Stephanie Kahlam
Monday, October 26, 2015
12:49 PM
Scenario:
Your backup jobs are configured to backup data to an external NAS device (B2D) You then copy your backup data to USB for offsite storage. There comes a point in time where you need to restore some missing files or data from the USB stored offsite. You perform the following:
- Connect USB drive to server
- Add new storage device
- Select Inventory and Catalog media. Inventory completes successfully but catalog never runs leaving you with NO backup sets from which to restore from
This was my scenario and it forced the need for me to call Symantec support in hopes of finding a solution or at least answers to my issue. Long story short, after speaking with 3 Support Technicians I was finally provided an email with the smallest snippet of information from the “Backline” department where they stated the following:
My Senior Support Technician relaying what Backline had told him
“So how it was explained to me by Backline is that if the data is being copied off the NAS to the USB drive (not a duplicate job, but copied through a 3rd party app) this can cause Backup Exec issues with the catalog markers.”
Don’t call Symantec or Veritas support . Save yourself endless hours of “guesswork” troubleshooting with technicians reluctant to process your requests for escalation.
Solution:
If this is your scenario then perform the following steps in order to enable the ability to restore from USB drive.
- You need to have a spare server (physical or virtual) on which to install a Trial copy of Backup Exec. So basically install a net new copy on a spare system.
- Once installed add the new Storage Device. In my case I shared out the USB drive that was attached to the main server and added this as my new storage device on spare server.
- Once new storage device is added Inventory and Catalog the media. This time you should see a successful catalog operation and as a result Backup Sets.
- If expired you will need to “un-expire” the backup sets by adjusting the date. Once this step is complete you will be able to initiate a restore operation and restore the desired data.
Reference Material from Symantec
I requested information from Symantec supporting the “snippet” of info I received from the “BackLine” department. I was provided an article dated September 15 2015 that details this exact issue, why it happens and recommendations.
https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.TECH176061
Note the following from the article:
- If hardware is available, then a second media server can be maintained to help with restore jobs from older versions of media that have been copied using file system tools. This setup assumes that the BEDB on the second server contains no conflicting media at the start of the restore process. To maintain such a server, keeping a copy of an empty BEDB is recommended, so that after any restore it can be reset for future restores.