This chapter introduces NetWorker windows and menus and explains
starting the NetWorker programs
using NetWorker menus
printing NetWorker window contents
saving NetWorker window contents
using NetWorker generic buttons
The NetWorker graphical user interface makes learning and using NetWorker straightforward. The intuitive windows, pulldown menus, and dialog boxes guide you through the backup and recover processes. To use the NetWorker window interface, you must have the X Window System running on your system.
The NetWorker software consists of three programs:
NetWorker Administrator (nwadmin) for managing and configuring
NetWorker Backup (nwbackup) for backing up data
NetWorker Recover (nwrecover) for recovering files
 | Note: Your site might also have the optional NetWorker Archive programs (nwarchive) and (nwretrieve). For information on these programs, see Chapter 5, “Archiving and Retrieving,” in the IRIX NetWorker User's Guide. |
Only users listed on the NetWorker administrator list have permission to use and make changes to the administrator version of NetWorker. Users not included on the administrator list can start and open the NetWorker Administrator program, but many of the commands in the pulldown menus will be grayed out, making it impossible to open the related windows.
If you are the system administrator, you probably want all three programs available on your workstation. Typical users who only need to back up and recover files do not need the administrator program running on their systems.
| Note: If you start NetWorker from a remotely mounted directory, the message |
Using server server_name as server for client_name. might appear. NetWorker looks for the system that is the fileserver of a remotely mounted directory and uses the NetWorker server assigned to that system as the backup server. To bypass this message, start NetWorker from a local filesystem. |
| Note: |
Use the NetWorker Administrator window to manage, configure, and monitor NetWorker. The window serves a dual purpose: as a starting point for NetWorker tasks and a monitor for server activity.
To start the administrator program, enter the nwadmin command in a shell window:
# /usr/etc/nwadmin &
|
If the NetWorker Administrator icon already appears on your screen, double-click to open it. The icon shows two workstations and the name of your NetWorker server; see Figure 3-1.
| Note: You might have several NetWorker servers at your site. To easily identify each server, NetWorker automatically replaces the NetWorker Administrator caption in the window title bar with the name of the server. To restore the original caption, change the resource iconServerName by using the X11 resources. Begin by entering the xrdb -m command at the system prompt, and then change the setting to False. Refer to the X Window System's User's Guide for more detailed instructions. |
The NetWorker Administrator window appears, as shown in Figure 3-2.
The NetWorker Administrator window has a menu bar, speedbar, and five displays:
| Menu bar | Contains the File, Clients, Server, Media, Save Set, Customize, Options, and Help pulldown menus. These are explained in the section “Using NetWorker Menus” in this chapter. | |
| Speedbar | Provides convenient buttons for performing common NetWorker tasks; click a button instead of selecting the corresponding command from a pulldown menu. |
Change Server opens the Change Server dialog box; use instead of the “Change Server” option in the Server menu.
Mount mounts a backup volume in a backup device; use instead of the “Mount” option in the Media menu.
Unmount unmounts a backup volume in the backup device; use instead of the “Unmount” option in the Media menu.
Label labels a volume in the backup device; use instead of the “Label” option in the Media menu.
Indexes opens the Indexes window; use instead of the “Indexes” option in the Clients pulldown menu.
Volumes opens the Volume Management window: use instead of the “Volumes” option in the Media menu.
Group Control opens the Group Control window; use instead of the “Group Control” option in the Server menu.
Use the NetWorker Backup window to back up client files.
| Note: This window does not provide any capability for administering or configuring NetWorker. This feature is beneficial to the user who simply wants to back up files and does not want to be concerned with the administration of NetWorker. The backup program icon includes the “NetWorker knight” and the caption “NW Backup.” |
Start the software program by entering the nwbackup command at the system prompt:
# /usr/etc/nwbackup & |
If the NW Backup icon is already displayed on your screen, as shown in Figure 3-3, select it to open the window.
| Note: For complete information about the NetWorker Backup program, refer to the IRIX NetWorker User's Guide. |
Use the NetWorker Recover window to recover client files. This window does not provide any capability for administering or configuring NetWorker. This is beneficial to the user who simply wants to recover files and does not want to be concerned with the administration of NetWorker. The recover program icon includes the “NetWorker knight” and the caption NW Recover.
