Hi folks,

My question is, does anyone know what this message in the bptm log means ....

process_brm_message: no pending messages from bpbrm


For some background, we use BMC's SQL-Backtrack to backup Oracle
databases. SQL-Backtrack starts a backup stream for each table space
(about 2GB each). We multi-plex and multi-stream these backups to a single
tape drive (6 streams). The master is HP-UX, all clients are SAN Media
Servers, either HPUX or Solaris. NetBackup is 4.5 with MP4. These backups
are very fast.

However when we restore, the process frequently pauses for a reasonable
amount of time (up to 5 minutes). During this pause, the message mentioned
above is generated in the bptm log every second.  This will continue for a
variable amount of time, anywhere from a few seconds up to 5 minutes. Then
eventually the restore starts moving again.

During this pause, I can't see anything happening, no NetBackup or
Backtrack processes seem to be doing anything, just this message every
second. The bpbrm process doesn't appear to be anything and no messages
appear in it's log.

The client here is a SAN media server, so the backups and restores are
running locally, not over the LAN. It is not waiting on tape positioning -
we are using STK 9840B tape drives which generally locate in 10 - 15
seconds. However it does seem to be somehow related to tape positioning,
as it only seems to happen when the restore has just moved onto a new
fragment on the tape.

Because a full database restore usually means 200 or more small tablespace
restores, if most of them suffer this pause, that can mean a very
significant delay.

I've pasted a sample of this happening below.

Many thanks in advance for any assistance.

Regards,
Dean