Hi Rob --

You are correct about my generalizations...

Most of my exposure with the incompatibilities stem from the use
of the GUI's on both Unix and Windows back-rev clients.  Most of my
clients are not familiar with the command line usages (mostly due to lack of
interest on their part).  I know that I can restore and backup
from the NB45 Unix client using the commands, but I don't have login
access on most of the clients I'm backing up; I know that there
are corresponding commands on Windows clients, but I've no experience
with them.

I have been unable to connect to a NB5.1 server via the java GUI
from an NB4.5 client (an Unable to login, status: 514 dialog box
pops up upon the login attempt).

I worked with an Oracle dba back in March on RMAN backups and
restores using the existing NB4.5 RMAN scripts.  For the life of me,
I can't remember the actual problems (I was working on a lot
of disk-based backup problems at the time and we only spent a
couple of days of getting the NB45 Oracle stuff to work with the
NB51 master).  Since I can't find any errors in any of my NetBackup
logs, I suspect that the problems were connection-related so there
wouldn't be any errors in the db/errors files.



On Wed, 28 Sep 2005, Rob Worman wrote:

> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 09:45:39 -0500
> From: Rob Worman <rob AT worman DOT org>
> To: Kathryn Hemness <kfhemness AT ucdavis DOT edu>
> Cc: 'Veritas List' <veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu>
> Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Re: Help with connectivity problems to
>     NetBackup 5.1MP3a and Windows 2000/3 clients
>
> Kathryn-
>
> I must respectfully disagree with your generalization below:
>
> "To my knowledge, NetBackup 5.* and NetBackup 4.* binaries
> are only compatible with regards to server-initiated operations."
>
> The NBU "mixed version" compatibility does not exclude client-initiated
> operations.  My master server is 5.1MP3 and I have a 4.5 FP7 client.  I
> have no problem running "bpbackup" or a "bprestore" from that 4.5 FP7
> client.
>
> A caveat that DOES apply to mixed revisions is with a 5.x feature that
> requires a client also running NBU 5.x.
>
> For example, I can enable the checkpoint restart for backups feature
> (because my master is 5.1), but a backup job of my 4.5 client will not
> be able to use that feature.  (a suspended or failed job will always
> have to restart from the beginning)
>
> HTH
> rob
>
> p.s. what sort of error do you see when you try a user-initiated
> operation on a back-rev client?
>
>
> On Sep 26, 2005, at 11:48 AM, Kathryn Hemness wrote:
>
> > Hi Justin --
> >
> > Are your server and Windows clients running the same version
> > of NetBackup?
> >
> > To my knowledge, NetBackup 5.* and NetBackup 4.* binaries are only
> > compatible with regards to server-initiated operations.  I find this
> > partial compatibility both a pain in the neck and a blessing.  Because
> > many of my clients like the freedom to initiate their own backups
> > and restores, it's great incentive for them to upgrade the client.
> > The partial incompatibility is a curse in that I can't perform
> > Oracle backups between a server and a client if the NetBackup versions
> > don't agree, and coordinating an upgrade (which requires the
> > participation of the dbas) is a challenge.
> >
> >
> > If the NetBackup versions differ between the master server and the
> > client,
> > then client-initiated options are restricted because of version
> > incompatibility.
> > The server can backup a client and perform restores to the client, but
> > the client can't initiate either.
> >> ________________________________
> >>
> >> Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 9:10 AM
> >> To: veritas-bu
> >> Subject: Help with connectivity problems to NetBackup 5.1MP3a and
> >> Windows 2000/3 clients.
> >>
> >>
> >> All,
> >>
> >>
> >> Recently, some colleagues have upgraded a lot of servers from
> >> NetBackup
> >> 4.5MP6 to NetBackup 5.1MP3a.  After the last batch of upgrades, there
> >> are now a few problems with Windows 2000/3 servers.
> >>
> >>
> >> boxA: Displays "authentication failed" when trying to refresh its
> >> status
> >> in the host properties -> clients menu. (win2003)
> >>
> >>
> >> boxB: Gets a network connection timeout (but when trying to lookup its
> >> own backups from the client, it shows: (win2003)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> boxC: It says the netbackup user/service cannot read the etc\services
> >> file (when the service is trying to start), even though this file is
> >> readable by everyone. (win2000)
> >>
> >>
> >> Any ideas how to fix any of these issues?
> >>
> >>
> >> I searched Google, only 3 relevant hits were returned with many
> >> questions but no answers.  Also checked this mailing list's archive,
> >> no
> >> luck there either.
> >>
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >>
> >> Justin.
> >>
> >
> >> --__--__--
> >>
> >> Message: 2
> >> Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 09:49:07 -0400
> >> From: "Piszcz, Justin" <jpiszcz AT servervault DOT com>
> >> To: "Piszcz, Justin" <jpiszcz AT servervault DOT com>,
> >>    "veritas-bu" <veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu>
> >> Subject: [Veritas-bu] RE: Help with connectivity problems to
> >> NetBackup 5.1MP3a and Windows 2000/3 clients.
> >>
> >> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> >>
> >> ------_=_NextPart_001_01C5C2A1.10F2B2BE
> >> Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> >>    boundary="----_=_NextPart_002_01C5C2A1.10F2B2BE"
> >>
> >>
> >> ------_=_NextPart_002_01C5C2A1.10F2B2BE
> >> Content-Type: text/plain;
> >>    charset="us-ascii"
> >> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
> >>
> >> # No methods can be used for hosts in the 123.123.56 network:
> >>
> >> #
> >>
> >> # ALL : 123.123.56.
> >>
> >> #
> >>
> >> # The default (ALL : ALL) is no methods can be used for any host.
> >> This
> >>
> >> # means that to be used, a method and host has to be explicitly
> >> defined
> >> in
> >>
> >> # methods_allow.txt.
> >>
> >> #
> >>
> >> ALL : ALL
> >>
> >>
> >> When this is commented out, I cannot connect to the client.
> >>
> >> Uncommenting it on the box in question for boxB fixed the problem.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --kathy
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Veritas-bu maillist  -  Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> > http://mailman.eng.auburn.edu/mailman/listinfo/veritas-bu
> >
>

--kathy

===============================================================================
Kathryn Hemness                        kfhemness AT ucdavis DOT edu
System Administrator                   phone: 530.752.6547
Campus Data Center & Client Services   fax:   530.752.9154