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NetBackup™ Troubleshooting Guide

Last Published: 2022-12-19

Product(s): NetBackup (10.1.1)

Troubleshooting file-based external certificate issues

This issue may occur because of one of the following reasons:

The web service certificate that is used for communication is not configured properly.
Some of the NetBackup core services have not started.
The required prerequisites for external certificate are not met.
External certificate configuration path (ECA_CERT_PATH) is not configured properly.
Certificate revocation check failed.

To resolve the issue, review the following causes and run the following command to determine the current state of the problem.

Install_Path/bin/nbcertcmd -enrollCertificate -preCheck -server server_name

Install_Path refers to the following:

On Windows: VERITAS\NetBackup\bin

On Unix: /usr/openv/netbackup/bin

Cause 1: The web server certificate that is used for communication is not configured properly.

The NetBackup web server is not configured to use external certificates.
The following error is displayed:
EXIT STATUS 26: client/server handshaking failed.
- Run the following command on the master server to check if external CA is configured (ON) or not (OFF).
  Install_Path/nbcertcmd -getSecConfig -caUsage
  On Windows: C:\Program Files\ VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\nbcertcmd -getSecConfig -caUsage
  On Unix: /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/netbackup/bin/nbcertcmd -getSecConfig -caUsage
  For example: C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin>nbcertcmd -getSecConfig -caUsage
  Output:
```
NBCA:OFF ECA:ON
```
  If an external CA is not configured, run the configureWebServerCerts command on the web server.
  In certain cases, you may also get the following error when an external CA is not configured on the web server.
  EXIT STATUS 5982: The certificate revocation list is unavailable.
  In this case, first check the value of the ECA parameter. If it is OFF, run the configureWebServerCerts command.
The web service certificate that is used for communication is not trusted by a certificate authority.
- Check the certificate path (the configureWebServerCert -certPath option) must have a leaf certificate with the entire chain of CA certificates except the trust anchor (root CA).
- Run the following command to list the certificates that are configured for the web server.
  nbcertcmd -listallcertificates -jks
  On Windows: C:\Program Files\ VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\nbcertcmd -listallcertificates -jks
  On Unix: /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/netbackup/bin/nbcertcmd -listallcertificates -jks
- Run the following command to list the host certificate details of the NetBackup master server.
  Install_Path/goodies/nbsslcmd x509 -in certificate_path -noout -text -purpose
  On Windows: C:\Program Files\ VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\goodies\nbsslcmd x509 -in certificate_path -noout -text -purpose
  On Unix: /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/netbackup/bin/goodies/nbsslcmd x509 -in certificate_path -noout -text -purpose
  Validate whether the host certificate of the master server is issued by the same root CA as of the web server certificate.
  If host certificate is not issued by the same root CA as of web server certificate then issue new certificate with that CA for NetBackup Master server and enroll certificate again.
The specified server name was not found in the web service certificate.
The server name does not match any of the host names listed in the server's certificate.
Names listed in the server's certificate are:
DNS: nb-master _ext
DNS: nb-master .some.domain.com
DNS: nb-master _web_svr EXIT STATUS 8509:
Either update the configuration on the NetBackup host so that it uses one of the names that are present in the web server certificate to refer to the master server or Include all names of the master server that are known to the NetBackup domain in the certificate.

For more information, refer to the following article:

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000126751

Cause 2

Some of the NetBackup core services have not started.

Carry out the following procedure to resolve the issue:

Check the status of the following services by running the bpps command from the NetBackup/bin directory:
- nbsl
- vnetd -standalone
- NB_dbsrv (on UNIX) or the dbsrv16 (on Windows)
For more details on the NetBackup commands, refer to the NetBackup Commands Reference Guide.
Start the nbsl and the vnetd services, if they are not running.
Start the NB_dbsrv (on Unix) service or the dbsrv16 (on Windows) service, if it is not running.

Restart nbsl, vnetd, and NB_dbsrv (or dbsrv16) services as follows:

On Windows:

Install_Path\bin\bpdown -e "NetBackup Service Layer" -f -v

Install_Path\bin\bpup -e "NetBackup Service Layer" -f -v

Install_Path\bin\bpdown -e "NetBackup Legacy Network Service" -f -v

Install_Path\bin\bpup -e "NetBackup Legacy Network Service" -f -v

Install_Path\bin\bpdown -e "SQLANYs_VERITAS_NB" -f -v

Install_Path\bin\bpup -e "SQLANYs_VERITAS_NB" -f -v

Alternatively, you may use the Service Control Manager to restart the NetBackup Service Layer (NBSL), NetBackup Legacy Network Service (vnetd) , and SQLANYs_VERITAS_NB services.

