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Kalu's avatar
Kalu
Level 3
9 years ago

Partitioned tape library and restores

We have been considering changing our backup scheme and are exploring the possibility of partitioning our tape library so certain backup jobs will only backup to tapes in particular partitions (slots). One thing I have not been able to determine, though (in spite of searching the Backup Exec 2014 documentation and the internet), is if we would need to also restore from the same partitioned slots.

For example, let's say we have a backup job that will backup to tapes in Partition 1 (slots 1 to 3). At some time in the future, let's say we have to restore a folder from a previous backup job that backed up to that tape partition. Would we need to place the tapes for the restore in those same partitioned slots?

We are assuming we would not have to place restore tapes in the same partition that were used for that particular backup, but we'd like to be sure.

Thank you.

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2014
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Not Applicable
  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    9 years ago

    Partitions aren;t for everyone. They worked well for me, but others don't use them. No real wrong way of doing it.

    As long as the tape/s for restores are present in the library, a Scan/Inventory (possibly Catalog first depending on whether or not the catalogs of those tapes were purged) is all you need. They don't need to be in the same slots as they do for backups.

    Thanks!

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  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    Ideally yes, but either way you'd have to run an Inventory (or Scan) to see what has been inserted into the library. This should mean that BE knows exactly where the tape is to restore from and then do the restore.

    This would be less important than a backup where you have to make sure the correct tape's are in the correct slot/s otherwise the backup won't run.

    Thanks!

  • Kalu's avatar
    Kalu
    Level 3
    9 years ago

    If we pull a tape magazine to insert (or remove) more than one tape at a time, I always re-scan the slots (we also have bar-coded number labels on all of our tapes). Although, if we use the I/O slot on our Dell TL2000 to import a tape we can assign that tape to a slot.

    I was just wanting to make sure that we could leave the tapes in a partition for future backup jobs to that partition, while we could possibly perform a restore of tapes while running a backup to that partition at the same time.

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  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    I wouldn't put multiple tapes into multiple slots...but it should work with how you want to do so.

  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    I hope you realise that, with partitions, if you do not have sufficient overwritable tapes in the targeted partition, your job will fail. BE will not fetch any ovewritable tape from another partition.

  • Kalu's avatar
    Kalu
    Level 3
    9 years ago

    Yes, we realize we need enough tapes in a particular partition to be able to backup the data for that job. But we will know how much data the job will backup from previous experience, and can also monitor the slots from BUE to make sure all of the tapes in a partition don't get filled up.

    We want to use partitions because we have identified some data we need to retain for a number of years (for legal reasons), while other data would only be needed for shorter periods of time in case we needed to restore lost data or a crashed server. So, we want to make sure to pack the long-term data on the fewest number of tapes, without having other jobs' data on those tapes, for when we take those tapes out of rotation once they are full. That way we won't have to "retire" as many tapes.

    And when we change multiple tapes at a time by pulling the magazine out of the tape library, there aren't any jobs running. Besides, if the "picker" was moving, the tape library would lock the magazine so you couldn't take it out. It's just that changing several tapes at a time by pulling the magazine is so much easier than trying to import/export them one at a time!

    Thank you.

  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    Moderator
    9 years ago

    Partitions aren;t for everyone. They worked well for me, but others don't use them. No real wrong way of doing it.

    As long as the tape/s for restores are present in the library, a Scan/Inventory (possibly Catalog first depending on whether or not the catalogs of those tapes were purged) is all you need. They don't need to be in the same slots as they do for backups.

    Thanks!