Novell Doc: NW 6.5 SP8: SBCON Administration Guide

2.2 Backing Up Data Using SBCON

When you back up your data, you should use the command line. Make sure that the following prerequisites are met before proceeding with the backup process:

Understand the process for loading SBCON.

See Loading SBCON
If you are backing up the eDirectory database, ensure that eDirectory synchronization and communication are functioning properly.

Before starting the backup, make sure eDirectory is fully functional. This means that all partitions are synchronizing correctly.

If your backup host and targets communicate across a WAN, check the status of the WAN links to verify that they are operating properly.
If you are backing up the file system, make sure you have Read and File Scan rights to the directories and files you are backing up.
Ensure that you know what type of backup you want to perform: full, differential, or incremental.
If you use the Advanced Options, ensure that you know the file system structure of the target you are backing up. You will be prompted for the paths to the volumes and directories that you want to include in or exclude from your backup.
Ensure that you have loaded the drivers for your specific device and controller board.
Ensure that the required files for your target are loaded.
Ensure that you have loaded the SBCON files for your specific target.

See Loading the Target Service Agents in the OES 2: Storage Management Services Administration Guide.
Ensure that media is inserted into your storage device.

Backup Procedure

Load the SBCON modules.

See Loading SBCON.
Click Main Menu > Job Administration > Backup
Click Target Service to select the NetWare or SLES server running your backup or restore Target Service Agent.

To be able to select the server, you need to load the correct Target Service Agent (TSA). See Loading the Target Service Agents in the OES 2: Storage Management Services Administration Guide.

If you do not see the target you want on the list, check for these possible causes:
- The correct Target Service Agent is not loaded on either the host or the target. See Loading the Target Service Agents in the OES 2: Storage Management Services Administration Guide for load commands.
- Network traffic is heavy. Press Esc to return to the Main Menu, and then press Enter again. Your target should now be listed.

Select a target from the Target Services list.

The following table describes the targets that can be selected for the backup.

If you are Backing Up	Then Select
cluster-enabled resources	The cluster-enabled pool you want to back up
The file system	The server whose file system you want to back up
The eDirectory database	The server with TSANDS loaded
Server-specific information	The server whose server-specific information you want to back up, then choose to back up the file system.

When prompted, enter the username (and context, if required) for the target.

If SBCON rejects the username you entered, you probably need to include the context where the User object is located. For example, instead of entering ADMIN as the username, enter .CN=ADMIN.O=company_name or .ADMIN.company_name.

You must include the context in the username at this point if the username you use exists in an eDirectory container that is different from the bindery context set on the server running the engine.
(Conditional) If requested, enter the password for the target.

SBCON will take a few moments to attach to that target.

If you select the default values on this form, a full backup of the source is performed. Otherwise, if you want to perform an incremental or differential backup, select Advanced Options.
Click What to Back Up and press Enter.
Press Insert, select the volumes and files you want to back up, and press Esc.

The selected volumes and files appear in the List Resources screen.
In the Description field, enter a descriptive name for the backup session.

This is a descriptive name of the job, which will help you identify the specific backup session; if a restore is necessary, you can easily identify the session you need. There is no special requirement for what to enter as the session description.

HINT:You might want to include the full path of the data (for example, sys:home\reports\july.02) which you will need to know if a restore session is necessary.
Click Device/Media Name and select a device.

A list of available objects is displayed in the Select a Device screen.

If you accept the default value, the engine selects the device and media that you have designated as the default.

NOTE:If there is only one media type available, it will be treated as the default.

If your device has more than one storage device attached, select an available device from the list. If the device contains multiple media, select the media for the backup.

If the storage media does not have a label, SBCON displays a message saying that the media cannot be identified. Set the label before selecting it for a backup job.
Select Advanced Options.

For more details, see Customizing Backup.
Select Append Session.

This option appears only if your device supports appending to previous sessions on the media.

Accept the default YES if you want to preserve all sessions on the media. The backup session is appended to the media at the end of the previous session. Each appended session has separate backup and error logs.

If you want to overwrite the data on the media, enter NO. The media rewinds and existing data is overwritten by the next backup.

