Veritas NetBackup™ Logging Reference Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.1.1, 8.1)
  1. Using logs
    1.  
      About logs
    2.  
      About UNIX system logs
    3.  
      About log retention in NetBackup
    4.  
      About limiting the size of unified and legacy logs
    5. About unified logging
      1.  
        Gathering unified logs for NetBackup
      2.  
        Types of unified logging messages
      3.  
        File name format for unified logging
      4.  
        Originator IDs for the entities that use unified logging
      5.  
        About changing the location of unified log files
      6.  
        About rolling over unified log files
      7.  
        About recycling unified log files
      8.  
        About using the vxlogview command to view unified logs
      9.  
        About query strings used with the vxlogview command
      10.  
        Examples of using vxlogview to view unified logs
      11.  
        Examples of using vxlogmgr to manage unified logs
      12.  
        Examples of using vxlogcfg to configure unified logs
    6. About legacy logging
      1.  
        UNIX client processes that use legacy logging
      2.  
        PC client processes that use legacy logging
      3.  
        File name format for legacy logging
      4.  
        Directory names for legacy debug logs for servers
      5.  
        Directory names for legacy debug logs for media and device management
      6.  
        How to control the amount of information written to legacy logging files
      7.  
        About limiting the size and the retention of legacy logs
      8.  
        Configuring the legacy log rotation
    7. About global logging levels
      1.  
        Changing the logging level
      2.  
        Changing the logging level on Windows clients
      3.  
        Setting Media Manager debug logging to a higher level
    8.  
      Setting retention limits for logs on clients
    9.  
      Logging options with the Windows Event Viewer
    10. Troubleshooting error messages in the NetBackup Administration Console
      1.  
        About extra disk space required for logs and temporary files
      2.  
        Enabling detailed debug logging
  2. Backup process and logging
    1.  
      Backup process
    2. NetBackup process descriptions
      1.  
        Backup and restore startup process
      2.  
        Backup and archive processes
      3.  
        Backups and archives - UNIX clients
      4.  
        Multiplexed backup process
    3.  
      About backup logging
    4.  
      Sending backup logs to Veritas Technical Support
  3. Media and device processes and logging
    1.  
      Media and device management startup process
    2.  
      Media and device management process
    3.  
      Shared Storage Option management process
    4.  
      Barcode operations
    5.  
      Media and device management components
  4. Restore process and logging
    1.  
      Restore process
    2.  
      UNIX client restore
    3.  
      Windows client restore
    4.  
      About restore logging
    5.  
      Sending restore logs to Veritas Technical Support
  5. Advanced Backup and Restore Features
    1.  
      SAN Client Fiber Transport backup
    2.  
      SAN Client Fiber Transport restore
    3.  
      Hot catalog backup
    4.  
      Hot catalog restore
    5. Synthetic backups
      1.  
        Creating legacy log directories to accompany problem reports for synthetic backup
      2.  
        Logs to accompany problem reports for synthetic backups
  6. Storage logging
    1.  
      NDMP backup logging
    2.  
      NDMP restore logging
  7. NetBackup Deduplication logging
    1.  
      Deduplication backup process to the Media Server Deduplication Pool (MSDP)
    2.  
      Client deduplication logging
    3.  
      Deduplication configuration logs
    4.  
      Media server deduplication/pdplugin logging
    5.  
      Disk monitoring logging
    6.  
      Logging keywords
  8. OpenStorage Technology (OST) logging
    1.  
      OpenStorage Technology (OST) backup logging
    2.  
      OpenStorage Technology (OST) configuration and management
  9. Storage lifecycle policy (SLP) and Auto Image Replication (A.I.R.) logging
    1.  
      About storage lifecycle policies (SLPs) and Auto Image Replication (A.I.R.)
    2.  
      Storage lifecycle policy (SLP) duplication process flow
    3.  
      Automatic Image Replication (A.I.R.) process flow logging
    4.  
      Import process flow
    5.  
      SLP and A.I.R. logging
    6.  
      SLP configuration and management
  10. Snapshot technologies
    1.  
      Snapshot Client backup
    2.  
      VMware backup
    3.  
      Snapshot backup and Windows open file backups
  11. Locating logs
    1.  
      acsssi logging
    2.  
      bpbackup logging
    3.  
      bpbkar logging
    4.  
      bpbrm logging
    5.  
      bpcd logging
    6.  
      bpcompatd logging
    7.  
      bpdbm logging
    8.  
      bpjobd logging
    9.  
      bprd logging
    10.  
      bprestore logging
    11.  
      bptm logging
    12.  
      daemon logging
    13.  
      ltid logging
    14.  
      nbemm logging
    15.  
      nbjm logging
    16.  
      nbpem logging
    17.  
      nbproxy logging
    18.  
      nbrb logging
    19.  
      NetBackup web services logging
    20.  
      NetBackup web server certificate logging
    21.  
      PBX logging
    22.  
      reqlib logging
    23.  
      robots logging
    24.  
      tar logging
    25.  
      txxd and txxcd logging
    26.  
      vnetd logging
  12. Java-based administration console logging
    1.  
      About the Java-based administration console logging
    2.  
      Java-based administration console logging process flow
    3.  
      Setting up a secure channel between the Java-based administration console and bpjava-*
    4.  
      Setting up a secure channel between the Java-based administration console and either nbsl or nbvault
    5.  
      Java-based administration console logging configuration on NetBackup servers and clients
    6.  
      Java-based remote administration console logging on a Windows computer where NetBackup is not installed
    7.  
      Configuring and gathering logs when troubleshooting Java GUI issues
    8.  
      Undo logging

