Move a NetBackup image catalog to new location

Occassionally, when we run out of space and we cannot expend a disk partition it may be necessary to relocate the NetBackup catalog database to a new location where more space is available.

This article provides a short procedure on how to move the NetBackup image catalog to a new location.

WARNING: Do no use NFS or CIFS filesystems as your relocation areas as NetBackup does not support saving the catalog to remote filesystems.

Pre-move checks (optional)

In preparation for moving the NetBackup image catalog from one location to another, I recommend that you perform a full catalog backup before starting.

Move Procedure

Note: Please perform the following steps carefully, as misconfiguration can cause problems.

  1. Check no jobs are running (or terminate if necessary)
  2. Shutdown NetBackup daemons:
    # /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/netbackup stop
  3. Create the new image directory (where necessary)
  4. Copy the /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images directory to the new location. For example:
    # cp -pr /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images \
      /newdisk/netbackup/db/images
  5. Rename the old images to images.bak. This provides a backup copy.
    #  mv /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images \
      /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images.bak
  6. Create a symbolic link from /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images to the new location. For example:
    # ln -s /newdisk/netbackup/db/images \
      /usr/openv/netbackup/db/images
  7. Restart the NetBackup services:
    # /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/netbackup start

Post-move checks

  1. Add the new catalog image location to the NetBackup catalog backup (Caution: Make certain you add the path for the image catalog and not the symbolic link name. In this example, the path is /newdisk/netbackup/db/images)
  2. Check that you can search the catalog and find images
  3. (optional) Perform a full hot NetBackup catalog backup to test that the backup works correctly.
  4. (optional) Remove the images.bak folder created earlier.