fbackup and NFS mounted systems

[Mark Vollmers]

Hi, all.

I have on the server some directories on NT stations which are mounted using NFS. my problem is that I want to back them up with our normal backups (using fbackup). I currently have 11.0. When I try to run a full backup crossing the NFS mounts, it flips out (I don't remember the exact message, I'll try to find it), and won't let me back anything up. I was able to run backup across the mount points with 10.20, but have lost that with the upgrade. Does anyone know how to do this? I can woof together a script to run tar or something every so often and dump it to a tape, but I would prefer to have it part of the normal backup. Ideas? Thanks.

Mark

[Mark van Hassel]

Hi mark,

Try the -n option, this will cross NFS mounts.

[Mark Vollmers]

Mark-

That's what I tried (actually, I went through sam and checked the use NFS or whatever that option is and selected all for the directory listing). If I remember correctly (it was a month ago when I tried and gave up cause it didn't work), it started to run the backup and then stopped and wouldn't backup the files on the NFS folders. I can access them fine otherwise. There is a warning in SAM when you use the NFS option that says that there may be issues, but it always worked fine for 10.20.

I'll try to run it here for exact messages.

mark

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Mark:

From the 'fbackup' man pages: "By default fbackup does not cross NFS mount points, regardless of paths specified by the -i or -g options.".

Add the '-n' option to your 'fbackup' command to enable the visit.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Mark van Hassel]

Hi Mark,

Ik found the following in the knowledge base:

The problem is that fbackup displays inconsistent behavior when used across NFS mount points. It errors out when it encounters a file with the permission of r--r-S--- or anything resembling a sticky bit file.

Basically all that can be done is to run fsck and then run the backup again. The fsck command will do a file system consistency
check and interactive repair.

It is from 1997 so maybe the problem has been fixed ???

[Mark Vollmers]

Okay-

I setup backup to run, backing up all files and crossing NFS mounts. This results in the fbackup command having the -0 -u -v -n -g -I options from sam. When I select the nfs mounts, it says that there may be problems with file access if "the fbackup command may not work correctly when backing up eover NFS mounted file systems as user root. File access problems may occur if the NFS file system was not mounted with root access to this system"
When I run backup, it hangs, telling me that "engpro1 not responding, still trying" (this is the first nfs mount point). I am confused about the file system mounted with root access. Does that mean that on the NT, I have to set up the validation (I use NIS) to use give my NT account root access on the server as opposed to linking it to my unix account? The file systems are mounted at startup, so I assume that root mounted them. Am I wrong here? Thanks.

Mark

[Mark van Hassel]

Mark,

The file system should be exported with root access:

exportfs -o -access=[hostname],root=[hostname][file system]

This way root is allowed permission on the mounted NFS file system on [hostname]

[Mark Vollmers]

Mark-

What file is that exportfs line put in? Is it on the server or on the workstation?

[Mark Vollmers]

Okay, here's where I'm at.

one of the nfs mounts (the nt station) is called engpro1. The two folders shared with UNIX are /temp and /Intralink_files. WIth this in mind..

I went to /etc/exports and added:
/engpro1 -access=munix, root=munix:engpro1
I then ran exportfs -a (per man) and then stopped and started /sbin/init.d/nfs.client and /sbin/init.d/nfs.server. Then I ran fbackup again and it still hung on trying to see the mount (NFS server engpro1 not responing still trying). I can cd to the directory and work with files, so it is mounted okay. Did I miss a step? Or is my export command wrong?

mark

[Bill Hassell]

This is likely a compatibility issue with NFS on NT (NFS is not a native protocol on Windows as it is on most Unix boxes). Most likely, fbackup is asking for informtation about the files/directories that is not compatible with NT.

The fix is easy: Use HP's Omniback. Not only will you avoid all the reliability and compatibility issues with NFS, but it works across multiple platforms at the same time and tracks every tape and file and system in a database.

[BONNAFOUS Jean Marc]

I use fbackup for save NT data via NFS without problem. For that you must have a NFS server product in NT server (I use Esker Tun product) and i think that root user must be declare on NT server with the same password.