Appendix C Customizing the nbkMSGS File

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The 'nbkMSGS' file contains configuration parameters originally set to default values. You can change these values to optimize BACKUP.UNET performance for your system.


Changing Configuration Parameters

You should exercise care when changing any of the configuration parameters in the 'nbkMSGS' file. If you are unsure of the correct values for your environment for any message you would like to alter, contact MTI Customer Support before proceeding.

  1. Stop the daemons before modifying 'nbkMSGS':
    nmaint -stopbrp -stopiop                  
    
  2. Edit the 'nbkMSGS' file using any editor and save your work. For example, if you are using vi (the UNIX text editor),enter:
    vi $NBK/nbkMSGS                  
    
  3. Restart the BACKUP.UNET daemons:
    nmaint -startbrp -startiop                  
    

    WARNING: Whenever you modify any configuration parameters in the 'nbkMSGS' file, the BRP daemon and IOP daemon should be stopped before making changes,and restarted after saving the changes for the new settings to take effect. Call MTI Customer Support if you have any questions.

    Note: The parameter numbers listed in Table C 1 do not necessarily correspond to the line number in the 'nbkMSGS' file.

    TABLE: Configuration Parameters for `nbkMSGS'

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    Parameter   Default               Description                                                                 
    Number      Argument                                                                                          
                Values                                                                                            
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1           58600 90 90           Operator request subsystem controls (refer to                               
                                      'nbk.opmessage' in the BACKUP.UNET Cus                                      
                                      tomization and Reference Guide). Three inte                                 
                                      ger values are defined as follows:                                          
                                      Argument 1 - The maximum total amount of                                    
                                      time (in seconds) allowed for a                                             
                                      BACKUP.UNET operator to mount a                                             
                                      requested volume. A value of 0 for this argu                                
                                      ment means there is no time limit. Argument 2                               
                                      - BACKUP.UNET can be made to test a tape                                    
                                      drive automatically while a volume is being                                 
                                      requested. When this feature is in effect, an                               
                                      operator need only mount the requested vol                                  
                                      ume and BACKUP.UNET will withdraw the                                       
                                      request by itself (that is, without an operator                             
                                      reply) when the proper volume is detected.                                  
                                      When this argument is 0, this feature is dis                                
                                      abled. When it is non 0, it indicates the                                   
                                      amount of time (in seconds) between each                                    
                                      tape drive test.                                                            
                                         Note: On some systems, accessing a   device                              
                                      when no media is mounted   results in a crash                               
                                      or a disabled   device. In these cases, a value                             
                                      of 0   is recommended for Argument 2.                                       
                                      Argument 3 - The amount of time (in seconds)                                
                                      between each operator request prompt.                                       
                                         Note:      A value of 0 for this argument                                
                                      means no prompts will be   displayed. This                                  
                                      option is not   recommended.                                                
                                                                                                                  
