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natashayansari's avatar
7 years ago
Solved

Need to use all 8 characters for media ID

We are getting a new robot which will use LTO6 tapes, but will be able to read LTO4. On our old one we are using LTO3 and LTO4.

So can I use all 8 barcode chars as media ID? I do not want to create conflict between for example: 000001L4 and 000001L6.

Or should I use the last 6 chars (0001L6).

Thank you.

  • For the sake of a few $ for the first few batches of custom labels instead you are considering a world of pain.  And anyway, anyone considering purchasing a large quantity of tape media would order them pre-labelled anyway.

    Are you going to use more 100,000 media via the new library ?

    Why not use 600000L6 to 699999L6 as your range for the new library?  That's 100,000 media there alone.

    And if you use 1-9 and A-Z as new leading characters, then you will have a set of 35 * 100,000 media, i.e. 3,500,000 media.

    Personally I do not understand why you are considering deploying new media that use the same starting six characters as existing media.

    Better still would be to use a smaller range to start with, and build up, so consider perhaps only 5,000 media initially - e.g. 600000L6 to 604999L6.

  • There will be much more experienced community members who will chime in. I would suggest to use media generation rules as without media generation rules, NetBackup will use last 6 characters to generate media IDs.

    Also, depending on your environment, you can have alphanumric characters in there too. E.g. in my library, I have two partitions and media IDs are of type A#####, Z##### with barcodes being A#####L7 and Z#####L7. The media generation rules is: Length 8, 1:2:3:4:5:6 and a barcode tag A or Z.

    Also, I ordered the media ID's in colour. Each digit has a specific colour on the sticker, so they are easier to distinguish if without colour.


  • natashayansari wrote:


    So can I use all 8 barcode chars as media ID? 

     


    To answer your question:
    No. It is not possible to use all 8 characters. 

    The NBU Media ID field can only store 6 characters. Your only choice in this is to choose which 6 characters (via Media ID Generation Rules).

    You have received excellent advice in previous replies. 
    Purchase custom labels or use last 6 characters.

  • For the sake of a few $ for the first few batches of custom labels instead you are considering a world of pain.  And anyway, anyone considering purchasing a large quantity of tape media would order them pre-labelled anyway.

    Are you going to use more 100,000 media via the new library ?

    Why not use 600000L6 to 699999L6 as your range for the new library?  That's 100,000 media there alone.

    And if you use 1-9 and A-Z as new leading characters, then you will have a set of 35 * 100,000 media, i.e. 3,500,000 media.

    Personally I do not understand why you are considering deploying new media that use the same starting six characters as existing media.

    Better still would be to use a smaller range to start with, and build up, so consider perhaps only 5,000 media initially - e.g. 600000L6 to 604999L6.

    • sdo's avatar
      sdo
      Moderator

      Remember tape media are essentially a disposable commodity at the end of their life-span.  Don't waste time trying to micro manage tape labels.  Just get the next numbers   be they  L1 to L8  suffix - it makes no difference logically.   All you have to control is which actual physical media enter which physical library - the numbers on the barcodes are larely meaningless.

      Here's something I saw someone do once...

      ...they had three sites, each with different libraries :

      A00000L1 to A09999L1   for 10,000 LTO1 media at site A

      B00000L2 to B09999L2   for 10,000 LTO2 media at site B

      C00000L3 to C09999L3   for 10,000 LTO3 media at site C

  • X2's avatar
    X2
    Moderator

    There will be much more experienced community members who will chime in. I would suggest to use media generation rules as without media generation rules, NetBackup will use last 6 characters to generate media IDs.

    Also, depending on your environment, you can have alphanumric characters in there too. E.g. in my library, I have two partitions and media IDs are of type A#####, Z##### with barcodes being A#####L7 and Z#####L7. The media generation rules is: Length 8, 1:2:3:4:5:6 and a barcode tag A or Z.

    Also, I ordered the media ID's in colour. Each digit has a specific colour on the sticker, so they are easier to distinguish if without colour.

  • Hi,

    What you're forgetting is that you already have images on the old media i.e. the mediaID has been set , and it cannot be changed without expiring and relabling the media. So you'll need to make sure the barcodes don't overlap.


  • natashayansari wrote:


    So can I use all 8 barcode chars as media ID? 

     


    To answer your question:
    No. It is not possible to use all 8 characters. 

    The NBU Media ID field can only store 6 characters. Your only choice in this is to choose which 6 characters (via Media ID Generation Rules).

    You have received excellent advice in previous replies. 
    Purchase custom labels or use last 6 characters.

  • The media type should in my view NOT be a part of the barcode.

    Leave out the L1 to L8  - you don't need it. If you are in control with tape labels, you will know what ranges are what media types.

    • mph999's avatar
      mph999
      Level 6

      Agreed ...

      You should have a letter, or letter as the first two characters that 'define'the NetBackup environment, or location.

      eg

      AA0001L6

      That way, if you have two enviroments, you wouldn't get duplicate barcodes 

      AA0001L6

      BB0001L6

      • sdo's avatar
        sdo
        Moderator

        ...or... if letting NetBackup default to using only trailing 6 chars of media label...

        ...then, we need three alpha at the start, i.e. sets of :

        first media label of AAA001L1 - will give a barcode of A001L1

        first media label of BBB001L1 - will give a barcode of B001L1

  • Thank you all. Appreciate all input. I might go with preceding characters 8 #A:2:3:4:5:6

    We are a community college, and it will not be any time soon when we go over 500 tapes :)