Veritas-bu

Re: [Veritas-bu] AFS backups / restores with Solaris or Linux

2010-04-08 14:57:08
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] AFS backups / restores with Solaris or Linux
From: Gary Gatling <gsgatlin AT eos.ncsu DOT edu>
To: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2010 14:56:56 -0400 (EDT)
Greetings,

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried looking for a NetBackup 5.0 Linux 
client and I couldn't find one. So thats that.

I also tried installing a NetBackup 7.0 server and two 7.0 clients. One on 
Solaris 10 and one on RHEL 5.

I still get tons of fail on Linux with this setup. I actually tried using 
"strings" to see of I could find and references to vos commands buried 
within the "bpbkar" executables on either platform. On solaris there were 
12 lines of vos commands I could identify. Stuff like this:

Not updated since full, skipped running vos dump for %s

On the Linux client there were only 2 lines. So it seems the Linux 
executable was never compiled with many of the AFS features. No wonder it 
doesn't work!

I also tried calling Symantec technical support to report this "bug" and 
they said I would be getting a call back about this issue. But I am 
thinking this is just not going to ever work. They sent me to this pdf 
file that says openAFS support is only for Solaris 8 SPARC. Lovely... 
EOLed os.

I have just found out that it seems that our university is looking into 
teradactyl 
(http://www.teradactyl.com/backup-solutions/backup-platforms/openafs-backup.html)
 
since it seems they actually support AFS. Yay. Hopefully this other 
solution will work out better and we won't have to pay so much for the 
backup software.

Thanks for the replys about this. At least I have an answer now. And the 
answer seems to be "switch companies" or roll your own solution. :)

Gary Gatling      | ITECS Systems
ITECS, BOX 7901   | Operations and Systems Analyst
NCSU, Raleigh, NC | Email: gsgatlin AT eos.ncsu DOT edu
27695-7901        | Phone: (919) 513-4572 (5C Page Hall)

On Wed, 31 Mar 2010, Ron Jack (Systems Network) wrote:

> I have zero experience with AFS, so your post piqued my curiosity. Plus,
> I'm just down the street, so I thought I'd try to assist a neighbor.
>
> Total stab in the dark - try the 5.0 client.
>
> It certainly appears AFS support is dodgy and that Veritas doesn't want
> to hear about it. So, yes, most folks seem to split the difference by
> scripting out the "vos dump" and backing that up. From the openAFS
> mailing list archive:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/openafs-info AT openafs DOT org/msg20079.html
>
> That link at the top of the page to the scripts still works. Wheel
> invented, as it were.
>
> Ron
>
>
> Gary Gatling wrote:
>> Greeetings,
>>
>> At my work we use several AFS file servers for storage. We have been using
>> netbackup to backup and restore these servers for many years. They are
>> all running on Solaris 10 on SPARC hardware.
>>
>> We would love it if it would be possible to switch to using Red Hat
>> Enterprise Linux for these AFS servers. The SPARC stuff is just too
>> expensive. And their is the uncertanty about Oracle's takover. I do
>> actually use RHEL 5 to run some AFS servers that don't need to be backup
>> up...
>>
>> When I last tried setting up a server and doing a backup/ restore with a
>> test AFS file server running under RHEL 5, it did not work. Restores from
>> a backup done on a SPARC system worked on Linux. But a backup would not
>> work. Instead of backing up the /vicepa patition volumes it tried to
>> backup all the actual files on the /vicepa partition. On our Solaris and
>> Linux AFS fileservers we are using namei type AFS fileservers.
>>
>> The files have names like:
>>
>> /vicepa/AFSIDat/R1/R5y0U/+/+/0++++6
>>
>> these files contain the actual data that is used by the AFS volumes. It
>> shouldn't be backing those up. Instead it should be doing a "vos dump"
>> command to copy the .backup volume.
>>
>> The backup selection in the client is:
>>
>> /vicep[a-z]
>>
>> I was wondering how I could go about reporting this bug? Any chance it
>> could ever be fixed? I have been told netbackup does and doesn't
>> support AFS fileservers any longer... I'd hate to have to cobble together
>> our own backup solution when netbackup has been working so well all these
>> years.
>>
>> The versions of netbackup client I tried were:
>>
>> netbackup 5.1, 7M.
>>
>> netbackup 6.0, 4M.
>>
>> netbackup 6.5.3.1.
>>
>> The version of afs we are using on our servers is 1.4.11.
>>
>> I was told by a Linux sysadmin I know that this used to work with RHEL 3.
>> But he didn't provide any further details such as the version of
>> netbackup client it used to work with.
>>
>> Another group has taken over our backups and soon I will not have access
>> to a tape robot any more or a netbackup server. After that I will only
>> have access to the clients. As for the group taking over our backups
>> their blanket answers are: "AFS + netbackup will only be supported and
>> work on solaris 8" which is rubbish since I have many Solaris 10 systems
>> and it works just fine. Solaris 8 was end of lifed so I know using it
>> forever is not a realistic answer either. Our Sun hardware is out of
>> warranty and getting older every day.
>>
>> I know a lot of other services have moved away from UNIX to Linux over the
>> years so it should be possible for this last one of our dependencies to
>> get fixed if symantec still supports afs. Thats the big "if" I guess.
>>
>> I tried asking about this topic on the openAFS mailing lists but was told
>> symantec didn't care about AFS support on Linux and that we should cobble
>> together our own solution. I fear this is not an option and that
>> in the end taxpayers dolars will be wasted on expensive Sun hardware if
>> this is the only asnwer. We also can't dich AFS yet.
>>
>> Thanks for any ideas anyone might have.
>>
>> Gary Gatling      | ITECS Systems
>> ITECS, BOX 7901   | Operations and Systems Analyst
>> NCSU, Raleigh, NC | Email: gsgatlin AT eos.ncsu DOT edu
>> 27695-7901        | Phone: (919) 513-4572 (5C Page Hall)
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>> Veritas-bu maillist  -  Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
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>
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