL is not present in any bp.conf file and no E-mail is sent. Note You can use multiple addresses or an E-mail alias as long as there are no blanks or white space between them. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf and $HOME/bp.conf files on a UNIX client. NetBackup Configuration Options BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY If the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file specifies an address, NetBackup sends automatic backup and manual backup status to that address. BUSY_FILE_DIRECTORY If the $HOME/bp.conf file specifies an address, NetBackup also sends status on the success or failure of user operations to that address.

VERBOSE
Causes NetBackup to include more information in its logs. Default: Disabled. You can add this option to the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file on a UNIX client.

UNIX Client Examples
Example /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf File
SERVER = hare
CLIENT_NAME = freddie
USEMAIL = abc@bdev.com
COMPRESS_SUFFIX = .Addrs
COMPRESS_SUFFIX = .Counts
VERBOSE
RESTORE_RETRIES = 1
BPBACKUP_POLICY = U1userdir
BPBACKUP_SCHED = userbackups
BPARCHIVE_POLICY = U1userdir
BPARCHIVE_SCHED = userarchives
LOCKED_FILE_ACTION = SKIP

Example $HOME/bp.conf File
Nonroot users on UNIX clients can have a personal bp.conf file in their home directory.
A personal bp.conf file can have any of the following options
Note A root user cannot have a personal bp.conf file. For root users, NetBackup uses
the /usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf file.
USEMAIL = mars@bdev.com
BPBACKUP_POLICY = user1
BPBACKUP_SCHED = userback
BPARCHIVE_POLICY = user1
BPARCHIVE_SCHED = userarch
LIST_FILES_TIMEOUT = 10
CLIENT_NAME

