Netting Out NetBackup

I’ve been involved with several projects related to NetBackup reporting over the years. In each of those projects I have heard customers voice a concern about producing a report that tells them conclusively that their clients are protected.

It sounds like a very simple report to produce. I wish it were always simple.

Let’s look at a few of the gory details. First, which client list is canonical?

• All clients who are currently included in a NetBackup policy?
• All clients who have had a backup in the past have data retained in the NetBackup catalog?
• All clients who have had a job run during a certain time period.

Choosing any of the lists of clients has its issues. In an ideal world the lists above would all be the same. In reality they overlap, but rarely match 100%. For example, the act of de-commissioning a server may result in a ticket to remove the client from a policy, but backup images may remain on tape...

Hi, my name is Tim Burlowski. I am a technical product manager and I work in the NetBackup product management group. If you are wondering, I am certainly not the "new sheriff."

I've worked at Symantec for almost 10 years. The last ten years have been a long strange trip to say the least.

When I first started working on NetBackup the initial configuration was not for the faint of heart. One of the first tasks I was given was performing some release testing for NetBackup 3.11. I was given a sheet of paper with directions for remotely mounting a tape and installing client software from that tape. I had to find an AIX server, mount the 8mm tape and then install a client across the network from a Solaris system. I recall that it all worked by the way, but it would be generous and kind to describe the process as anything...