Quick tape catalog migration

[jonwheeler]

Hi there,

I've been tasked with finding out if it is possible to do a quick tape catalog migration from one host to another.

The scenario is that we have a master/media server that is connected to a tape library and we are upgrading to a bigger better master/media server using the same tape library.

With other programs (BE for example) you can do a catalog and it will read in each tape and find out whats on it. That can take a long time, especially if you have 1000 tapes. I imagine it is similar with NBU (I've never gotten into that aspect of the program) where it has to read in each tape and build the catalog.

So is there a quick easy way to just copy the tape catalog from one host to another so that when we load NBU up, it already knows everything about all the tapes in the library?

I'm not an NBU expert, but I do know how to basically use it.

Thanks a million!

 

[Martin999]

You don;t mention which ver. of NBU you have, I'll presume it's 6.x

YOu can easily do what you want, he's how.

Run on the old master, a hot catalog backup. This should be done anyway, at least daily in case of failure.
Let me know if you need help setting it up.

Then, copy the DR file across to the new master. The location of the DR file can be found from the DR tab in the catalog backup policy. There is one created for every catalog backup. Copy the latest across.

Now, shutdown, or unplug the old master from the network.

On the new master, which must have the same hostname, inventory the library. Run the catalog restore wizard, this will ask for the location of the DR file, and then will recover the catalog automatically.

When finished, you may need to reconfig the devices.

Job done.

ps. I really do not recommend rying to manually copy across any of the catalog, it tends to go horribly wrong.

Martin