Veritas Netbackup Status Code

2007-05-27T23:41:00.000-07:00

0 the requested operation was successfully completed
1 the requested operation was partially successful
2 none of the requested files were backed up
3 valid archive image produced, but no files deleted due to non-fatal problems
4 archive file removal failed
5 the restore failed to recover the requested files
6 the backup failed to back up the requested files
7 the archive failed to back up the requested files
8 unable to determine the status of rbak
9 an extension package is needed, but was not installed
10 allocation failed
11 system call failed
12 file open failed
13 file read failed
14 file write failed
15 file close failed
16 unimplemented feature
17 pipe open failed
18 pipe close failed
19 getservbyname failed
20 invalid command parameter
21 socket open failed
22 socket close failed
23 socket read failed
24 socket write failed
25 cannot connect on socket
26 client/server handshaking failed
27 child process killed by signal
28 failed trying to fork a process
29 failed trying to exec a command
30 could not get passwd information
31 could not set user id for process
32 could not set group id for process
33 failed while trying to send mail
34 failed waiting for child process
35 cannot make required directory
36 failed trying to allocate memory
37 operation requested by an invalid server
38 could not get group information
39 client name mismatch
40 network connection broken
41 network connection timed out
42 network read failed
43 unexpected message received
44 network write failed
45 request attempted on a non reserved port
46 server not allowed access
47 host is unreachable
48 client hostname could not be found
49 client did not start
50 client process aborted
51 timed out waiting for database information
52 timed out waiting for media manager to mount volume
53 backup restore manager failed to read the file list
54 timed out connecting to client
55 permission denied by client during rcmd
56 client's network is unreachable
57 client connection refused
58 can't connect to client
59 access to the client was not allowed
60 client cannot read the mount table
61 wbak was killed
62 wbak exited abnormally
63 process was killed by a signal
64 timed out waiting for the client backup to start
65 client timed out waiting for the continue message from the media manager
66 client backup failed to receive the CONTINUE BACKUP message
67 client backup failed to read the file list
68 client timed out waiting for the file list
69 invalid filelist specification
70 an entry in the filelist expanded to too many characters
71 none of the files in the file list exist
72 the client type is incorrect in the configuration database
73 bpstart_notify failed
74 client timed out waiting for bpstart_notify to complete
75 client timed out waiting for bpend_notify to complete
76 client timed out reading file
77 execution of the specified system command returned a nonzero status
78 afs/dfs command failed
79 unimplemented error code 79
80 Media Manager device daemon (ltid) is not active
81 Media Manager volume daemon (vmd) is not active
82 media manager killed by signal
83 media open error
84 media write error
85 media read error
86 media position error
87 media close error
88 Auspex SP/Backup failure
89 fatal error in Unitree file system
90 media manager received no data for backup image
91 fatal NB media database error
92 media manager detected image that was not in tar format
93 media manager found wrong tape in drive
94 cannot position to correct image
95 requested media id was not found in NB media database and/or MM volume database
96 unable to allocate new media for backup, storage unit has none available
97 requested media id is in use, cannot process request
98 error requesting media (tpreq)
99 NDMP backup failure
100 system error occurred while processing user command
101 failed opening mail pipe
102 failed closing mail pipe
103 error occurred during initialization, check configuration file
104 invalid file pathname
105 file pathname exceeds the maximum length allowed
106 invalid file pathname found, cannot process request
107 too many arguments specified
108 invalid date format specified
109 invalid date specified
110 Cannot find the NetBackup configuration information
111 No entry was found in the server list
112 no files specified in the file list
113 unimplemented error code 113
114 unimplemented error code 114
115 unimplemented error code 115
116 unimplemented error code 116
117 unimplemented error code 117
118 unimplemented error code 118
119 unimplemented error code 119
120 cannot find configuration database record for requested NB database backup
121 no media is defined for the requested NB database backup
122 specified device path does not exist
123 specified disk path is not a directory
124 NB database backup failed, a path was not found or is inaccessable
125 another NB database backup is already in progress
126 NB database backup header is too large, too many paths specified
127 specified media or path does not contain a valid NB database backup header
128 unimplemented error code 128
129 unimplemented error code 129
130 system error occurred
131 client is not validated to use the server
132 user is not validated to use the server from this client
133 invalid request
134 unable to process request because the server resources are busy
135 client is not validated to perform the requested operation
136 unimplemented error code 136
137 unimplemented error code 137
138 unimplemented error code 138
139 unimplemented error code 139
140 user id was not superuser
141 file path specified is not absolute
142 file does not exist
143 invalid command protocol
144 invalid command usage
145 daemon is already running
146 cannot get a bound socket
147 required or specified copy was not found
148 daemon fork failed
149 master server request failed
150 termination requested by administrator
151 Backup Exec operation failed
152 required value not set
153 server is not the master server
154 storage unit characteristics mismatched to request
155 unused b
156 unused f
157 unused d
158 failed accessing daemon lock file
159 licensed use has been exceeded
160 authentication failed
161 Evaluation software has expired. See www.veritas.com for ordering information
162 unimplemented error code 162
163 unimplemented error code 163
164 unable to mount media because its in a DOWN drive or misplaced
165 NB image database contains no image fragments for requested backup id/copy number
166 backups are not allowed to span media
167 cannot find requested volume pool in Media Manager volume database
168 cannot overwrite media, data on it is protected
169 media id is either expired or will exceed maximum mounts
170 unimplemented error code 170
171 media id must be 6 or less characters
172 cannot read media header, may not be NetBackup media or is corrupted
173 cannot read backup header, media may be corrupted
174 media manager - system error occurred
175 not all requested files were restored
176 cannot perform specified media import operation
177 could not deassign media due to Media Manager error
178 media id is not in NetBackup volume pool
179 density is incorrect for the media id
180 tar was successful
181 tar received an invalid argument
182 tar received an invalid file name
183 tar received an invalid archive
184 tar had an unexpected error
185 tar did not find all the files to be restored
186 tar received no data
187 unimplemented error code 187
188 unimplemented error code 188
189 the server is not allowed to write to the client's filesystems
190 found no images or media matching the selection criteria
191 no images were successfully processed
192 unimplemented error code 192
193 unimplemented error code 193
194 the maximum number of jobs per client is set to 0
195 client backup was not attempted
196 client backup was not attempted because backup window closed
197 the specified schedule does not exist in the specified class
198 no active classes contain schedules of the requested type for this client
199 operation not allowed during this time period
200 scheduler found no backups due to run
201 handshaking failed with server backup restore manager
202 timed out connecting to server backup restore manager
203 server backup restore manager's network is unreachable
204 connection refused by server backup restore manager
205 cannot connect to server backup restore manager
206 access to server backup restore manager denied
207 error obtaining date of last backup for client
208 failed reading user directed filelist
209 error creating or getting message queue
210 error receiving information on message queue
211 scheduler child killed by signal
212 error sending information on message queue
213 no storage units available for use
214 regular bpsched is already running
215 failed reading global config database information
216 failed reading retention database information
217 failed reading storage unit database information
218 failed reading class database information
219 the required storage unit is unavailable
220 database system error
221 continue
222 done
223 an invalid entry was encountered
224 there was a conflicting specification
225 text exceeded allowed length
226 the entity already exists
227 no entity was found
228 unable to process request
229 events out of sequence - image inconsistency
230 the specified class does not exist in the configuration database
231 schedule windows overlap
232 a protocol error has occurred
233 premature eof encountered
234 communication interrupted
235 inadequate buffer space
236 the specified client does not exist in an active class within the configuration database
237 the specified schedule does not exist in an active class in the configuration database
238 the database contains conflicting or erroneous entries
239 the specified client does not exist in the specified class
240 no schedules of the correct type exist in this class
241 the specified schedule is the wrong type for this request
242 operation would cause an illegal duplication
243 the client is not in the configuration
244 main bpsched is already running
245 the specified class is not of the correct client type
246 no active classes in the configuration database are of the correct client type
247 the specified class is not active
248 there are no active classes in the configuration database
249 the file list is incomplete
250 the image was not created with TIR information
251 the tir information is zero length
252 unused TIR error 2
253 unused TIR error 1
254 server name not found in the bp.conf file
255 unimplemented error code 255

