Backup Exec 2010 R3 SP2 with 2 different tape drives in robotic library

[Didi]

Ok guys, here we go ...

We are using an HP MSL2024 tape library with an LTO5 drive and an LTO3 drive (formerly there was just an LTO3 drive and everything worked fine). The library offers 24 Slots for which I configured partitions, which means Slot 1-12 is one partition and 13-24 is the other partition.

In the 'Device Pools' overview, I can now see 'All Devices' where I removed the LTO5- and LTO3-drive and the following devices ...

... MSL2024 [0001..0012] and the assigned LTO5-drive

... MSL2024 [0012..0024] and the assigned LTO3-drive

(Just to let you know, Slot 1-11 is filled with LTO4 tapes and Slot 12 with a Cleaning Tape, Slot 12-23 is filled with LTO3 tapes and Slot 24 with a Cleaning Tape)

So now, I thought the LTO5-drive is reponsible for Slot 0001..0012 and the LTO3-drive for Slot 0013..0024 but when I initiate an Inventory on ...

MSL2024 [0001..0012]

both tape drives are used for the Inventory process.

A job that should use LTO3 tapes from MSL2024 [0013..0024] failed at the weekend, I had to disable the LTO5-drive, so that the job ran fine.

What am I doing wrong or better said ... is it possible to use 2 different tape drives in a library with tapes, that can't be used in one of the tape drives?

Your help is much appreciated.

Regards,

DiWi

[CraigV]

Hi,

if you have a second drive, do you have an extra Library Expansion Option license to enable that? If not, you need to purchase 1 more LEO to allow you to use the second drive. BE only ships with support for 1 drive.

Thanks!

[Didi]

I read about that a couple of minutes before I created that post but really wonder about that because we have 2 other libraries using Backup Exec 12.5 SP4 with 2 LTO4-drives in a library and their I have no problems! Since when do I need 2 LEO licences for 1 robotic library with one or more tape drives?

Just to let you know ... both drives are enabled. Shouldn't one drive be disabled, when the license is exceeded?

Should this be the solution to my question?

[CraigV]

Not necessarily, no. If you didn't load the extra LEO license when you installed BE, then it's not going to work.

the other thing to check out is whether or not your library's manufacturer allows for 2 drives of different capacities to be mixed inside the library.

[Didi]

Well in the case of an MSL4048 HP library, the 2 LTO4-drives work perfectly with 1 LEO license! There is no alert presented from Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 SP4 that I need to add a second LEO license! Why?

In the case of the MSL2024 HP library in combination with Backup Exec 2010 R3 SP2, I will check with the manufacturer, if 2 different tape drives are allowed and I can activate another LEO license, if that's really possible and will solve my initial problem.

[CraigV]

No, you're wrong, it won't. Only 1 drive will be in use at any given stage. That's the way it works. So the first drive that is activated during a job will be used, while the second will sit idle.

The extra LEO should solve this, but it's a licensing issue and you'd need this to comply with licensing terms.

[ZeRoC00L]

The first drive is includes in the Backup Exec media server. So you require 1 LEO, which you have, so you won't receive any alerts.

Mixing drives seems to be supported according this HP note:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02532755/c02532755.pdf

[Didi]

Just to let you know, we have 1 media server license and 1 LEO license installed for BE2010. Shouldn't that be enough to operate 2 drives in one library or do I need a LEO license for every tape drive in the library, e.g. 4 LEO licences in an MSL4048 HP library, which is capable to communicate with 4 drives simultaneously.

I always thought the LEO license is for the library and not for the drives, so no matter how many tape drives are installed, one LEO license is enough?

[Didi]

Well reading ZeRoCOOL's posting confirmed that I have the necessary licenses available. Now, I wonder why BackupExec uses the LTO5- and LTO3-drive to make an inventory of ...

...MSL2024 [0001..0012]

instead of just using the LTO5-drive? The LTO4-tapes are neglected and I get errors for the inventory job, which doesn't surprise me!

In the 2 different 'Device Pools' I clearly removed the LTO3-drive from the MSL2024 [0001..0012] and so I did remove the LTO5-drive from the MSL2024 [0013..0024] Device Pool?

What's going wrong here?

[CraigV]

...any easy test is to disable the 1 drive and see if it runs the job on the other.

Then re-enable the drive and try running a job in parallel...

[Didi]

Ok, that's what I see from the 'Job Monitor' ...

The device name for the 'Inventory Job' is always MSL2024 instead of MSL2024 [0001..0013] which holds the LTO3 tapes! Allthough I explicitly clicked the right mouse button on the MSL2024 [0001..0013] entry, the job is initiated on the MSL2024 !!! In this case it's no wonder that the LTO3-drive is used for the inventory as well.

How can I prevent this?

[CraigV]

...run this on the particition itself. So right-click the partition with slots 1-13 and do it again.

Alternatively, if you have bar codes in place, run a Scan job.

[Didi]

That's what I did already! I disabled the LTO3-drive and just the LTO5-drive is used for inventory. When I enable both drives, the inventory job uses both drives, allthough I explicitly used the inventory command on the MSL2024 [0001..0012] device?

I really wonder for what reason I configured partitions on the slot, when the inventory command is initiated on the library instead on the configured partitions?

[Didi]

That's what I did. I ran the 'Inventory Job' on the partition but that ran the job on the library and not on the partioned slot. I will do the same with 'Scan' now and post the results here ...

[Didi]

Nothing happens when I use 'Scan' on the configured partitions, only Inventory creates a job that runs and uses both drive to make the inventory?

[CraigV]

...my apologies, I was thinking of something else. You'd be able to run an inventory on the partitions, and if you select the library it does all the slots. No other way around this. You can configure an inventory job to run a specific times, and you'd be able to do so on the partitions. That way it becomes a utility job within BE itself.

[Didi]

Hello CraigV,

first of all thanks for your quick replies. No matter what I click (MSL2024 or MSL2024 [0001..0012]) the inventory job is always run on the MSL2024 and so it results in errors, because the LTO3-drive cannot read LTO4-tapes.

I don't know of any other way how to run an inventory job only on the partions? How is this done?

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

...the MSL2024 won't allow you to physically partition the library either.

The only other way is to consider bar code rules and assign these to the drives themselves.

Check the links below:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH92890

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH91959

[Didi]

work with for a couple of hours! I will post the results here, when finished!

Regards,

Didi

[Didi]

Ok, that 'Bar Code Rules' thing is somewhat strange! Why? Because, the barcode rules I configured are not visible at the drive property under 'Media Types'. There are only the Media Types visible.

So, it doesn't matter whether I use a Vendor Name or not, cause it's not visible anyway!

Just for reference, I configured the following additional bar code rules...

Vendor: HP / Suffix: L1 / Media Type: LTO-100 ...

Vendor: HP / Suffix: L2 / Media Type: LTO2 ...

Vendor: HP / Suffix: L3 / Media Type: LTO3 ...

Vendor: HP / Suffix: L4 / Media Type: LTO4 ...

Vendor: HP / Suffix: L5 / Media Type: LTO [8]

I configured the LTO3-drive to read-write only 'LTO3 (680m, 400.0GB)' and the LTO5-drive to read-write only 'LTO4 (820m, 800.0GB) and LTO [8]'.

First, I thought the library still inserted LTO4-tapes into the LTO3-drive, but after another configuration, I got a successful result of the inventory, but I must re-confirm this again, if I have the solution now.

Furthermore, I would like to be interested, if it still makes sense to use 'Configured Partitions' for the slots in my case, where I use 2 different types of LTO-drives with different types of LTO-tapes? Is there any advantage for me, when the library actually doesn't support it?