Backup Exec 10d "no idle devices are available"

[Romy]

 Hi all,

I'm using BE 10d and have never had a problem backing up or restoring tapes until recently. This is on a Win2k3 server with an external Sony AIT scsi tape drive. 

We had to turn the server off for unrelated work maintenance work and ever since we plugged it back in the scheduled backups work correctly but I cannot do a restore (!)

The Job Status always comes back with "no idle devices are available"

Most solutions I've read talk about inventorying/cataloging the tape. I try to run those jobs but they wind up saying the same "no idle devices are available" error message.

The order of events:

*Server was turned off/tape device unplugged from server

*Maintenance was done

*Server was turned back on WHILE tape drive was unplugged

*Tape Drive was connected to server while online

*Server was rebooted

Again, the regularly scheduled backups are working just fine, its only new jobs that I create/schedule now that fail

Any suggestions would be great!

Romy

[CraigV]

Hi Romy,

What I think has happened is that BEWS might have changed the ID of the drive in the application. MAYBE.
What happens when you point your jobs directly to the tape drive?

Laters!

[lyon]

I'll assume that you power-cycled the device.
The other thing you can try is actually taking the device offline by right-clicking it from the manager's Device view. going to properties and unchecking the "Online" box.

Once done, re-check it to put it back to an online state.

I know this sounds dumb. but when i've had this issue before, taking it offline and forcing it back online again always seemed to work.

Lyon

[CraigV]

Yep, that's another thing to check...why taking it offline after numerous reboots works is another story though. Seen that in 11D and 12.5! Weird.

[shirmal · Accepted solution]

hi romy,

Plug the units together, boot the drive and wait for it to finish self-testing. Then boot the server. It must solve your issue.
Hope this helps

---Cheers

shirmal