Source ://www.veritas.com

Virtual Tape Library (VTL)

2007-05-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

A Virtual Tape Library (VTL) is a data storage virtualization technology used typically for archival storage purposes. A VTL presents a storage component (usually hard disk storage) as tapes available for use with tape drive and media changer emulations.
Virtualizing the storage as tape hardware allows integration of VTLs with existing archiving policies and backup software while taking advantage of the benefits of storage virtualization. The benefits of tape virtualization include storage consolidation and faster data restore processes.
Most current VTL solutions use ATA or SATA disk arrays as the primary storage component due to their relatively low cost. The use of array enclosures increases the scalability of the solution by allowing the addition of more disk drives and enclosures to increase the storage capacity.
By backing up data to disks instead of tapes, VTL often increases performance of both backup and recovery operations. In some cases, the data stored on the VTL's disk array is exported to other media, such as tapes, for disaster recovery purposes.
Historically, tape drives and libraries mostly featured SCSI Parallel Interface and Fibre Channel external interfaces. Likewise, VTL solutions generally support popular SCSI transport protocols such as SPI, Fibre Channel, and iSCSI.

Today, so many product has been offered in the market, such as :
- EMC DL210, EMCDL4100, EMCDL4200, EMCDL440 from EMC
- VTF Open(tm), VTF Mainframe, ProtecTIER VT from HDS
- NearStore Virtual Tape Library from NetApp

Configuring Device on Media Server (Version 5.0)

2007-05-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

There are several way for configuring device especially tape drive on one media server. Maybe the easiest way is using wizard, but sometimes is not going well so we have to configure manually. I try to summarize how device configuration is done. Here is :

Device Configuration wizard
Using tpconfig command
Shared Drive wizard
Using several command line

1. Using Wizard
Using "Device Configuration wizard" is recomended by Veritas rather than "Shared Drive wizard". This wizard performs device discovery, and adds robotic libraries and shared drives to any Media Manager configuration. To perform theese tasks, this wizard uses device serialization. This wizard should be run on a master server.
Here is dialog box for performing Device Configuration wizard :

2. Using tpconfig command
tpconfig command can be used as a command line interface or menu interface to configure robots and drives for use with Netbackup. This command (/usr/openv/volmgr/bin/tpconfig ) starts the Media Manager Device Configuration Utility. This menu-based utility creates and modifies identitiy database in the /usr/openv/volmgr/database directory. Theses database identify the robotics and drives that are under control of ltid (the Media Manager device daemon). ltid uses these files to correlate drives in the operator's drive status display to the device files in the /dev dirctory.
Here is an example when using tpconfig command :

3. Shared Drive wizard
The Shared Drive wizard has limited usage and does not configure robots. Since this wizard does not use device serialization, it requires prior configuration details from you about your configuration before starting. For example: the names of the hosts that will share a drive, drive paths, and the robotic drive parameters and number of the robot that will control the drive.
When using this wizard you can configure only one drive at a time. This may be beneficial if you want to add an individual shared drive without disrupting the other configured drives.
VERITAS recommends the following usage:
- Use the Device Configuration wizard when possible rather than the Shared Drive
Use the Shared Drive wizard with caution after initial device configuration.

