Date: 01/07
Affected NV Version: All
OS Version: Unix/Linux/Mac
Plugin version: N/A
Application version: N/A .
Description:
Using CLI to configure the NETWORK MANAGER for Machines with two active NIC cards, and no GUI.
Symptoms:
If you have server and/or clients with two active NIC cards, you might be unable to add the client or the backup may fail with one or more of the following messages in the log:
- Backup or Restore Errors like: "Child Process Died Unexpectedly"; “…ServerName…” has changed its preferred address.
- Clients may continually go Down/Up or not be able to be added to a backup server .
Cause:
If a machine has both Public and Local IP addresses active, the Network traffic might be routed to an unintended IP address. For example, the Netvault Server software is supposed to use the Local IP address to communicate with its NetVault Clients, but in some cases the Network traffic is routed to the Public IP address instead, or vice-versa.
The solution is to configure a 'Preferred network address' for the NetVault Server and all of the NetVault clients. However, in some cases you do not have a GUI available, so you can use only Command Line Interface (CLI) to do the configuration.
In this solution, the term %NetVault% stands for the full path of whatever directory you have the NetVault installed on in your Machine. In most UNIX like OS, typing the command cat /etc/.nv6_home will help you to find that out.
To achieve the best results, do all of the following:
Step 1: Login as su or root to the Machine you want to configure.
Step 2: Stop the NetVault Service in the NetVault Server and all Clients. ( just navigate to the %NetVault%/etc directory and issue the command ./startup.sh stop in each one of the machines you want to configure). It is a good policy to keep them off all the time during the configuration if possible.
Step 3: Either Delete or rename the file machine.dat in the %NetVault%/etc directory in the Machine running the NetVault Server.
Step 4: Open the CLI Configurator by navigating to the %NetVault%/bin directory and issuing the command ./txtconfig, type p and press ENTER to get to the complete list of the configuration options.
Step 5: Go to the CLI equivalent of the "Network Manager" page by typing the number that corresponds to the option “Network Manager” and pressing ENTER. You will get options 1; 2; and 3 that correspond to the three Tabs in the GUI.
Step 6: Go to the CLI equivalent of the "Connections" tab by typing 2 and pressing ENTER (you will get a new set of options 1 through 5) .
Step 7: type 1 and press ENTER to TURN the option “Broadcast details to machines on local networks” to ON if it is OFF. You will always get back to the 3 selections above, so, always type 2 to select the Connections Option.
Step 8: To enter the IP Address of the NIC that NetVault should ALWAYS use into the CLI equivalent of the 'Preferred network address' field, just type 2 press ENTER and then type the IP address in the form XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.
Step 9: Enter the IP Address of any NICs that NetVault should NEVER use into the 'Comma separated list of barred address(es)' field by selecting the option 3 and entering the other IP address or a list of barred IP addresses if more then 3 NIC cards are active in the machine.
Step 10: follow the same procedures above to enter a comma separated list of FALLBACK ADDRESSES or ADDRESSES NOT TO RESOLVE if required.
Step 11: Make sure you save the configurations by selecting ‘s’ before exiting.
It might take up to five minutes for the broadcasts to be acknowledged by the NetVault Server and all Clients, depending on the Network configuration.
Please refer to the NetVault Administrator’s Guide found at our website http://www.bakbone.com/docs/NV_Backup_Administrators_Guide_74x.pdf for additional information.
