NetBackup interview Questions and Answers - Top Rated list

#NetBackup interview Questions and Answers. I just described the answers as per my knowledge in a short term, if you need more details information you can go with Veritas.com for FAQ or help documents. You can find more detailed.


1. What is User Backup,User Archive & How to take?
Ans: User initiated backup from Backup Archive and restore window of the client interface. it backs up all the files that user specifies.
User Archive : user will take a backup , once backup is successful then the data from clients disk will be deleted and freed.

Netbackup Cheat Sheet

Master Server Daemons/Processes

Request daemon	bprd
Scheduler	bpsched (started with bprd)
Netbackup database manager	bpdbm (started with bpsched)
Job Monitor	bpjobd (started with bpdbm)

Media Server Daemons/Processes

Communications daemon	bpcd
Backup and restore manager	bpbrm (started with bpcd)
Tape Manager	bptm (started with bpbrm)
Disk Manager	bpdm (started with bpbrm)
Media Manager	ltid
Bar code reader	avrd (started with ltid)
Remote device management/ controls volume database	vmd (started with ltid)
Roboticdaemon (one on each media server) talks to tldcd	tldd (started with ltid)
Robotic control daemon talks to the robot directl via scsi	tldcd (started with ltid)

Catalogs

Master Server
Information about backed-up files	image - /opt/openv/netbackup/db
Storage Unit, Global Configuration, Catalog backup configuration.	config - /opt/openv/netbackup/db
Backup Policy information	class - /opt/openv/netbackup/db
Job status information	jobs - /opt/openv/netbackup/db
Netbackup logs with error and status information	error - /opt/openv/netbackup/db
Information on volumes, volume pools, scratch pool and volume groups	volume - /opt/openv/volmgr/database
Media Server
Tracks assigned volumes (media that has data them)	media - /opt/openv/netbackup/db
Information about devices managed by the media server	device - /opt/openv/volmgr/database

Log and Information Files

Netbackup and Patch versions	/opt/openv/netbackup/bin/version
Media Version	/opt/openv/volmgr/version
Patch Level history	/opt/openv/netbackup/patch/patch.history
Buffer size	/opt/openv/netbackup/db/config/SIZE_DATA_BUFFERS
Number of buffers	/opt/openv/netbackup/db/config/NUMBER_DATA_BUFFERS
Network Buffer Size	/opt/openv/netbackup/NET_BUFFER_SZ (default = 32)
Java GUI authorisation	/opt/openv/java/auth.conf
Catalog type (binary or ASCII)	/opt/openv/netbackup/db/config/cat_format.cfg
Netbackup and media manager parameter files	/opt/openv/netbackup/bp.conf /opt/openv/volmgr/vm.conf
Corrupt Database image files (5.0 and above)	/opt/openv/netbackup/db.corrupt

Server Commands

Check license details	/opt/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/get_license_key
Start Netbackup	netbackup start /opt/openv/netbackup/bin/initbprd (master) /opt/openv/volmgr/bin/vmd (media)
Stop Netbackup (does not disconnect GUI sessions)	netbackup stop /opt/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/bprdreq -terminate (master) /opt/openv/netbackup/bin/bpdbm -terminate (master)
Stop Netbackup and kill all GUI sessions	/opt/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies/bp.kill_all
Start the GUI	/opt/openv/netbackup/bin/jnbSA
Scan for tape devices	sgscan (solaris) ioscan (HPUX)
Display all Netbackup processes	bpps -a
lists servers errors	bperror -U -problems -hoursago bperror -U -backstat -by_statcode -hoursago
display information on a error code	bperror -statuscode [-recommendation]
Reread bp.conf file without stopping Netbackup	bprdreq -rereadconfig
Check database consistency	bpdbm -consistency 1 bpdbm -consistency 2 Check for the below lines: Bad image header Does not exist
Netbackup Recovery
Device catalog is intact	bprecover -l -m -d dlt (listing) bprecover -r -m -d dlt (recovering)
Device catalog is gone or corrupted	bprecover -l -tpath (listing) bprecover -r -tpath (recovering)
Disk backups	bprecover -l -dpath (listing) bprecover -r -dpath (recovering)

