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bc1410's avatar
bc1410
Level 6
1 month ago

Netbackup 10.5 storage unit for Duplication jobs

Hello

Netbackup 10.5 windows environment.

We are in the process of starting to duplicate our LTO6 (Quantum i-500) media tapes with infinity expirations to our new Quantum LTO9 tape library (quantum i-6).

The LtO9 library has 6 tape drives.  Is it possible to have one or two of the 6 tape drives in our LTO9 library designated as the drive(s) for the duplication jobs?  

Another words if im running a duplication job that is duplicating lets say "Archival-1 Policy"  backupIds and then I have a new request to backup up recent data to the same policy - Archival-1. Will the new backup request job wait in limbo until the duplication job completes or will it grab another tape and starting backing it up to another tape.  I would prefer it grab another tape.

Im wondering if I can segregate a tape drive or 2 just for duplication jobs?

Can I copy the LTO9 storage unit and name it something else to use it for duplication but how can it be broken down by tape drive.   Not sure if this is possible.

 

If my write up is confusing I will try to fix.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

BC

 

 

4 Replies

  • StefanosM's avatar
    StefanosM
    Level 6
    1 month ago

    You can also achieve your goal by using different volume pools for duplication. This way, the duplications will go to one set of tapes, while the new backups will use the policy volume pool tapes.
    For example, if the backup volume pool is Archival-1, then you can create and use Archival-1-dup as the new volume pool for the duplications.

    Using specific tape drives is more complicated. There are two ways to accomplish this:

    1. Change the density on two of the drives to a different type, add some tapes manually to that density, and perform the duplications. I do not recommend this approach.
    2. Partition the library into two virtual libraries—one with 4 drives and one with 2 drives. After you finish, delete the virtual libraries and recreate a single library containing all drives.

     

    • bc1410's avatar
      bc1410
      Level 6
      1 month ago

      Thanks for the reply StefanosM​ 

      Sounds a little complicated for me.  Although I may look into the idea on the virtual libraries option which still sounds complicated :) .

      Otherwise your just saying to create a new volume pool such as "Archival-1-dup" and designate the duplication job(s) to this Volume pool.  Guess thats an option.  All of the tapes LTO6 needing duplicating to LTO9 currently use/have the same volume pool as the current Archive Backup request.   I was trying to keep the old Archival-1 LTO6 tapes to not be duplicated on the same tapes that Im writing new Archival-1 data to. Plus I didnt want it waiting in limbo as well for a job to finish before say the duplicate job can run or vice versa.

       

      Thanks

      BC

  • StefanosM's avatar
    StefanosM
    Level 6
    1 month ago

    I understand that you want to run backups and duplications at the same time.
    One way to achieve this is to partition the library, as I mentioned earlier.
    If you go with partitioning, you can select the tapes for duplication by adding them to the correct library, and you can keep all tapes in the same volume pool.

    However, there is another method I previously missed, and it is much easier to implement:

    Configure one storage unit for backups and limit it to 4 drives. Then create another storage unit for the same library and limit it to 2 drives. If you do this, you will always have two drives available for duplications. They won’t be the same specific drives each time, but you will always have access to two drives.

    However, you must also create a different volume pool. If you do not create separate pools, the tapes will get mixed.

  • bc1410's avatar
    bc1410
    Level 6
    1 month ago

    Thanks again for the reply StefanosM​ 

    Makes sense (the easier way) .  I will just copy the current storage unit to create another one with like you said 2 drives by adjusting Max concurrent write drives and then do the same on the original storage unit to 4 drives.  

    And yes I plan on creating a separate volume pool to have the LTO6 duplications to go to "Archival-1-Dup".  Dont think its a big deal/issue to create the new volume pool.  It shouldn't have any effect on restores etc..  

    Thanks for all the knowledge and help