Installing NetBackup primary server software on Linux
The primary server manages backups, archives, and restores. The primary server is where the NetBackup catalog resides which includes the internal databases that contain information about NetBackup configuration and backups.
NetBackup supports three primary server installation methods: the NetBackup installation script, the native Linux installers, or the Ansible playbooks. The NetBackup installation script is the standard installation method and is recommended for new users. The native Linux installers are potentially more difficult and require additional steps.
Customers who use the NetBackup installation script for their Linux primary servers only see a single change to the installation behavior. The NetBackup installation script no longer copies the installation package into the /usr/openv/pack/ directory on the client. A successful installation or upgrade is recorded in the /usr/openv/pack/install.history file.
Use the following guidelines for a new primary server installation:
Designate primary server | Designate the computer that you want to be the primary server and install the primary server software on that computer first. |
Licenses | You must add either a NetBackup license file or an evaluation license during primary server installation. More information is available: https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100058779 If you do not have the license downloaded, you can use the evaluation license that is valid for 60 days from the date of installation. Services stop working after that period is over. You can use this license by answering when prompted to install the evaluation license. For more information on how to administer NetBackup licenses, see the NetBackup Web UI Administrator's Guide. |
Installation method | Available installation methods include:
|
NetBackup Administration Console | Installation of the NetBackup Administration Console is optional. Decide if you want to install the NetBackup Administration Console on this computer. If you change your mind after the installation completes, you can add or remove the NetBackup Administration Console after the installation. More information about the NetBackup Administration Console is available. |
To install NetBackup primary server software
- Log in to the server as root.
- Navigate to where the ESD images (downloaded files) reside and enter the command shown:
./install
- When the following message appears press Enter to continue:
NetBackup Installation Script Copyright (c) 2025 Cohesity, Inc. All rights reserved. Installing NetBackup Server Software Please review the VERITAS SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT located on the installation media before proceeding. The agreement includes details on the NetBackup Product Improvement Program. For NetBackup installation and upgrade information specific to your platform and to find out if your installed EEBs or hot fixes are contained in this release, check out the Cohesity Services and Operations Readiness Tools (SORT) Installation and Upgrade Checklist and Hot fix and EEB Release Auditor, respectively, at https://sort.veritas.com/netbackup. ATTENTION! To help ensure a successful upgrade to NetBackup 11.0, please visit the NetBackup 8.x Upgrade Portal: http://www.veritas.com/docs/000115678. Do you wish to continue? [y,n] (y) - When the following message appears press Enter to continue:
Is this host a primary server? [y/n] (y)
- If you need to perform a disaster recovery of your primary server, select Y when prompted. Press Enter for the default N.
Are you currently performing a disaster recovery of a primary server? [y/n] (n)
The disaster recovery process requires additional steps and information that is not covered in this manual. More information is available.
- When this message appears, provide the name of the service user account to be used to start most of the daemons.
Enter the name of the service user account to be used to start most of the daemons:
Be aware of the following:
You cannot use the root user as the service user.
The
nbwebsvcuser should not be used as the service user.nbwebgrp must be a secondary group of the service user.
Ownership of the /usr/openv directory changes to the new service user account that you specify here during installation.
If you want to change the service user account after the installation, use the nbserviceusercmd --changeUser command.
The service user and service user ID must be same on all nodes of cluster.
For more details on the service user account, see: https://www.veritas.com/docs/100048220
If you enter root as the service user, you see the message shown:
ATTENTION! The NetBackup services currently use a root system account, which is not recommended. NetBackup is unable to use this account for the new scale-out database server process. Provide an alternative account name that meets the following criteria: - Root accounts are not allowed. - The username must be 1-31 characters. - The username must contain only English characters. - The nbwebsvc user should not be used as the scale-out database user. For more details, see the article: https://www.veritas.com/docs/100053091. Enter the name of the system account which will own the scale-out database server process:
- For the NetBackup installation location, enter the appropriate platform information as follows:
When the following question appears, press Enter to accept the default (y).
The NetBackup and Media Manager software is built for use on <platform> hardware. Do you want to install NetBackup and Media Manager files? [y,n] (y)
When the following question appears, select where to install NetBackup and Media Manager software:
NetBackup and Media Manager are normally installed in /usr/openv. Is it OK to install in /usr/openv? [y,n] (y)
To accept the default (y), press Enter.
To change the installation location, type n and press Enter. Then enter the appropriate destination.
Additional information about installation folder restrictions is available.
- When the following question appears, select whether to install the NetBackup Administration Console on this host:
The Java GUI can be optionally included with NetBackup. The Java GUI enables the NetBackup Administration Console and the Backup, Archive, and Restore (BAR) GUI. Choose an option from the list below. 1) Include the Java GUI. 2) Exclude the Java GUI. Java GUI option [1,2] (2) : To accept the default, Excluding the Java GUI package, press enter. To install the java GUI package, select 1. - Enter the NetBackup Enterprise server license.
