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Backup Set On Tape Not Deleted When Expired (Tape Is Full)

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Hy Guys,

This is my first Post on SymConnect, I had Symantec Backup Exec 2014 SP 1 Project on 4 Month ago. Let me explain that first :

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Sunday - Thursday = Incremental Job : 8 Tape

  • Sunday On Week 1 : Tape 1 ------ Thursday On Week 1 : Tape 4
  • Sunday On Week 2 : Tape 5 ------ Thursday On Week 2 : Tape 8

Media Set is "Incremental Job"

  • Overwrite Protection Period : 8 Days
  • Append Period : Infinite - Allow Append

 

# Friday = Full Backup Job : 4 Tape

  • Week 1 : Tape 1
  • Week 2 : Tape 2
  • Week 3 : Tape 3
  • Week 4 : Tape 4

Media Set is "Full Job"

  • Overwrite Protection Period : 3 Weeks
  • Append Period : Infinite - Allow Append

 

# Job Settings

When The Job Begins : "Append To Media, Overwrite If No Appendable Media Is Available"

Media Overwrite Protection Level :  "Full - Protect allocated and Imported Media"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, My Tape for FullBackup Job Is Full. There are many expired Backup Set still exist on all of my Tape!

Can you tell me Why?

And give me advise, best practice to configure OPP and Append, So when my backup Job Run For the second time with the same tape, the last backup set will be overwriten/replaced with new backup set.

Cheers!

 

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

Accepted Solutions

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Hi VJware..

I have been found what i want.

So, Yesterday before backup job run. I Set the Append Period to 1 Hour, and then the Appendable Tape's Status changed to Not Appendable, and Overwrite Status Is Overwritable With the APL settings is Partial.

When the Job is Finished, All of the Expired Backup Set replaced with the new Backup Set that ran yesterday. So now, I only have unexpired backup set on my tape.

 

I have some Question about the overwriten Backup Set.

  1. When my tape contained The Expired and Unexpired Backup Set, and media(Tape) status is Not Appendable & Overwritable, What kind of the Backup Set will be Overwritten by the New Backup, Both of them or Only the Expired Backup Set?
  2. When my tape status is Appendable & Overwrite Protected, wheater the backup set still can be stored to the tape?
  3. When the Append Period begin?

 

Cheers

 

View solution in original post

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

1) If the tape is marked as overwritable and not appendable, then the new backup set will start from the beginning of the tape.

2) If the backup set is not spanned (i.e. not across multiple tapes) and if the job is set to append, then data will be added to the existing tape.

View solution in original post

20 REPLIES 20

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Media Overwrite Protection Level :  "Full - Protect allocated and Imported Media"

Set this to Partial instead.

Also, tape acts differently than disk. In disk, when the retention period is over, the backup sets expire and are removed. However for tape, they do not get expired. They are instead marked as overwritable and are still present on tape until the tape is used by another overwrite operation such as a backup.

Would recommend to have a read at this KB as well - https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH5459.html

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Yesterday, i have been modified Media Overwrite Protection Level to "None"

But, when the job is finished, The backup set that have been created before (Expired Backup Set), still exist on the tape. Look at the image below :

Untitled.png

I have been read that article more than one time, but I still din't get the relation between the OPP and AP.

Can you give an example Backup Progress With OPP and AP.

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

You should not set the OPL to None.  This means that your OPP and AP does not apply and your tapes can be overwritten at any time.  You should set the OPL to either Partial or Full.

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

The backup set that have been created before (Expired Backup Set), still exist on the tape.

As I mentioned earlier, this is expected behavior for tapes. For Disk, the expired backup sets will get removed automatically, but for Tape, they will remain till the time the tape is used again for an overwrite.

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Thanks For both of you guys. When I set the OPL - Full. My old backup set still exist on my Tape.

Can Backup Exec do this :

When i run Incremental Backup Job Today With Tape 4. (20 May)

I want in the next Incremental Job that using Tape 4, (3 June). The backup set on 20 May will be removed or replaced with the backup set on 3 June

If I can do this.. What is the configuration of OPP, AP, and APL?

I really confused about this config.

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Yes, I understand different between Disk and Tape.

But, when i run backup job, the Tape Status is Overwritable. But they not overwrite the old backup set.

This is the view of my tape, that will run backup today.

Untitled2.png

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Have you set the Media Protection Level as Partial ?

And this tape shows as Overwritable, which means it should be used for today's backup job.

If it is not being used, what error do you receive ?

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Okay, I will Set the OPL as Partial.

The backup job will run at 6 PM on my country. I never get error.

I just confused, why the old backup never overwrite/replaced with the new backup set event the tape's status is overwritable or the OPP is over when the job is running?

Is there any correlation with the Append Period  that I set to Infinite - Allow Append ?

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

I just confused, why the old backup never overwrite/replaced with the new backup set event the tape's status is overwritable or the OPP is over when the job is running?

Check the status of the tape once the backup job is over. It should show the OPP / APP of the media set which was set in the backup job.

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

I'm sorry, i used single tape, every day there are someone will change the tape to use for backup.

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Okay, i will show you later when the job is finish.

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Hi VJware..

I have been found what i want.

So, Yesterday before backup job run. I Set the Append Period to 1 Hour, and then the Appendable Tape's Status changed to Not Appendable, and Overwrite Status Is Overwritable With the APL settings is Partial.

When the Job is Finished, All of the Expired Backup Set replaced with the new Backup Set that ran yesterday. So now, I only have unexpired backup set on my tape.

 

I have some Question about the overwriten Backup Set.

  1. When my tape contained The Expired and Unexpired Backup Set, and media(Tape) status is Not Appendable & Overwritable, What kind of the Backup Set will be Overwritten by the New Backup, Both of them or Only the Expired Backup Set?
  2. When my tape status is Appendable & Overwrite Protected, wheater the backup set still can be stored to the tape?
  3. When the Append Period begin?

 

Cheers

 

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

1) If the tape is marked as overwritable and not appendable, then the new backup set will start from the beginning of the tape.

2) If the backup set is not spanned (i.e. not across multiple tapes) and if the job is set to append, then data will be added to the existing tape.

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

1. That mean, Only new backup set will remain on the tape? Event the backup set that not expired yet will disappeared from the tape. (Backup Set in Yellow Box)

12.png

 

2. Clear

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Right, so if the job is set to overwrite, only the new backup set will be present on the tape. It will overwrite any existing backup sets even if they are not expired.
 

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Last Question!

What happen to the existing backup sets, when the running backup job is failed?

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

If the backup job is set to overwrite and not append, then highly possible the existing backup sets will get overwritten.

If the backup job is set to append, then the existing backup sets will remain on the tape.

Gustri
Level 4
Partner

Okay.

I'm Sorry.. I mean, When the backup job set to overwrite and not append, then in the middle of backup's proccess the job is fail or not finished (complated) yet. Are the existing backup set still remain on the tape or they already gone?
 

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

The existing backup sets are gone, since the tape is overwritten from the beginning. It doesn't matter if the job is a failure or still in process.