This chapter leads you through the process of “test driving” the NetWorker software. This chapter introduces you to the benefits of key NetWorker features.
In this test drive you will
change the NetWorker server
label and mount a backup volume
perform an unscheduled backup and recover
view the Schedules window for information about scheduling backups
view the Clients window for information about your NetWorker clients
enable the backup in the Groups window
perform a scheduled backup immediately by pressing the Start button in the Group Control window
verify the backup in the Group Control window
learn about the NetWorker Support for Jukebox and Concurrent Device Support for NetWorker options
Select “Change Server” to choose another NetWorker server to monitor or configure. Most networks need only one NetWorker server to back up all the systems on the network. If you have more than one NetWorker server, however, choose the one you want to monitor or configure by selecting its hostname in the Change Server window, shown in .
To change NetWorker servers, follow these steps:
Select “Change Server” from the File menu in the main window. The Change Server window appears.
Click the Update Server List button to display all of the NetWorker servers on your network. NetWorker broadcasts to find NetWorker servers; however, the broadcast may not reach all servers on your network, so the list may be incomplete.
Highlight the hostname of the desired server in the Server scrolling list, or enter a valid hostname in the Server field.
Click Ok to monitor and configure the new server in all the NetWorker windows.
Note: All operation and administration tasks apply to the server that has been selected.
NetWorker requires that all volumes have a label before they are used to back up files. NetWorker uses these labels to track and identify the contents of the backup volumes. When you start a recover, NetWorker automatically determines the volume(s) that are needed and asks for them by the label name. This powerful feature of NetWorker means that you can quickly locate the backup volumes required to recover files.
The mounting operation is automatic when NetWorker is used with a jukebox.
Use the Label dialog box to label and mount backup volumes. Follow these steps to label and mount your backup volumes:
Find a blank piece of media you can use for a backup.
Load it into the NetWorker server backup device.
Click the Label speedbar button.
The Label dialog box appears, in which you enter the name of the volume.
Enter a name, such as “demo.001” into the Volume name field.
You do not need to select a pool because the Default pool is already preselected.
Click the Ok button.
The name of the mounted volume appears next to the device name in the Devices display in the NetWorker Administrator window.
See “Labeling Backup Volumes” and “Mounting and Unmounting Backup Volumes” in Chapter 7 for more information on NetWorker labeling and mounting features.
Typical day-to-day operation of NetWorker includes scheduled, unattended backups. NetWorker also supports unscheduled backups of selected files that are initiated by a user from a client system. Users can also initiate recovers.
 | Tip: You should now read the section Quick Tour in Chapter 2 of the IRIX NetWorker User's Guide to become familiar with unscheduled backups and recovers. |
After completing the Quick Tour in the User's Guide, you should be familiar with the NetWorker recover features. Because of the online index, users can browse their backed-up files and quickly identify files to be recovered; a system administrator does not have to worry about locating an important file when the user cannot remember the filename. NetWorker also automatically identifies the volumes where the files are stored. Adding a jukebox to your backups automates the recover process.
NetWorker offers many features to help you recover files in addition to those introduced in the Quick Tour.
Most of your backup activity occurs unattended through NetWorker`s scheduling features. This section describes the Schedules window.
Open the Schedules window by selecting “Schedules” from the Customize pulldown menu. The Schedules window is shown in Figure 4-3.
The Schedules window displays an on-screen calendar that you use to set up a backup schedule, or you can select a preconfigured schedule. These schedules are based on feedback from NetWorker customers about the most popular ways to perform network-wide backups.
Notice each calendar day displays an “f” or an “i” next to the day. The “f” represents a full backup, and the “i” represents an incremental backup.
Your backup server is also treated as a NetWorker client. Your server is automatically backed up using the Default schedule, which has pre-configured selections. It completes a full backup every Sunday, followed by incremental backups on the other days of the week.
| Note: Regardless of the selections in the preconfigured schedules, NetWorker always performs a full backup the first time it backs up files. |
For more information about schedules, see “Determining Backup Schedules” in Chapter 5.
After NetWorker is installed on your server, the server is backed up as a client of itself using the preconfigured selections in the Clients window, which is shown in Figure 4-4.
The Clients window displays the name of your backup server in the Clients field. Preconfigured selections are represented by the highlighted buttons. All of the configurations you select for your NetWorker client are created in the Clients window.
If you are backing up other client systems to your server, all you have to do (after installing NetWorker on the clients) is configure your clients using the Clients window. NetWorker can then back up your clients using the selected configurations.
You do not need to make any changes in this window for now. You may wish to make changes after you have created more groups and clients and are setting up different backup schedules.
The client configuration features are discussed in detail in the section “Configuring a Server's Clients” in Chapter 6.