    2           6                     List of UNIX signals to ignore. Using the                                   
                                      default value ignores device I/O errors and                                 
                                      instead of aborting, uses arguments in the                                  
                                      `$NBK/nbkdeviceARGS' file to control I/O                                    
                                      operations                                                                  
    3           1000 500              Volume selection parameter for the nbkup -                                  
                                      append command. Argument 1 - The mini                                       
                                      mum number of blocks that must be available                                 
                                      on a volume for it to be considered for use as a                            
                                      backup volume. Argument 2 - Compares                                        
                                      available blocks for best fit. Two volumes                                  
                                      have equally good fit if the difference between                             
                                      the number of available blocks on each and                                  
                                      the projected size of the backup to be                                      
                                      appended is less than this value. When multi                                
                                      ple volumes have an equally good fit, the one                               
                                      with the smallest count is requested.                                       
                                         Note:      Argument 2 affects volume   selec                             
                                      tion only when   BACKUP.UNET requests a                                     
                                      volume   for a backup. Any volume that   sat                                
                                      isfies Argument 1, above, is   used.                                        
    4           /bin/sh               Full pathname of the shell used to execute                                  
                                      processing escapes and other subcommands.                                   
    6           /                     Pathname relative to which all files are backed                             
                                      up. The pathname must exist and must end                                    
                                      with a "/".                                                                 
    7           90                    Recommended volume capacity as a percent                                    
                                      of total available volume capacity. Used when                               
                                      computing storage capacity of a backup vol                                  
                                      ume.                                                                        
    8           15 1                  File locking option, indicated by two integer                               
                                      values defined as follows: Argument 1 - Num                                 
                                      ber of times the backup/restore processor tries                             
                                      to lock a regular file before backing up. Argu                              
                                      ment 2 - Number of seconds that the backup/                                 
                                      restore processor waits between one unsuc                                   
                                      cessful file lock attempt and the next attempt.                             
                                      If the arguments are not present or Argument                                
                                      1 is 0, the backup/restore processor does not                               
                                      try to lock a file before backing it up.                                    
    9           10                    File open failure escape, indicating the num                                
                                      ber of seconds for the backup/restore proces                                
                                      sor to escape from a file open failure (that is,                            
                                      opening a file that is automatically locked by                              
                                      another process) that kills the program.                                    
    10          60 3                  Device busy timeout, indicated by two integer                               
                                      values defined as follows: Argument 1 - Total                               
                                      amount of time (in seconds) to attempt to open                              
                                      a device while it is busy (that is, the system                              
                                      sets "errno" to "EBUSY" after the open sys                                  
                                      tem call). This is useful to allow for device                               
                                      rewind time or other users using the device. 0                              
                                      means try forever. Argument 2 - Amount of                                   
                                      time (in seconds) between device open                                       
                                      attempts. 0 means attempt to open the device                                
                                      only once and give up if the device is busy.                                
    11          6 128 768             Shared memory limitations, indicated by three                               
                                      integer values defined as follows:                                          
                                       Argument 1 - Total number of shared mem                                    
                                      ory segments allowed per process.                                           
                                       Argument 2 - Maximum size (in Kbytes) for                                  
                                      one shared memory segment.                                                  
                                       Argument 3 - Maximum amount (in Kbytes)                                    
                                      of attached shared memory per process.                                      
    12          8                     Double buffering. BACKUP.UNET employs                                       
                                      a double buffering scheme to improve data                                   
                                      throughput to devices. This means that pro                                  
                                      cessing data need not wait for device I/O and                               
                                      vice versa. To accomplish this, data is buff                                
                                      ered between the device and                                                 
                                      BACKUP.UNET. This parameter is the num                                      
                                      ber of buffers BACKUP.UNET will attempt                                     
                                      to use. The number of buffers actually used                                 
                                      may be fewer, depending on the tape blocking                                
                                      and shared memory resource limitations. The                                 
                                      maximum value is 64.                                                        
    13          65536                 Ulimit value for maximum database table size                                
                                      (in 512-byte blocks).65536 is equivalent to 32                              
                                      Mbytes. The ulimit also affects the size of a                               
                                      file that can be restored.                                                  
    14          1                     Loop type; describes the buffering between                                  
                                      the device and BACKUP.UNET using one of                                     
                                      the following values:                                                       
                                      1 - indicates one buffer at a time                                          
                                      2 - indicates in blocks of as many buffers as                               
                                      available                                                                   
                                       Use the value 2 if the device is slow, so that                             
                                      more than one buffer can be written at a time.                              
                                      Use the value 1 for a fast device since one                                 
                                      buffer can be filled and passed more quickly.                               