Volume Commands

Tape Drive and Inventory Commands
List drive status, detail drive info and pending requests	vmoprcmd
List the tape drive status	vmoprcmd -d ds
List the pending requests	vmoprcmd -d pr
Control a tape device	vmoprcmd [-reset][-up][-down]
List all changes in the robot(but do not update)	vmupdate -recommend -rt tld -rn 0 vmcheckxxx -rt tld -rn 0 -recommend
Empty the robot and re-inventory (using barcodes)	vmupdate -rt tld -rn -rh -vh -nostderr -use_barcode_rules -use_seed -empty_ie
Tape Media Commands
List all pools	vmpool -listall -bx
List tapes in pool	vmquery -pn -bx
List all tapes in the robot	vmquery -rn 0 -bx |grep 'TLD' | sort +4
List cleaning tapes	vmquery -mt dlt_clean -bx
List tape volume details	vmquery -m
Delete a volume from the catalog	vmdelete -m
Change a tapes expiry date	vmchange -exp 12/31/06 23:59:58 -m
Change a tape's media pool	vmchange -p -m

 Media commands

List the storage units	bpstulist -U
Freeze or unfreeze media	bpmedia [-freeze][-unfreeze] -ev
List media details	bpmedialist -ev
List media contents	bpmedialist -U mcontents -m
List backup Image Information	bpimagelist -backupid
Expire client images	bpimage -cleanup -allclients
Expire a tape	bpexpdate -d 0 -ev -force
List all netbackups jobs	bpdbjobs -report [-hoursago]
Move media from one media server to another	bpmedia -movedb -newserver -oldserver

Tape/Robot commands

List tape drives	tpconfig -d
List cleaning times on drives	tpclean -L
clean a drive	tpclean -C
change a drives cleaning frequency	tpclean -F
set a drives cleaning time to zero	tpclean -M
Move tapes within robot using robtest	robtest commands that can be used are as follows: s s (show slots) s d (show drives) s i (show load port) m s250 d5 (move tape from slot 250 into drive 5) uload d5 (unload tape from drive 5) m d5 s250 (move tape from drive 5 to slot 250) m s250 i1 (mov tape from slot 250 to load port 1)
List load port tapes	echo "s i q" | tldtest -r /dev/sg/c0t4l0
List all slot contents	echo "s s q" | tldtest -r /dev/sg/c0t4l0
List tape drive contents	echo "s d q" | tldtest -r /dev/sg/c0t4l0
Move a tape in s100 to drive 1	echo "m s100 d1" | tldtest -r /dev/sg/c0t4l0
Move a tape to load port 1	echo "m s100 i1" | tldtest -r /dev/sg/c0t4l0

Archiving Commands

list archive info	bpcatlist -client all -before Jul 01 2006 bpcatlist -client all -before Aug 01 2006
archive and remove images	bpcatlist -before Jul 01 2006 | bpcatarc | bpcatrm
restore archive files	bpcatlist -before Jul 01 2006 | bpcatres

Client commands

test client connectivity

bpclntcmd [-ip ] bpclntcmd [-hn ] bpclntcmd [-pn] bpclntcmd [-sv]

NetBackup 7.x Backup Process Flow: Step 1-17 process explained in detail

NetBackup 7.x Backup Process Flow

1. When a PolicyClient task has its timer expire (indicating that it is due to run) an internal job task is created within nbpem that sends a Job Start to nbjm for the job which is due. nbpem provides to nbjm the parameters indicated in the backup policy and schedule that is generating the job.


2. nbjm adds the job to its job list or queue. It then communicates with bpjobd to inform it of the job, at which time the job becomes visible in the Activity Monitor in the queued state until resources are allocated for it.

3. nbjm sends a resource allocation request to the Resource Broker, nbrb, indicating the resources which are required for the backup operation and any resource consumption constraints for the job, including max jobs per policy, max jobs per client, and max jobs this client. These resource consumption constraints were provided to nbjm by nbpem when the job was initiated.


4. nbrb requests resources from the EMM service, nbemm, including storage unit, storage unit group, media, and devices or drives.


5. When physical resources are available, nbemm will allocate them and respond to nbrb, which in turn responds to nbjm. With resources allocated for the job, nbjm will notify bpjobd and the job moves to the active state.


