Forum Discussion

girishnair1984's avatar
girishnair1984
Level 4
9 years ago

Change LTO Tape Expiration date

Hi

I want to change the expiry date of  LTO Tape. 

We are using Netbackup software with Redhat Linux 6.5 Operating System. 

Also, is it advisable to keep the expiry date of a tape to infinity( 2038 year)

Regards

Girish

Linux
  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    9 years ago

    I am not sure what you are asking... 

    Are you referring to hardware/volume expiration of tapes?
    The default in NBU is 0 (never).

    Hardware/volume expiration is added manually by backup admin when tape is too old, faulty or suspect. 

    Image/data expiration is determined by retention level in Policy Schedule.

    If a tape is not yet full, you can append backups of the same retention level to it. 
    Once the tape is full, you can only reuse it when all images have expired. 

    Extract from Andy's reply in this post: https://vox.veritas.com/t5/NetBackup/Difference-between-tape-expiry-date-image-expiry-date/td-p/239396

    "Data expiration [or image expiration]: the date when the backups [images] on the volume [tape] expire"

    "Volume expiration [or tape expiration]: Indicates the age of the volume [tape]. If the volume expiration date is reached, the volume is considered too old to be reliable and no further mounts in write mode are allowed. NetBackup can mount the volume in read mode but writes a message to the system application log that the expiration date has been reached. If the column is blank, the volume has no expiration date.Note: This is the expiration date for the media itself not the expiration of any images stored on the media"

    The former is determined by the retention period of the save(s) written to the tape, the latter is or can be set manually by the NB Administrator by right-clicking on the volume in question & selecting change.

  • Marianne's avatar
    Marianne
    Level 6
    9 years ago

    Tape expiration and image expiration are actually 2 different concepts.

    If you want to change expiration date for images on a tape, the command is bpexpdate.

    Easiest:
    bpexpdate -m <media-id> -d <mm/dd/yyyy>

    For more options (such as recalculate retention level) run 'bpexpdate -help'
    or lookup the command in NetBackup Commands Reference Guide  

    .... is it advisable to keep the expiry date of a tape to infinity... ? 

    Nobody can answer this. You need to know and understand business retention requirements in your environment.

    If there is only a need for e.g. 5 year retention, then use Host Properties to customize an unused retention level to match business requirements. 

     

    • girishnair1984's avatar
      girishnair1984
      Level 4
      9 years ago

      Hi Marianne

      If we keep the expiry date of tape as infinity and our backup policy retention periods are only 1 year.

      Should we wait for all existing images on that particular tape to expire first before reusing it . 

      Regards

      Girish 

      • Marianne's avatar
        Marianne
        Level 6
        9 years ago

        I am not sure what you are asking... 

        Are you referring to hardware/volume expiration of tapes?
        The default in NBU is 0 (never).

        Hardware/volume expiration is added manually by backup admin when tape is too old, faulty or suspect. 

        Image/data expiration is determined by retention level in Policy Schedule.

        If a tape is not yet full, you can append backups of the same retention level to it. 
        Once the tape is full, you can only reuse it when all images have expired. 

        Extract from Andy's reply in this post: https://vox.veritas.com/t5/NetBackup/Difference-between-tape-expiry-date-image-expiry-date/td-p/239396

        "Data expiration [or image expiration]: the date when the backups [images] on the volume [tape] expire"

        "Volume expiration [or tape expiration]: Indicates the age of the volume [tape]. If the volume expiration date is reached, the volume is considered too old to be reliable and no further mounts in write mode are allowed. NetBackup can mount the volume in read mode but writes a message to the system application log that the expiration date has been reached. If the column is blank, the volume has no expiration date.Note: This is the expiration date for the media itself not the expiration of any images stored on the media"

        The former is determined by the retention period of the save(s) written to the tape, the latter is or can be set manually by the NB Administrator by right-clicking on the volume in question & selecting change.