NetWorker Resource Validation: In-depth Guide of nsradmin -C Functionality

We cover the new nsradmin function added in NetWorker versions 8.2.1, 8.2.0.3 & 8.1.2, which allows for validation checking of certain resources using the nsradmin -C option. This video provides step-by-step instructions for various use cases, including checking NSR peer information resources, all NetWorker clients, individual NetWorker clients, NetWorker Storage Nodes, and NetWorker Usergroup hosts. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced user, this tutorial offers valuable insights into the workings of NetWorker. For more Information, check our Knowledge Base click here.

NetWorkers „NSR Admin“ program can be used to validate a number of different types of resources inside in the NetWorker configuration. We'll be providing here a number of different examples of how you can use this „nsradmin -C“ functionality. The first is the NSR Peer Information.

So for each NSR Peer Information resource in the NetWorker servers NSRLA database it checks that the NetWorker or Instance ID and certificate match those found in the relevant Network or clients resource. So we're looking for a matching certificate an Instance ID between the client resource itself and the NSRLA database. So we're using „nsradmin -C“ to connect with the NSR exec B process and therefore look in the peer information.

We can see in our example here that there's a mismatch for one of the clients where we see that the certificates don't match. And this is a typical example of a peer information not being synced up between the client and the NSRLA database. Sso what can we do about that well one thing we can do is we can use the “-y” switch in order to automatically correct that in the NSRLA database. So just using exactly the same command with „nsradmin -C“ connecting to NSR exec and then using the „-y“ to tell NetWorker to automatically correct the peer information for sources which aren't working. It will give us a report then on what exactly it has done and we can see here what has been corrected and what connections have happened. And it gives us a full report for each peer information exactly what it was able to do.

The next example we'll look at is using the „NSR admin“ command to check the NSR client resource. So we can check either all clients or one specific named client. So we'll be checking the client resources for a number of different properties to make sure that everything is synced up and looking good.

So for each client resource in the NetWorker servers NSRLA database as well as hosts listed in their storage node Fields it will check this client name client ID client FQDN IP addresses reverse lookup results and client Port connectivity and time synchronization. Ao all of these things are being checked for all of the clients in the NetWorker server and we can see report afterwards to see exactly what's come back from all of these clients.

We can see a number of time synchronization errors there for example and any name resolution errors or anything that's look a Miss with a client resource. We can look it up there and we can see the results. We can use this same command to look more specifically into one client and all the instances of that client that are on the NetWorker server by calling the same command and then using the name call on and then the name of that client.

So here NetWorker is going to do the same thing but just for this client and for all instances of that client on the NetWorker server and again we have the report here on exactly what succeeded and what didn't and what was found in the validation of the NSR client resource for this client. Lastly we're going to look at the NSR storage node resource. So this is similar to the client validation but this time we're looking at the storage nodes.

So for each NSR storage node resource that exists on the network or server we're going to verify that the name is resolvable using DNS that it can be connected to and it's going to list all of the configured devices on that storage node. So for each storage node we're going to do a number of checks and come back with a report on whether that storage node can be connected to correctly if everything is looking okay name from name resolution perspective and see what devices are enabled and can Rec connect to those devices which are associated with that storage node. And in this way we can use the „nsradmin -C“ command to validate these different sorts of resources on our NetWorker server.