Job pauses, tape identified as cleaning media but isn't

[Dominic_Moore]

Hi,

Have a problem where for the last two nights a backup job has paused whilst prompting to load overwriteable media because it is identifying the actual media as cleaning media.

Somehow it is moving the media from my daily media set to the cleaning media set when it loads it in the drive. The drive is a VXA320 in a 1x10 changer and has a barcode scanner. Barcode/tape ID is being read correctly by BE. The tape ID shows up in the cleaning media set as online and in the original set as offline/overwriteable.

Anyone else seen this? Any solutions?

Thanks

[Scott_Straub]

Oh yeah.  Like every week.

The problem MAY have to do with tapes being worn and unable to correctly ready the headers on the tape, BUT even if that were the case, Backup Exec should be throwing an error, not rename the tape as cleaning media.

The only real solution I'm aware of is to dump Backup Exec.  Believe me, I wish that this wasn't the case, but I've not seen any other solutions yet.

[Ben_L_]

Dominic,

Normally when I run across this issue it is one of a few things.

1. A bad tape

2. The drive is having a problem reading the tape.

3. Bad drive.

Since Backup Exec does not actually do the reading of the tapes we have to look at the devices and the tapes or the problem and resolution.  When a command is sent to read a tape, what happens is this.  Command is sent, changer arm picks up the tape and puts it into the drive. The Drive reads the tape and reports back to Backup Exec as to what the tape is, then Backup Exec shows you what the drive told BE.  Now if the drive for some reason takes a while to read the headers on the tape or can not read them at all, the tape gets marked as cleaning media. 

Every case that I can recall with cleaning media I have had over the years I have been working on Backup Exec have been fixed by fixing a problem on the hardware side.

If you had more then one drive in the library I would suggest disabling one of the drives to see if it was a problem with the drive or the tape.  Since you only have the one drive though, I would suggest trying different tapes to see if that helps out.  If it does not I would suggest giving a call over to your hardware vendor, they should be able to resolve the issue for you.

[Scott_Straub]

Ben, thanks for that very insightful explanation of how the hardware interfaces with BE.  That's very helpful to understanding this problem, and I also apologize if this truly is not a BE problem, but a hardware problem.

I'm concerned if what you say is true.  You're saying that if the hardware is unable to read the tape headers properly, it will automatically report to BE that the tape is a cleaning tape.  It would appear that this effectively removes any chance of detecting failed tapes from cleaning tapes!  Is this really the case?  I find this hard to believe, but if it's really true, then I will take my complaints on this issue to the hardware vendor instead...

Scott

[Dominic_Moore]

Ben, as Scott said, interesting to know how BE deals with the possible hardware/tape problem - if the hardware doesn't report a specific error then BE assumes it's cleaning media? Perhaps BE could alert users if it detects cleaning media in a slot not defined within BE devices as a cleaning slot? Suspect the problem here was the drive not being cleaned as the real cleaning tape was used up.

[Ben_L_]

It would appear that this effectively removes any chance of detecting failed tapes from cleaning tapes!  Is this really the case?

Not completely, if the drive is able to read part of the header and it errors during reading the header that tape will throw an error. The drive will report an error to Backup Exec and the tape gets marked as Bad.  The cleaning media issue is only when the drive can not read the header at all and no error is detected.

So if we are able to get an error from the drive on that tape BE will show that error in the Job Log and / or the Alerts section.  But if the drive does not detect an error and does not report an error the media then BE is not able to report an error that did not happen.

If the hardware doesn't report a specific error then BE assumes it's cleaning media?

Basically yes.  This is because of the way cleaning media is handled by the tape drive.  When cleaning media is inserted into the drive, it runs for a minute or so and then is ejected.  The drive will attempt to read the header of cleaning media when it is inserted as well, just a quick note. When another tape is inserted and no error is detected, the drive attempts to run the cleaning sequence, then ejects the tape as it would with a cleaning media.

Perhaps BE could alert users if it detects cleaning media in a slot not defined within BE devices as a cleaning slot?

If you would like this feature added, I would suggest putting in an enhancement request at the following website.
http://engweb.symantec.com/enhancement/

[Scott_Straub]

---

@ben_lipsey wrote:
The cleaning media issue is only when the drive can not read the header at all and no error is detected.

---

Assuming cleaning media if the tape headers cannot be read seems like an absurd decision to me.  If this is an accurate description of the hardware design, then the results of this poor decision are clearly on display here, as the result is we have lost any ability to detect failed tapes from cleaning media.

