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How to configure email notifications for Windows clients using BLAT and nbmail.cmd in NetBackup

Article: 100016001
Last Published: 2023-03-03
Ratings: 5 5
Product(s): NetBackup & Alta Data Protection

Description

This document is designed to give a complete list of steps to configure Windows email notification in NetBackup. It will be necessary to have the following information to properly set up email notifications:

  • The email address of the NetBackup administrator who will receive the emails
  • A SMTP server that is configured to accept and relay emails. Eg. emailserver.company.com
It should be noted first that this document is primarily focused on Windows based platforms. UNIX platforms have a built-in Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) transfer method that Windows does not have. Windows requires a MAPI application or some other application that can transfer messages over SMTP. NetBackup has various .cmd files that assume an SMTP utility called BLAT is in place. The .cmd files that will be discussed assume BLAT is going to be used as the SMTP utility.

Note: NetBackup 8.1+ requires a BLAT version of 2.4 or higher.

BLAT is a open source utility and the most recent version of BLAT can be downloaded from this site:  https://www.blat.net/
Note:  BLAT is a third party product.  It is not written, endorsed or supported by Veritas.  Any problems with BLAT should be reported to the makers of blat directly.  Veritas will be unable to assist with issues that are encountered when installing or using BLAT.

I. Installing and Configuring the BLAT executable
 
1. Download the .ZIP file from the download page specified above
2. Extract the files to their own folder.
Note: Most of the files in this .ZIP file are informational and is source code for developmental purposes.
3. Copy the blat.exe file to the \Windows\System32 directory in Windows
4. From a command prompt, run the following command ( Note: This will be the primary account that will send the emails from the specified server):
 
% blat -install <server addr> <sender's addr> 4 25
 
Note: "<server addr>" is the hostname or IP address of the email server that will send the email notifications.
"<sender's addr>" is the account that will be the primary sender of the email notifications. Tries (4) and port (25) is added to the end.
 
Example:
% blat -install emailserver.company.com useraccount@company.com   4 25
 
5. Test the installation of blat by creating a text file C:\testfile.txt with a message and emailing it to the NetBackup administrator.
 
% blat C:\testfile.txt -s test_subject -to useraccount@company.com
 
If blat is working correctly, the NetBackup administrator should receive the contents of the C:\testfile.txt file.
 
Note: Blat stores its configuration information in the Windows registry.  If you need to confirm any default Blat settings, they can be found under the following registry path:  

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Public Domain\Blat

Warning: Incorrect use of the Windows registry editor may prevent the operating system from functioning properly. Great care should be taken when making changes to a Windows registry. Registry modifications should only be carried-out by persons experienced in the use of the registry editor application. It is recommended that a complete backup of the registry and workstation be made prior to making any registry changes.
 
II. Configuring the nbmail.cmd script
 
Note: The syntax has changed in versions of BLAT post 2.6, and the syntax below will change depending on the version you have.
 
1. Open nbmail.cmd using notepad.exe or some other text editor. The file can be found on a NetBackup Server/Client install for Windows at <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin.  If the file does not exist, check  <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\goodies and move to  <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin. Please make a backup copy of this script before modifying it.
 
Note: When using Notepad to modify a script do not use the Word Wrap option.  If this option is enabled, then it will need to be unchecked.  Using this option can result in extra line feeds being added to the script which will render it non-functional.
 
2. Most of the lines in the nbmail.cmd file are informational. The following line(s) are what need to be adjusted:
 
For NetBackup 8.x, 9.x and 10.x systems find the section:
 
@REM @IF "%~4"=="" (
 
@REM blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server WARTHOG -q
 
@REM ) ELSE (
 
@REM blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server WARTHOG -q -attach %4
 
@REM )
 
3. Remove "@rem" from the beginning of each line.  This will activate the sections needed for blat to run.
 
4. Replace "WARTHOG" with the name of the email server. An example of how this line should now appear is (please note the change of parameters for newer versions of BLAT):
 
Example on NetBackup 8.x, 9.x and 10.x systems:
 
@IF "%~4"=="" (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q
 
) ELSE (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q -attach %4
 
)
 
Example for blat version 2.6+:
 
@IF "%~4"=="" (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -to %1 -server emailserver.company.com -q
 
) ELSE (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -to %1 -server emailserver.company.com -q -attach %4
 
)
 
and at the bottom of the file:
 
@IF "%~4"=="" (
 
blat %TEMP%\nbmail.tmp -subject %2 -t %1 -server emailserver.company.com -q
 
) ELSE (
 
blat %TEMP%\nbmail.tmp -subject %2 -t %1 -server emailserver.company.com -q -attach %4
 
)
 
@REM -
 
Additionally, it is good practice to replace any instances of "NetBackup" with a valid email address, for example:
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i admin@acme.com -server emailserver.company.com -q
 
This email address will appear in the "From:" field in the email.  The reason for this is that some email servers may not process the mail if it is from "NetBackup" as opposed to a valid email address.
 
