Information provided on a as-is basic. Use at own risk.
!! Creating the bpdm_dev_null file redirect ALL disk based backup to /dev/null on the media server where the touch is placed, not just the newly created one in the exmaple below. Disable all production classes and delete the touch file when testing is complete. !!
1: touch /usr/openv/netbackup/bpdm_dev_null on a media server (for NBU 6.5 /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config/SKIP_DISK_WRITES)
2: Create a new disk storage unit (STU), using /tmp or some other directory as the image directory path
3: Create policy that points to the new disk stu.
4: Run a backup using this policy. NetBackup will create a image files as if it was a real backup image. The image file(s) will be zero bytes long.
5: To clean up the netbackup catalog use bpexpdate -d 0 -backupid {hostname_epoctime} ( the backup id is part of the file name). This command remove the zero byte image file and delete the backup in the Netbackup catalog (it hard to restore anyway). Do not delete the files manual.