Start the software program by entering the nwrecover command at the system prompt.
# /usr/etc/nwrecover & |
If the NW Recover icon is already displayed on your screen, as shown inFigure 3-4, select it to open the window.
| Note: For complete information about the NetWorker Backup program, refer to the IRIX NetWorker User's Guide. |
This section includes information about the pulldown menus in the NetWorker Administration window and how to use them.
To use NetWorker menus, you can point and select with a mouse, or use keyboard shortcuts. To pull down a menu using the keyboard shortcuts, hold down the <Alt> key and press the key that corresponds to the underlined letter of the selected menu; the menu appears. After releasing both keys, press the key that corresponds to the underlined letter in the command name.
The File pulldown menu, shown in Figure 3-5, contains only the Exit command for exiting NetWorker.
However, many of the other NetWorker windows have a different version of the File menu that contains the Save, Print, and Exit commands, as shown in Figure 3-6.
Typically, the Save and Print commands are available only when you use a NetWorker window in the tabular view. See “Displaying a Tabular View” later in this chapter for more information on these commands.
To exit NetWorker, select “Exit” from the File menu, or press both the <Alt> key and the f key at the same time, release them, and then press x.
The Clients menu, shown in Figure 3-7, contains commands for configuring your NetWorker clients and for monitoring and managing their indexes. “Configuring a Server's Clients” in Chapter 6 is a complete guide to the commands in the Clients menu.
The Server menu, shown in Figure 3-8, contains commands for setting up, changing, and configuring the NetWorker server. Chapter 6, “Configuring a NetWorker Server,” is a complete guide to the commands in the Server menu.
The Media menu, shown in Figure 3-9, contains the commands for using and managing the NetWorker server's backup volumes. It also includes the commands for configuring and monitoring the devices used for backup and recovery, whether they are stand-alone backup devices or jukeboxes.
Chapter 7, “Configuring and Managing Volumes and Backup Devices,” and Chapter 11, “Using NetWorker with Jukeboxes,” explain commands in the Media menu.
A save set is a set of files or a filesystem that you define for NetWorker backup. The Save Set menu, shown in Figure 3-10, contains commands for recovering entire save sets and for “cloning,” or making identical copies of save sets. Chapter 9, “Recovering and Cloning Save Sets,” is a complete guide to the commands in the Save Set menu.
The Customize menu, shown in Figure 3-11, contains selections for further customizing and configuring your NetWorker backups. The menu contains commands for configuring schedules, policies, directives, label templates, groups, and notifications. Chapter 6, “Configuring a NetWorker Server,” and Chapter 7, “Configuring and Managing Volumes and Backup Devices,” explain commands in the Customize menu.
Use the Options menu, shown in Figure 3-12, to make selections for customizing the NetWorker interface. The Options menu includes the Polling Interval, Speedbar, and Tone commands: you can set the polling interval, choose whether or not to display the speedbar, and cause a tone to be sounded when a pending message arrives.
The Polling Interval command allows you to change how often, in seconds, the data in the NetWorker Administrator window is updated. To change the polling interval, follow these steps:
Select “Polling Interval” from the Options menu. The Change Polling dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-13.
Use the mouse to slide the bar to the right or left to select the desired polling interval.
Click Ok to apply the change.
NetWorker provides the convenience of a speedbar for the functions you perform most often. By default, the speedbar is enabled. Use the Speedbar toggle button in the Options menu to turn the speedbar on and off.
This manual informs you when a speedbar button is available for accomplishing the same task that you can accomplish with the commands from a pulldown menu.
All NetWorker windows contain a Help menu or button that offer you a variety of choices for help. Figure 3-15 shows the Help menu.
The Help menu contains four commands.
