NDMP SMTape Restore on OnTap 9.3

[seggy]

Did the ability to mount a restricted volume change in OnTap 9.3?  I ask this because I am trying to do an NDMP SMTape restore. This OnTap 9.3. I prepare my target by creating a DP volume and set the state to "restricted".  However, I cant mount the volume now because it is in restricted state.  Because I cant mount the volume, the NDMP client can't see it to verify the target volume exists.

For ONTap 9.3, What is the proper procedure to prepare a destination volume for an NDMP SMTape restore?

Thanks

[AlexDawson]

Hi there,

Restricted volumes cannot be written or read by client systems - so it never should have worked like that. I did a search of our BURT database and can't see anything fixed that might have allowed it. I feel confident that testing read/write from restricted volumes don't work is part of the system tests we perform before shipping, so I'm not sure what your system was doing before.

This documentation covers the high level management of SMTape via NDMP restores - http://docs.netapp.com/ontap-9/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.netapp.doc.dot-cm-ptbrg%2FGUID-A5C726F4-95FD-4DEF-A401-9E4ECA12DA9A.html

If this is still an issue, I would encourage you to raise a case with our support organisation, or the support for your backup management software.

Hope this helps!

[seggy]

Hi,

Thanks for the response. However, I was referencing the ONTAP 9 Data Protection Tape Backup and Recovery Guide.  In the section title "Understanding SMTape Engine for Flexvol Volumes" there is this paragraph:

"Before performing a baseline restore, the volume to which data is being restored must be of type DP and this volume must be in the restricted state. After a successful restore, this volume is automatically online. You can perform subsequent incremental or differential restores on this volume in the order in which the backups were performed"

For all previous versions / releases of OnTap I have instructed my users to always put the the target volume in restricted mode prior to peforming the NDMP SMTAPE restore with success. Does this no longer apply to NDMP sessions?

[seggy]

I would like to add some context to this inquiry.  

I am looking at this from an NDMP backup / restore perspective.  I backup a volume using NDMP specifying a dump type of 'SMTAPE'.  This works as always. Now, to restore this backup, I am instructed to do the following:

1. Create a new DP volume on the filer.

2. Put this new volume in restricted state

3. Use the NDMP DMA user interface to select the destination volume for a NDMP SMTAPE restore. In my case the DMA expects to receive restricted volumes in the NDMP_CONFIG_GET_FSINFO reply messages.   This was the behavior prior to 9.3.   But this is not the only problem.  On a clustered filer with the NDMP cluster extension enabled, location affinity information is needed by the DMA to perform a restore from a locally attached tape drive.  The affinity information for all volumes in the filer is sent in the CONFIG_GET_FS_INFO reply message.  Without this information the DMA cannot select an appropriate tape drive to use for this restore.

Mike

[NetAppUser12321]

Hi,

I am facing an issue with NDMP SMTape Restore. As mentioned above I am creating a DP Volume and putting it in Restricted State before performing a SMTape restore. I am performing SMTape Restore from one source volume to a destination volume(The newly created Dp). However, while getting the affinity of the destination volume, I dont see any affinity value for it. Infact the reply is completely blank and contains no info about the destination volume. Any idea why we are not getting the affinity value at all?

Can you let me know if there are any specific changes with respect to the volumes in Ontap 9.3. I ask this because the same scenaio is working in  Ontap 9.2 but failing on Ontap 9.3

Thanks.