Backup process

Understanding how the backup process works is a helpful first step in deciding which processes to review for troubleshooting purposes.

Figure: Basic backup process flow illustrates the backup procedure and the process flow during a scheduled backup.

Figure: Basic backup process flow

Basic backup process flow

Basic backup procedure

  1. The (1) NetBackup Policy Execution Manager (nbpem) initiates a backup when the job becomes due. To determine when the job is due, nbpem uses the proxy service nbproxy to get the backup policy information from the (2) NetBackup Database Manager (bpdbm).

    In the case of a user-initiated backup, the backup is started when nbpem receives a request from the (3) NetBackup request daemon (bprd).

  2. When the job is due, nbpem issues a request to the (4) NetBackup Job Manager (nbjm) to submit the backup and get a jobid.
  3. The nbjm service communicates with (5) bpjobd, and the job is added to the job list in the jobs database. The job is now visible in the Activity Monitor, in a queued state.
  4. Once the job has been added to the jobs database, nbjm checks for resources through the (6) NetBackup Resource Broker (nbrb).
  5. The nbrb process secures the required resources from the (7) Enterprise Media Manager (nbemm) and notifies nbjm that resources have been allocated.
  6. After resource allocation, nbjm makes a call to the images database to create the image files in a temporary location. The required entries in the backup header tables are also created at this time. The job is now seen as "Active" in the Activity Monitor.
  7. Once the job is active, nbjm uses (8) bpcompatd to open a connection to the (9) client service (bpcd) on the media server. The bpcompatd service creates the connection through Private Branch Exchange (PBX) and the NetBackup Legacy Network Service (vnetd).
  8. The bpcd service starts the (10) NetBackup backup and restore manager (bpbrm).
  9. The bpbrm service communicates with (11) bpcd on the client server (through PBX and vnetd) to start the (12) backup and archive manager (bpbkar). The bpbrm service also starts the (13) tape management process (bptm).
  10. In the case of a tape backup, bptm reserves the drives and issues a mount request to the (14) logical tape interface daemon (ltid). The ltid service calls on the (15) robotic drive daemon (txxd, where xx varies based on the type of robot being used). The txxd daemon communicates the mount request to the (16) robotic control daemon (txxcd), which mounts the media.

    In the case of a disk backup, bptm communicates directly with the disk.

  11. The bpbkar service sends the backup data through bptm to be written to the media storage or the disk storage.
  12. When the backup is completed, nbjm is notified and sends a message to bpjobd. The job now appears as "Done" in the Activity Monitor. The nbjm service also reports the job exit status to nbpem, which recalculates the next due time of the job.

Each of the processes that is involved in a backup has an accompanying log file. These logs can be consulted to diagnose any issues that you encounter with your backups.

Some additional logs that are not included in the backup process flow but that can be of use in resolving backup problems include: bpbackup, reqlib, daemon, robots, and acsssi.