    15          14400 86400           Timeout value (in seconds) for remote proce                                 
                                      dure calls (RPCs). A longer and a shorter                                   
                                      default timeout value is provided. For opera                                
                                      tions expected to take longer amounts of time,                              
                                      the invoking program selects the longer value.                              
    16          1000000               Maximum log file size before 'nbkLOG' is                                    
                                      spun to 'nbkLOG 1'.                                                         
    17          0                     Date format. Determines the format in which                                 
                                      the date is to be entered and displayed.                                    
                                      0 or not present    - U.S. (MM/DD/YY)                                       
                                      1         - European             (DD/MM/YY)                                 
    18          1                     Who can start backups and recycle dumps: 0 -                                
                                      no one                                                                      
                                      1 - administrator only                                                      
                                      2 - operator only                                                           
                                      3 - both administrator and operator                                         
    19          0                     Whether users with administrator privileges                                 
                                      can restore files owned by other users:                                     
                                      0 - cannot restore files                                                    
                                      1 - can restore files                                                       
    20          8000                  Batch size for batched RPCs.                                                
    21          0                     When to back up NFS mounted files:                                          
                                       0 or not present - skip over NFS       mounted                             
                                      files in       worklist                                                     
                                      1    - back up NFS mounted       files in                                   
                                      worklist         WARNING:  Because of the                                   
                                      "state less"        nature of NFS, MTI does                                 
                                      not guarantee or support        the backup                                  
                                      of        NFS mounted filesystems.                                          
    22          0                     BRP daemon priority.                                                        
                                      BRP sub process that performs full and incre                                
                                      mental backups using the UNIX nice system                                   
                                      call; values range from +19 to  19: 0    -  no                              
                                      change from current priority 10   -  typical                                
                                      value for low priority 18   -  very low priority                            
                                      5   -  raise priority                                                       
    23          5 60 60 1440 1440     Volume table synchronization frequency.                                     
                                      Specifies how frequently (in minutes) a host's                              
                                      IOP attempts to synchronize its volume table                                
                                      with any hosts that are poolmasters for its                                 
                                      media pools, in order to serve requests for                                 
                                      pools that are not the poolmasters. If all five                             
                                      intervals are not specified, the last one speci                             
                                      fied becomes the final interval. If no intervals                            
                                      are specified or if the message is omitted from                             
                                      the 'nbkMSGS' file, the initial and final inter                             
                                      val is five minutes. Argument 1 - Initial inter                             
                                      val; if at least one media pool requires                                    
                                      synchronization, the IOP waits this long                                    
                                      between attempts. Argument 2 - The length of                                
                                      time for which the initial interval is valid.                               
                                      Argument 3 - Secondary interval; interval                                   
                                      used when the initial interval is no longer                                 
                                      valid. Argument 4 - The length of time after                                
                                      the first synchronization attempt until the final                           
                                      interval becomes valid. Argument 5 - Final                                  
                                      interval.                                                                   
    24          0                     Read "eats" (skips) tape marks. Allows the                                  
                                      use of the BACKUP.UNET append feature,                                      
                                      which enables multiple backups to be written                                
                                      onto one tape. Concerns the behavior of tape                                
                                      devices (for example, 9 track and 8mm drives)                               
                                      that support tape marks (MTIO interface).                                   
                                      This setting on a system affects IOP behavior                               
                                      running on the system.                                                      
                                       0         - Tells the IOP when a "read"                                    
                                      UNIX system call is performed         on a                                  
                                      device that has         encountered a tape mark                             
                                      on the         media (tape), it must explic                                 
                                      itly         instruct the device to skip over                               
                                      the tape mark with an "ioctl"         UNIX sys                              
                                      tem call to continue         reading the tape.                              
                                      (The device does not advance         automati                               
                                      cally over the tape         mark.)                                          
                                       Non 0     -  (Normally 1), tells the IOP                                   
                                      when         a "read" UNIX system call is                                   
                                      performed on a device that has         encoun                               
                                      tered a tape mark on the         media, the device                          
                                      automatically         skips over the tape mark                              
                                      and         the "ioctl"  system call is not                                 
                                      needed to advance.                                                          
    25          CPIOC                 Default format for labeling tapes and backups.                              
                                      Possible formats are:                                                       
                                      CPIO      ANSI                                                              
                                      CPIOC   ANSI MAGTAPE                                                        
                                      TAR                                                                         
    26          24000 24000           Network buffer size. RPC bytes-wise transfer                                
                                      size.                                                                       
    27          390200 390201         RPC program numbers.  Do not change this                                    
