BE 2014 - Assigning Tape Drive to Tobotic Library Partition

[Larry_W_]

Running BE2014 on Windows Server 2012 R2.  Created two partitions on my library.  Tried to assign one of the two physical tape devices to each partition by going to the properties and removing one of the tape drives in each partition.  Ran an inventory on each partition to test it out.

The first partition inventory job used both tape drives as opposed to the only one it was configured for.  The second one was "queued" until the first one was completed.

Please advise.

Larry W.

[CraigV]

Hi,

Not sure if BE actually supports logical partitions created on the library itself.

Does BE show 2 different robotics and tape drives?

Thanks!

[Larry_W_]

in 2014, I have created the partitions the same way I have in previous versions... through BE itself (not directly via the library console.)  When I click the partition in the storage view, and then the proplkerties tab, it has a section labled "Tape devices that are part of the robotic library partition."  In that section, I can add or remove drives.

The issue is that no matter if I have none, one or both drives selected, it ignores my selections and uses both drives anyway.

All of my tape drives and libraries show up fine.

[Larry_Fine · Accepted solution]

BE supports both hardware partitions (done in the library UI) and software partitions (done in the BE UI).  there are pros and cons to each.  One of the drawbacks to software partitions is that utility jobs such as inventory and erase can use any tape drive.  Backups should use only the drive assigned to the partition.  If the inventory job using hte wrong drive is a concern, then I would suggest considering hardware partitioning or using bar code rules (which kind of assumes you have different drives).

[lmosla]

Hi,

 A few things to check:

Verify that the tape library is listed in the Backup Exec 2014 HCL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH205797

Is the Library using Symantec Drivers?

Make sure the device has updated firmware  

see this link for more troubleshooting  http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH24414

[Larry_W_]

Drive is upported and on HCL (Dell PowerVault TL 2000) and is using Symantec Drivers.  Firmware up to date.

[Larry_W_]

 One of the drawbacks to software partitions is that utility jobs such as inventory and erase can use any tape drive.

That's what I thought, but wasn't sure, and I'm ok with that if the case.  I just want to be sure the backups go where they are assigned due to different organizational needs.  

This is new to me being's that we are looking at migrating from BE2010.  We skipped 2012 due to the horror stories and it not doing what we want it to do.  We relied VERY heavily on the backup to disk folder functionality (which was removed for some unknown reason), job based vs.server based configuration and the concept of storage pooled based backup (which we don't need because we are a relatively small shop and back everything up to local disk.

After three days of trying to figure out the scheduler and stages...I may recommend we move to another vendor.  Setting up weekly fulls and daily differentials to disk overnight, and daily duplication of those backup sets during business on the day and weekends shouldn't require an advanced degree.

Any other helpful scheduling suggestions are welcome.

[pkh]

We relied VERY heavily on the backup to disk folder functionality (which was removed for some unknown reason)

I don't know why you say that B2D is removed.  It has always been a part of BE and is not removed in either BE 2012 or BE 2014.  B2D folders are now called disk storage but they are the same thing.

the concept of storage pooled based backup

Device pools are part of BE for a long time.  If you don't want to use device pools, you don't have to.  They are not mandatory.

Why do you need to assign a tape drive to one partition?  Why don't you want to have the freedom to use whichever tape drive from whichevery partition?

[VJware]

Have you had a look @ this KB - http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH162820

[Larry_W_]

Thanks VJ...this explained the process perfectly.  Again, wasn't a big issue, but this beng the first go round and initial testing...I wasn't sure this was the expected behavior I was experiencing.

-Larry W.

[Larry_W_]

We assigned each tape drive to a partition to accomodate the different time periods and (more importantly) the ease of use for the non-technically oriented people in the various departments to be able to get their tapes at will.

This way, they all know they have an assigned area to get their stuff.  If their assigned tape drive is in use (we changed the label in BE to read their department...they know they need to wait.

(this decision was made above my pay grade )

[pkh]

I can't say that I understand the logic behind this decision, but since it is casted in concrete, so be it.  You could have avoided doing inventory if you are using barcode labels which allows you to scan the library/tape, but it would appear that you cannot use them.