Backing up and restoring the ACLs, extended attributes, and metadata attributes for GPFS volumes
NetBackup recognizes the access control lists, extended attributes, and metadata attributes of General Parallel File System files and folders. By default, NetBackup backs up and restores all of these for GPFS volumes. No additional configuration is necessary.
Restoring files with GPFS Extended Attributes to operating systems other than AIX or RHEL or file systems other than GPFS may generate errors or failed jobs. The errors occur because the restore target does not recognize the metadata.
To prevent backups of GPFS extended attributes:
Add the IGNORE_XATTR entry to the bp.conf file on the client:
/usr/openv/netbackup/bp.conf
The entry does not require a value setting; the entry is only IGNORE_XATTR.
To prevent backups of the GPFS ACL:
Add the IGNORE_ACL touch file to the client:
/usr/openv/netbackup/IGNORE_ACL
Note:
If extended attributes are allowed to be backed up, the ACL is also backed up, regardless of whether or not the IGNORE_ACL touch file is present.
To prevent restores of GPFS extended attributes (provided that they were backed up in the first place):
Add the IGNORE_XATTR touch file to the client:
/usr/openv/netbackup/IGNORE_XATTR
To prevent restores of the GPFS ACL (provided that it was backed up in the first place):
Add the IGNORE_ACL touch file to the client:
/usr/openv/netbackup/IGNORE_ACL
Note:
If extended attributes are allowed for restore, the ACL is also restored, regardless of whether or not the IGNORE_ACL touch file is present.
Upon restore of a file or folder that has an ACL or extended attributes, the ACL and extended attributes are also restored if they were originally backed up. However, if the restore job was interrupted, the last file that was in-process may be skipped when the restore job resumes. In that case, the ACL and the extended attributes of that file and all subsequent files will not be restored.
The IGNORE_XATTR option instructs NetBackup to ignore extended attributes when backing up files and folders that have extended attributes. In case of a NetBackup Accelerator initial backup, if IGNORE_XATTR is added to the bp.conf file or the registry and then is later removed for subsequent backups, perform a backup with the option enabled.
If the ACL interface is used to change ACL permissions after a backup is performed, the restore may not preserve the ACL upon restore.