NBDN.log corruption

The NBDB database transaction log (NBDB.log) may become too large or corrupt for proper NetBackup operation.

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Overview: 

It is possible for the transaction log for the ASA database that runs under NetBackup to become corrupt or too large for proper operation. For example, in a file system that limits file size to 2Gb, the transaction log will be truncated and corrupt once it reaches the 2Gb limit. The transaction log is truncated during online catalog backup, but it might be possible that catalog backups did not take place to prevent the log from growing too large.

The ASA database failing due to transaction log problems can include these errors:

- Catalog backups and regular backups can hang.

- Operator is unable to cancel queued jobs.

- The EMM database does not come back up after restarting NetBackup.

Troubleshooting:
Running the command "/usr/openv/db/nbdb_ping" returns:
Database [NBDB] is not available.


Log Files:
There may be errors reported by the ASA database engine in the /usr/openv/db/log/server.log file as well. These errors would look similar to the following:
Error: Cannot open transaction log file -- Can't use log file "/usr/openv/db/data/NBDB.log" since it is shorter than expected


Resolution:
Rebuild the transaction log via the following steps:

1. Stop NetBackup if it is not already stopped:

/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies/netbackup stop

2. Remove NBDB and BMRDB from auto_start option

/usr/openv/db/bin/nbdb_admin -auto_start NONE

3. Start the ASA database engine

/usr/openv/db/bin/nbdbms_start_server

4. To add the necessary environment variables to your shell, run the command:

. /usr/openv/db/vxdbms_env.sh

(please make note of the period at the beginning of the line).

5. Change directories to where the NBDB resides:

cd /usr/openv/db/data

6. Remove or rename the bad transaction log:

mv NBDB.log NBDB.log.bad

7. To force database recovery, while still in the /usr/openv/db/data directory, run the command (please note, the NBDB.log will not be created until after step 10):

/usr/openv/db/bin/dbeng9 -f NBDB

8. Stop the database by running the command:  

/usr/openv/db/bin/nbdbms_start_server -stop

9. Add NBDB and BMRDB to auto_start option (Add BMRDB only if using BMR)

/usr/openv/db/bin/nbdb_admin -auto_start NBDB

/usr/openv/db/bin/nbdb_admin -auto_start BMRDB

10. To start the database, run the command:  

/usr/openv/db/bin/nbdbms_start_server

11. To test if the database is operational, run the command:

/usr/openv/db/bin/nbdb_ping

which should return something similar to the following:

Database [NBDB] is alive and well on server [NB_master1].