Re: [Veritas-bu] Converting catalog form Solaris to Windows 2003

All

Reading the synopsis of the unix2dos utility this is for text files
*ONLY* 

Since NBU 4.5 the Netbackup DB's file files have been created in a
binary format. This is what the command cat_convert was created for. To
convert 3.4 ascii NBU database files to binary. And visa-versa until 5.1
when the utility would only allow the conversation of the images files,
file from ascii to binary.

Using the unix2dos utility will ONLY corrupt the files and make them
unusable.

Taking this into account there is NO UN/SUPPORTED WAY to migrate the NBU
DB files from a unix to windows master server. Especially if you are
going to change the master servers hostname in the process.

The best/safest method is to create a new master server from scratch,
with a different hostname. And migrate the clients to it slowly and
import essential images.

This is supported and you will get help from Symantec when you call. 

-----Original Message-----
From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
[mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Curtis
Preston
Sent: 13 July 2007 17:41
To: Ed Wilts
Cc: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Converting catalog form Solaris to Windows
2003

I said it was a try. ;)  My idea was to start a discussion, not solve
the problem in one email. 

I think your comment is confusing two issues:
* Moving from Unix -> Windows
* Changing the name of the master server

They are two very different problems.  Try to do them both at once, and
you'll have a mess.  In my message, I was only trying to do the former,
not the latter.  The latter is also an oft-discussed issue, but there's
an unsupported doc from Symantec about how to do it.  I think there
should be an unsupported doc on how to deal with this issue.  It's been
done.  It's been done hundreds of times.  Let's document it already and
get it out there.

As to "if you have to ask, then you don't have the skill," I understand
what you're saying, but I don't agree with it.  I'd say "if you don't
understand the process, then don't try it."  Or "If you haven't tested
the process every way back and forth, then don't do it."  Or "Don't you
dare use the new server until you've verified that everything made it
over."

As I said in another post, it's all about those line feeds, and in some
cases the endian issue.  If you know what to do when, you could do it.
All I'm trying to see is if we can get someone to talk about what they
did when to see if we can get this sucker documented.


---
W. Curtis Preston
Backup Blog @ www.backupcentral.com
VP Data Protection, GlassHouse Technologies 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Wilts [mailto:ewilts AT ewilts DOT org]
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 6:01 PM
To: Curtis Preston
Cc: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: RE: [Veritas-bu] Converting catalog form Solaris to Windows
2003

Nice try, but I hope nobody follows the template below.  Having been
heavily involved in a Windows to Solaris migration back in 3.4, I can
tell you it's a lot more complicated than this.  If you have to ask for
how to do this migration, honestly, you don't have the skills to
complete it.  

The short answer is to get professional help.  If you don't know what
you're doing, you'll corrupt the works, lose backups as you revert, and
generally create a huge mess for yourself.  You've got both the image
catalog and the volume database to deal with.  You can't do one without
the other.

Along with the fun stuff that Curtis documented below, you'll run into
files that are over 2GB that unix2dos won't handle, and internal
references to the master server name.  It's non-trivial and you'll watch
NBU break in weird and wonderful ways when you try.  

When we did a *media server* rename with a Level 3 person on site (and
this was on 6.0MP4), it still took us several hours and a call to
engineering before we gave up and left it the old name.

        .../Ed
--
Ed Wilts, Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:ewilts AT ewilts DOT org
I GoodSearch for Bundles Of Love:
http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=821118 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu [mailto:veritas-bu- 
> bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Curtis Preston
> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 1:47 PM
> To: Akker Henk van den; veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Converting catalog form Solaris to Windows
> 2003
> 
> Back to the original question. I think the databases (Sybase/emm, etc)

> would restore just fine, but the text files would have a problem.  So 
> what if you just fixed the text files?
> 
> Although it's unsupported, I'm thinking that it's like the scenario 
> below.  (Test and try at your own risk.  I'm typing from memory/ideas,

> not testing.)
> 
> 1. Load NBU software on the new master 2. Load Unix utilities on the 
> Windows server (you're going to want
them
> anyway)
> 3. Recover the database (don't start the daemons yet) 4. Run a script 
> like the following
> 
> cd <openv>
> find . -print |xargs file |grep text |awk -F: '{print $1}'|while read
i
> do
>       unix2dos $i >$$.$i
>       mv $$.$i $i
> done
> 
> Again, try at your own risk.
> 
> ---
> W. Curtis Preston
> Backup Blog @ www.backupcentral.com
> VP Data Protection, GlassHouse Technologies


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