In NetBackup 7 monitoring SLP activity has been greatly simplified with the introduction of SLP reports
in OpsCenter which is discussed in more detail later in this document.
It is also possible to get an immediate view of the progress of the SLPs use the Storage Lifecycle Policy
utility command, nbstlutil. This command can be used to spot potential backlog problems before they
build up to unmanageable levels. Two options of the nbstlutil command are particularly useful for
this:
nbstlutil report – this command (which is new in NetBackup 7.1) provides a summary of
incomplete images. This command supports the –storageserver, –mediaserver and –
lifecycle qualifiers to home in on ‗hot spots‘ that may develop into backlog situations and
displays the number of duplication operations in progress (either queued or active) and the total
size of the in progress duplication jobs. This command can be very useful for identifying ‗hot
spots‘ where a backlog may be building up.
nbstlutil stlilist –image_incomplete –U – this command displays details of the unfinished
copies sorted by age and can be used to determine both the time the images have been in the
backlog and the names of the individual images. The image at the top of the list is the oldest, so
the backup time of that image is the age of the backlog. In most configurations that image should
not be more than 24 hours old. There should never be more than one backup of a particular
object pending duplication at any time.
Each image is categorized as being either NOT_STARTED or IN_PROCESS. NOT_STARTED
means that the duplication job has not yet been queued up for process. IN_PROCESS means
that the image is currently included in the process list of a queued or active duplication job.
IN_PROCESS images also display the operation which is in process, i.e. which duplication within
the hierarchy is queued or active.
nbstlutil inactive – using different qualifiers this command can be used to delay pending
duplications by suspending processing for a particular SLP (-lifcycle), storage destination (–
destination) or image (-backupid). Once this command is issued no further duplication
work is queued up for the SLP, storage destination or image until the corresponding nbstlutil
active command is issued. Setting an inactive state simply delays the processing and does not
resolve backlog issues directly. This command needs to be used in conjunction with other
actions (increasing duplication resources, reducing the amount of duplication activity or canceling
other tasks in the backlog) to resolve the backlog.
nbstlutil cancel – using different qualifiers this command can be used to cancel pending
duplications for a particular SLP (-lifcycle), storage destination (–destination) or image (-
backupid). Using this command means that the pending duplication jobs will never be
processed but will be discarded instead. Cancelling the processing reduces the backlog quickly,
but it may not be the best option in your environment.
If you plan to reduce the backlog by working on it at the individual backup level you should script the
process, using the nbstlutil stlilist –image_incomplete –U command to identify the backup
IDs of entries and passing those backup IDs to the nbstlutil cancel, inactive and active
commands.
The nbstlutil commands only tell the Storage Lifecycle Manager service (nbstserv) to stop
processing the images (to stop creating new duplication jobs for the images).
The nbstlutil command does not affect the duplication jobs that are already active or queued. Consequently, you may also need to cancel queued and active duplication jobs as well to release resources.