Decommissioning a media server

This topic applies to NetBackup Enterprise Server.

Use the nbdecommission text-based wizard to decommission a media server. The wizard guides you through the decommission process. Your path through the wizard depends on how you respond to the wizard prompts. Depending on your environment and how you respond to prompts, the wizard may advise you to perform an action and then exit. To continue in the wizard, you must run the wizard again after you perform the advised action. You may have to exit and rerun the wizard several times.

If active jobs exist on the media server, you must cancel them before the command can begin to decommission the media server. Alternatively, you can wait until they finish.

The OldServer does not have to be up and responsive.

Symantec recommends that you preview the media server references before you decommission a media server.

See About decommissioning a media server.

See Previewing references to a media server.

The nbdecommission command resides in the following directories:

The nbdecommission command logs to the standard NetBackup administrator commands log directory.

To replace an old media server with a new media server

  1. Run the nbdecommission command on the master server or on a media server that is not the object of this operation. The following is the command syntax:

    nbdecommission -oldserver OldServer [-newserver NewServer] [-file decom_ops.txt]

    Replace OldServer with the name of the host to be decommissioned.

    -newserver is optional. If you specify a new server, the new server becomes the default media server for the replacement operations. If you do not specify a new server, the wizard prompts you for the new server for each storage type that contains valid backup images. This method is useful if you want to move backup images to different media servers. For example, you can move backup images from tape storage to one media server and backup images from disk storage to another media server.

    -file is optional. It writes the command operations to the specified file. Replace decom_ops.txt with a name that denotes its purpose or contents. Symantec recommends that you use the -file option to maintain a record of the command operations.

  2. Follow the prompts and perform the requested actions.

    For example, the command may make changes on the master server and on multiple media servers. You may be required to restart the NetBackup services on those servers so that the changes take effect.

To decommission a media server

  1. Run the following command on the master server or on a media server that is not the object of this operation. The OldServer does not have to be up and responsive.

    nbdecommission -oldserver OldServer

    Replace OldServer with the name of the host to be decommissioned.

  2. Follow the prompts and perform the requested actions.