Catalog and Inventory

[aroraditya]

Hello ,

i just want to understand about Catalog and invertory, what exactaly they are for and its importance.

Regards/Aditya

[Jaydeep_S]

Inventory is the process which alows backup exec to see what Media is inserted in the Tape Drive. This is when, it gathers the general information about the tape.

Catalog is the process using which backup Exec maintains/recreates the index of data that is present on that media. This happens by default everytime a backup is performed. There are 2 copies written for this data. One copy is present on disk (Media Server) and the other is written to the Media (Tape or Disk)

[pkh]

Inventory is to identify the media to BE.  For example, if you just place a tape in the tape drive, BE does not know that the tape is there and what tape it is.  When you do an inventory, BE will know that tape 123456 is in the tape drive.

Catalog is to read the media and identify the backup set on it and the contents of the backup set.  After you have catalog a media, BE will know that it has the backup from xx/xxx/xx and it backed up Server 1 and files yyyy.

You might be interested in this document

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH33576

[dl2rcf]

Hi there,

I have a question, too.

In another closed thread on the same topic, it reads the following:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/differences-catalog-and-inventory

Inventory:

updates the media information in the Backup Exec database.

A Catalog job will definitivly update the database in /Catalogs folder. So which database is updated by an "Inventory". The same one in the /Catalogs folder or another?

What is the difference between "Inventory" and "Initialize" regarding a tape robot, since "Initialize" will let the robot check tape labels as well?

In our robot, somehow tapes went "Offline" (don't know why, they are still inside).

Can I use "Inventory" to get them "Online" again, or do I have to "Catalog" them. (Do a Catalog job will definitely bring tapes online again, "Initialize robot" won't...tested