Networker

Re: [Networker] multiple instances of a client in one group?

2004-12-30 09:13:44
Subject: Re: [Networker] multiple instances of a client in one group?
From: Howard Martin <howard.martin AT EDS DOT COM>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 09:13:02 -0500
The major problem with this is that unless you are a small site you need a
rock solid process to modify the client definitions when disks are added
or with sub-directories directories are added or renamed. This is managed
better with either a script that checks and modifies the client savesets
to match the current reality, or as suggested but with the all client in a
different savegroup - we use the latter for a big backup where the fulls
are spread out over several nights but any changes are caught by the all
groups which uses a custom directive to ignore the partitions backed up by
the other client savesets.


On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 04:03:30 -0800, Calvin Thomas
<calvin.thomas AT NACALOGISTICS DOT COM> wrote:

>This seems like a lot of work to get multiple save streams going.  Whats
>wrong with breaking the client backup  into 3-4 save streams by
specifying a
>portion of the backup job instead of using all?
>
>IE insted of all on a Windows PC, you specify
>c:\
>d:\
>e:\
>
>if the PC has 3 disks. If it has a single large disk, specify
>c:\Directory1
>c:\directory2
>c:\Directory3
>
>Each of these will start 3 save streams going and that's one more than you
>get with your method.  The only problem with this is if you have a single
>directory with 30-40 hugh files (I had this in an Oracle database backup.)
>and you want multiple save streams.  That was a problem because it was a
>UNIX client and I couldn't use wildcards.
>
>
>However, with that exception, I have always been able to tune the backups
to
>run however I wanted with this method.
>
>Just a thought
>
>Calvin Thomas
>UNIX System Administrator
>NACA Logistics IT
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Legato NetWorker discussion
>[mailto:NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU]On Behalf Of Preston de Guise
>Sent: Wednesday, 29 December, 2004 06:28 PM
>To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
>Subject: Re: [Networker] multiple instances of a client in one group?
>
>
>Hi Tim,
>
>> We're trying to set up multiple streams from a single large volume on
one
>> of our clients, using the trick with having two client instances -- one
>> using Saveset "All" but with a server-side directive that skips certain
>> directories, and the other client instance that just backs up those
>> particular directories that are skipped via the All.  This method has
>> been discussed on the list before, for example see my post and Itzik
>> Meirson's follow-up from April 6th of 2004.
>>
><snip>
>
>> We have one instance of the client defined, with Saveset All and those
>> directives being used.
>>
>> We're trying to create a second instance of the client, with Saveset set
>> to just
>>
>> ZW01VOL1:APPS
>> ZW01VOL1:FACILITIES
>>
>> As soon as I try put this second client in the same group as the first
>> one, I get an error from NetWorker:
>>
>>         save set of All for client foo.bar in group GroupName excludes
>>         any clients with the same name from the group.
>>
>> I can see why NetWorker would want to at least warn about this -- if
>> you're using "All" with a client, in theory you're backing up everything
>> so having a second instance of the client in the same group seems like
>> a waste.  In practice, though, the directive controls whether anything
>> is really getting backed up by that client instance.  In our case, there
>> would be no significant overlap between the two clients, but NetWorker
>> isn't smart enough to realize this.
>>
>> Is this just a limitation at version 6, or does this still happen at v7
>> too?
>
>No, it remains a limitation in NetWorker v7 as well. In fact,
>NetWorker is so "smart" at detecting this that it will circumvent you
>even if you force a creation of a second client in the same group
>where the first client has a saveset of all:
>
>root@sol
>~$ savegrp -pv -c mac Default
>mac:/special                              level=incr
>mac:All                                   level=incr
>12/30/04 13:12:13 savegrp: Client mac has invalid save sets: 'All' and
>others
>12/30/04 13:12:13 savegrp: Ignoring other save sets for mac
>12/30/04 13:12:13 savegrp: Run up to 4 clients in parallel
>12/30/04 13:12:13 savegrp: mac:probe
>started
>savefs -s sol -c mac -g Default -p -l full -R -v
>
>While I can appreciate the rationale behind the "no other client in a
>savegroup when there's one with 'All' in it" rationale, I agree that
>it's somewhat limiting and ends up creating situations whereby a lot
>of people end up creating "inclusive" backup policies where they
>explicitly include all the savesets to backup, which is often seen as
>easier than maintaining two separate savegroups.
>
>> For those of you that are using this trick to get multiple savestreams
off
>> a big volume, have you found any way to have both instances of a client
>> in the same group, or are you forced to use a second group and run it at
>> the same time?
>
>See above - unless someone knows of a way of munging savegrp NetWorker
>does it's best to force you to not do this, even if you circumvent it
>:(
>
>Cheers,
>
>-Preston de Guise.
>
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