HP 1/8 G2 Tape Autoloader Questions...

[David_37]

We just purchased a new HP backup system(listed in the subject line), and upgraded to 11d at the same time.

I was told by someone (hp or symantec, I can't remember who) that we would be able to some things with the system that I can't seem to figure out on my own and I'm hoping someone can help.

Basically we want to be able to have the tape that is used for the backup to be moved to the mail slot and then have the magazine unlocked when we get into work in the morning so we can pull that tape out, put a new one in, and have it cycle to the empty slot.

Any ideas or thoughts on how to do this?

Thank you in advance!

David

[SteveVRTS]

It is possible to have Backup Exec do what you are looking for.  What you would have to do is have Backup Exec run to jobs after the backup runs.  You would have to just create an export job to have it export the tapes from the slot(s) which you want.  You can also schedule an unlock job to have BE unlock the library.

[David_37]

Thank you for the response! I've tried to find  a way to do these, but I do not see how it is possible.

Is there documentation somewhere on how to do this, or can you provide more detailed instructions?

Thanks again!

[SteveVRTS]

It's actually pretty simple.  Have you ran an export command or an unlock command before?  If so, you are actually creating a job, but you are just submiting it to 'run now' instead of scheduling it.  Go ahead and create one of those jobs as you normal would and you'll notice 'schedule' on the left hand pane.  The only thing that is going to be tricky for you is that you'll have to create different export jobs to run on different days to export tapes form the correct slots.
Let me know if you haven't created these types of jobs before and I'll give you further instructions.

[Ken_Putnam]

To expand on Steve's response a little

You can also create a BEMCMD job with the -081 operand and call it from the POST job of the job that backs up to that slot/partition

See http://support.veritas.com/docs/275538

[David_37]

The only job I have ever created is the nightly backup job, so any help/direction you can provide on how to do this would be much appreciated!

[Ken_Putnam]

Read through the CLI Guide look at the -081 option

Create  a command line to export the slots you want.  test it, then create a CMD or BAT file and put that in the POST JOB section of the Job Description

You will need a separate export job for each night

or look at the Admin Guide page 425 to set  up the policy

Again, you will need a different policy for each night

[David_37]

Ok, I read through the documentation and I'm still a little confused, sorry for being so dense.

The HP 1/8 Autoloader we are using has 2 magazines and 1 drive in it.

In looking at the documentation for -o81 it talks about slots. Basically you tell it which robotic library to use and which slot(s) to export.

I tried the following in a command prompt bemcmd.exe -o81 -a1 and I get a return value of -1.

I then tried the -o105 -a1 to lock the library door, but I get a return value of -1.

I'm assuming that a library=a magazine?

What am I missing?
Basically I need to take the tape after it has been removed from the drive and returned to its magazine slot (this is done already by veritas) and move it to the left magazine in slot 1 which has been designated as the mail slot.

Please help! :)

[David_37]

Well, after much trial and error, I think I'm begining to understand some of this.

I am running into a problem though. I can import and export media via the veritas software, but to do it with the bemcmd.exe approach, I need to have the id of the robotic library.

I tried a bemcmd.exe -o84 -i and it gives me a very long string of alpha/numeric characters in between {}. If I try to use that for an export command, I get back a Return Value of -1. Any ideas on how to find the id that I would use for the other commands when the robotic id is required?

[Christiane_Pete]

David,

Could you please submit the exact BEMCMD you are trying to use?  You might not be include the { }  around the robotic library id.

Also, the GUID for the robotic library can be found in BEDIAG.TXT (run "Tools | Backup Exec Diagnostics" and check Device IDs)

Regards,

Christiane

[David_37]

Christiane,

Thank you for the post, I found what I needed! But of course as with most answers, it brought up another question!

The exact line I finally got to work is: -o81 -a"HP 1" -s1

What I need to do now is get it to run from the post-command in the property of the job. I've been reading the documentation for this, but it isn't obvious to me on how to do it. I tried creating a text file with that line in it with bemcmd at the front, but I get the following error: Error: Could not start Post Job Command <c:\Move Slot 1.txt >. Error (193): (null) is not a valid Win32 application.

Any ideas?

[Ken_Putnam]

the file should be named "Move Slot1.CMD" not .TXT