I'm still skeptical that this is the standard operating procedure that every device manufacturer in the world uses.  It seems to me that the obvious catch-all failure state would be an error, not cleaning media.  There are all kinds of unforseen reasons that the tape headers might not be read.  There are many different tape cartridge standards as well (DDT, VXA, etc), and for them all to register cleaning tapes in the same way is unlikely at best.

[Ben_L_]

Assuming cleaning media if the tape headers cannot be read seems like an absurd decision to me.  If this is an accurate description of the hardware design, then the results of this poor decision are clearly on display here, as the result is we have lost any ability to detect failed tapes from cleaning media.

As I stated before, if no error is reported from the device, then Backup Exec can not report an error with the tape and mark it as bad media.  If the device were to report an error Backup Exec would report the error to you.  Yes this may result in ability to detect failed tapes, but it is not something the software can control.

I'm still skeptical that this is the standard operating procedure that every device manufacturer in the world uses. 

I can't say what every drive manufacture does, as we do not support every device available.  We have a compatibility list available for users to make sure the device is supported by Backup Exec. 

It seems to me that the obvious catch-all failure state would be an error, not cleaning media.  There are all kinds of unforseen reasons that the tape headers might not be read.  There are many different tape cartridge standards as well (DDT, VXA, etc), and for them all to register cleaning tapes in the same way is unlikely at best.

Again, if no error is reported from the device Backup Exec will assume the media is cleaning media as the device is treating the media as such.

[Dominic_Moore]

I understand that there is no error coming from the tape hardware but I'm with Scott in that just assuming it's cleaning media is not a great idea. I don't see that the hardware is really relevant here - the logic in BE could be better. My earlier suggestion of having BE report that a cleaning tape is in a non cleaning slot was just one idea for getting the information to an administrator, not really a product enhancement.

[Ben_L_]

If you would like the way Backup Exec reports the media changed or an alert to come up when cleaning media is not in the cleaning slot, the only thing I can suggest for you to do is submit an ehancement request for that change. I have little to no control on changes you are suggesting, I can only tell you how it works currently.

[Bobby_Reynolds]

I have been battling with this same situation.

I upgraded from 9.1 to 11d and everything worked fine, in respect to this issue. I had some issues with the upgrade so I did a fresh install of 11d. Everything works except for this same descibed problem but I have an Overland Powerloader with two HP LTO2 drives. I have upgraded the loaders firmware but to no avail. The info about the drives was insightful and I will try and upgrade the firmware on the tape drives but there is something inherently different with the drivers from 9.1 to 11d that makes the drives read tapes as cleaning tapes ( under 9.x these drives and media worked perfectly for over 2 years ).

[Bobby_Reynolds]

Eureka, after reading this thread I went back and did a repair on the installation, rebooted the server then I took all the cleaning media and made it offline. The problem is gone.

[Scott_Straub]

---

@Bobby Reynolds wrote:

Eureka, after reading this thread I went back and did a repair on the installation, rebooted the server then I took all the cleaning media and made it offline. The problem is gone.

---

In my experience, this problem won't show up until you've shuffled through the tapes again.  How are you able to conclusively determine that the problem is gone?  Did you have every tape show up as cleaning media prior to the things you did above?

[Paul_-_Inline_C]

I had the same issue with a media library and worked around this technical masturbation by using the 'barcode rules' feature of the product.

1. Under tools - options - barcode rules
2. Check out the barcodes you are using and make a new set using the first char of the barcodes as the prefix and leave the suffix blank.
3. Assign them the correct media type

From now on when a tape with those barcodes are used they will be automatically assigned correctly.

yes... symantec needs to stop being 'helpful' with their program features.. ;)

[Bobby_Reynolds]

Yep shuffled through them and the conclusion comes with time. Yes and every tape showed up as cln. Everything still works

[Bobby_Reynolds]

No barcodes or KY

[mward1]

I'm showing a similar probelem. I have 2 different servers running 12.5. Hardware is one Dell PV128T and one Overland both w/ 110/220 drives. Certain tapes show as cleaning tapes on both servers. Probably rules out hardware and databases. Tapes have been run through degausser to erase before being used. Went to 12.5 recently. Is this how completely blank tapes are seen by BE 12.5?

[Larry_Fine]

New shrinkwrapped tapes show up in BE as <blank>.  If they show up in BE as cleaning media, that means the tape drive never reported to BE that a usable tape was mounted.  You can use the tracer tool to see what is actually communicated between the drive and the software.  After about 6 minutes of the tape drive always failing the Test_Unit_Ready command, the cartridge is assumed by BE to be a cleaning cartridge.  This was required back in the old days as most tape drives did not have the capability to tell the software when a cleaning tape was inserted.  Most modern drives can quickly tell the software when a good cleaning tape is inserted.
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/285630.htm