Networker

Re: [Networker] Cloning questions

2005-01-12 12:17:52
Subject: Re: [Networker] Cloning questions
From: Darren Dunham <ddunham AT TAOS DOT COM>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 09:17:32 -0800
> A few questions here on cloning.
> 
> o We're running an older copy of NetWorker (6.1.1) so I guess cloning
> works differently wherein the entire saveset is cloned, including all
> the pieces that may live on subsequent volumes, as opposed to just the
> piece on the given tape which I wanna say is how nsrclone works under
> newer releases?

Cloning is always done at the saveset level.  So all versions will clone
an entire saveset, not a subset.

> o Let's suppose I have a save set that is spread across two or more
> tapes but maybe could fit on one tape. Obviously, all the pieces have
> the same ssid. Okay, now let's say I run nsrclone against that ssid, so
> NetWorker loads all the tapes one by one and then clones it off to this
> one clone volume I have.

Right.

> Now, let's suppose I then recycle (relabel) one
> of the affected original volumes. What happens when I try to recover
> that saveset?

When you recycle a volume, Networker deletes the record of any saveset
fragments on it from the media database.  So it knows that the original
backup of that saveset is no longer complete and cannot be used for a
restore.

 Obviously, one of the original tapes is gone, but pieces
> of the save set still live on the other volumes, and the complete
> saveset lives on the clone, so what will NetWorker do? Will it matter
> that I'm running nwrecover versus save set recover?

No.  It'll always choose the clone.  Further, if you had not cloned it,
you would not be able to recover from any of the other fragments
(however you might be able to use 'scanner' directly on the fragments to
write data directly to disk).

> o What's this business of NetWorker wanting to use original versions and
> not clone copies so you have to mark the original suspect to force it to
> use the clone copy? Guess that's only true if the original is still
> listed in the database, i.e. none of the affected tapes has been
> recycled (relabeled)?

Right.  If you have multiple copies, Networker should always choose an
on-line copy for restore.  If none (or multiple) copies are online, then
you might have to use the suspect trick to force the one you want.

> I wanna say that when one of the affected volumes is relabeled, all of
> the savesets on that tape will now be removed from the database, never
> mind whether the savesets are completely contained on the volume or
> not.

Actually, I'm not 100% certain if the entire saveset is removed from the
DB, or if only the fragments that were on that volume are removed.  I
can see either one being correct.

> As a result, none of the pieces would be recoverable from any of the
> tapes, so when I run saveset recover or nwrecover on the affected
> saveset that was cloned, NetWorker will only use the clone copy, and
> everything should behave as if it was the original?

Yup.

-- 
Darren Dunham                                           ddunham AT taos DOT com
Senior Technical Consultant         TAOS            http://www.taos.com/
Got some Dr Pepper?                           San Francisco, CA bay area
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