For example:

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\bpdown -e "NetBackup Service Layer" -f -v

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\bpup -e "NetBackup Service Layer" -f -v

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\bpdown -e "NetBackup Legacy Network Service" -f -v

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\bpup -e "NetBackup Legacy Network Service" -f -v

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\bpdown -e "SQLANYs_VERITAS_NB" -f -v

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\bpup -e "SQLANYs_VERITAS_NB" -f -v

On Unix:

Install_Path/netbackup/bin/nbsl -terminate

Install_Path/netbackup/bin/nbsl

To stop vnetd and NB_dbsrv, refer to the following example:

To start vnetd and NB_dbsrv, run the following commands:

install_path/netbackup/bin/vnetd -standalone install_path/db/bin/NB_dbsrv

For example:

/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/nbsl -terminate

/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/nbsl

# ps -fed | grep vnetd | grep standalone

root 16018 1 4 08:47:35 ? 0:01 ./vnetd -standalone

# kill 16018

# ps -fed |grep NB_dbsrv

root 11959 1 4 08:47:35 ? 0:01 ./NB_dbsrv

root 16174 16011 0 08:47:39 pts/2 0:00 grep ./NB_dbsrv

# kill 11959

/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/vnetd -standalone

/usr/openv/db/bin/NB_dbsrv

If the problem persists, contact the Technical Support team.

Cause 3

The required prerequisites for external certificate are not met.

Review the following prerequisites:

Subject DN should be unique and stable for each host. It should have less than 255 characters and should not be empty.
Only ASCII 7 characters are supported in the certificate subject DN and X509v3 Subject Alternative Name.
Server and client authentication attributes (SSL server and SSL client) should be set (or should be true) in the certificate.
Certificate is in PEM format.
CRL distribution points (CDPs) are supported only for HTTP/HTTPS.

Run the following command to verify if the prerequisites are met.

Install_Path/goodies/nbsslcmd x509 -in certificate_path -noout -text -purpose

Note:

The certificate paths that are provided for the configureWebServerCert -certPath option and the ECA_CERT_PATH option must have a leaf certificate with the entire chain of the CA certificates except the trust anchor (root CA).

Desirable conditions:

Host name (CLIENT_NAME) that is used for certificate enrollment should be part of X509v3 Subject Alternative Name under DNS type.
Common name (CN) of the subject name should not be empty.

Note:

The following warning is generated when the nbsslcmd command is run and can be safely ignored:

WARNING: can't open config file: /usr/local/ssl/openssl.cnf

Cause 4

External certificate configuration path is not configured properly.

Ensure the following external certificate configuration options are configured properly:

ECA_CERT_PATH
ECA_TRUST_STORE_PATH
ECA_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH
ECA_CRL_PATH
ECA_CRL_CHECK

Ensure the following:

The peer host certificate has the CRL distribution point (CDP).
If you have not specified ECA_CRL_PATH, NetBackup uses the CRLs on the URLs that are specified in the peer host certificate's CDP.
ECA_CRL_PATH is not a volumeID path on Windows.

Run the following command and validate the external certificate configuration parameters.

On UNIX: Install_Path/bin/nbgetconfig | grep ECA

Windows: Install_Path/bin/nbgetconfig | findstr ECA

For more information about the configuration options, refer to the NetBackup Security and Encryption Guide.

Cause 5

The requirements that are mentioned in Cause 3 are not met.

Host name (CLIENT_NAME) used for the certificate enrollment is not part of X509v3 Subject Alternative Name under the DNS type.
If enrollment fails with this error, do one of the following:
- Generate new certificate having host name in subject alternative name of the certificate.
- Add or update (first delete and then add) the subject name of the certificate (RFC 2253 compliant) in the external certificate database on the master server.
  Run the following command to add an entry for the host and the associated subject name in the NetBackup certificate database (only administrator can perform this operation):
  Install_Path/bin/nbcertcmd -createECACertEntry -host host_name | -hostId host_id -subject subject name of external cert [-server master_server_name]
  Alternatively, run the following command to delete an entry for the host and the associated subject name from the NetBackup certificate database and then add an entry using the -createECACertEntry command (only administrator can perform this operation):
  Install_Path/bin/nbcertcmd -deleteECACertEntry -subject subject name of external cert [-server master_server_name]
Common name (CN) of the subject name is not present in the certificate.
If certificate enrollment fails with this error, do one of the following:
- Generate a new certificate with the common name in the certificate.
- Generate a new certificate with the host name in the subject alternative name of the certificate.
- Add host in the NetBackup host database and add an entry for the host and the associated subject name in the NetBackup certificate database.
  Run the following command to add a host in the NetBackup host database (only administrator can perform this operation):
  Install_Path/bin/admincmd/nbhostmgmt -addhost -host host_name | -hostId host_id [-server master_server_name]
  Run the following command to add an entry for the host and the associated subject name in the NetBackup certificate database.
  Install_Path/bin/nbcertcmd -createECACertEntry -host host_name | -hostId host_id -subject subject name of external cert [-server master_server_name]
  Subject name of the external certificate should be RFC 2253 compliant.

Cause 6

Certificate revocation check failed.

External certificate enrollment can fail with the certificate revocation error for the following reasons:

The external certificate is revoked.
The web server certificate is revoked.
CRL is unavailable on either the host or the master server.

See Troubleshooting issues with external CA-signed certificate revocation.

For more details on enrollment of external certificates in NetBackup, refer to the NetBackup Security and Encryption Guide.