BE 2012 Backing Up Multiple Servers Issue

[BIllH2]

I have four servers that I want to do a full backup on every week night. Total of 315G of data going on an LTO3 drive. The issue I am having seems to be related to when the backup jobs (A total of 6) are scheduled. All of the backup jobs are scheduled to start between 8:00 and 11:00 PM. One backup job was scheduled to start at 3:00AM. All backup jobs are set to append or overwrite the media, the last job, scheduled for 3:00 AM did not append, it overwrote the previous jobs. I rechecked the the storage settings and it is set to append or overwrite. The last job is only 15G. There was plenty of room on the tape without getting into compression, why did it overwrite all of the previous jobs?

Should the backup schedule for all 6 jobs be set to all start at the same time and just let the program decide when each server gets backed up, or is this a non issue?

On another note: IMHO, Symantec really did not improve things with this version. Just voicing my opinion.

[Donald_Eady]

I would keep the jobs with staggered start times as you have them now. I would suggest verifying that 15 G job is set to append and not overwrite again.. I would also adjust your OPP so that the data that is written to the tape is protected. Im assuming that you have not set an OPP as the last job overwrote the previous. 

[BIllH2]

Don
Thanks for responding, the job is set to append, overwrite if no appendable media is available. The only other choices are Overwrite or Append, cancel job if over writable media is not available. I am beginning to think that it would be better if the job was canceled rather than overwrite the media. 

Showing my ignorance: What is OPP?

Thanks
Bill

[lmosla]

Hi Bill, 

take a look at the following helpful video. http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=solveissue&key=15047&Title=Storage hardware and media management.

  Also see the Admin Guide Page 365 for more information on backing up to tapes.http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC5211

hope this helps

[BIllH2]

Imosla

Thanks, I went throught the admin guide, can't get the video guide to work, Still wondering why, with room on the tape the backup job over wrote the whole tape instead of appending the job. 
Thanks again

Bill

[pkh]

OPP = overwrite protection period

AP = append period

I suspect your tape was overwritten because both the AP and the OPP is too short.  If your AP is too short, then the tape cannot be appended to and when your OPP is too short, it can be overwritten.  You should check your media set on how the OPP and AP is set.  For a better understanding of OPP and AP, see this document

OPP and AP explanation

Also, whether you job is set to append or overwrite is important.

P.S. To save on typing, we use a lot of acronyms in this forum.  You can use this discussion to go to my glossary.

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/acronyms-and-alphabet-soup

[lmosla]

In the Storage settings under the Append Period make sure you have it set to an amount of time rather than Infinite Append

and apologies about the bad video link.  pkh provided the correct one for OPP and AP explanation.

[BIllH2]

Thanks, everyone. The OPP is set to 5 days. The AP is set to 10 hours. This is for the media set that all of my tapes are in. 

This differs from what is in the Backup Job Defaults.

[BIllH2]

This is my backup tape strategy:

I use four daily tapes labeled Monday thru Thursday. I also use a 1st thru 4th Friday tape. These daily backup tapes go home with me every night.

The tape that is run on the last day of the month is removed from the set and is stored in a secure, off site location. End of month tapes are kept for two years, then rotated back in as month end backup tapes.

The tape that is run on the last day of the year and the tape from the accounting departments year end closing is also stored in a secure, off site location.

All backup jobs are full backups.

This is the way I have always done it but I am open to any suggestions for improvement.

Thanks

Bill