Is it necessary for the Networker server to backup itself?

Hello,

I think it's not necessary to backup the networker server. In case of a server crash you have to reinstall the O/S & the NW server and do a bootstrap restore (you can search for the last bootstrap ss but it's very good if you set some notifications and you have always have infos about the last bootstrap).

bootstrap backup is a special backup generated by the nw server, it contains the networker databases. It's important to make sure that you have regular client index backups as well, because index backup is not included in the bootstrap backup.

You will loose all backup info since the last bootstrap backup.. but you still can scan your volumes if needed. Any other nw server filesystem/image level backup & restore will result in a much more inconsistent nw database / media info, which could be much more pain to fix it.

Please do not rely only on my opinions, I hope other forum members will also share their ideas.

Best regards,

Istvan

Can someone email me the procedures on dining proper protection for NW? We have vba as well. Thanks

brastedd,

     The index:XXX backups is nothing but the backup of the /nsr/index/XXX folder and the bootstrap is a backup of the /nsr/res and /nsr/mm folders. The index backups are useful to get back index files when the saveset is in recoverable or recyclable mode (using nsrck -L7).

     You can stop index file backups if you think they eating you tape/device capacity as there are other ways to get back the index but having a index backup makes the restore of index very easy, just a one step process. As for the bootstrap backup i would recommend keeping this active as it comes in very handy for a DR situation. I really don't think there is any use of backing up your NetWorker server to Avamar because the files inside the res, mm and index are open most of the time when the NetWorker is up and running and might be in a consistent state.

Hi carzyrov,

just for curiosity - could you please explain how to do that "  You can stop index file backups ...." ?

Thanks and regards

Thanks for the replies. I'm still a little puzzled - one of you says the bootstrap is generated during the backup, another says it's just a certain folder(s) that gets backed up. In the first case, my assumption would be to keep the Networker backup going as I wouldn't be able to get the most up-to-date bootstrap without doing a Networker backup. In the second, it would seem that Avamar can pick up everything necessary at any time so I don't need the Networker backup too. Or is the Networker bootstrap only updated when it does a backup of itself?

The NW Disaster Recovery Save Set is nothing else but a file backup of the mentioned directories.

To recognize it easier, it is named 'bootstrap'.

By default it is done

  - at least once a day when the NW client on the server is backed up (automatically)

  - if this group is enabled.

If there is no automatic backup of the NW server's client it is created with the run of any group (a precaution).

Of course Avamar can run the backups of these directories. However, some information resides in databases and only NW has the correct mechanisms to treat them correctly while it is running. Therefore I would not recommend to use Avamar for that purpose.

As I had already mentioned the saveset “Bootstrap” is nothing but “/nsr/res and /nsr/mm” folders backed up with to tape/device at a consistent state. Please remember that most of the files inside these folders are open when NetWorker is up and running, so getting the backup done through NetWorker is the best way to go as all the files will be in a consistent state when the backup is done.

Hi Bingo,

You can do this on the group properties. Go to Group properties for the client in question -> “Advanced” tab -> “options” -> select “No index save”.

Hi Crazyrov,

that's what I thought. To the best of my knowledge, the effect of this option is often misinterpreted - I personally verified it years ago.

It says: "No index save" but this is wrong. In fact this option prevents the creation of file index information. So what is the difference?

  - As we know - when a browsable save set/stream is created, the file index information is also embedded into the save stream and it is simultaneously sent to the CFI db. This option in fact prevents the creation - so the index information is not even created.

- Consequently,

    - there is no CFI info which needs to be backed up ---> "no index save" makes total sense

    - and it will of course also not be there for a separate index backup process.

    - and it will not be embedded in the save stream which means that you will never be able to rebuild it with "scanner -i"

I am pretty sure that this behavior did not change ...

I assume you are referring to the “No index creation” on the pool settings ?

However, let me test this out in my lab environment real quick and conclude.

Thanks Bingo.

bingo,

     I did the test with the default option, with "no idex save" on group  and with "Store index files" unchecked on the pool. The result is that for the first two had cb and the last one had cr.

bingo wrote: It says: "No index save" but this is wrong. In fact this option prevents the creation of file index information. So what is the difference?

Some people made mistakes some years ago with it; there is difference on how this works on pool and group level.  On group level it will just cause not to save index and bootstrap (unless group contains server client and it will be totally ignored if server client is not in enabled group).