Core NetWorker daemons

NetWorker daemon processes are involved in almost all NetWorker operations, including backups and recoveries. There are one or more NetWorker daemons to support each of the three NetWorker host functions, Client, Storage node and Server.

In a Microsoft Windows environment, the core NetWorker processes are started via two NetWorker services. For more detailed information, please see the EMC NetWorker Command Reference Guide or the UNIX man pages.

NetWorker Client daemons

The NetWorker client daemon, nsrexecd (network save and recover execution daemon), runs on NetWorker clients to support remote execution requests from NetWorker servers. For example, nsrexecd executes a backup command at the request of the NetWorker server. The nsrexecd process also determines which RPC ports to use to support and request NetWorker services.

In a UNIX environment, nsrexecd is started automatically during system boot up. In a Windows environment, nsrexecd is started via the NetWorker Remote Exec Service, which is configured to start automatically during boot up.

nsrfsra is a binary installed on the client that is run from the NMC to provide the NMC NetWorker Administration interface with the list of directories and files available on the client. This is displayed graphically so the administrator can select which directories and files the client should back up.

NetWorker Storage Node daemons

The nsrsnmd daemon provides an RPC-based service that manages all device operations and the nsrmmd processes on the storage node on behalf of the nsrd process on the NetWorker server. The nsrsnmd daemon is responsible for ensuring that the device operations get performed when needed by nsrd. There is one nsrsnmd process running on each configured storage node.

The NetWorker Storage Node daemon, nsrmmd (network save and recover media multiplexing daemon), runs on NetWorker storage nodes to support reading and writing of data to devices. The nsrmmd daemon writes the backup data sent by save to a volume in the backup device it is controlling, sends information to the NetWorker server to track data written to the volume, and reads data from the volume during operations such as recoveries and cloning. One nsrmmd is started for each device configured as a NetWorker resource.

NOTE: For disk-type devices there may be more than one nsrmmd per device.

For each enabled library (jukebox) in a data zone, nsrmmgd on the NetWorker server spawns a nsrlcpd (network save and recover library control daemon) to control the actual jukebox resources, such as media, slots, drives, and access ports. After performing a task, nsrlcpd returns status information to nsrmmgd, which in turn provides it to nsrd.

NetWorker Server daemons

The NetWorker server daemons provide access to NetWorker services such as configuration information, support for backup and recovery requests, and access to the media database, client file indexes, and jobs database. NetWorker server daemons include:

nsrd (network save and recover daemon) is the master daemon. nsrd manages the NetWorker resource database which contains almost all NetWorker configuration information. It monitors active save and recover sessions. nsrd is started automatically at system startup. Once started, it starts the nsrmmdbd and nsrindexd processes. It automatically invokes nsrsnmd on a storage node when needed.

nsrmmdbd (network save and recover media management database daemon) provides the read and write service for the media database.

nsrindexd (network save and recover index daemon) provides the read and write service for the client file index databases.

nsrjobd (network save and recover job daemon) is responsible for coordinating all scheduled backups. It stores information about these operations and provides it to the NetWorker server and the NMC server for reporting purposes.

nsrmmgd — Manages all library operations. It is started on the NetWorker server by nsrd when the NetWorker services are started or when the first jukebox resource is configured and enabled.

In a Windows environment, these processes are started via the NetWorker Backup and Recover Server service.

Console Server daemons

The three NetWorker Management Console server daemons are:

httpd — Apache httpd is the embedded web server.

gstd — This process is the master Console process and is responsible for starting the gsttclsh and dbsrv12 processes. After a Console client has established communication with the Console server, all further communication is performed through gstd.

dbsrv12 — This process manages the Generic Services Toolkit (GST) database. This database is also referred to as the Console server database and contains information concerning all backup, recover, and cloning operations performed on NetWorker servers managed by the Console server. This information is used by gstd to generate reports.

In a UNIX environment, the processes are started automatically during system boot up. On a Microsoft Windows host, the processes are started via the EMC GST Service which is configured to start automatically during boot up; httpd is registered as the EMC GST Web Service.

NOTE: GST stands for Generic Services Toolkit.