Advice on job/mediaSet setup

[ssguser]

Hi Everybody

I have recently been handed over the management of a Backup Exec 2012 instance, for which I have only little knowledge.

I am struggling a little bit on the current configuration and I’d like to get my head around it, and possibly make it easier and more effective.

Right now, I have a Robotic library with 8 tapes capacity and 16 tapes in total (so 8 in, 8 out).

I have 2 “media sets” (Set1 and Set2), containing 8 tapes each.

Both media sets are configured to overwrite protection: Infinite, Append period: Infinite.

The idea being:

• Backup files on Set1, until Set1 is full.
• Manually change Set1 for Set2 in Robotic Library, and change backup jobs to use Set2
• Backup files on Set2, until Set2 is full.
• Manually change Set2 for Set1 in Robotic Library, and change backup jobs to use Set1.

(At that stage, we need to allow somehow Backup Exec to overwrite Set1, which was done by my ex colleague by setting the overwrite period to none… Not the best practice I guessJ)

Now I am entirely open to suggestions you may have to help, or even small hint about how I should really use media set etc.

Information that might help, we don’t need to keep the data for ages, the rotation system fits us wellm wghat is the most important for us is the last backup set, we can’t really allow a rollback with old data.

Thanks for your help!

[pkh · Accepted solution]

I don't know how long each set of your tapes would last until they are filled up.  Let's assume they filled up after a week, so each set is used 1 week at a time.  In this case, all you need to do is to create 1 media set with an OPP of 13 days.  Your backup jobs will target this media set.  To start things off, put in one set of tapes and associate them with the scratch media set.  After they are full, put in the other set of tapes and associcate them with the scratch media set.  When this second set of tapes is full, just put in the first set of tape and so on.  You only need to associate the tapes with the scratch media set for the first time.

As to why I set the OPP to 13 days, this is because it is 2 weeks (14 days) - 1 day.  For a fuller explanation, see this

OPP and AP explanation

You would need to adjust the OPP according to your needs, but the tapes must be overwritable BEFORE the start of your jobs.  In my example, I have assumed that your job specify overwrite.  If your jobs append to the tapes, then you have to adjust the OPP accordingly, again see the document above.

In addition to the avbove doccument, do read the media management section of the Admin Guide which can be found in the BE installation directory.