Tech Alert: A potential for missed backups without notification has been discovered in NetBackup Server/Enterprise Server when calendar based schedules have a configured window spanning midnight and go Active after midnight.

Document ID: 311581
http://support.veritas.com/docs/311581

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Details:

Introduction:
A potential for missed backups without notification has been discovered in NetBackup Server/Enterprise Server when calendar based schedules have a configured window spanning midnight and go Active after midnight. This may result in a client backup not running during the next open window for any calendar based schedules configured in the same policy. This is independent of the scheduled backup type being configured as Full or Incremental.

What is Affected:
NetBackup Server/Enterprise Server Master Servers, on all supported platforms for the following versions.

- NetBackup Server/Enterprise Server 6.5.2 with versions 2,3,4 or 5 of the nbpem binary applied *

- NetBackup Server/Enterprise Server 6.5.2A with versions 2,3,4 or 5 of the nbpem binary applied *

- NetBackup Server/Enterprise Server 6.5.3

* In NetBackup Server/Enterprise Server 6.5.2 / 6.5.2A the nbpem binaries that exhibit this issue are only available from Symantec by contacting Symantec's Enterprise Technical Support. If no nbpem binaries have been obtained and applied from support, this issue will not occur on 6.5.2/6.5.2A. These binaries are not installed with a standard NetBackup installation and must be manually placed on the Master Server. To determine if a PEM2 binary has been applied to the Master Server run 'versioninfo' against nbpem. If the version output list anything other than just NetBackup 6.5.2 / 6.5.2A or SET1448343 this issue may be experienced.

Windows:

<install_path>\NetBackup\bin\goodies\versioninfo.exe -f <path and file to be checked>

UNIX:

usr/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies/support/versioninfo -f <path and file to be checked>

Example outputs of versioninfo showing some affected versions (bold for clarification)

- <install_path>\NetBackup\bin\goodies\versioninfo.exe -f "c:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\nbpem.exe"

@(#) NetBackup_6.5.2A

@(#) NetBackup_6.5.2A_EEB1_PET1414241_SET1429781

- <install_path>\NetBackup\bin\goodies\versioninfo.exe -f "c:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\nbpem.exe"

@(#) NetBackup_6.5.2A

@(#) NetBackup_6.5.2A_EEB1_PET1322971_SET1322956

@(#) NetBackup_6.5.2A_EEB2_PET1322971_SET1322956

@(#) NetBackup_6.5.2A_EEB5_PET1322971_SET1322956

- <install_path>\NetBackup\bin\goodies\versioninfo.exe -f "c:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\nbpem.exe"

@(#) NetBackup_6.5.2A

@(#) NetBackup_6.5.2A_EEB2_PET1300264_SET1300108 includes ET1293216

How to Determine if Affected:
If ALL of the following conditions are true, data loss has been known to occur:

- The Master Server is running one of the affected versions above on a supported platform

- The nbpem binary version 2,3,4 or 5 has been obtained by support and applied to the Master Server or the NetBackup 6.5.3 release update has been applied.

- Calendar based schedules are in use

- A calendar based schedule has a start window that spans midnight

- A backup from this calendar based schedule goes Active after midnight and completes successfully

If all of these conditions occur, any calendar based schedule in this same policy configured to run on the next day may be missed.

Example 1:

- A 6.5.2 NetBackup Master Server has a "version 5" nbpem EEB applied which was supplied from support

- Within a policy, a Incremental calendar based schedule is configured with an open window of 11:30PM - 2 AM (spanning midnight)

- This calendar based schedule is set to run Monday through Thursday (consecutive days)

- On Monday night, the backup goes into a Queued status at 11:30PM

- The backup goes Active at 1AM Tuesday morning (1.5 hours after the window opened)

- The backup completes successfully

- On Tuesday, the Window opens at 11:30PM, but the backup does not run due to this issue

- On Wednesday, the Window opens at 11:30PM, and the backup runs again as scheduled

In this example, the client Incremental backup will be missed on Tuesday.

Example 2:

- A 6.5.2 NetBackup Master Server has "version 5" nbpem EEB applied which was supplied from support

- Within a policy, a Full calendar based schedule is configured with an open window of 11:30PM - 2 AM (spanning midnight)

- This Full calendar based schedule is set to run on Friday

- On Friday night, the backup goes into a Queued status at 11:30PM

- The backup goes Active at 1AM Saturday morning (1.5 hours after the window opened)

- The backup completes successfully

- This policy also contains a Incremental calendar based schedule configured with an open window of 11:30 - 2AM on Saturday through Thursday

- On Saturday, the Incremental calendar based schedule window opens at 11:30PM, but the backup does not run due to this issue

- On Sunday, the Incremental window opens at 11:30PM, and the backup runs as scheduled

In this example, the client Incremental backup will be missed on Saturday.

Workarounds:
There are two different available workarounds for this issue:

1. Configure calendar based schedules so that open windows do NOT span midnight.

2. Configure frequency based schedules instead of calendar based schedules.

If these workarounds are not feasible or the formal resolution cannot be applied, please contact Symantec Technical Services, referencing this TechNote ID (311581) and Etrack 1454446.

Formal Resolution:
The formal resolution to this issue has been included in the following patch release:

NetBackup 6.5 Release Update 3 Hotfix 1 (6.5.3.1)

NetBackup 6.5.3.1 is available from "Related Documents" section below and can be found on the Support Web site at the following link: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/downloads.jsp?pid=15143

Please be aware that this hotfix requires prior installation of the NetBackup 6.5.3 Release Update.

Note that a formal resolution will prevent this issue from occurring to future backups, but cannot recover data from missed backups.

Symantec Strongly Recommends the Following Best Practices:

1. Always perform a Full backup prior to and after any changes to your environment.

2. Always make sure that your environment is running the latest version and patch level.

How to Subscribe to Software Alerts:
If you have not received this TechNote from the Symantec Email Notification Service as a Software Alerts, please subscribe at the following link:
http://maillist.entsupport.symantec.com/subscribe.asp

Supplemental Material:

System: Ref.#	Description
ETrack: 1391268	Calendar incremental backups won't run on same day as calendar full backups.
ETrack: 1427901	Backups starting in window after midnight will not run next day
ETrack: 1454446

Products Applied:
NetBackup Enterprise Server 6.5.2, 6.5.3
NetBackup Server 6.5.2, 6.5.3

Last Updated: February 18 2009 08:06 PM GMT
Expires on: 12-01-2009

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Subjects:
NetBackup Enterprise Server
Publishing Status: Techalert
NetBackup Server
Publishing Status: Techalert

Languages:
English (US)

Operating Systems:
NetWare

6.0, 6.5

Windows 2000

Advanced Server SP4, Datacenter Server SP4, SAK, Server SP4

AIX

5.1, 5.2, 5.3

TRU64

5.1B, 5.1B2, 5.1B3

HP-UX

11.0, 11.11, 11i v2 (IA64), 11i v2 (PA-RISC)

Solaris

10, 8.0, 9.0

Linux

RHAS 2.1, RHEL 3.0 (AS), RHEL 3.0 (ES), RHEL 4.0, Red Flag AS 4.1, Red Flag AS 5.0 SP1, SLES 10 SP1, SLES 8, SLES 9, SLES 9 (IA64)

Windows Server 2003

DataCenter SP1, DataCenter SP1(IA64), Enterprise (IA64), Enterprise ServerSP1, Standard Server(x64), Storage Server, Web Server SP1

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