Device Pool, Concurrent Operation

[IPRO-BGardner]

Backup Exec 2010 R3 on Server 2003.

Two Tandberg 8-slot autoloaders with one drive each, placed in a device pool.

If I set my jobs to target the pool only one job runs at a time.

To use both devices at the same time, I have to target the devices individually, not the pool.

How do I get concurrent operation out of the device pool?

Library Expansion Option is installed.

[pkh]

Don't use a device pool.  Just target the library and BE will choose the tape drive which is free.

[VJware]

Tape support is included for any number of stand-alone drives and for the first drive of each library. So ideally in your case, the LEO license is not actually needed. Reference kB - https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH43073.html

Does removing the LEO license help ?

Have you created a custom Pool or is the built-in All Devices Pool to which are the jobs targetted to ?

[pkh]

I have previously thought that you have 2 tape drives in one library, but I just realise that you have two tape libraries with 1 tape drive each.

Unfortunately, tape drive pooling has been stopped since BE 2010 (I think).  There is nothing to stop you from putting them into a pool but they would be not used concurrently.  What you are experiencing is expected.

[Larry_Fine]

I see no reason that this shouldn't or wouldn't work.  That is the purpose of a pool.

Are you using the default "all devices" pool or a pool that you have created?  If it is a custom pool, make sure it was created correctly or try re-creating it.

[IPRO-BGardner]

Larry-

We're not using the "All Devices" pool.  We placed the drives in a separate pool and are trying to use that.

We previously tried removing and recreating the pool but it didn't make a difference.  There's not alot of options available when creating the pool and no meaningful options to change after creation so I don't think we have it misconfigured.

pkh-

Thanks for the info.  If this is true then I'll definitely be pushing to move to another vendor. 

Backup Exec- a pain in my backside since 1998.  Sheesh.

[Larry_Fine]

I just created a pool with 5 tape drives from 2 different libraries and 3 test jobs ran simultaneously, using both libraries.  So, it seems to be something about your environment or configuration.  Does your second job just sit queued or does it have a more useful status?

Have you tried the "all devices" default pool?  If you have other devices that you don't want used for this test, pause them momentarily so that you can test the "all devices" pool.

I believe that PKH is incorrect about pools being removed or not supported.