How To Modify A Specific Version Of A Specific Storage Lifecycle Policy

The Lifecycle must be updated to reflect changes in the environment or updates to the desired destinations to backup and duplicate images using Storage Lifecycle Policies.   Perhaps this has been done incorrectly and must now be amended, or this is a forecasted change due to other circumstances.

Edit the Lifecycle using the Administration Console.  Changes made via the GUI will automatically create a new version.  Using the GUI allows for the exact configuration desired, however, certain changes will not be able to be modified in previous versions.  Citing the Commands Guide:

Options that cannot be changed within an existing version of a Lifecycle:

¦ The type of the destination (Use for): backup, duplication, snapshot (-uf)
¦ The Retention Type for the destination: fixed, capacity managed, expire after duplication (-managed)
¦ The source of a destination (Source), used primarily in hierarchical SLP configurations (-source)
¦ The Data Classification of an existing version (-dc)
¦ The number of destinations (Operation). You cannot add a destination or remove a destination from the SLP definitions.

Most common usage is to change the storage unit (Storage), Volume Pool, Retention Level and/or Alternate Read Server.  


Using the example below:

1.  Review the changes made to the two most recent versions of the SLP to determine which operation/destination changed and what was the change.

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\admincmd>nbstl TestSLP -L -all_versions
                                Name: TestSLP
                 Data Classification: (none specified)
            Duplication job priority: 0
                               State: active
                             Version: 2
 Destination  1              Use for: backup
                             Storage: hcart-tld-0
                         Volume Pool: NetBackup
                        Server Group: Any
                      Retention Type: Fixed
                     Retention Level: 20 (1 hour)
               Alternate Read Server: (none specified)
               Preserve Multiplexing: false
      Enable Automatic Remote Import: false
                               State: active
                              Source: (client)
                      Destination ID: (none specified)
 Destination  2              Use for: duplication
                             Storage: pdde1
                         Volume Pool: (none specified)
                        Server Group: (none specified)
                      Retention Type: Fixed
                     Retention Level: 20 (1 hour)
               Alternate Read Server: (none specified)
               Preserve Multiplexing: false
      Enable Automatic Remote Import: false
                               State: active
                              Source: Destination 1 (backup:hcart-tld-0)
                      Destination ID: (none specified)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Name: TestSLP
                 Data Classification: (none specified)
            Duplication job priority: 0
                               State: active
                             Version: 1
 Destination  1              Use for: backup
                             Storage: hcart-tld-0
                         Volume Pool: NetBackup
                        Server Group: Any
                      Retention Type: Fixed
                     Retention Level: 20 (1 hour)
               Alternate Read Server: (none specified)
               Preserve Multiplexing: false
      Enable Automatic Remote Import: false
                               State: active
                              Source: (client)
                      Destination ID: (none specified)
 Destination  2              Use for: duplication
                             Storage: pdde2
                         Volume Pool: (none specified)
                        Server Group: (none specified)
                      Retention Type: Fixed
                     Retention Level: 20 (1 hour)
               Alternate Read Server: (none specified)
               Preserve Multiplexing: false
      Enable Automatic Remote Import: false
                               State: active
                              Source: Destination 1 (backup:hcart-tld-0)
                      Destination ID: (none specified)
                     
--The notable change between these two versions is destination 2: originally was set to use pdde2, and was changed to now use pdde1 in the most recent version (version 2).  However, there may be images still associated with version 1 of this lifecycle that have not completed duplications. 
The solution is to change version 1 to match the duplication operation of version 2 (the current version in this case) to ensure that duplications will go the newly defined and desired storage unit.

Inactivate the lifecycle processing while making the changes:

Example:
nbstlutil inactive -lifecycle TestSLP
* Note: this command is case sensitive for all arguments.

Now check to see what images are still incomplete for this lifecycle to determine what needs to be changed and confirm the above:

C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\admincmd>nbstlutil list -lifecycle TestSLP -image_incomplete
V7.0.1 I masterserver client_1320416544 client 1320416544 vanilla 13 0 TestSLP 2 1320416779 *NULL* 1  00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 0 0 1320416602
V7.0.1 C master  client_1320416544 1 2147483647 1320589344 hcart-tld-0 3 500 0 0 1 *NULL* 2147483647 1320416805
V7.0.1 F master  client_1320416544 1 -1 0 1013L4 mediaserver mediaserver 2 1 1 18432 1 1013L4
V7.0.1 F master  client_1320416544 1 1 0 1013L4 mediaserver mediaserver 2 1 1 43277312 1 1013L4
V7.0.1 C master  client_1320416544 2 2147483647 1320589344 pdde2 1 0 1 0 0 *NONE* 2147483647 0

--Note that there is a single incomplete image for this Lifecycle, using version 1.  Modify version 1 of the SLP named TestSLP to use the new configuration.

nbstl TestSLP -modify_version -version 1 -residence hcart-tld-0,pdde1 -pool NetBackup,__NA__ -rl 20,20

Command arguments are in the order of the destinations.  For example, the '-residence' arguments must specify the storage units for operations that may not be changing, such as operation 1 in this example, and they must be in the same order as the operations are numbered.  Use the nbstl -L -all_versions as a reference for the defined order.

* The use of __NA__ is to signify that for the destination, the value is *NULL*.  In this case, a disk storage unit does not take a Volume Pool argument, but tape does, so it must be specified for the first operation and defined as *NULL* for the second operation.  The retention levels are specified by their retention level number; this can be determined from bpretlevel.

Applies To:

Any supported environment using SLP at version 6.5.5 or higher.  This operation is not supported and can lead to data loss at 6.5.4 and earlier.
* Note that nbstlutil list outputs progressively have more fields the higher the version of NetBackup due to additional features added to the product.  Reference 000041620, and 000020143 for guidance.