4. Using several command line
Here are the steps for configuring device on a media server :
1. login as root
2. go to /usr/openv/volmgr/bin directory

3. execute command ./vmglob -set_gdbhost
4. execute command ./tpautoconf -upgrade
5. execute command ./vmglob -listall

Here is an example command result:

# pwd
/opt/openv/volmgr/bin
# ./vmglob -set_gdbhost master
# ./tpautoconf -upgrade
The NetBackup Installer is now upgrading your device configuration database
in order to maintain compatibility with device discovery...

Finished upgrading device configuration database.
MM host name is Media3, no action required
# ./tpautoconf -a

*some materials is taken from Veritas Netbackup 5.0 Shared Storage Option
System Administrator Guide for UNIX and Windows

RAID

2007-05-27T21:18:00.001-07:00

RAID Short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, a category of disk drives that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance and performance. RAID disk drives are used frequently on servers but aren't generally necessary for personal computers.
There are number of different RAID levels:

Level 0 -- Striped Disk Array without Fault Tolerance: Provides data striping (spreading out blocks of each file across multiple disk drives) but no redundancy. This improves performance but does not deliver fault tolerance. If one drive fails then all data in the array is lost.
Level 1 -- Mirroring and Duplexing: Provides disk mirroring. Level 1 provides twice the read transaction rate of single disks and the same write transaction rate as single disks.
Level 2 -- Error-Correcting Coding: Not a typical implementation and rarely used, Level 2 stripes data at the bit level rather than the block level.
Level 3 -- Bit-Interleaved Parity: Provides byte-level striping with a dedicated parity disk. Level 3, which cannot service simultaneous multiple requests, also is rarely used.
Level 4 -- Dedicated Parity Drive: A commonly used implementation of RAID, Level 4 provides block-level striping (like Level 0) with a parity disk. If a data disk fails, the parity data is used to create a replacement disk. A disadvantage to Level 4 is that the parity disk can create write bottlenecks.
Level 5 -- Block Interleaved Distributed Parity: Provides data striping at the byte level and also stripe error correction information. This results in excellent performance and good fault tolerance. Level 5 is one of the most popular implementations of RAID.
Level 6 -- Independent Data Disks with Double Parity: Provides block-level striping with parity data distributed across all disks.
Level 0+1 – A Mirror of Stripes: Not one of the original RAID levels, two RAID 0 stripes are created, and a RAID 1 mirror is created over them. Used for both replicating and sharing data among disks.
Level 10 – A Stripe of Mirrors: Not one of the original RAID levels, multiple RAID 1 mirrors are created, and a RAID 0 stripe is created over these.
Level 7: A trademark of Storage Computer Corporation that adds caching to Levels 3 or 4.
RAID S: EMC Corporation's proprietary striped parity RAID system used in its Symmetrix storage systems.

Network Data Mamagement Protocol (NDMP)

2007-05-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

NDMP is a widely used protocol through which an NDMP-conformant backup application can control the backups and restores of any NDMP host that is running an NDMP server application.
The following shows an example of NDMP architecture in a NetBackup configuration

NDMP architecture follows the client/server model.

The NetBackup master or media server that has NetBackup for NDMP installed is called a NetBackup for NDMP server.
The host where the NDMP server application resides is called an NDMP host.
The NetBackup software is a client of the NDMP server application. NetBackup for NDMP is the application that allows NetBackup to be an NDMP client. The NDMP server application on the NDMP host performs backups and restores of the NDMP host, directed by commands received from an NDMP client (NetBackup):

During a local backup or restore:

The data travels between the NDMP host’s disk and its locally attached storage devices.
During a three-way backup or restore:
The data travels over the network, between an NDMP host and a storage device that is attached to another NDMP host configured on the network.
During a three-way backup called remote NDMP:
The data travels over the network between an NDMP host and a storage device that is attached to a NetBackup media server.

