Netbackup - data migration between tapes

Post date: Feb 21, 2012

Objective: Migrate backup data images from one tape (old) to another (new), in this case from LTO3 to LTO5.

GUI solution - Symantec Netbackup Administration Console

In order to go to successfully accomplish the objective you only need to go through sections 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7.

Duplicating backup images

1 - Go to "Netbackup Management" -> "Catalog" -> "Search"

a - in the "Action" drop down menu, select "duplicate" (in order to search for items that qualify for duplication);

b - in the "Media ID" drop down menu select the ID of the source tape (the tape you wish to duplicate - the old one);

c - in the "Date/Time Range"

- "From" select some date you are sure it is before any image was written to the tape (since the first LTO3 media was approved in November 2004, I think some date within that year would be a good choice)

- "To" should already be in the most recent date

d - in the "Copies" drop down menu, "Primary Copy" should be selected (if it isn't already)

e - click "Search Now"

2 - Having finished the steps described in section 1

a - select all of the found backup images, right click on them and click on "Duplicate";

b - select the destination "Storage unit" (where the destination tapes reside);

c - select the destination "Volume pool", since it is a different storage unit you can choose the same as the original, otherwise, you should choose a different volume pool in order to avoid duplication to same tape;

d - check "Primary" at the respective copy;

e - ror "For each image if this copy fails" choose "fail all copies", since you wan to make sure every image is successfully migrated;

f - under "Copies" choose "1", if it isn't already;

g - leave "Retention" with "no change";

h - you can either check or leave "Preserver multiplexing" as is. If you keep multiplexing, the job will go faster;

i - click "OK";

j - click "OK" to begin the duplication job.

Monitoring Activity

3 - Now you can either monitor the job

a - in the "Netbackup Management" -> "Catalog" ->"Results" pane;

b - or in the "Netbackup Management" -> "Activity Monitor";

As soon as it finishes successfully you should be able to confirm the backup images are in the destination tapes.

(As you can see in this picture the process finished successfully.)

Validating backup images duplication

4 - You can now confirm that the images are in the destination tape

a - in the "Action" drop down menu, either select "Duplicate" or "Verify";

b - in the "Media ID" drop down menu select the ID of the tape where the copy images were placed (the new one);

c - in the "Date/Time Range"

- "From" select some date you are sure it is before any original image was written to tape (since the first LTO3 media was approved in November 2004, I think some date within that year would be a good choice);

- "To" should already be in the most recent date;

d - in the "Copies" drop down menu, select the appropriate Copy instead of the "Primary Copy" (look at duplication logs for the copy number);

e - click "Search Now".

(In my example the copy number is "2", the original "Primary Copy" was number "1"; you can also confirm here that this copy is the primary)

Verifying backup images data

5 - You could also verify the backup images content by

a - repeat steps described in section 4;

b - select all of the found backup images, right click on them and click on "Verify";

c - in the next window you can check "Log all files found in verified images(s)." if you want and click "OK", or just go for the "OK";

d - Once again, you can monitor this activity the same way it was described in section 3.

Expiring original backup images

6 - In order to expire original backup images, you must first identify the

a - repeat steps "a" to "c" described in section 1 (1-a you can either select "Duplicate" or "Verify");

b - in the "Copies" drop down menu, select the appropriate Copy instead of the "Primary Copy" (the original copy number);

c - click "Search Now".

(In my example the original copy number "1"; you can also confirm that this copy are no longer primary)

7 - Having finished the steps described in section 6

a - select all of the found backup images, right click on them and click on "Expire" (they should be the same - same backup ID - previously identified in section 1);

b - click "Yes";

d - Once again, you can monitor this activity the same way it was described in section 3.

Conclusion

After a while you see that your tape is also expired and release to SCRATCH or were you have configured it to go to. I don't know why, but this doesn't happen immediatly after you expire all images in that tape...

OK, this is it! If everything went nice and smoothly, you are done!

Command line solution

(maybe someday...)

Notes

This is a straight forward HowTo if you don't have multiple backup image copies, nevertheless, if you do, the process is very similar, you just have to take into consideration that every single copy (either Primary or not) needs to be duplicated to a new location before you can expire the original (old one).

Reference

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/how-copy-backup-images-one-media-different

http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/how-duplicate-netbackup-media-tape-backup-another-media-tape

Software versions

- Symantec Netbackup 7.1