Veritas NetBackup™ Appliance Troubleshooting Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (3.0)
  1. About using the Troubleshooting Guide
    1.  
      About this guide
    2.  
      About the intended audience
    3.  
      About contacting Technical Support
    4.  
      About troubleshooting the NetBackup Appliance
  2. Best practices
    1.  
      About best practices
    2.  
      Determining the NetBackup Appliance serial number
    3.  
      About Fibre Channel HBA card configuration verification
    4.  
      About Notification settings
    5.  
      About IPMI configuration
    6.  
      About password management and recovery
    7.  
      About IPv4-IPv6-based network support
    8.  
      About enabling BMR options
    9.  
      About deleting users
  3. About troubleshooting tools
    1.  
      Tools for troubleshooting the NetBackup Appliance
    2.  
      About hardware monitoring
    3.  
      Troubleshooting and tuning appliance from the Appliance Diagnostics Center
    4. About NetBackup support utilities
      1.  
        NetBackup Domain Network Analyzer (NBDNA)
      2.  
        NetBackup Support Utility (NBSU)
  4. Working with log files
    1.  
      About NetBackup Appliance log files
    2.  
      About the Collect Log files wizard
    3.  
      Viewing log files using the Support command
    4.  
      Where to find NetBackup Appliance log files using the Browse command
    5.  
      Gathering device logs with the DataCollect command
    6.  
      About gathering information for NetBackup-Java applications
    7.  
      Enabling and disabling VxMS logging
  5. Disaster recovery
    1.  
      About disaster recovery
    2.  
      Disaster recovery best practices
    3. Disaster recovery scenarios
      1. Appliance sustained power interruption
        1.  
          Restoring operation to a NetBackup Appliance following a power outage
        2.  
          Restoring operation to a NetBackup Appliance with external storage following a power outage
      2. Appliance hardware failure
        1.  
          Removing and replacing hardware components
        2.  
          Setting a NetBackup 5330 storage shelf component to the Service Allowed mode
      3.  
        Complete loss of appliance with recoverable operating system drives and attached storage disks
      4. Complete loss of appliance with recoverable attached storage disks
        1.  
          Reimaging a NetBackup appliance from the USB drive
        2.  
          Reconfiguring a 52xx master server appliance using the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu
        3.  
          Configuring a master server to communicate with an appliance media server
        4.  
          Reconfiguring a 52xx or 5330 media server appliance using the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu
        5.  
          About NIC1 (eth0) port usage on NetBackup appliances
      5.  
        Complete loss of appliance and attached storage disks
      6.  
        NetBackup Appliance software corruption
      7. NetBackup Appliance database corruption
        1.  
          Rollback to an appliance checkpoint from the appliance shell menu
        2.  
          About appliance rollback validation
      8. NetBackup Appliance catalog corruption
        1.  
          Starting a factory reset from the appliance shell menu
      9.  
        NetBackup Appliance operating system corruption
  6. NetBackup Appliance error messages
    1.  
      About NetBackup Appliance error messages
    2.  
      Error messages displayed during initial configuration
    3.  
      Error messages displayed on the NetBackup Appliance Web Console
    4.  
      Error messages displayed on the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu
    5.  
      NetBackup status codes applicable for NetBackup Appliance

About troubleshooting the NetBackup Appliance

If you experience trouble with your appliance and cannot resolve the problem on your own, it is important that you can define the problem and collect any supporting information. When you reach this point, you should contact Technical Support. A technical support representative works with you to diagnose the problem and produce a satisfactory resolution.

The following steps offer general guidelines to help you resolve any problems you may encounter while you use NetBackup Appliance. The steps provide links to more specific troubleshooting information.

Table: Steps for troubleshooting NetBackup Appliance problems

Step

Action

Description

Step 1

Note the error message

To note what has gone wrong with the appliance you can use the following options:

  • Error messages are usually the vehicle for telling you something went wrong.

    Refer to the appliance error message documentation and confirm the recommended action.

    See Error messages displayed during initial configuration.

    See Error messages displayed on the NetBackup Appliance Web Console.

    See Error messages displayed on the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu.

  • If you don't see an error message in an interface, but still suspect a problem, you can:

    • Use the Monitor > Hardware tab from the NetBackup Appliance Web Console to monitor the hardware, the storage devices, and all the components that are associated with them.

    • Execute a hardware self-test from theNetBackup Appliance Shell Menu using the Support > Test command. On completion of the hardware self test, a detailed hardware monitoring report is displayed on the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu that can help you identify the exact issue with your appliance.

    • Check the NetBackup Appliance reports and logs. The logs show you what went wrong and the operation that was ongoing when the problem occurred.

      See About NetBackup Appliance log files.

  • If you can easily access the appliance hardware, you can identify the issues using LEDs. For more information about LED locations and interpreting them, refer to the NetBackup Appliance Hardware Installation Guides

Step 2

Identify what you were doing when the problem occurred

Ask the following questions:

  • What operation was tried?

  • What method did you use?

    For example, more than one way exists to install software on a client. Also more than one possible interface exists to use for many operations. Some operations can be performed with a script.

  • What type of server platform and operating system was involved?

  • If your site uses both the master server and the media server, was it a master server or a media server?

  • If a client was involved, what type of client was it?

  • Have you performed the operation successfully in the past? If so, what is different now?

  • What is the software version level?

  • Do you use operating system software with the latest fixes supplied?

  • Is your device firmware at a level, or higher than the level, at which it has been tested according to the posted device compatibility lists?

Step 3

Record all information

Capture potentially valuable information:

  • Progress logs

  • Reports

  • Utility Reports

  • Debug logs

  • Check for error or status messages in the system log and Event Viewer application in case of a Windows computer.

    Note:

    To start the Event Viewer, from the Start menu, click All Programs > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer.

  • Error or status messages in dialog boxes

See About NetBackup Appliance log files.

Step 4

Correct the problem

If you define the issue as a NetBackup Appliance issue, you can find additional troubleshooting information from the NetBackup Appliance page on the Technical Support website.

If you define the issue as a NetBackup issue, you can use the following information to correct it:

  • Take the corrective action as recommended by the status code or message.

    See NetBackup status codes applicable for NetBackup Appliance.

    For more information, refer to the NetBackup Status Code Reference Guide.

  • If no status code or message exists, or the actions for the status code do not solve the problem, use additional troubleshooting procedures to isolate common problems.

    See About NetBackup support utilities.

    See the NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide for additional information specific to NetBackup.

Step 5

Complete a problem report for Technical Support

If you can identify the logs that can help resolve the issue, collect the appropriate logs. If you cannot identify the required logs for resolving the problem, contact Technical Support to get advice on which logs to collect. If your troubleshooting is unsuccessful, prepare to contact Technical Support by filling out a problem report.

See About NetBackup Appliance log files.

Step 6

Contact Technical Support

The Veritas Technical Support website has a wealth of information that can help you solve NetBackup Appliance problems.

Access Technical Support at the following URL:

www.veritas.com/support