HINT:Labeled media is not considered empty media. No sessions are necessary on the media for you to set the Append option to Yes.

Delete the log and error files for any session you overwrite to avoid trying to restore a session that no longer exists.
Press Enter to save the settings and continue with the backup.

WARNING:If you are appending a backup session to a media set (two or more tapes), use the tape with maximum space.
To return to the Main Menu, press Esc until you back out to the Main Menu.
To exit SBCON, press Esc again and answer the confirmation prompt.

2.2.1 Customizing Backup

You can customize your backup using the Advanced Backup Options form when you use SBCON at the server to launch your backup program. This form allows you to specify exactly what you want to back up data. It could be the server, the eDirectory database, directory, or file. You can even specify subsets of groups. The Advanced Backup Options form activates only after you have selected at least one of the resources (directory or file). Select Advanced Options from the Backup Options form to perform advanced backup sessions. See Section 2.2, Backing Up Data Using SBCON.

HINT:SBCON displays prompts and messages at the bottom of the screen. For example, you can press F1 for help at any time.

If you want to perform a series of backups and restores and need to change your target, see Section 3.2, Changing Your Target.

Figure 2-1 Advanced Backup Options screen

A custom backup allows you to specify exactly what you want to back up: server, volume, the eDirectory database, directory, or file.

To customize a backup:

Select Backup Options > Advanced Options.
Select Backup Type.

By default, the Storage Management Engine (SME) performs a full backup. See Section A.2, Backup Types. Differential and incremental backups are not interchangeable. See Section 1.4, Planning a Backup Schedule.

IMPORTANT:If you choose to include migrated data, ensure that your backup media capacity matches the jukebox media capacity.
Select Subsets of What To Back Up.

The default setting means that everything in the Subsets of What You Want to Backup screen is backed up.

Include/Exclude TSA Resources: Includes or excludes resources such as servers or volumes.

Include/Exclude Directories: Includes or excludes directories.

Include/Exclude Files: Includes or excludes files.

Include/Exclude path/files: Includes or excludes pathnames and files.
Select Scan Options.

The How to Scan What you Are Backing Up screen appears.
Do one of the following:
- If you do not want to accept the default (nothing will be excluded), type Y (Yes) and press Enter.
- Choose to exclude subdirectories, hidden files, system files, etc.
Press Esc to Finish.

For information about how SBCON scans data, see Scanning Data Sets.
Select Execution Time.

The Edit Date and Time screen appears. You can choose the default date and time shown for the backup to begin, or you can type a new date and time. You can change the month/day/year and hour/minute/second fields. The engine should initiate the rescheduled job.

To schedule the job to run another time, press Enter and proceed to Step 8. To accept the default, press Enter.
(Optional) Select Scheduling.

Reschedule: Select Yes to reschedule.

Rerun Interval: Specify the duration in terms of elapsed time and days, months or years to rerun an already scheduled job.

The Edit Date and Time screen appears. You can specify the number of days, months, or years after which an already scheduled job will run.

The day, month, or year you enter should not be the actual date when you want the job to run; rather, it is the duration after which the job gets executed.

Example

If you have scheduled a job to run on 03/20/1999 and want to rerun the job after two months and at the same time, then the Rerun Interval field should be the following:

Year: 0, Month: 2, Day: 0

Hour: 0, Minute: 0, Second: 0

Rerun Count: Specify the number of times you want to rerun a job after the current execution.

Keep Finished Jobs: Select Yes to keep the job in the queue after execution so that it can be rescheduled when you need it.

NOTE:If you are performing a series of backups or restores and need to change your target, follow the procedures in Section 3.2, Changing Your Target.

2.2.2 Backing Up Cluster-Enabled Resources

SBCON supports automatic recovery of backup sessions if failover or failback occurs. The backup engine reconnects to the Target Service Agent and resumes the backup from where it had terminated. Various cluster options like Enable Auto-Recovery and Retry Interval are provided by SBCON. You can use the default values or reset the values while submitting the backup job. The engine begins the reconnection attempts after waiting for a configurable time, and then retries at regular intervals until the connection is re-established or the number of retries has expired.

