07-25-2016 07:26 PM
Hi,
I currently run a weekly backup of our servers that is ~3TB is size, onto LT04 tapes. Even if there is zero compression, that should only take around 4 tapes. Currently it takes usually 6, but sometimes 7. Just wondering if anyone has run into a similar problem or knows where I may have a setting wrong to cause it to span so many tapes.
Basic rundown of backup:
Using Backup Exec 2014
Run 4 seperate backup jobs
Backing up 3 servers with a normal backup agent + 1 SQL Server
Noticed recently that even though the SQL server job is less than 100GB it takes more than 1 tape to get the backup for that server completed, and the 1 server with >1TB of data takes 3+ tapes
I have tried doing 1 job for all 4 servers, which cut down the tapes but stuffed up the daily differentials, so reverted to individual jobs to ensure we have a proper differential job each day
Could I run the 1 job for all servers as the full backup, then the 4 seperate jobs for the daily differential?
TIA
07-26-2016 12:01 AM
You gave to link differentials with the full so no you cannot split in the way you ask.
With regards your tape handling
1) Are you using a library and is yes how many drives has it got?
2) Do you start the 4 separate backup jobs at the same time?
3) Do you know if the first tape used by each of the 4 jobs is being overwriteen or appended to (the job logs should show this)?
07-26-2016 07:21 AM
Are your tapes getting marked as "media full"? Or are your tapes not getting 100% full?
If they are truly getting full, then the focus is on the data source, compression, etc. if they are getting 100% full, but actually holding less data than the native LTO4 capaity, then you may have a clogged tape drive head. See http://www.veritas.com/docs/000017157
If they are not getting 100% full, then the focus is on your job strategy (timing, append vs overwrite, as Colin mentioned)
07-27-2016 05:05 PM
Hi Colin,
Thanks for replying, in answer to your questions
1. We use a library with 2 banks, 24 slots and 1 drive
2. Yes, I stagger the jobs an hour apart, which used to work fine and used 4-5 tapes, but has now gone to 6-7 tapes with the same amount of data being backed up
3. The jobs are set to Append to media, overwrite if no media is available
07-27-2016 05:09 PM
Hi Larry,
The media says ifs full and uses 780GB of 781GB available, just running the cleaning tape through a few times now, plus will chuck in a new cleaning tape and see if that changes things
Thanks for the help
07-31-2016 06:28 PM
By way of update, ran the cleaning tape 5 times before the full backup jobs kicked off this past weekend and still having dramas with too many tapes
My manager is going to order in a new cleaning tape, so I will try that as well
Otherwise things are looking shady still