Hello Jim,

Yes, the paper is a little long in the tooth with respect to product versions and performance numbers. The basic information should still be relevant, though. Here's a link to the paper:

http://www.netapp.com/tech_library/3052.html

Anyway, you'll need to "front end" the filer with another NT server loaded with the NetWorker client. When I wrote the paper, UNC paths weren't supported but now they are. You can enter the UNC path directly rather than map a drive letter using the AutoExecNT service from the resource kit. The platform (UNIX or NT) of the NetWorker server doesn't matter. What matters is the platform of the server running the NetWorker client on the machine configured to "front end" the filer.

Did you use a UNC path or a mapped drive letter in your test? I don't know if it's the same problem but when I was testing NetWorker to write the paper, I found that the drive letter mapping was lost for unknown reasons as soon as the backup started. The result was "0 files backed up." The reason we use AutoExNT is twofold. First of all, it eliminated this problem and secondly. Secondly, it allows one to map a drive letter as a service rather than having to leave a user logged in at the NT machine (drive letters are mapped at login).

It sounds like you may already know but I'll restate it anyway. If you backup a qtree with NTFS style permissions via NFS, you will loose the file permissions and file attributes (it would be like backing up a FAT partition less the DOS file attributes). Backing up a qtree with UNIX style permissions over CIFS will, however, retain the UNIX permissions. The filer also tracks an archive bit for UNIX data so NT backup apps (NetWorker isn't one of them) relying on the archive bit can run an incremental backup of UNIX data.

The bottom line.... if you already have an NT based NetWorker client you should be able to back up your filer without having to buy more software.

Regards,

Paul Benn Technical Marketing Network Appliance

-----Original Message----- From: Watts, James A. [mailto:james.a.watts@gbr.conoco.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 7:38 AM To: Toasters Mailing list Subject: Backups of NT partitions to Unix

I've looked through the archive, and also across, but have had problems getting a definitive answer on the following :

We have a filer supplying an CIFS partition to an NT4 server. Our Legato ( v5.5.1 ) server is a Sun Solaris 2.6 box. Can we back up the filer to Legato without having to buy additional software ? We have tried so far, but while Legato seems to see the partition it backs up 0 files.

I have seen posts about the NetApp white paper describing how to do this, but our Legato support company says this was on an older version of Legato ( I've asked for clarification on whether they mean the functionality has been removed ).

The other option is to make the partition both NFS and CIFS, but I'm trying to avoid the pain if possible.

Thanks in advance,

Jim Watts, Conoco (UK) Ltd.