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Veritas NetBackup™ Administrator's Guide, Volume II

Last Published: 2018-09-19

Product(s): NetBackup (8.1.2)

Platform: Linux,UNIX,Windows

Scheduling capacity licensing reports

By default, NetBackup triggers nbdeployutil to run on a specified schedule to incrementally gather data, and to generate capacity licensing reports for the past 90 days.

Incremental reporting parameters

Incremental reporting uses the following four parameters:

FREQUENCY_IN_DAYS: The frequency at which nbdeployutil is run.
MASTER_SERVERS: A comma-separated list of the master servers.
PARENTDIR: The gather and report folder location.
PURGE_INTERVAL: The number of days that the folders retain the gathered data in the incremental directory.

To use the default values, See Use Case I: Using the default values for the capacity licensing report.

To use the custom values, See Use Case II: Using custom values for the capacity licensing report.

The location where the data and reports are generated contains the following files:

The generated report for the latest nbdeployutil result.
Folders containing incrementally gathered data.
The archive folder that contains the older generated reports.
nbdeployutil log files.

The following directories contain the most current capacity licensing report:

On Windows: Install_Dir\NetBackup\var\global\incremental

On UNIX: /usr/openv/var/global/incremental

The older reports are placed in the archive folder. Veritas recommends that you retain at least 90 days of reporting data. Data can be kept longer than 90 days, depending on the requirements of your environment. Older reports can help to show how the capacity usage has changed over time. Delete the reports or the folder when they are no longer required.

Each time nbdeployutil is triggered, the information is gathered for the following duration: from the last successful run to the latest run of nbdeployutil. For the first run, the duration of the report is as per the frequency that is specified in the configuration file (default value is 7 days). The report duration is always for the last 90 days based on the availability of the gathered data. Any data older than 90 days is not considered in the report.

Figure: Generating incremental capacity licensing reports

Use Case I: Using the default values for the capacity licensing report

The nbdeployutilconfig.txt file is not required when using the default parameters. nbdeployutil uses the following default values:

FREQUENCY_IN_DAYS=7
MASTER_SERVERS=local_server
PARENTDIR=folder_name
- For Windows: Install_Dir\NetBackup\var\global\incremental
- For UNIX: /usr/openv/var/global/incremental
PURGE_INTERVAL=180 (number of days).

Use Case II: Using custom values for the capacity licensing report

Edit the nbdeployutilconfig.txt file. If the file is not present, create a file using the following format:

[NBDEPLOYUTIL_INCREMENTAL]
MASTER_SERVERS=<server_names>
FREQUENCY_IN_DAYS=7
PARENTDIR=<folder_name_with_path>
PURGE_INTERVAL=180

To use custom values in the nbdeployutilconfig.txt file

Copy the nbdeployutilconfig.txt file to the following location:
For Windows: Install_Dir\NetBackup\var\global
For UNIX: /usr/openv/var/global
Open and edit nbdeployutilconfig.txt to change the parameters and then save the file.
- FREQUENCY_IN_DAYS=number_of_days
  Based on the frequency that is indicated in this parameter, nbdeployutil gathers the data and generates the report.
  Minimum value: 1 day.
  By default, the frequency value is 7 days to capture optimum capacity usage data.
  - If no value is indicated, nbdeployutil uses the default value.
  - If the frequency indicated is 0, incremental reporting is disabled and no licensing information is captured.
  - If the parameter is deleted, nbdeployutil uses the default value.
- MASTER_SERVERS=server_names
  nbdeployutil gathers the information for each master server that is listed and generates the report.
  - If there is no value in this parameter, nbdeployutil uses the default value.
  - If you delete the parameter, nbdeployutil uses the default value.
  Examples of server names:
  - MASTER_SERVERS=newserver,oldserver
  - MASTER_SERVERS=newserver,oldserver.domain.com
  - MASTER_SERVERS=myserver1.somedomain.com,newserver.domain.com
- PARENTDIR=folder_name_with_path
  To change the gather and report location, edit this parameter.
  - If there is no value in this parameter, nbdeployutil uses the default value.
  - If the parameter is deleted, nbdeployutil uses the default value.
- PURGE_INTERVAL=number_of_days
  Any gathered data that does not fit into the purge_interval value is deleted automatically.
  - If no value is indicated, nbdeployutil uses the default value.
  - If the parameter is deleted, nbdeployutil uses the default value.
  - If fewer than 90 days is indicated, nbdeployutil uses 90 days as the value. Data that is older than 180 days is purged.
    Data to be purged = current date - purge_interval.
    Minimum value = 90 days.

Troubleshooting failures for nbdeployutil and incremental reporting

If nbdeployutil fails to gather data and generate the report for your environment, refer to the logs to understand when the task failed and the reason for the failure.
After you run nbdeployutil manually, it fails with a bpimagelist error with status 37. Ensure that you configured your master servers as trusted master servers.
For Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), protected data size may be reported more than once because the size is reported for the node where data backup happens.
If the backup operation is initiated from different nodes in the Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), the capacity licensing report displays a separate row for every node.
The following error is displayed because of internal web service communication failures:
Report for master server SERVER_NAME is generated using the backup image header method instead of accurate licensing method because of web service interruptions during the gather phase.
For VMware or NDMP, when the backup agent fails to post licensing information to the database, a status code 5930 or 26 displays in the Activity Monitor: For more information, see the Veritas NetBackup Status Codes Reference Guide.

Other points to consider when using nbdeployutil and incremental reporting

To change the directory of the gathered data and licensing report

If you have older gathered data and licensing reports, copy the complete directory to the new location.
Edit nbdeployutilconfig.txt and change the location of the gathered data and licensing report in the PARENTDIR=folder_name field.

To use the previously successful gathered data for generating a capacity licensing report

Copy the gather folder that was generated after previous run of nbdeployutil to the following location:
On Windows: Install_Dir\NetBackup\var\global\incremental
On UNIX: /usr/openv/var/global/incremental
Create the gather_end.json file inside the copied folder and add the following text:
{"success":0}
The next incremental run considers the data inside the copied folder to generate a capacity licensing report.
Note:
Delete any other gather folders inside the copied folder to avoid gaps for the period in which data is gathered. The missing data is automatically generated during the next incremental run.

To create a custom interval report using existing gathered data

To create a report for a time interval that is different than the default interval of 90 days, run the following command:
On Windows:
nbdeployutil.exe --capacity --incremental --report --inc-settings "<Install_Dir>\netbackup\var\global\nbdeployutilconfig.txt" --hoursago <custom-time-interval>
On UNIX:
nbdeployutil.exe --capacity --incremental --report --inc-settings "/usr/openv/var/global/nbdeployutilconfig.txt" --hoursago <custom-time-interval>
The number of hours specified in --hoursago must be fewer than the purge-interval that is specified in the nbdeployutilconfig.txt file.
Note:
nbdeployutil uses existing gathered data to generate the custom interval report. You are not required to use the --gather option.