Backup Exec, No compression, Dat72

[Dan_Roling]

We have a problem. We have mulitple servers with Dell PowerVault 100T (DAT72 or DDS5) backup drives installed with them. Servers have been backing up fine for the last year. Now as the servers have more files on them and the backup jobs have gotten larger we are running into a problem. Backup Exec does not see the drive as a DAT72 drive.

If you look in BE at the Drive Types tab, go to properties of the drive and then to the Media Types tab. There are no specifications for this new type of media. We should see DDS-5 (170m) etc... but it is not there.

This is not a matter of "the files are not compressing" and "1:1 is acceptable". The majority of the files are word and excel documents that I can compress 10:1 with winzip and other utilities.

We have loaded the latest drive package from Veritas and this makes no difference.

We also have some servers with LTO-2 drives and they have the same problem. If you go to the drive properties, media type it lists LTO-100 and it should be LTO-200. This will probably be a problem for us again when those servers start getting more files on them.

We have seen numerous posts on this issue, but no solutions. It is always talking about a file compression problem. That is not the problem. The problem is that the Veritas software (BE 9.0, 9.1, 10.0 and 10.1) do not see the drive's actual capacity and capabilities correctly.

From what I can tell this drive information is stored in the ADAMM database and I am sure it is just some entries there to get it to work.

We really need a solution to this. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Thanks in advance.
Dan

[Keith_Langmead]

I know most people recommend using the Veritas drivers instead of the manufacturer ones, but have you tried installing those instead to see if that makes a difference?

What type of compression are you trying to use? Hardware or Software? Obviously if you're using hardware then you won't see any information about the amount of compression you're getting, but if so have you tried switching to using software compression just so you can see what figure it comes out with?

Long shot, but have you tried updating the drives firmware?

[Dan_Roling]

The firmware is the latest code per dell. We have tried the Dell driver and that makes no difference.

We are using hardware compression on the backup job settings.

I could switch to software, but I still think the problems lies in the media types tab of the properties of the tape drive. It just does not recognize the DAT72 drive correctly.

I will try a software compressed job and see if it makes any difference.

Dan

[Anthony_Harris]

I am having the same problem. I have seen the numerous post before and do not think this problem was resolved.
Dan, have you had any joy finding a solution. I am going to run my backup job choosing software compression and see how that goes.

Drive types tab reporting same problem - No entry for DDS-5 media (170m).

OS: W2k3 SBS
BE: 10d 10.1 rev 5629
Tape drive: HP DAT72, c7438a
Drive Firmware: ZP5A (not sure if this is the latest - installing HP StorageWorks Library and Tape Tools now to check)

Thanks.
Ant.

[Dan_Roling]

Dell thought replacing the drive would make a difference so we did that two nights ago.
Last night was the same problems. Gets to about 35gb and asks for another tape.
It has got to be a BE problem like I explained, but cannot find a solution. I have numerous clients that have these drives and all are having the same problems.

Let me know if you have any luck with the HP stuff.

Thanks

[Dan_Roling]

I am also trying to email their support as an installation issue. Will let you know if I get anything out of that. I wish someone from their support would look this over. Seen a lot of people post, but no solution.

[Ken_Putnam]

Just for grins, what happens if you use NTBackep?

[Dan_Roling]

I am going to try that tonite.

[Dan_Roling]

54GB on one tape using NT Backup. Got to be a Veritas problem.

Dan

[Anthony_Harris]

I'll also run an NTbackup tonight and post my results.

Thanks.

[Anthony_Harris]

NTbackup ran fine my side to, backed up approx 45GB to one tape.

Please can some guru from Symantec take a look at this issue and see if they can provide some light on the subject.

I'm sure Dan and I can't be the only two people experiencing this problem.

Thanks,
Ant.

[Ken_Putnam]

At this point it is more a band-aid than a solution, but you could use SW rather than HW compression

(Bearing in mind that SW compression is proprietary and HW is not )

[Anthony_Harris]

Thanks for the Feedback Ken.
I tried SW comp. last night. No joy. Backup did not complete. Had to cancel it tonight and run with NTbackup again.

Dan, did your backup complete using SW compression?

[Dan_Roling]

I have not tried software compression, but will this weekend.

Thanks
Dan

[Anthony_Harris]

Dan, any joy using software compression?
I'm still having this problem.

[Dan_Roling]

Software compression made no difference.
Thanks
Dan