BE 2012 SP1a - end marker unreadable

[dori_bashan]

Hi

Strange thing.

All my LTO  tapes in the media sets are configured as "infinite - do not overwrite" and "infinite-allow appaned"

ever since i upgarded to BE 2012 - when looking inside Storage --- All Media Sets ---  "the name of the mediaset"

I can see something weird - hte media set tapes looks OK while the backup is not running (Infinite-Dont Allow Overwrite +Infinite-Allow Appand)

But if i look at the same place while the backup is running - the tape that is cuurently inside the tape will be marked  - Infinite-do not overwrite + not appendable - end marker unreadable"

Once the backup is done, and the tape is back to the auto loader slot - the same tape markes ok: Infifnte-do not overwrite +infinite-Allow Appeand

Is this a bug?

We are working with MSL 4048 LTO 5 and BE 2012 SP1a including all the updates -  that also includes the update that was released a few days ago: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH189571&actp=search&viewlocale=en_...

Thanks

Dori

[Kiran_Bandi]

No, this is normal. 

[pkh · Accepted solution]

Your job can only append to the tape if there is a proper end marker to tell BE where is the end of the data on the tape.  When a job is writing to the tape, no end marker is written.  Hence you would see "end marker  unreadable".  When the job ends, the end marker is written and then the tape is appendable again.  If you have a job failure, then you might have a situation where the end marker is not written and then the tape become unappendable.

BTW, you have set your OPP to infinite.  This means that your tapes cannot be overwritten forever.  When you have exhausted your scratch tapes, you would need overwritable tapes for your jobs to succeed.  Are you aware of this?  You should change your OPP to a reasonable period.  Any BE job will append to the first tape and would require overwritable tapes when it needs a second or subsequent tape.

[dori_bashan]

Where do i set OPP?

after setting OPP to infinte, can i still erase/label/fomat the tapes? 

[Kiran_Bandi]

It's a media set property. Edit media set properties to change OPP. 

after setting OPP to infinte, can i still erase/label/fomat the tapes? 

You can, but BE can't overwrite those tapes automatically. Design proper media rotation strategy. Change Overwrite Protection Period and Append period values accordingly so that medias can be overwritten automatically by BE after specified time.

[Larry_Fine]

Yes, this is a bug in BE 2012.

Be 2010 and previous only marked tapes as end marker unreadable when they were truly in that situation.

BE 2012 sometimes shows empty tapes and tapes in use as end marker unreadable, but it should not.  I believe this will be fixed

[Kiran_Bandi]

Earlier versions were not showing and the new version is.... That doesn't mean it is a bug in new version. 

[Jim_Harrison]

Can you explain how one would repair the missing end marker scenario?

[Larry_Fine]

If a tape is missing the end marker, it cannot be appended to, but it can be overwritten.  When it gets overwritten, then end marker issue is resolved automatically.