*from support.veritas.com

Veritas NetBackup for Oracle

2007-05-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

VERITAS NetBackup is an enterprise backup and recovery solution that provides highly scalable support for a wide variety of servers and clients, together with extensive media management capabilities. NetBackup supports all leading tape vaults and optical disk libraries, and incorporates years of expertise in managing distributed backups, securely and safely, for optimal performance.
As an Oracle Backup Solutions Partner, VERITAS has created database-specific support for Oracle databases using Oracle-supplied interfaces. NetBackup for Oracle is tightly integrated with Oracle’s Recovery Manager (RMAN) product for Oracle 8.x, and the Enterprise Backup Utility (EBU) for Oracle 7.x databases. These interfaces, created and supported by Oracle Corporation, manage the basic backup and recovery operations, packaging much of the work that the DBA previously performed manually. The NetBackup server manages backup policies and schedules, and communicates with the storagemedia.
A single NetBackup server can manage multiple Oracle database backups, providing centralized storage management and leveraging high speed or high capacity storage devices. This solution combines both storage management and Oracle expertise to improve the availability, manageability and reliability of Oracle data and servers.

Improving the Availability of Oracle Databases
VERITAS NetBackup for Oracle is a flexible and scalable solution for enterprise database backups. Whether used for a small, critical database or a number of large databases, NetBackup gives DBAs the tools to protect both the data itself and the availability of the database applications.
Netbackup optimizes database availability in two important ways. Superior backup performance and hot backup support minimizes the impact of backups on production systems. Fast data restoration and simplified recovery brings databases back online faster after failures.

Hot backup support
VERITAS NetBackup supports any combination of cold or hot backups, so DBAs can create the backup schedules that best suit their needs and adjust those schedules as the database grows.
Through its integration with Oracle RMAN (or EBU for Oracle 7.x), NetBackup for Oracle simplifies the process of making and maintaining hot backups. It manages the processes of altering the database state for backups, backing up all of the appropriate files and archived redo logs, and tracking all of the backup information needed for a fast and accurate recovery.

Oracle incremental backups
RMAN supports incremental backups, in which only changed data is written to the backup. During an Oracle incremental backup, RMAN scans the database for changed database blocks. However, with the NetBackup Block Level Incremental Backup Extension, NetBackup for Oracle supports an additional kind of incremental backup. NetBackup can write only the changed file system blocks. This kind of backup typically writes smaller block sizes, and does not require scanning the database.

* from www.veritas.com

Veritas Netbackup

2007-05-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

Veritas NetBackup delivers high-performance data protection that scales to protect the largest UNIX, Windows, Linux, and NetWare environments. With complete protection from the desktop to the data center, NetBackup offers a single console for management of all backup and recovery operations.

Product Highlights

End-To-End Data Protection
Data protection for all environments, from desktop to datacenter to vault.
Single Solution for All Platforms. NetBackup helps you to consolidate and standardize your backup and recovery operations, protecting all major UNIX variants,Windows, Linux, and NetWare systems.

Unlimited Scalability
Centralized management and control, high-performance technology and a flexible multitier architecture enable NetBackup software to adapt to the growing needs of the modern data center.

Unparalleled Performance
Synthetic backups consume less network bandwidth and decrease the impact on the application host since files are backed up only once. Multiplexing up to 32 different data streams to a single tape drive helps to realize the maximum rated throughput of your storage hardware.

Management and Reporting
The NetBackup Operations Manager delivers web based management and reporting for large NetBackup enterprise users. Provides real-time monitoring, historical reporting, administration, alert management and troubleshooting assistance.

Advanced Data Protection
Perform low impact, high performance backup and restores with the NetBackup Advanced Client. This consolidated suite of snapshotbased technologies enables FlashBackup, Instant Recovery, Offhost and Block-Level Incremental data protection.

Automate Disaster Recovery
The NetBackup Vault option automates the disaster recovery process by helping to simplify tape rotation and the creation and management of tape duplicates for offsite vaulting. NetBackup Bare Metal Restore streamlines the server recovery process.
NetBackup Administration Console provides a single point of management that enables backup administrators to manage a larger number of servers more efficiently.