The View menus are located in many of NetWorker's windows. The View menus contain the Tabular, View Details, and Search commands. Use these commands to view the contents of a window in a tabular format or to see more details in a current window.
NetWorker can display information in a tabular view for most of the administrative windows, enabling you to view information or data in a more compact format. The tabular view is especially helpful for large sites that have a lot of data you want to view in a single display.
For example, in the Clients window there are two ways to view client information:
configuration information for one client at a time
configuration information for all of the clients at the same time, in the tabular view
For example, to display the tabular view for the Clients window, follow these steps:
Select the Client Setup command from the Clients menu. The Clients window appears, as shown in Figure 3-17.
Select the Tabular toggle button in the View menu. The Clients window changes to a tabular view, as shown in Figure 3-18.
Use the scroll bars or resize the window to see more of the client configuration information.
To return to the normal Clients window, reselect the Tabular toggle button from the View menu.
The tabular view is available for all of the administrative windows except for the Save Set Clone and Schedules windows.
The Details toggle button in the View menu provides you with more detailed information about the NetWorker window currently in use.
 | Caution: Do not print the contents of a window if you are using the Details command to view detailed information. The printer output will not be readable. |
For example, to display the details of the Groups window, follow these steps:
Select “Groups” in the Customize menu. The Groups window appears.
Select the Details toggle button from the View menu, as shown in Figure 3-19.
The Groups window changes to show you more detailed information, as shown in Figure 3-20.
The Groups window now displays additional fields with more selections and information. To view the entire contents of the window, use the mouse to move the scroll bar to the bottom of the window.
The Search command provides you with an alternative method for locating or finding a NetWorker configuration or resource. For example, if you back up a large number of clients, this feature avoids the necessity of searching through the entire scrolling list of client names for a single client.
For example, to search for a NetWorker client, follow these steps after opening the Clients window:
Select Search from the View menu. The Search dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-21.
Enter the name of the client you would like to locate in the Search for resource field.
Click Ok.
Use the Print command in the File menu to print the contents of a NetWorker window displayed in the tabular view.
To print the contents of a NetWorker window, follow these steps:
Select the Tabular command from the View menu. The contents of the NetWorker window changes to a tabular view.
Select the Print command from the File menu. The Print Options dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-22.
This Command field displays the command lp. You can modify the command, or you can enter a completely different command. Follow these steps:
In the Command field, specify a printer other than the default printer, if desired. For example:
lp -dfranklin
Enter the number of copies you want in the Copies field.
Click Ok to print.
Having the ability to print the contents of a window provides you with an easy method for maintaining records on NetWorker activities and configurations.
You can use the Save command only when you are in the Tabular view of a NetWorker window. The Save command allows you to save the contents of a window for future reference To save the contents of a NetWorker window to a file, follow these steps:
Select the Tabular command from the View menu. The contents of the window changes to a tabular format.
Select the Save command from the File menu. The Save Options dialog box appears.
The File field is set to the environment variable NWREPORT if it exists; otherwise the default is networker.rpt.
Enter the name of the file in the File field. To update or append the existing file, click the Append button. To overwrite the existing file, click the Overwrite the existing file button.
Click Ok when you have completed your selections.
NetWorker uses generic buttons in many of the windows. Most of them are self-explanatory; however, listed below is a description of each one.
Use the Create Multiple button to create multiple items or configurations all with the same characteristics or selections. Using this button saves you from having to make identical selections over and over again for a variety of NetWorker configurations.
For example, to create multiple clients with the same configuration choices, follow the steps below:
Open the Clients window by selecting Client Setup from the Clients menu.
Click the Create Multiple button, as shown in Figure 3-24.
Enter each client name in the Name field, one at a time. Click the add button after entering each name.
After adding the client names, select the configurations for all of them at once.
When you are finished selecting the configurations for all of the clients, click the Apply button.
Several NetWorker windows contain Print and Save buttons for printing and saving the contents of the window. These buttons work the same way as the Save and Print commands explained in “Printing Window Contents” and “Saving Window Contents”earlier in this chapter.