Is recovery possible without index?

Hello,

        If updating index and media database is not require and only have to restore a saveset of file directly from the tape use this command. For this the save set ID should be known to the user.

Run the following command to load the volume:

nsrjb -lnv -S (slot#) -f (device_name)

To recover the entire saveset:

scanner -s save_set_id device_name | uasm –rv

To recover a single file:

scanner -s save_set_id device_name | uasm -rv filename

for more information you can refer this KB article

http://solutions.emc.com/EMCSolutionView.asp?id=esg52699&usertype=C

Hi All,

You can recover individual files using the command line recover also rather than going through scanner but you have to know the full path to all the files. Just putting in the directory will give you an empty directory therefore unless you know the full file path/s neither of these methods work.

Sometimes a saveset recover is quicker to recover everything then just picking out what you want however as the media is from a different NetWorker server this is not an option here but if you could find the saveset id from the original server you could run scanner for just this saveset and populate only media database entries not the file details contained in the Client File Index and you may be able to get what you need more quickly.

Hope this helps.

Bill Mason

Hello,

if you can get the ssid of the saveset containing data you want to restore, you juste have to perform a scanner operation piped to an uasm recovery command.

Tomorrow morning (I'm in France, but not at work), I will give you the way to do it...

Denis

You really need scanner only if the media/save set is not listed in the media index (any longer). Otherwise, the best method is to use a specific recover command.

As you did not specify an OS, let me show you the general syntax:

  recover [other_options] -S ssid_#[/cloneid_#] -a absolute_pathname

NW will revover the directory/file while it is reading the whole save set - it simply filters the approprate files from the data stream.

Be aware that the pathname is case sensitive.

I have a fresh install on a server in no way connected to the old server, and I just have the media.  As I understand, in this situation there is nothing in the media index.

The destination OS is Windows, and I believe the source is as well.

I am currently working on getting the SSIDs and client names from the original environment.

Under these circumstances, you must usually scan the media.

The only way to avoid it would be that you do a DR of the NW bootstrap (assuming the same hostname). This would recover the whole media db in one recover operation. But it will only work if you at least know the media whick keeps the bootstrap backup.

Please see the manuals for details.

Issue a mminfo -av -r "client,name,ssid" volume_name on your old server, this will show the media content.

Then you will be able to look in which SSID specific(s) file(s) or directory(ies) are located.

For recovering, perform a scanner command, like scanner -s save_set_id device_name | uasm -rv filename or directory_name (after having mounted the tape, as explained previously by Vishwanath Krishnappa, who was faster than me ).

But if your client to recover does not have direct access to tape drives, you'll have to create a network ressource visible from the server, then use the relocate flag (-m) for restoring.

you didnt say what data you trying to restore...? scanner doesnt work to rebuild ndmp indexes

As others already responded, this is possible.

The best method will be to rebuild at least the media index Information (scanner -m) ... if you have time.

Then you can either …

  -  recover a whole save set (recover -S ssid) and get your files from here

  -  recover a subset (files/dirs) but you must know the exact full absolute path name like in this example:

        recover -S ssid -a absolute_path_name

Other options may be necessary - please see Command Line Reference for Details.

These rules apply to normal file system backups.

NDMP (and other) backups will need special treatments.