Extensive Media Management
Allows users to share an automated tape library between heterogeneous systems UNIX, Windows, Linux, NetWare or network attached storage (NAS) — allowing NetBackup users to more effectively leverage their expensive tape and drive resources.

Security
Secure your backup data by selecting from NetBackup software’s 40-, 56-, 128-, or 256-bit encryption. NetBackup software’s low-impact encryption option ensures the data is secure before it leaves the client. NetBackup Access Control offers the flexibility to restrict or provide specific access levels to NetBackup software’s administrative functionality.

Storage Networking
NetBackup software supports a broad range of tape library, tape drive and Storage Area Network (SAN) interconnect technologies from leading vendors. Dynamically share individual tape drives over SCSI or a SAN, or utilize the optional NetBackup for NDMP agent to help protect popular network attached storage (NAS) devices.

*www.veritas.com/www.symantec.com

Backup Type

2007-05-27T21:02:00.001-07:00

1. Full backup
Full backup is the starting point for all other backups, and contains all the data in the folders and files that are selected to be backed up. Because full backup stores all files and folders, frequent full backups result in faster and simpler restore operations. Remember that when you choose other backup types, restore jobs may take longer.

2. Cumulative-Incremental Backup
A differential backup contains all files that have changed since the last FULL backup. The advantage of a differential backup is that it shortens restore time compared to a full backup or an incremental backup. However, if you perform the differential backup too many times, the size of the differential backup might grow to be larger than the baseline full backup.

3. Differential-Incremental Backup
An incremental backup stores all files that have changed since the last FULL OR DIFFERENTIAL backup. The advantage of an incremental backup is that it takes the least time to complete. However, during a restore operation, each incremental backup must be processed, which could result in a lengthy restore job.

4. Synthetic Backups
A synthetic full backup is a backup assembled from a previous, non synthetic full backup, adn subsequent differential backups and/or a cummulative incremental backup. A client can then use the synthesized backup to restore files and directories in the sam wa that the clients restore from traditional backup.

About Fibre Optic

2007-05-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

For modern glass optical fiber, the maximum transmission distance is limited not by attenuation but by dispersion, or spreading of optical pulses as they travel along the fiber. Dispersion in optical fibers is caused by a variety of factors. Intermodal dispersion, caused by the different axial speeds of different transverse modes, limits the performance of multi-mode fiber. Because single-mode fiber supports only one transverse mode, intermodal dispersion is eliminated. For single-mode fiber performance is limited by chromatic dispersion, which occurs because the index of the glass varies slightly depending on the wavelength of the light, and light from real optical transmitters has nonzero spectral width. Polarization mode dispersion, which can limit the performance of single-mode systems, occurs because although the single-mode fiber can sustain only one transverse mode, it can carry this mode with two different polarizations, and slight imperfections or distortions in a fiber can alter the propagation velocities for the two polarizations. Dispersion limits the bandwidth of the fiber because the spreading optical pulse limits the rate that pulses can follow one another on the fiber and still be distinguishable at the receiver.

Because the effect of dispersion increases with the length of the fiber, a fiber transmission system is often characterized by its bandwidth-distance product, often expressed in units of Mhz×km. This value is a product of bandwidth and distance because there is a tradeoff between the bandwidth of the signal and the distance it can be carried. For example, a common multimode fiber with bandwidth-distance product of 500 MHz×km could carry a 500 MHz signal for 1 km or a 1000 MHz signal for 0.5 km.

In single-mode fiber systems, both the fiber characteristics and the spectral width of the transmitter contribute to determining the bandwidth-distance product of the system. Typical single-mode systems can sustain transmission distances of 80 to 140 km (50 to 87 miles) between regenerations of the signal. By using an extremely narrow-spectrum laser source, data rates of up to 40 gigabits per second are achieved in real-world applications.

Advanced Technology Attached (ATA) Disk

2007-05-27T20:55:00.001-07:00

The ATA standard define a simple, inexpensive method for attaching disk drive to host system and was one of the first attempts at developing a storage standard. The original ATA standard (ATA-1) was formally defined in 1993 and has gone through five major revisions up to the current standard, ATA-6. The standard defines a simple method to connect high-volume disk devices with internal controllers to host systems. It incorporates all layers of the protocol in a single standard, from the 80-pin parallel connector to the commands recognized by the disk drives.