Now that you have viewed the Schedule and Clients windows, enable the Default group to which your backup server belongs by choosing Enabled in the Groups window.
By enabling the group Default, you are telling NetWorker to back up all the clients in that group according to their preconfigured selections. Because your NetWorker server is preconfigured to belong to the group Default and the Default backup schedule, it is backed up based on those selections.
Open the Groups window, shown in , by selecting “Groups” from the Customize pulldown menu.
Notice that the Start time is 3:33 a.m (the time is given in 24-hour format). Also notice that the Autostart feature is Disabled as the preselected choice.
To enable the Default group, follow these steps:
Select the Enabled button in the Autostart choices.
Click the Apply button to apply the change.
Select “Exit” from the File menu to close the Groups window.
Use the Start time field to determine what time you want NetWorker to back up a group of clients. To change the time, simply enter the new start time.
Your NetWorker server is automatically included in the group Default. By enabling the Default group, your server and any other clients you add to the Default group in the future are backed up at 3:33 every morning, starting tomorrow.
The Groups window is described in detail in the section “Configuring Backup Groups” in Chapter 6.
You have looked at several different windows that have shown you that your NetWorker server is backed up according to preconfigured selections. However, you should start a backup now to see how NetWorker backs up a client.
You can start a scheduled backup immediately in two ways:
by pressing the Start button in the Group Control window
by pressing the Start now button in the Groups window
A backup begins right away for the group selected in the Groups scrolling list—the Default group, in this example. By starting a backup now, you are essentially overriding the predefined backup time for the Default group (3:33 a.m.). However, the Default group still also backs up at 3:33 a.m. as scheduled.
To start a scheduled backup immediately from the Group Control window, follow these steps:
Select the “Group Control” command from the Server pulldown menu. The Group Control window appears, as shown in .
Select the Default group in the Groups scrolling list.
Click the Start button.
NetWorker begins a backup of the clients in the Default group according to the Default backup schedule, and displays running in the Status column of the Group Control window.
After clicking the Start button, keep the Group Control window open so you can monitor the progress of your backup.
For more detailed information about the files being backed up, click the Details button. The Group Control Details window appears, as shown in . After NetWorker has successfully backed up your files, the Finished message appears in the Status field.
For more information about the Group Control window, see the section “Monitoring and Controlling Backups” in Chapter 8. For more information about the Group Control Details window, see the section “Viewing Details of a Scheduled Backup” in Chapter 8.
If you use an autochanger (jukebox or tape library) as your backup device, most of your media handling operations are automatic. Mounting volumes is automatic, and media requests are also filled automatically.
You need to purchase a NetWorker Autochanger Software Module in order to use your autochanger with NetWorker.
See Chapter 11, “Using NetWorker with Jukeboxes,” for instructions on configuring and operating autochangers.
A powerful feature that enhances server efficiency during backups is optional concurrent device support, included in the TurboPak option. This support is used when you have more than one device attached to the NetWorker server and want to use all of the devices for backups simultaneously. It spreads the backups evenly across the devices.
See the section “Setting Concurrent Device Use” in Chapter 6 for instructions on how to configure your server to operate devices concurrently.
| Note: If you are not sure whether your site has this feature, see the release notes. |
To display installed, enabled NetWorker licenses, open the Registration window by selecting the “Registration” choice from the Server menu.
The Registration window appears, similar to the one shown in Figure 4-8.
The Registration window shows each of the NetWorker licenses that have been installed on the server (using /var/netls/nodelock) and enabled (using nsrcap(1M)). For information on installing and enabling licenses, see the sections “Enabling Server Software” and “Enabling Autochangers” in Chapter 2. This version of NetWorker does not use the Registration window to install and activate licenses.
Here are some suggestions for further configuration tasks you might want to try:
Add more clients to your Default backup group and enable the group for an overnight backup. In the morning, check the results of the scheduled backup in your mail.
Create new groups to conform to your organizational structure and define schedules for each group. For example, create an Administration group with a Monday Full schedule; a Marketing group with a Tuesday Full schedule; an Engineering group with a Wednesday Full schedule; and a Sales group with a Thursday Full schedule.
Run some recovery tests. After completing one or more backups, delete a file from your system. Using the Recover window and the “Versions” command, recover the correct version of the file.
Simulate a hard disk crash and then recover your files using the disaster recovery procedures described in Appendix B, “Recovering From a Disk Crash.”
You have now taken a quick “test drive” of IRIX NetWorker. You have seen that NetWorker is a powerful tool for protecting files across entire networks. More importantly, NetWorker is able to recover your files quickly and efficiently in the event of loss.
You have also seen that NetWorker is easy to administer and configure using the X Window system graphical user interface. The user interface allows you to monitor and configure NetWorker from any node on the network.