                390202 390203         message without first consulting MTI Cus                                    
                                      tomer Support.        WARNING:   The dae                                    
                                      mons must be        stopped before this                                     
                                      message is changed.                                                         
    28          1 1 1 1               RPC procedure version number.        WARN                                   
                                      ING:   Changing this setting is not        recom                            
                                      mended. However, if        you do change the                                
                                      setting,        the daemons must be        stopped                          
                                      before the        message setting is        changed.                        
    29          2                     Data table locking type, indicating the levels                              
                                      of the database locking mechanism.                                          
                                      WARNING:   The daemons must be                                              
                                      stopped before the        message setting is                                
                                      changed.        1  -  Automatic record locking;                             
                                      this         setting is not recommended. 2         -                        
                                      Allows multiple access to the         database.                             
                                      Note:      Incremental backups automatically                                
                                      use level 2 database locking,   regardless of                               
                                      the value already set.     3       -  Exclusive                             
                                      locking; increases         backup speed.         No                         
                                      other operations are allowed         on the data                            
                                      base tables while         the initial operation is                          
                                      running.         This setting is recommended for                            
                                      nighttime backups.   Note:      Recycling oper                              
                                      ations automatically   use level 3 database                                 
                                      locking,   regardless of the value already set.                             
    30          5                     Shared memory key. During the installation                                  
                                      process, a check is performed to determine if                               
                                      this shared memory key is being used by                                     
                                      another application in your system. If so, it is                            
                                      automatically changed to the next available                                 
                                      value. If after installation, another application                           
                                      needs to use this shared memory key, the                                    
                                      value for BACKUP.UNET can be                                                
                                      changed.        WARNING:   The daemons                                      
                                      must be        stopped before this        message                           
                                      setting is        changed.                                                  
    31          6                     "No media in device" error codes, which are                                 
                                      returned by a device when an attempt is made                                
                                      to read or write a tape and there is no tape in                             
                                      the drive. See Note in parameter 32. 6 =                                    
                                      ENXIO                                                                       
    32          16                    "Device busy" error codes, which are returned                               
                                      by a device when an attempt is made to read                                 
                                      or write a tape and another process is using the                            
                                      drive, preventing BACKUP.UNET from                                          
                                      doing so. 16 = EBUSY   Note: For both mes                                   
                                      sages 31 and 32,   because the error codes                                  
                                      returned   are determined by the device                                     
                                      driver, different devices may return   different                            
                                      error codes for the same   condition.                                       
                                      BACKUP.UNET allows you to   specify more                                    
                                      than one error code   per condition that will                               
                                      indicate the   condition for which they were                                
                                      listed. Do not list the same error   code in both                           
                                      messages.   BACKUP.UNET is shipped                                          
                                      with   these two messages set to values   found                             
                                      to be accurate on the system   type on which it                             
                                      is intended to be   run. If you run a device with                           
                                      a   third party or non standard device   driver                             
                                      and this driver does not   return the expected                              
                                      error codes,   you will need to add the codes to                            
                                      these messages.                                                             
    33          0                     Describes a tape drive's ability to skip tape                               
                                      marks. 0    -  No tape mark skip limitation; can                            
                                      skip any number of tape marks at         one                                
                                      time. This is the default, makes         argument                           
                                      2 meaningless. 1    -  Limited tape mark skip                               
                                      capability.         Reads second argument                                   
                                      to         determine how many tape marks                                    
                                      to         skip per "ioctl" call.   Note: For the Sun                       
                                      4.1.2 environment, set   the value to 1 1.                                  
    34                                Tape device or devices that are able to write                               
                                      more than two gigabytes of data to a tape vol                               
                                      ume. Default is blank field (no such device).                               
                                      Sample device is /dev/rmt0.                                                 
    35          2                     Number of FRP reader processes per stream.                                  
    36          8                     Number of buffers used between NWP and                                      
                                      FRP processes. Unless this setting conflicts                                
                                      with other applications on your system, we                                  
                                      recommend that it not be changed.                                           
    38          6                     Debug shared memory id.  During the installa                                
                                      tion process, a check is performed to deter                                 
                                      mine if this shared memory key is being used                                
                                      by another application in your system. If so, it                            
                                      is automatically changed to the next available                              
                                      value. If after installation, another application                           
                                      needs to use this shared memory key, the                                    
                                      value for BACKUP.UNET can be                                                
                                      changed.        WARNING:   The daemons                                      
