NetBackup Configuration Validation Utility (NCVU) 5.1.1 README

Contents:

1.  General information
2.  Supported NetBackup versions
3.  Supported platforms
4.  What is new
5.  Known NCVU issues.
6.  Installation information
7.  Operation information
   A.  Space requirements
   B.  Command help information
8.  Troubleshooting information
   A.  Installation troubleshooting
   B.  Operation troubleshooting
9.  Legal disclaimer
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1.  GENERAL INFORMATION:

"NCVU" is a VERITAS support utility written in the PERL programming language. It is used to validate NetBackup and associated operating system configurations  
and functionality.  

The NCVU deliverable consists of two files, this NCVU.README file and the NCVU.tar tar file.  
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2. SUPPORTED NetBackup versions:

"NCVU" supports NetBackup versions:

3.2, 3.4, 4.5, 5.0 and 5.1
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3. SUPPORTED PLATFORMS:

Currently, "NCVU" is only supported on the following platforms:

Solaris 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9
HP-UX 10.20, 11.00, 11.11 and 11i(v1)
HP-UX 11i(v2) (11.23) (NetBackup client only)
AIX 4.1.5, 4.2, 4.3, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 5.1 and 5.2
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4.  WHAT IS NEW:

  A.  Support for HP-UX 11.23 systems for NetBackup client nodes only.

  B.  Support for NetBackup version 5.1.

  C.  Changes to NCVU functionality.  Including:

       1.  Added support for CRYPT_CIPHER and CRYPT_KIND bp.conf file entries.

       2.  Added NetBackup policy include list Shadow Copy Components validation.

       3.  Added a new command line parameter -nbu_db_time.  This adds a timer to the checking of the NetBackup catalog backup validation.  The amount of time, in seconds, between prompts that NCVU will give the end-user during the checking of the NetBackup catalog portion of the filesystem.  By default, this timer is not set nor used.  If the option is used without a value, the time is set to 600 seconds.

       4.  Enhanced the NetBackup Catalog backup paths configuration checks to include checking for files that are included in the catalog backup paths.

       5.  Enhanced debug filenames to include a timestamp.  They are now created with the same format as output files.

       6.  Enhanced the command line validation to include checking for duplicate command line options.

   D.  Corrections to problems noted in NCVU functionality.  Including:

       1.  Enhanced the NetBackup Catalog backup paths configuration checks and resulting messages.  NCVU now takes into account default paths and if any links are present in the filesystem directory structure. Added additional messages to STDOUT to provide information on what path is being checked.  Added a key with explanations of the process and methods that NCVU used to validate the configuration paths.

       2.  On HP-UX systems, for the ndd tcp_time_wait_interval check, the ndd tcp_time_wait_interval value was missing from the associated observation message.
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5.  KNOWN NCVU ISSUES:

       On Solaris systems, the parsing of the luns in the  /kernel/drv/st.conf file will not take place if there are no tape devices or options configured.

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6.  INSTALLATION INFORMATION:

The NCVU.tar file contains a directory structure based upon the platforms supported by NCVU.  Currently there are three directories, SOLARIS, AIX AND HP-UX.  Each directory contains the NCVU program for that platform.

To extract a specific platform version of NCVU, use:

# tar -xvf NCVU.tar ./<platform name>

To extract all platform versions of NCVU, use:

# tar -xvf NCVU.tar

 *************************************************************************
 * NOTE:  If a previous PERL version of NCVU is installed, you should  either move or remove all of the NCVU PERL script components:         *
 *                                                                      
 * NCVU, NCVU_media_server, NCVU_client, bp_commands.pm, chk_nbu_conf.pm, chk_nbu_node.pm, chk_sys_nbu_req.pm, os_commands.pm,      *
 * print_commands.pm and vm.commands.pm                                *  *
 *                                                                       * *
 * on each NetBackup node being updated.  For this binary version of NCVU, the installation and referencing of PERL is not required.       * *
 *************************************************************************

After untarring the NCVU programs, place a copy of the appropriate platform NCVU program in the openv/netbackup/bin/goodies/support directory on each
NetBackup node to be validated.  

 *************************************************************************
 * NOTE:  On NetBackup nodes prior to NetBackup release 4.5, the script  *
 * named support must be temporarily renamed, the support directory      *
 * created and the support script moved into the new support directory.  *
 * If any other administration scripts call the support script, the path *
 * should be updated accordingly.                                        *
 *************************************************************************

This version of NCVU takes approximately 29.8 megabytes of space to install.  15.2 megabytes of this space is for the NCVU.tar file and the remaining space is for the actual NCVU programs associated to the platform.
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7.  OPERATION INFORMATION:

   A.  SPACE REQUIREMENTS:

       There are many items that contribute to the size of files that NCVU creates per instance.  Each installation has a different number of configuration items to be validated.  This can include such items as the number of NetBackup nodes, patches installed, bp.conf and vm.conf entries, storage units configured, and classes configured.  As the number of configuration items increase, so does the amount of items reported in the NCVU output report.  

       Running NCVU in debug mode (especially debug level 8 and higher) can create sizable debug files.  This is primarily due to the listing of the output from the various system and NetBackup commands that NCVU parses through.  The number of hostnames contained in the NetBackup configuration and the various operating system hostname resolution systems also has a large impact on the size of the NCVU debug files.

       The number of observations and warnings messages generated by NCVU also has a large bearing on the size of NCVU output and debug files as well.