5. Save the nbmail.cmd file
 
6. Example of an email sent by NetBackup using BLAT:
 
Backup on client <hostname> by root was partially successful.
 
File list
 
---------
 
C:\Documents and Settings
 
Options explained:
 
  • %3 is the file that BLAT will send in the body of the email. This is generated by one of the other scripts, backup_notification.cmd for example.
  • -s is the subject line of the email ("-s" is replaced by "-subject" in blat 2.6+)
  • %2 is the contents of the subject line. This is generated by another script that calls on blat, backup_notification.cmd, for example.
  • -t is who will receive the email. ("-t" is replaced by "-to" in blat 2.6+)
  • %1 - is the email address. This is by default the contents of the Email Address for the administrator of this NetBackup Client field.
  • -i is the "From" portion of the email. This is not necessarily known to the email server. In this case it will be "From NetBackup."  There should be a valid email address specified here instead of "NetBackup", such as "admin@acme.com". (-i is no longer existing in blat 2.6+)
  • -server is the name of the SMTP server to use.
  • -q will suppress all output to the screen.
 
III. Configure NetBackup to use email notification
 
To allow a master server to send emails for all failed client backups that end with a non-zero status, do the following:
 
1. Open the NetBackup Administration Console
2. Open the Host Properties for the master server and go to the Global Attributes tab
3. At the bottom of this page, enter the email address for the NetBackup administrator in the field called Administrator e-mail address: (separate multiple entries with commas)
 
To allow a specific client to send emails for all successful and failed jobs, do the following:
 
1. Open the NetBackup Administration Console
2. Open the Host Properties for the Client and go to the Universal Settings tab
3. Under the Administrator section of this page, enter the email address for the NetBackup administrator in the field called Client Administrator's e-mail (separate multiple entries with commas)
 
NetBackup should send email notifications at this point. To get more information sent to the administrator configure some of the <install_path>\VERITAS\NetBackup\bin\*.cmd files. This would result in additional information for the administrator.
 
IV. Additional ways to use BLAT and nbmail.cmd
 
Sending to multiple users can be done in two ways: by creating an administrative group SMTP account on an email server and configuring NetBackup and nbmail.cmd to use that SMTP address, or by configuring the nbmail.cmd file to send to multiple users.
 
Providing more email address for BLAT can be done by adding additional email addresses after the %1 in the nbmail.cmd file.  Here is an example of the syntax required:
 
Example on NetBackup 8.x, 9.x and 10.x systems:
 
@IF "%~4"=="" (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1,name1@acme.com,name2@acme.com,name3@acme.com -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q
 
) ELSE (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1,name1@acme.com,name2@acme.com,name3@acme.com -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q -attach %4
 
)
 
Configured this way, four emails will be sent out. It is important to separate the email addresses with commas (,) and no spaces in between.
 
V. Troubleshooting BLAT
 
1. It may be necessary to do some troubleshooting of BLAT. If BLAT is run from a straight command line, and it has an error, it will produce a message in the command line results. To make a "log" file for BLAT, make an entry at the end of the nbmail.cmd "@blat" line similar to this:
 
Example on NetBackup 8.x, 9.x and 10.x systems:
 
@IF "%~4"=="" (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q >>"C:\program files\veritas\netbackup\logs\blat.out.txt"
 
) ELSE (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q -attach %4 >>"C:\program files\veritas\netbackup\logs\blat.out.txt"
 
)
 
This will create a .txt file in the specified directory and will append to the bottom of that file. If there is an error message from BLAT it will show in the specified file.
 
2. There have been instances where email notification is working, but Vault will not send reports correctly. To correct this, a modification to the "blat" line in the nbmail.cmd file is necessary. If you are experiencing this, make the following modification to the nbmail.cmd file:
 
Example on NetBackup 8.x, 9.x and 10.xsystems:
 
@IF "%~4"=="" (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q -mime
 
) ELSE (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q -attach %4 -mime
 
)
 
3. There have been instances where email notification is configured correctly, BLAT is configured correctly, but emails are not received. Try making the following modification to the nbmail.cmd file:
 
Example on NetBackup 8.x, 9.x and 10.x systems:
 
@IF "%~4"=="" (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q -enriched
 
) ELSE (
 
blat %3 -s %2 -t %1 -i NetBackup -server emailserver.company.com -q -attach %4 -enriched
 
)
 

References

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