                                      must be        stopped before the        message                            
                                      setting is        changed.                                                  
    39          0 or not              Reserved for IBM append feature on 8mm                                      
                present               tape drives. Certain 8mm tape drives, for                                   
                                      example those on IBM RS6000 systems, must                                   
                                      perform a "backspace file" operation before                                 
                                      attempting to append to a tape.                                             
                                      0 or not present       "Backspace file" is                                  
                                      not needed.              This is the default.                               
                                      1            The program must              backspace                        
                                      before              attempting to              append.                      
    40          90                    Volume percentage cutoff number. If the per                                 
                                      centage used threshold is greater than this                                 
                                      value, the volume will only be considered for                               
                                      a backup after all other volumes have been                                  
                                      considered.                                                                 
    41          0                     Volume selection scheme.                                                    
                                      0  Choose volume(s) that have the    lowest                                 
                                      percentage used.                                                            
                                      1  Choose volume(s) with the most    blocks                                 
                                      available.                                                                  
    42          4096                  Buffer size used to communicate between the                                 
                                      FRP and the NWP. This parameter also indi                                   
                                      cates the amount of data the FRP will try to                                
                                      read in a single read operation. If the block                               
                                      size on your filesystem is higher, you may                                  
                                      want to increase this value. For example, if                                
                                      your filesystem blocksize is 8K, you may                                    
                                      want to change this parameter value to 8192.                                
    44          nbk-BATCH             Batch job directory name. Indicates the direc                               
                                      tory in which files are placed during a backup                              
                                      to update the catalog after the backup com                                  
                                      pletes successfully. Pathnames are interpreted                              
                                      relative to the BACKUP.UNET home direc                                      
                                      tory.                                                                       
    45          0                     FRP and IOD read/write operation.                                           
                                      0  The FRP and IOD read and write    directly                               
                                      to shared memory.                                                           
                                      1  The FRP and IOD copy data to or    from                                  
                                      shared memory to local    memory before                                     
                                      reading and    writing, respectively. This set                              
                                      ting    may be faster on some systems.                                      
    47          0                     Restore a file's last accessed time.                                        
                                      0  Restores the last access time of a    file to its                        
                                      original value after the file    is backed up. The                          
                                      inode change    time of the file is automati                                
                                      cally    updated. Applications that make    use                             
                                      of the inode change time (for    example,                                   
                                      dump) may want to use    a value of 1.                                      
                                      1  Does not restore the file's last    accessed                             
                                      time.                                                                       
    48          1 300                 Backup scheduler operation, indicated by two                                
                                      integer values defined as follows: Argument 1                               
                                      - Scheduler operation.         0    Do not run the                          
                                      scheduler.                                                                  
                                              1    Run the scheduler. Argument 2 - How                            
                                      often (in seconds) the scheduler daemon                                     
                                      checks for when to initiate a backup.                                       
    49                                Mount table file name, if not '/etc/mtab'. Indi                             
                                      cates the file to be accessed for the list of cur                           
                                      rently mounted filesystems.                                                 
    50          0                     Backup streaming operation.                                                 
                                      0  Start the backup with as many    currently                               
                                      available devices to serve    the streams. For                              
                                      example, if 5    streams are specified but only                             
                                      3    devices are available, the backup    is                                
                                      started with only 3 streams    using the 3 avail                            
                                      able devices.                                                               
                                      1  Do not start the backup until there    are                               
                                      enough devices available to    serve all                                    
                                      streams. For example, if    5 streams are speci                             
                                      fied, the    backup will not start until there are                          
                                      5 devices available to service the    5 backup                              
                                      streams.                                                                    
    55          0                     When to back up files on read-only file sys                                 
                                      tems                                                                        
                                                                                                                  
                                       0 or not present - skip over files in         read-                        
                                      only file systems                                                           
                                      1    - back up files in read-        only file sys                          
                                      tems                                                                        
    504         trot13 -key example   trot13 represents the name of the decryption                                
                -salt %s%d            filter (program), -key example and -salt repre                              
                                      sent arguments that affect the algorithm used                               
                                      for the decryption. Refer to the section Using                              
                                      Encryption for Data Security in the                                         
                                      BACKUP.UNET Customization and Refer                                         
                                      ence Guide for more information about                                       
                                      decryption filters.                                                         
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