In the late 1990s, many companies started to recognize that the existing ATA standard had many limitations that would prevent it from scaling up to support future generation systems. The biggest issues were :

It required a 5-volt signal, while many newer integrated circuits were moving to a 3.3-volt standard.
The cable require 80 wires, making them expensive and subject to electronic magnetic interface (EMI). This EMI limited the maximum speed that could be used with a parallel ATA interface and reduce reliability.
In 2000, a group of companies announced the formation of the SATA Working Group to explore the development of a next-generation serial ATA standard.

Serial ATA addresses the limitations of the ATA standard by allowing the commands to be sent over a serial cable connection with significantly fewer wires, which greatly reduces the EMI and allows much higher data speed to be obtained. It also reduces the complexity of the cabling and reduces the voltage requirements from 5 volts to 3.3 volts. These changes allow first version of the serial ATA specification to provide 150 MB/s throughput, compared with parallel ATA’s limitation of 133 MB/s. The serial ATA-2 standard, release in 2003, increase this to over 300 MB/s and even more advanced versions are under development. This ensures that Serial ATA drives can provide significantly higher levels of performance while maintaining the low coast per megabyte associated with ATA disk drives.

Another advantage to Serial ATA specification is reliability and availability. There are three primary reliability/availability benefits inherent in the basic SATA specification:

Simplified cabling
Integrated Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC)
Hot-swappability

The simplified cables significantly reduce the impact of EMI and improve reliability of the data getting to the disk. They also reduce the number of failures attribute to bad cables. Integrated CRC checking helps ensure that the data that actually gets stored on the drives is what the application sent. Host-swappable drives ensure that a failed drive can be replaced without having to bring an entire system down. For data that is stored redundantly-either through mirroring or some from of parity mechanism-a failed drive can be replaced without interrupting a host’s access to the data.

*from http://www.emc.com

Host Bus Adapter (HBA)

2007-05-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

A host bus adapter (HBA) is a circuit board and/or integrated circuit adapter that provides input/output (I/O) processing and physical connectivity between a server and a storage device. Because the HBA relieves the host microprocessor of both data storage and retrieval tasks, it can improve the server's performance time. An HBA and its associated disk subsystems are sometimes referred to as a disk channel.

The differences between a NIC and an HBA
Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) differ from network interface cards (NICs) in a fundamental way. A NIC relies heavily on the server CPU for protocol processing, including such functions as maintaining packet sequence order, segmentation and re-assembly, error detection and correction, and flow control. Functions actually performed by a NIC are limited to low level duties such as framing packets and controlling the flow of data to the link layer. As a result, I/O requests that rely on a NIC for execution put a considerable compute burden on the host server CPU and severely impact overall system performance. A NIC can utilize 80% or more of a server CPU to deliver 50-80MB/s on a Gigabit Ethernet link. This method of using an expensive server to perform I/O processing adds considerable real cost to what may appear to be an inexpensive network interface card.

By contrast, an HBA manages the entire I/O transaction with little or no involvement of the server CPU. The HBA receives an I/O request from the operating system and completely handles such activities as segmentation and re-assembly, flow control, error detection and correction, as well as the SCSI command processing. By off-loading the server CPU, HBAs can provide throughput at nearly link speed with typically less than 10% server CPU utilization.
In simple terms, HBAs provide I/O processing and the physical connection between servers and storage. Host bus adapters provide critical server CPU off-load, freeing servers to perform application processing. As the only part of a storage area network that resides in a server, HBAs also provide the physical link between the SAN and the OS and application software. In this role the HBA enables a range of high-availability and storage management capabilities, including load balancing, fail-over, SAN administration, and storage management.

Why does server CPU off-load matter?
The need for CPU off-load is becoming increasingly important because of the wide adoption of storage area networking, and the emergence of processing intensive protocols such as iSCSI.

