Full tapes in Backup Exec 2010

[Worldfresh]

Hi all,

I've been using Backup Exec 2010 for a while now and while I've managed to self teach myself enough to get by there is one thing that I can't figure out and I was hoping you'd be able to help me with!

On a Friday I'll insert 3 tapes into the machine; one for each day of the week when I'm not in. Problem is, the backups run as normal but all onto the first tape. The tape fills up (LTO 4 tapes with a 800Gb capacity) and the software throws up an error message to insert blank media, even though there are 2 tapes waiting to be written to!

Is there any way to have the software automatically switch to the next available tape in the next available slot automatically?

[CraigV]

Hi,

If you partition your library/autoloader, and those tapes aren't in the same partition, then no...there is no way.

You need to make sure your tapes are all in the same partition for this to work.

THat said, if you DON'T run partitions, then as long as the remaining 2 tapes are overwritable, then when a new tape is required, it will switch to the next available tape.

Thanks!

[Worldfresh]

Hi there, many thanks for your tip! Just to clarify, I basically have a Dell tape drive with 16 slots... as far as I'm aware they haven't been partitioned or anything like that. The tapes are all associated with a defined media set, and think how it works now is I insert tapes manually into the drive, telling it exactly to which slot I want it to go. From there I do an inventory so that Backup Exec realises there are tapes in the drive (if I don't perform an inventory it won't recognise the inserted media). Following that, the jobs are designed to run and look for any available tapes associated with the media set that are free to be written on.

The problem is though, when a tape becomes full the software doesn't move onto the next tape in the slot! I reckon they're overwriteable, but these days I do a quick erase after insertion anyway just in case!

Any ideas?  

[CraigV]

...if they're blue under your Devices tab, then they're overwritable or scratch. If they're new, then they're the same too...

Check under Devices...if it shows your library robotics with the tape drive under it, and no partitions, then your library isn't partitioned.

You can erase those tapes should you feel that way. If the tapes are already part of a media set, check and make sure your OPP/Append periods are correct, and that they're configured with the correct retention periods.

[Worldfresh]

Thanks for the reply, in devices there are: Device Pools and The server Name. Under server name there is Dell 1 (which I assume is the physical tape drive), and under that there is IBM 1 (which seems to be active when there is a tape in use) and Slots (which has 16 slots all together). 

Therefore I don't think it's partitioned. Before leaving for the day I always make sure that the tapes are sitting in a logical order (e.g. Tape 5 is in slot 1, Tape 6 in slot 2 etc etc) and that they are blue and ready to be written to. OPP for the media set is 4 weeks, and Append is None, Infinite-Allow Append.

Any more ideas? Really stuck on this!

[Colin_Weaver]

Dell 1 is probably your library with IBM1 being the tape drive inside the library, hence IBM1 goes live when a tape is moved from a slot into into the drive (and the slot will go empty)

Also you are not looking in the correct place for the existence of partitons.

To see parttitons, Right Click on DELL 1 and select Configure Partitions

If you just see Slot 1 through Slot 16 in listed then you have no partitions, however if you see dividing lines that start with --- and contain [] symbols surrounding numbers then you have partitions. This same naming convention will also be seen inisde the Device Pools section if parttions are configured (below the All Devices List). It will also be seen in the Target device for the Backup Job itself  (Device and Media --> Device)

You will not see the partitions listed under Slots themselves

[Worldfresh]

Ahh, thanks for the clarification! Upon going into the partition setup I saw there are no partitions, just slots 1 to 16 listed in order. So, no partitions then! Still having the problem though, is it perhaps necessary to reboot the server? It has been running for 76 days.

[pkh]

Did you confirm that all your tapes are overwriteable after you insert them into the library?

[CraigV]

...it shouldn't be. I'm not particularily fond of just rebooting a server, but if you feel that way, give it a bash.

However, if those tapes aren't overwritable, the job doesn't move onto the next available tape, so check your OPP/Append periods...

[Colin_Weaver]

OK next thing to point out

If your overwrite protection is set to 4 weeks - are you expecting a job that starts every for weeks to be able to use the tapes? As if you are you won't be able to.

You have to set the Overwrite protection to something like 27 days instead of 4 weeks to achieve this requirement because the overwrite protection period starst at the end of the last job to use the media but the choice of what tape to use is made at the start of the job so you have ot cover for the length of time the job takes to run. Also if you append to the tapes this period moves backwasr ot the end of the last append job (which then also needs to be taken into account.

If you get this wrong or don't understand it then note that the tapes will probably show as overwritable when you check the backup logs in the morning and see insert errors, as by the time you check the status the media is overwritable it just wan't at the time the job started - hence at least one reason for the comment by PKH about whether the media were overwritable after you inserted them in the library (or in fact when the job starts)