After the connection is re-established, the internal structures of the TSA are built and the recovered session is continued from where it had terminated. User intervention is not required during the recovery period. You can view the status in the Session Report screen.

Consider the following before preparing for backup and restore of cluster-enabled resources:

If SBCON is loaded on a cluster node and a backup session for a cluster-enabled pool is submitted, the session cannot be recovered if a failover or failback condition occurs on the host server.
SBCON can back up and restore only one cluster-enabled pool per session. This is because the engine is connected to the cluster pool instead of the server on which the cluster pool is mounted.
If you quit an ongoing backup job with the intention of resubmitting the same job later, the job will not restart from where it was terminated; it will restart from the beginning.

For more information, see Backing Up Clusters in the OES 2: Storage Management Services Administration Guide.

To back up cluster-enabled resources:

Load the SBCON modules.

See Loading SBCON.
Click Main Menu > Job Administration > Backup.
Click Target Service to select a cluster-enabled pool name.

To be able to select the target, you need to load the correct Target Service Agent (TSA). See Loading the Target Service Agents in the OES 2: Storage Management Services Administration Guide.

If you do not see the target you want on the list, check for these possible causes:
- The correct Target Service Agent is not loaded on either the host or the target. See Loading the Target Service Agents in the OES 2: Storage Management Services Administration Guide for LOAD commands.
- Network traffic is heavy. Press Esc to return to the Main Menu, and then press Enter again. Your target should now be listed.
Select a target from the Target Services list.
When prompted, enter the username (and context, if required) for the target.

If SBCON rejects the username you entered, you probably need to include the context where the User object is located. For example, instead of entering ADMIN as the username, enter .CN=ADMIN.O=company_name or .ADMIN.company_name.

You must include the context in the username at this point if the username you use exists in an eDirectory container that is different from the bindery context set on the server running the engine.
(Conditional) If requested, enter the password for the target.

SBCON will take a few moments to attach to that target.

If you select the default values on this form, a full backup of the source is performed. Otherwise, if you want to perform an incremental or differential backup, select Advanced Options. For more details on the Advanced options, see Customizing Backup.
Click What to Back Up and press Enter.
Press Insert, select the volumes and files you want to back up, and press Esc.

The selected volumes and files appear in the List Resources screen.
Enter a descriptive name for the backup session in the Description field.

This is a descriptive name of the job, which will help you identify the specific backup session; if a restore is necessary, you can easily identify the session you need. There is no special requirement for what to enter as the session description.

HINT:You might want to include the full path of the data (for example, sys:home\reports\july.02), which you will need to know if a restore session is necessary.
Click Device/Media Name and select a device.

A list of available objects is displayed in the Select a Device screen.

If you accept the default value, the engine selects the device and media which you have designated as the default.

NOTE:If there is only one media type available, it will be treated as the default.

If your device has more than one storage device attached, select an available device from the list. If the device contains multiple media, select the media for the backup.

If the storage media does not have a label, SBCON displays a message saying that the media cannot be identified. Set the label before selecting it for a backup job.
Select Advanced Options and set the desired values for all the fields.

For more details, see Customizing Backup.

NOTE:If you set Enable Auto Recovery to NO in Cluster Options, the remaining options become invalid.
Select Append Session.

This option appears only if your device supports appending to previous sessions on the media.

Accept the default YES if you want to preserve all sessions on the media. The backup session is appended to the media at the end of the previous session. Each appended session has separate backup and error logs.

If you want to overwrite the data on the media, select NO. The media rewinds and existing data is overwritten by the next backup.

HINT:Labeled media is not considered empty media. No sessions are necessary on the media for you to set the Append option to Yes.

Delete the log and error files for any session you overwrite to avoid trying to restore a session that no longer exists.
Press Enter to save the settings and continue with the backup.

WARNING:To append a backup session to a media set (two or more tapes), use the tape with maximum space.
To return to the Main Menu, press Enter and then press Esc until you back out to the Main Menu.
To exit SBCON, press Esc again and answer the confirmation prompt.