Host bus adapters differ from network interface cards (NICs) in a fundamental way. A NIC relies heavily on the server CPU for protocol processing. Historically, I/O data rates increased at approximately the rate of Moore’s law, which allowed servers to maintain I/O processing performance from one product generation to the next. Networking technologies, however, have historically increased data rates in 10x increments. The adoption of storage networking has driven increases in storage I/O data rates closer to those of traditional networking technologies, with increases of 4x to 10x. This trend shows no signs of slowing down as iSCSI and Fibre Channel prepare to support up to 10Gb/s data rates in the future.

The accelerating I/O data rates creates an “I/O processing gap” in which the compute power needed to fill a fast pipe is growing faster than the CPU power available in the server. Without sufficient processing power, a high-speed storage network will be under-utilized. An HBA is needed to fill the I/O processing gap and provide the performance and efficiency that storage networking promises.

Host Bus Adapter architecture
HBA architectures vary, but the most capable products have an on-board processor, a protocol controller ASIC, buffer memory to maintain data flow, and specialized hardware to provide superior performance in complex storage area networks.
HBAs also provide a critical interface between the SAN and the server. With on-board intelligence providing the ability to analyze each frame of data that passes through it, as well as awareness of each SAN device and the server OS, the HBA provides a critical control point for management applications. Using industry standard Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), HBAs can provide management applications with access to information about the SAN, and the ability to manage storage devices and the storage network itself.

Summary
HBAs provide critical server CPU off-load that enables high-performance storage networking. By completely managing I/O processing, HBAs free the server’s CPU to process application and database activities. HBAs also play a key role in enabling the management of storage networks.

*http://www.emulex.com

LTO Tape Cartridge

2007-05-27T20:47:00.001-07:00

Ultrium LTO (Linear Tape Open) technology was developed jointly by HP, IBM and Certance (Seagate) now Quantum to provide a clear and viable choice in an increasingly complex array of tape storage options.

Ultrium LTO technology is an "open format" technology, which means that users will have multiple sources of product and media. The "open" nature of LTO technology also provides a means of enabling compatibility between different vendors' offerings.

The Ultrium LTO tape format is the implementation of the LTO (Linear Tape Open) Technology that is optimized for high capacity and performance with exceptional reliability in either a stand-alone or an automated environment. It uses a single reel cartridge to maximize capacity. Ideally suited for backup, restore, and archive applications, the Ultrium tape format will establish a new benchmark for large volume backup and archive. Ultrium products will meet the needs of the enterprise through single-server user on a roadmap, or migration path, that extends well into the next decade. LTO Gen 3 technology enables you to store up to 400 gigabytes of uncompressed data on a single cartridge, or up to 800 gigabytes with 2:1 data compression.

LTO Gen 1 tape cartridge
Capacity, native (uncompressed):100 GB; 200 GB (with 2:1 compression)
Supported tape drives:LTO Gen 1, LTO Gen 2, LTO Gen 3
Archival life:15–30 years

LTO Gen 2 tape cartridge
Capacity, native (uncompressed):200 GB; 400 GB (with 2:1 compression)
Supported tape drives:LTO Gen 2, LTO Gen 3
Archival life:15–30 years

LTO Gen 3 tape cartridge
Capacity, native (uncompressed):400 GB; 800 GB (with 2:1 compression)
Supported tape drives:LTO Gen 3
Archival life:15–30 years

LTO Ultrium Tape Drive

2007-05-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

The Linear Tape Open (LTO) Gen 3 tape drive stores up to 400 gigabytes of native data on a single cartridge. With write-once, read-many (WORM) capability to designed to help you address compliance requirements, it also allows you to leverage the same drive for both WORM and regular data. The LTO Gen 2 tape drive stores up to 200 gigabytes of native data on a single cartridge. These high capacity drives work in tandem with available Fibre Channel interfaces to help manage rapid data growth in a cost-effective manner.

LTO Gen 1
Capacity, native (uncompressed):100 GB
Data transfer rate, native (uncompressed):15–16 MB/sec
Interface:Single port Ultra 2 SCSI

LTO Gen 2
Capacity, native (uncompressed):200
GBData transfer rate, native (uncompressed):32–35 MB/sec
Interface:Single port Ultra 3

LTO Gen 3
Capacity, native (uncompressed):400 GB
Data transfer rate, native (uncompressed):80 MB/sec
Interface:SCSI Ultra 320 SCSI