When something is going wrong in a NetWorker environment, the first thing you need to do is be able to run up some basic tests. If the issue has anything to do with NetWorker clients, you’ll want to be able to initiate a series of network, probe and index based tests. If you’ve got nothing scripted, ‘check-clients’ from IDATA Tools may very well be what you’re looking for.
As a command line tool, ‘check-clients’ can power through a suite of different tests and data gathering activities against your clients, all with very minimum effort on your part. Let’s look at the tests that are currently available:
[root@nox bin]# check-clients -l
Test Name Test Description
------------------- ------------------------------------------------------
client_ids Returns client ID for each configured client
empty Report clients with empty indices
index Perform nsrck -L3 on each client
index_rebuild Perform nsrck -L6 on each client
info Retrieve client information
list_active List all configured clients in active groups
list_all List all clients currently configured
performance Check backup performance via bigasm
ping Ping each client
probe Savgroup probe for each client
resolution Test/confirm name resolution
rpcinfo Test rpcinfo/portmapper access
used_space Calculates used space for backups
Now technically, not all of the above are actually tests as such – for instance, the used_space option was one recently requested by a customer to report on all backups currently held by a backup server for a client. Running it on one of my lab machines, the output looks like the following:
[root@nox bin]# check-clients -g all_active -t used_space
============================================================
Running test: used_space (Calculates used space for backups)
============================================================
Client Used Space (GB)
---------------------------- --------------------
archon 362.60783
faero 0.00000
luyten 0.00000
nox 544.40887
---------------------------- --------------------
Total for 4 clients 907.01669
---------------------------- --------------------
To me, that’s a combo test/information gathering option; specifically the customer was after this particular test so that they could spot any newly added clients that hadn’t been backing up (i.e., by having a “Used Space” of 0 GB).
Equally, there’s use in periodically running the “client_ids” test – running and keeping the output of this test will give you help in any sticky situation where you suddenly need access to a previous clients’ host ID:
[root@nox bin]# check-clients -a -t client_ids
=======================================================================
Running test: client_ids (Returns client ID for each configured client)
=======================================================================
aralathan = 65100d33-00000004-464fcacc-464fcacb-00050000-c0a86404
archon = 3f33ca7b-00000004-43a4837c-43a484d7-00030000-c0a80006
asgard = 00b151ed-00000004-43a4837b-43a4837a-00010000-c0a80006
djwmp = 5560bbf6-00000004-4910cd4b-4910cd4a-01961a00-3d2a4f4b
faero = 76c06b0a-00000004-453e8e44-453e8e43-00310000-c0a86406
loki = d3f277da-00000004-4857452f-4857452e-00020000-c0a86404
luyten = 93166424-00000004-4a2f8cde-4a2f8cdd-01041a00-3d2a4f4b
nimrod = d6454919-00000004-496aaadc-496aaadb-006f1a00-3d2a4f4b
nox = 85acae6f-00000004-464fbdd1-464fbdd0-00010000-c0a86404
valhalla = 61d3ca1e-00000004-495525db-4955299a-00051500-98e71c17
Moving on into actual test territory, multiple tests can be teamed up to do a chunk of information gathering in one command. For instance, combining a ping test and a name resolution test against all active clients is as simple as:
[root@nox bin]# check-clients -g all_active -t ping,resolution
=====================================
Running test: ping (Ping each client)
=====================================
archon (0 responses, expected 4)
faero (0 responses, expected 4)
luyten (4 responses)
nox.pmdg.lab (4 responses)
=======================================================
Running test: resolution (Test/confirm name resolution)
=======================================================
archon
Name: archon (archon.pmdg.lab) (192.168.100.1)
Name: archon.pmdg.lab (archon.pmdg.lab) (192.168.100.1)
Addr: 192.168.100.1 (archon.pmdg.lab)
faero
Name: faero (faero.pmdg.lab) (192.168.100.10)
Name: faero.pmdg.lab (faero.pmdg.lab) (192.168.100.10)
Addr: 192.168.100.10 (faero.pmdg.lab)
luyten
Name: luyten (luyten.pmdg.lab) (192.168.100.18)
Name: luyten.pmdg.lab (luyten.pmdg.lab) (192.168.100.18)
Addr: 192.168.100.18 (luyten.pmdg.lab)
nox.pmdg.lab
Name: nox.pmdg.lab (nox.pmdg.lab) (192.168.100.4)
Name: nox (nox.pmdg.lab) (192.168.100.4)
Addr: 192.168.100.4 (balrog.pmdg.lab (unknown))
None of this is re-inventing the wheel of course, but being able to just run a single command that cycles through and tests every active client (or even all clients) is particularly useful.
Even performance testing is catered for with check-clients; reaching out to the clients, the utility can run bigasm tests automatically – a great way for easily testing where performance hits are happening on the network. For example, a quick/basic demo of this option is below:
[root@nox bin]# check-clients -c luyten,nox.anywebdb.com -b Staging -S 50 -t performance
===============================================================
Running test: performance (Check backup performance via bigasm)
===============================================================
luyten (Solaris/UNIX style test)
Backup 50 MB to Staging
50 MB took 12 seconds (4.17 MB/s)
nox.pmdg.lab (Linux/UNIX style test)
Backup 50 MB to Staging
50 MB took 3 seconds (16.67 MB/s)
If you are looking around for a test kit option for NetWorker – and want access to a heap of other goodies at the same time – then ‘check-clients’ out of the IDATA Tools suite may very well be what you need.
