In regard to: [Networker] Moving client to a different Networker server,...:
I'm working to migrate a few clients from one Networker 7.4.4 server to
another,
Same OS, OS version, and architecture, I assume?
and I'm trying to discern the quickest way to merge the index and db
entries into the new server. The documents (DRG) are a little vague on this
process, so I'd love if anyone could recommend. Leaving the old server
operational is not an option as I need to convert it into a storage node,
which will necessitate wiping out the /nsr folder and starting clean.
There are no public tools for merging two media databases. Assuming that
the server you're moving to already has media and index entries that you
want to keep, the only way to get information from the media database from
the old server into the new server is with scanner.
Let's be clear -- the client file indexes are a non-issue, there are
several ways to deal with them. It's populating the media database that
is the challenge.
Seems to me like the recommended procedure would be as follows:
On old server, run 'savegrp -O -G GROUP' for all clients on to one tape.
Insert tape into library for new server.
Run scanner -i on new server to populate indexes.
That only saves the indexes and the bootstrap. Those don't really do you
much good, unless the new server also knows where to find some actual
backups of the client data (i.e. media database entries for all the
savesets that the indexes you just saved reference).
You should probably instead consider
savegrp -l full GROUP
Followed by a scanner of that tape. Whether or not you also then run
savegrp -O GROUP doesn't matter -- if you run scanner -i on a tape
containing full backups of your clients, it will (slowly) build the
indexes from the savesets. If you're going to use -i with scanner, you
don't need to have the index savesets on tape.
If the servers are both same os/arch/version, there is one tiny shortcut
you could take. Copy the client indexes from the old server to the new
one and then just run "scanner -m" rather than "scanner -i". You're still
going to end up scanning any tapes that the new server needs to know
about, but -m is faster than -i, especially if you're talking about a lot
of tapes. So sayeth EMC support.
If you're not in a true disaster recovery situation, I would probably just
go with the full backup and then scanner -i method.
My question is: is this the most efficient way (or can I move index files and
run some iteration of nsrck),
Won't work, because although the client file indexes can be copied on a
per-client basis, the media database is an opaque blob. The way to
populate it is with scanner.
If you were to move the client file indexes and then run nsrck (anything
from -L1 to -L6), nsrck is probably just going to prune most of what's in
your client file index anyway, because it believes that any savesets
referenced no longer exist, because there are no media database entries.
You also can't use nsrck -L7, because there needs to be media database
entries for the index savesets to pull them back. You're back to scanner
-m, at a minimum.
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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