       Typical file sizes in bytes running on the master server with minimal warnings are:

       NCVU_master.out.XXX output = 30-50K

       NCVU_media.out.XXX for a media server = 75K with approximately 30-50K
       for each additional media server.

       Each media server generates a .input and a .output communication file.

       <media server>.input.XXX  = 1.4-2K
       <media server>.output.XXX = 30-50K

       NCVU_client.out.XXX = 45K with 30K for each additional client.

       Each client generates an .input and an .output communication file.

       <client>.input.XXX  =  @3K
       <client>.output.XXX = @30K

       The minimum amount of free space required to run a single instance of NCVU for master, media servers and clients can be estimated with the following formula:

                       NCVU_master.out.XXX
                       NCVU_media.out.XXX
                       # of additional media servers X 102K
                       NCVU_client.out.XXX
             + # of clients X 63K
                     -------------------------------------------
                       total space required

       Using the above example for a site with 3 media servers and 10 clients:

       NCVU_master.out.XXX                     30,000
       NCVU_media.out.XXX                      75,000
       # of additional media servers X 102K   204,000
       NCVU_client.out.XXX                     45,000
       # of additional clients X 63K          567,000
       -----------------------------------------------
       total space required                   921,000

       Typical level 9 debug file sizes in bytes running on the master server with minimal warnings are:

       -conf master = NCVU_master.debug = 275K

       -conf <media server option> NCVU_master.debug = 275K with approximately
                                                       @100K for each
                                                       additional media server.

       Each media server generates an .output communication file.

       <media server>.output.XXX = @100K

       -conf <client option> NCVU_master.debug = @235K with @35K for each
                                                 additional client.

       Each client generates an .output communication file.

       <client>.output.XXX = @85K

       The minimum amount of free space required to run a single instance of NCVU for master, media servers and clients with debug level 9 enabled can be determined with the following formula:

       Using the above example for a site with 3 media servers and 10 clients:

                       NCVU_master.out.XXX
                       master server debug  
                       NCVU_media.out.XXX
                       media server debug
                       number of additional media servers X 200K
                       NCVU_client.out.XXX
                       client debug
                     + number of clients X 120K
                   -------------------------------------------
                       total space required

       Using the above example for a site with 3 media servers and 10 clients:

       NCVU_master.out.XXX                     30,000
       -conf master NCVU_master.debug         275,000
       NCVU_media.out.XXX                      75,000
       -conf <media server> NCVU_master.debug 275,000
       # of additional media servers X 200K   400,000
       NCVU_client.out.XXX                     45,000
       -conf <client> NCVU_master.debug       235,000
       # of additional clients X 120K       1,080,000
       ----------------------------------------------
       total space required                 2,415,000

       Since each installation is different, the end user should formulate
       the typical sizes for the various NCVU files if free space is a concern.

   B.  COMMAND HELP INFORMATION:

       To obtain information on how to run "NCVU", issue the following help command which will output general information about the utility:

# ./NCVU -help

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8.  TROUBLESHOOTING INFORMATION:

   A.  INSTALLATION TROUBLESHOOTING:

       Problems pertaining to the proper installation of NCVU can be caused by but not limited to:

       1.  Corrupt tar or individual files due to file transfer problems.
       2.  Incorrect file ownership or execution permissions due to installation methods.
   
   B.  OPERATION TROUBLESHOOTING:

       Problems pertaining to the proper operation of NCVU can be caused by but not limited to:

       1.  Incomplete deployment of NCVU utility components to all NetBackup nodes being tested.
       2.  Incomplete configuration of the "trusted host" environment on each NetBackup node being tested.
       3.  NCVU utility components not being installed in or linked to the netbackup/goodies/support directory on each NetBackup node being tested.
       4.  Erratic behavior on command line commands and utilities not returning information to the NCVU program.  Use debug modes to output information to the debug file for verification.
       5.  Utility execution times greater then the wait timeout period.  This could be caused by commands or utilities that get hung or do not return information in a reasonable amount of time.
       6.  Not removing the previous runs  

           <media server name>.ncvu_media_server_config.output.XXX
            or
          <client name>.ncvu_client_config.output.XXX

           output files from the master server's netbackup/bin/goodies/support (or linked location) directory.  This will result in the utility "seeing" the old output files before the current runs output files return resulting in "old" information being included in the current runs report.
       7.  Critical NetBackup product components not being operational.  An example would be the bprd or bpdbm processes not running on the NetBackup master server.
       8.  Related NetBackup configuration items not being configured.  Common examples would be:
         
           a.  Not having any NetBackup storage units configured for media server validations.
           b.  Not having any NetBackup policy residences configured for selected media server validations.
           c.  Not having the NetBackup storage unit group configured for the selected media server group validations.
           d.  Not having any NetBackup policy residences configured for the storage unit group for the selected media server group validations.
           e.  Not having any active NetBackup policies configured for the selected client validations.
           f.  For individual media server or client NCVU validations, not having the correct/exact node hostname defined on the NCVU command line as compared to NetBackup storage unit or policy client configuration hostnames.

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9.  LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Copyright © 2005 VERITAS Software Corporation. All Rights Reserved. VERITAS, VERITAS SOFTWARE, the VERITAS logo, Business Without Interruption, VERITAS The Data Availability Company, NetBackup, NetBackup DataCenter, NetBackup BusinesServer and VERITAS Storage Migrator for UNIX are trademarks or registered trademarks of VERITAS Software Corporation in the US and/or other countries. Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.