6. nbjm is responsible for creating the files in the Images database that will house the backup information, the Header file and the Files (.f) file. nbjm initiates this activity by communicating with bpdbm (via nbproxy).


7. nbjm uses bpcompatd to communicate via PBX to start bpbrm on the media server that will write the backup image. The media server is selected based upon the destination storage unit that is selected.

8. bpbrm on the media server starts bpbkar (the client's backup and archive process) on the client system. bpbrm also starts bptm on the media server.


9. bptm initiates a connection with nbjm in order to get media and drive information for the backup job, which nbjm returns through a separate connection it initiates.


10. bptm will then initiate the mount of the media (tape) specified on the drive specified, or the mount of the disk specified. It will also spawns a bptm child process to receive the image from the client. The details of the Media Manager daemons (ltid, txxd, txxcd, and avrd) involved in the mounting of the media on the drive are not shown in this illustration, to reduce the complexity of the illustration.


11. bpbkar sends information about the backup image to bpbrm which forwards it to bpdbm on the master server. This stream of metadata is sent throughout the backup and stored in the master server's Image database.


12. When mounting and positioning of the media in the drive, or of the disk to be used, have been accomplished, the client backup process, bpbkar, will begin sending backup data to the bptm child process on the media server system. The bptm child process receives the image and stores it block by block into a shared memory segment on the media server. The parent bptm process retrieves the image from shared memory and directs it block by block to the allocated storage media.

13. When the backup has been completed bptm will notify bpbrm, which in turn will notify the Job Manager nbjm that the job has finished bptm will also notify nbjm that it is done with the media.

14. While the client and media server processes invoked to perform the backup operation (bpbrm, bptm, and bpbkar) are terminated, nbjm will update the status for the job by communicating with bpjobd. The job will be changed to Completed status, and the ending status of the job will be recorded.

15. nbjm communicates with bpdbm (using nbproxy) to complete the writing and verification of the files for the backup image in the Images database.

16. With the backup job completed nbjm will de-allocate the resources used for the backup by communicating with nbrb.

17. nbjm will notify nbpem that the job has been completed The completion status will be included in this notification. The PolicyClient task that created the job is responsible for requesting a re-try operation for this job on failure, or for computing the new 'due time' for this job on success.

Available Backup Types in Netbackup (Types of Backup)

1. Full Backup
Is the starting point of all the backups, contains all the data in the folders and files that are selected to be backed up. 

Advantages: Restore is fast
Disadvantages: Backup is slow and consumes more space.

2. Differential Incremental
Takes the backup of the files changed since the latest backup.  Archive bit is reset. Backup is taken based on the time stamp.

NetBackup Tutorial: Steps to verify device configuration using "robtest"

NetBackup Tutorial: Steps to verify device configuration using "robtest"

The process to absolutely verify that the drive path mapping is correct on all of the media servers is a bit time consuming, but will ensure that everything is correct. 

Step 1 
Please note that this test cannot be run while VERITAS NetBackup (tm) is attempting backups, restores, duplicates, or any other actions that involve the robot and drives. 

Step 2 
Acquire the output of " /usr/openv/volmgr/bin/tpconfig -d " from each of the media servers. This is the drive configuration within NetBackup for each server. 

Veritas NetBackup - Step by Step Whitepaper for Configuring VMware Backup Policy

Today i'm going to explain how to configure your VMware integration or backup policy in Veritas Netbackup in a simple and straight way.

This Article provides the step by step process of Netbackup VADP configuration, credentials adding for different Virtual machine servers for Netbackup to enable the Vmware(VADP) backups.

Prerequisites

1.1) Make sure Netbackup Enterprises client license is installed on Master server and media server( in case of traditional based license)

1.2) Define backup host (backup host can be the master or media server also other server)

1.3)  Define the Virtual Machine server that needs to add have the info about the VCenter/Esxihost (name and IP address)

1.4) Verify the bi-directional communication between the Netbackup backup host & Master server to VCenter over the port 443 and ESXi over the port 902

Port 443 Vcenter⇔ Master Server & backup host

Port 902 ESXi ⇔Master Server & backup host

1.5) Get Credential on VCenter for Netbackup to use at the time of backup( if you would like to use the Esxi also for backups get the Credential on ESxi also)