Provide an answer to Are the license files downloaded from the Veritas licensing portal? (y/n): when prompted.
If you reply y, you are prompted to provide the file path to the license file.
Enter the license file name including the path (for example - /usr/openv/slic.slf):
After you provide the license file path, reply y to add this license file:
Do you want to add this license? (y/n):
If you reply n, you are prompted if you want to use an evaluation license. If you answer y, an evaluation license valid for 60 days is installed. More information is available: https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100058779.
If you answer n, the installer cannot proceed without a license and it exits gracefully.
- Provide an answer when prompted to add additional license files.
All additional licenses should be added at this time.
Do you want to add additional licenses now? [y,n] (y)
If you answer y, provide the required license file information, and then enter q to quit the utility and proceed with the installation.
If you answer n, the installer provides information about how to add license information from the command line and proceeds.
- Verify or enter the correct computer name when prompted by the following message:
Installing NetBackup Enterprise Server version: 11.0 If this machine will be using a different network interface than the default (name), the name of the preferred interface should be used as the configured server name. If this machine will be part of a cluster, the virtual name should be used as the configured server name. The domainname of your server appears to be "domain". You may choose to use this domainname in your configured NetBackup server name, or simply use "name" as the configured NetBackup server name. Would you like to use "name.domain" as the configured NetBackup server name of this machine? [y, n] (y)
Note:
Incorrect information for the domain name results in failures during the configuration of Authentication Broker and NetBackup Access Controls. To correct this problem, use the bpnbaz -configureauth command to configure Authentication Broker. More information about the bpnbaz -configureauth command is available.
To accept the displayed (default) name, press Enter.
To change the displayed (default) name, type n and enter the name that you want.
For a clustered NetBackup server, enter the virtual name for the NetBackup server and not the actual local host name.
- Identify or verify the primary server by answering the following question when it appears:
Is <name> the primary server? [y, n] (y)
To accept the displayed name (which is the name that you identified in the previous step), press Enter.
If you entered a virtual name for the server in the previous step, the installation script presents the following question:
Is this server part of a cluster installation?
If the answer is yes, press y and answer the series of cluster configuration questions that appear.
If the answer is no, press n.
- Identify whether there are any media servers for this primary server by answering the following question when it appears:
Do you want to add any media servers now? [y, n] (n)
If there are no media servers for this primary server, press Enter and proceed to the next step.
If there are media servers for this primary server, type y and enter the name of each media server.
When you enter the media server names, you must enter the computer name and the domain name. For example:
alpha.domain.com
Where alpha is the computer name and domain.com is the domain name.
The media server names that you enter here are added to the bp.conf file on the primary server, automatically. After you install the media server software later, the primary server can then communicate with the media servers immediately.
To add a media server to an existing and an operational NetBackup environment, you cannot use the procedures in this guide. For complete details on how to add a media server to an existing and an operational NetBackup environment, see the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.
- When the following message appears, press Enter and accept the default name of the EMM server. You must configure EMM on the primary server. All primary servers must have their own EMM configuration. Remote EMM or shared EMM is no longer supported.
NetBackup maintains a centralized catalog (separate from the image catalog) for data related to media and device configuration, device management, storage units, hosts and host aliases, media server status, NDMP credentials, and other information. This is managed by the Enterprise Media Manager server. Enter the name of the Enterprise Media Manager (default: <name>)
- Answer the following question when it appears:
Do you want to start the NetBackup job-related processes so backups and restores can be initiated? [y, n] (y)
If you have (or want to have) a clustered NetBackup server, type n.
For non-clustered installations, press Enter to accept the default answer (y) and start the NetBackup processes and the EMM server.
You must start these processes now because the EMM server must be running when you install any media servers later.
- For a clustered NetBackup primary server, repeat these steps on every node on which you want to run NetBackup.
- (Conditional) On a clustered NetBackup primary server, you must obtain the Certificate Authority certificate and the host certificate for each inactive node. More information is available:
See Generate a certificate on the inactive nodes of a clustered primary server.
- After your initial installation is complete, you can install any other NetBackup add-on products (such as language packages).
- (Conditional) If you use an external certificate authority (ECA) in your environment, configure the ECA now. More information is available:
https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100044300
For more information, see the NetBackup Security and Encryption Guide and refer to the chapter on external CA and external certificates.
- (Conditional) If you plan to configure customized settings for your Tomcat web server, determine if those settings can persist across upgrades. More information is available:
- Complete the NetBackup installation as indicated.