In regard to: [Networker] 2 restore questions on 7.4.x & 7.2.x, Adam Yeung...:

Version: Networker 7.2.x (Server & Client) I could not find any files
under a mount point (For example, /abc) in the Networker client when
perform Networker restore. This machine was upgraded from Solaris 8 to
Solaris 10 in May, and i did re-install and configure the networker
backup of this machine after OS upgrade.  We noted that /abc was a soft
link pointing to /data/abc in previous Solaris 8 OS while /abc is now a
mount point to local disk. The Networker backup of this machine is
completed without error, but the files under /abc disappear in Networker
restore. How can i restore the data?

Do they appear under /data/abc when you browse that?  There have been
issues with changing from a soft link to a mount point or directory.  This
may even be documented in the release notes for 7.2.x.  I certainly
remember seeing a warning about it somewhere, but don't recall where.

I'm pretty certain that your data was backed up successfully and is on
tape, it's just a matter of finding it.

(2)
Version: Networker 7.4.x (Server & Client)
We set the browse and retention policies be 6 days. The full backup job
are OK at last Monday (1 tape used), and we changed the recycle of this
tape from auto to manual. Today, we put this tape into the tape library
and we would like to make a file restore. But we can't restore those
file by this tape. There is no record inside the index. I can just
restore those file by this Monday full backup. How can i restore the
data by using the last Monday full backup? Thanks!

Because the browse policy is 6 days, the information about what files were
backed up in each saveset has been removed from the client index.
Switching the tape from auto to manual doesn't prevent NetWorker from
expiring information in the client indexes -- it only prevents NetWorker
from overwriting a tape.  All your data is still safely on tape, but
NetWorker has "forgotten" about what files are part of each saveset.

There are a couple ways to make NetWorker remember what files are part of
each saveset, and there's one additional way to restore the data even
if NetWorker doesn't know the files are there.

- the normal NetWorker operation is that once a backup completes, the
  client index for that client is then backed up.  This can be changed,
  but if you haven't changed it, then the tape likely contains a backup
  of the index.

  If that's the case, you can quickly merge that index backup into the
  existing client index using the "nsrck" command with the "-L7" argument
  and a time specification and client name.

- if the index was not saved on the same tape (which might be the case
  if you've made configuration changes to how indexes are saved), then
  you can "re-index" the savesets on the tape using the "scanner" command,
  probably with the "-i" argument.  This operation will be slow, but when
  it completes you will be able to browse and restore data from the
  savesets on the tape.

- You actually don't need to reload the index (what nsrck -L7 does) or
  rebuild it (what scanner does) if you know the exact paths of the files
  you want to restore.  You can just do a saveset recover and specify
  the path(s) to limit what files are recovered.  You don't "browse" for
  files if you use this method.  NetWorker essentially searches the tape
  looking for the path(s) you specify without bothering to rebuild the
  index.  This operation is also very slow and it requires that you
  know the exact path(s).

You probably want to spend some time reviewing the NetWorker
Administration PDF.  Pay particular attention to the section that talks
about the difference between browse and retention time, as well as the
section that talks about recovering files that have exceeded the browse
time.  Those sections will give you a better understanding of the basic
information I've provided above.

Tim
--
Tim Mooney                                             Tim.Mooney AT ndsu DOT 
edu
Enterprise Computing & Infrastructure                  701-231-1076 (Voice)
Room 242-J6, IACC Building                             701-231-8541 (Fax)
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164

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