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Backup Exec 11d - Media labelling?

capone
Level 3

Hi Symantec Community,

I've hit a brick wall with this.... we are running Backup Exec 11d Rev 7170 SP5 and Hotfix 70 on a Windows 2003 SBS.

We just upgrade the tape drive and HBA.

We were running a Quantum LTO 2 external SCSI drive and the tape use to be automatically labelled and made part of a backup set called Vanhorne. See here:

Capture.GIF

 

After we upgrade to an IBM LTO4 external SAS drive, the media doesn't get automatically labelled anymore and the Drive type and Media type is "unknown", I guess, it just shows *** and ***_ See here:

Capture2.GIF

 

Everytime we put in a new tape, it is labelled as ***... so, I guess I would like some help to have it the was it was before, the software automatically labelling the tapes we put in, and if there is a label, then just leave it.

Its a small office, and they want to come in every morning an insert a tape for the nightly backup. IE Monday's tape on Monday morning. The software will then preform a full backup at night, everynight.

Any ideas??

Thanks!

 

If this helps, here it what the "Media Types" looks like under "Drive Properties"

Capture3.GIF

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

pkh
Moderator
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Check that your new tape drive is supported.  See the HCL below

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH46703

Your problem could be due to either an unsupported tape drive or the LTO4 media type is not defined in BE 11d.

You should upgrade to the latest version of BE.  BE 11d has already reached end of support.

You would probably have to manually label any new tapes before they are used.  Put the tape into the tape drive, right-click on the tape drive in the BE console and select Label.

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pkh
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Check that your new tape drive is supported.  See the HCL below

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH46703

Your problem could be due to either an unsupported tape drive or the LTO4 media type is not defined in BE 11d.

You should upgrade to the latest version of BE.  BE 11d has already reached end of support.

You would probably have to manually label any new tapes before they are used.  Put the tape into the tape drive, right-click on the tape drive in the BE console and select Label.

Larry_Fine
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The drive type of "***" is very significant.  That shows that BE didn't recognize the inquiry string.

Your "HH LTO Gen4" is definitely unsupported in BE 11d, according to the HCL.  The newest drive supported in that group is the "HH LTO Gen 3                      IBM^^^^^HH^LTO^Gen^3  "

Maybe you can exchange it for a supported LTO4 drive?  Such as "System Storage TS2240 Ultrium 4 Half Height                    IBM^^^^^ULT3580-HH4    "?

You can probably keep using that drive with BE 11d (unsupported), but you won't be able to do hardware encryption or WORM or IDR.

Tapes will not be given an LTO prefix in the label since the drive is unrecognized, but you can manually label the tapes as you desire.

Tape got put into the Vanhorne media set once they were used by a backup job, so I would expect that to still work properly.

capone
Level 3

phk, Larry,

Your responses were terrific! Thank you!

I suspected that it might not be supported when we ordered the drive, however, it was a wait and see approach, and other IBM LTO4 drives were supported, so, we figured the odds were pretty good that it would be supported. Then the backups started working without issue, and I was able to tweak the drive configuration, and it very fast now, compared to the drive previous. See below:

These are the new settings.

Capture4.GIF

 

And a comparison of the speed between the old drive and the new drive:

 

Capture5.GIF

 

Going at a rate of about 1700MB/min before, but with the new drive and the tweaking, its at 4400MB/min. A pretty good improvement.

Anyhow, I don't think they need hardware encyrption or WORM... and we're not sure how to setup or if there's a need for IDR?

Is there an upgrade path for 11d to 2014?  Also, do you know if we would qualify for upgrade pricing, going from 11d to 2014? probably, no?

I don't think we can exchange the drive without incurring a 15% restocking fee...plus the increase cost of the new drive. I doubt the company will go for it, espcially, since its "working" now. It might be an easier sell for the upgrade on software.

pkh
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No. There is no direct upgrade path from 11d to 2014. You need to upgrade to at least 12.5 before you can upgrade to 2014. If you are on a corner maintenance contract which I doubt, the upgrade is free

capone
Level 3

No, no maintenance contract here.

Do you think it would be worth it just to go 12.5 and stop there? I think 12.5 should have everything we need including support for the drive and media?

 

 

capone
Level 3

 

Or Maybe 2010? I think we can upgrade directly to 2010? What would you recommend?

Larry_Fine
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Upgrading to the latest BE version (BE 2014) is your best option from a support perspective and probably your best investment.

You can run an intermediate version temporarily in trial mode as an upgrade stepping stone.

pkh
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BE 12.5 is already EOL and BE 2010 is two versions behind BE 2014, so it is better to go with BE 2014.  You can either upgrade to BE 12.5 and then immediately upgrade to BE 2014 or do a fresh install of BE 2014.  The latter is a better option if your jobs are easy to re-create

capone
Level 3

You guys are right. Go straight to 2014... we have 1 job to re-create, so, that's dead easy. 1 job that runs a FULL BACKUP 5 days per week.

Thanks for your help!