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Restore from tapes, without server, tape library or catalog that the tapes were created on, and not Overwrite catalog on good operational Backup Exec install

BackupWest
Level 3

Well this solution has proven difficult.

I have tapes that are a backup of a file server which may contain data we would like to restore. The file server is gone, the tape library the tapes were created on is gone, and there is no backup of the tape catalog. I have old tapes i would like to at least view the contents of.

I still have a Dell tape loader, and server running Backup Exec 2010, that runs backups on active server. I thought I could load my archived tapes into the active library, inventory and catalog and restore.
Right away we realized that there were duplicate barcodes media lables and we did not want are valuable current catalog compromised with media lables from this old archive set of tapes. We thought of renaming the current catalog and creating a new one with the old tapes. This wasn't very elegant and ended up not working with errors " the media is not in the media index" , even after inventorying and then trying to catalog.

Is there a procedure that I can try, that will keep our good active catalog safe but allow me to inventory and catalog (maybe even restore from) these old tapes which have the same bar code media labels as many of the tapes in the active catalog. Thank you

21 REPLIES 21

CraigV
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Other than renaming the current Catalogs/Data folders so that they can be created again (temporarily), no...unless you have a separate server you can do this on.

Thanks!

pkh
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If you have some barcode labels which are different from your existing ones, then you can put them on the old tapes and you can inventory and catalog them without affecting the new tapes.  They would be treated as separate tapes.

If you don't have any spare barcode labels, you can generate your own barcode labels.  See my article below

https://www.veritas.com/community/articles/using-barcode-labels-why-and-how

Colin_Weaver
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Whilst you are investigating options make sure you slide the write protect tabs across on all these older tapes so that you don't accidentally overwrite them.

 

Oh and putting new barcodes on them is the best idea. The reason why you could not just reset the catalogs was because of the content of the media inventory inside the BEDB (see this document for information on the relationships between catalogs and inventory - the document also discusses clashing media names (with relation to B2D files admitedly)

http://www.veritas.com/docs/000015327

 

 

BackupWest
Level 3

Thank you for time.

I look at the barcode replacements, home made barcodes. And catalog renaming and try this routine again.
Right now I had covered up the old barcodes , experimenting, I think though that the bar code label is written to the tape. 
After inventory the online media had media labels corresponding to the bar codes I had covered up ?

cruisen
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Hello BackupWest,

Check this link before its too late, because support of this feature will end to this release.

DOCUMENTATION: Statement of support for the importing of Backup Exec images in NetBackup 7.x using the Backup Exec Tape Reader

Modification:
Backup Exec Tape Reader (BETR) refers to the ability within NetBackup to import and restore from Backup Exec (BE) backup sets (images).  Backup Exec media is imported into the NetBackup media server and data from the BE backup sets can be restored via NetBackup.  This statement specifies the current level of support for the Backup Exec Tape Reader capability.

NetBackup 7.6 will be the last release to support BETR functionality.

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000005737

best regards,

Cruisen

pkh
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What is the relevance of this to this discussion?  In case you are confused, he is using BE and NOT NBU.

cruisen
Level 6
Partner Accredited

You re right. BackupWest ist asking for a solution to read Backup Exec Tapes, and I answered you can you use netbackup for doing so. But for you this is not relevant. I think its the same case when someone is aking you how does actually retention works on backups and you reply, it depends.

I ve the sensation that only your answers are relevant to the comunity, what else.

best regards,

Cruisen

PS: Just imagine he has a friend that has recently installed a lab with netbackup, a pitty not to know that he can exactly use this for reading tapes.

 

 

 

CraigV
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...you could probably use ARCserve to read the tapes too as that application also writes in MTF format. In actual fact, I've used BE to restore data written in ARCserve...none of which helps the OP though unfortunately.

 

pkh
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When you do an inventory, the physical tape label is read and hence your problem.  You should just scan the tape.

pkh
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Yes. It would be a real pity not to mention this possibility, especially if his tapes are created by BE 12.5 or earlier.

BackupWest
Level 3

If I scan the tapes to avoid reading the tape label, is that the equivalent of inventory ? I think eventually i would have to catalouge to actaully do a restore.
My colleague is now suggesting a new virtual server so we could use the tape library and start a new catalogue of the old tapes on this new server. 

CraigV
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A scan just tells BE what's in the library, not what's on the tapes which is what an Inventory job does.

Bear in mind that if you run a virtual media server and you access a real device like a tape drive/library you're effectively running an unsupported configuration and Veritas will not help you with any hardware-related issues unless you can replicate this in a physical environment.

Thanks!

BackupWest
Level 3

I made some bar codes thanks for the advice on that subject applied them to the tapes I am curious about and inventoried,  not scanned the library (I choose scan afterwards from the menu didn't appear to do anything possibly because all the tapes had been inventoried). The media labels found by BE match that of the bar codes I replaced. I believe that the tape data header has theses media labels written to it. Leaving the option of creating a whole new catalog or a whole new server to avoid catalog media label duplication. 
Unless I edited all the media labels slot by slot to match the corresponding home made bar code ? I have definitely learned a lot working through this.blush 

CraigV
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You can still stop the BE services and rename the Data & Catalogs folders. Do not delete them. Then restart the BE services and this recreates them from scratch with a blank BEDB.

Run a Catalog job on the tapes you want to restore from and do the restore.

Once done, stop the BE services and delete the temp Data & Catalogs folders before renaming the originals back to what they were.

Start up the BE services and all your current tape information & BEDB are back.

Thanks!

pkh
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As I said earlier, for your problem, you MUST do a scan and NOT an inventory.  An inventory reads the physical label on the tape which corresponds with that of your old barcode labels.  A scan will read the barcode label only and the tape will be recognised by BE with the label on the new barcode label.  You don't have to do any editing after the scan.  You just need to catalog the tapes and the catalog will be with the new label.

Because you have done an inventory of your old tapes, you now have 2 tapes, existing tape and old tape, with the same label in BE.  This is a serious situation which needs to be fixed immediately.  To fix the problem, associate both tapes with the same label to the retired media set, right-click on them and select delete.  This will delete both of them from BE.  You then scan both tapes (scan, NOT inventory) and you would get two tapes with different labels.  You then need to catalog both of them.

BackupWest
Level 3

I tried stopping BE services and renaming Data and Catalogs folders, Unfortunately BE services will not restart,  I believe there are dependencies for the services on the Database and possibly other files in the Data and Catalogs folders. I thought those would be recreated after inventory and catalog, but since services won't start I'll clean up the double tapes labels and look again at scan and catalog. 

pkh
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Why did you try the renaming? Didn't you read the earlier warning not to do this?

BackupWest
Level 3

I did not read the warning, my mistsake,  but that idea was also suggested here as possible solution. If it worked it would be quicker then a second unique server to start cataloging on.
We did find duplicate tapes after I inventoried the bar coded tapes and cleaned that up. Not worth the mistake. 
There is an issue with scanning and Cataloging , the catalog will fail with "Physical Volume library not found" recommended resolution to that error is to inventory ! But I'm not falling for that twice.
The principal I think is to scan the bar codes, unique bar codes, then catalog based on the bar codes, so that you have an Identifiable tape set that is not a duplicate. But BE wants me to inventory before cataloging so I am jammed up. 

pkh
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This happens when you do not have the entire set of tapes for the backup set in the library when you do the catalog. You should go to the BE settings and unchecked the option to insert media in sequence