Grouping duplicate jobs to specific tapes

[MKatzung]

We're running a BE2010 r3 and BE2012 server currently.

This weekend we will be switching from BE2010r3 to 2014. Fresh install etc. I do not need advice here.

What I do need help with is:

We use small tape loaders (8 slots), and are not using barcodes. We manually label the tape for which servers are on that tape.

With BE2010 I have

1 job that does a full backup all of our SQL servers (about 21 of them). I then have a job that takes that data on that one storage target and writes it all to a single tape. This is our SQL tape

1 job that does a full backup of our fileshares (several drives) and writes those to a different tape, this is the file share tape

1 Job that is for an excessively large SQL server, this as well writes to it's own tape

Having worked with 2012... it doesn't look like I can actually group the duplicate jobs to make sure they all land on one tape. I've seen posts about partitioning the tape loader, but that really isn't super helpful as I may at one point need to migrate a job on the 2012 environment over and that one has a job that uses 6 tapes.

Is it possible, other than partitioning the tape drive, to tell BE "I want you to write to the same tape as these servers"?

[pkh]

1 job that does a full backup all of our SQL servers (about 21 of them). I then have a job that takes that data on that one storage target and writes it all to a single tape. This is our SQL tape

You should be aware that you should not just backup backup sets as if they are ordinary files.  This is akin to copying them.  See this document

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH176061

You are over-managing your tapes and as a result, you have additional unnecessary headaches.  It does not really matter what tape is used for which data.  See my article below

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/must-mondays-backup-be-monday-tape

It is easier to let BE and the tape library manage the tapes for you.

Having said that, you can put everything on one tape without partitioning.  Just make sure that the first job specify overwrite and the rest of the job specify append.  The AP must be set long enough for the append to take place, but not too long that the next set of jobs append to this tape.  See this document

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH5459

Lastly, you should use barcode labels.  They make for a much more efficient use of the tape library.  See my article below

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/using-barcode-labels-why-and-how

[MKatzung]

You should be aware that you should not just backup backup sets as if they are ordinary files.  This is akin to copying them.  See this document

I understand that, and the system works fine, I inventory the tape and create a restore job based on what is on that tape, it’s a fairly simple system. I need a restore from a tape from 2013, I grab the tape, pop it in restore it to our test server. Regardless, this is a 2010 methodology (that I did not develop, only inherited) that I don’t believe works with 2012 or 2014, which is why I’m asking for advice about how to do something similar but not exactly the same in 2014.

You are over-managing your tapes and as a result, you have additional unnecessary headaches.  It does not really matter what tape is used for which data.  See my article below

Please don’t tell me I’m over managing my tapes or that it doesn’t matter what tape is used for what data. It does matter to us which is why I’m seeking help on this subject.

I do a little more work on the front end so that on the back end it’s easier to amange.

Example:

Currently if I need the full backup tape for SQL01, from Oct 25^th 2013, I call in our offsite Long term case that contains the 10/25/2013 SQL full backup tape, I easily find it just by reading the label on the case, I  pop it into either the stand alone LTO5  or the tape robot (depending on what’s being used), I inventory the tape, and I restore the copy.

Our 2012 works similarly (but has fewer servers which is why I have not cared up until this point).  I Call in the case, pull the specific labeled tape that contains the job, pop it in and restore away.

What I do not have to do in these instances is load 8 of the 11 possible full backup tapes for that week, and hope that one of the tapes contains the full back up that I’m looking for, or maybe it doesn’t. Maybe one of the 3 tapes I was unable to fit into our 8 slot loader initially. 

Having said that, you can put everything on one tape without partitioning.  Just make sure that the first job specify overwrite and the rest of the job specify append.  The AP must be set long enough for the append to take place, but not too long that the next set of jobs append to this tape.  

You’re right, I could do that, I could figure out exactly how long the jobs are going to run, set the media set to turn on protection an hour or so after that. 

Have all those jobs trigger around the same time and hope that for some reason… BE doesn’t decide to use a different tape (I’ve seen where BE will just randomly decide to use a different tape in the loader for no apparent reason.).

OR  I could use the same  functionality (if it exists)  that I had in BE2010 that allowed me to configure the duplicate job to duplicate everything on ONE job. This is what I was asking about in the first place. Is this possible?

Lastly, you should use barcode labels.  They make for a much more efficient use of the tape library.  See my article below

You are absolutely correct! I could use barcode labels, but we’re not, as I have inherited this and have only recently wrapped my head around the products, that as a priority has sort of taken a back seat between managing backups, an AD /exchange / vmware environment.

[MKatzung]

It appears as if my last response was a bit too snarky, so I'll ask again.

You're post does not answer my question:

Is it possible, other than partitioning the tape drive, to tell BE "I want you to write to the same tape as these servers"?

or another alternative, is it possible to create 1 job that will run a all the duplicate jobs on a group of servers thus performing one continuous write?

Media sets and overwrite protection do not ensure the jobs write to the same tape. I've seen on numerous occasions BE2012 decide to write to a tape other than the tape it was just writing to despite append (not overwrite) being selected.

This wasn't a real issue in the past as we currently only have 7 servers on the 2012 environment, I  just rerun the duplicate job and make sure it gets on the correct tape, and erase the tape that has the one or two off backup.

This will become more of an issue if it continues to do it on the new 2014 as I will have something like 30-40 servers.

BE2010 allowed me to write any server(s) lumped together in one job has 2012/2014 lost that functionality? It's fine if it has, it just means I'll need suffer through using the Media sets/overwrite protection and check every tape to make sure they functionally contain all the server info I'm hoping for.