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Risk of having Pre and Post batch jobs backup in one tape

K_3
Level 2

Hi,

May I know what will be the risk if I'm using 1 LTO6 tapes to do pre and post batch backup?

Note: Currently I'm using 1 LTO6 tape for Pre Batch backup and another LTO6 tape for Post batch backup (Which 2 tapes per day)

 

Thank you

 

4 REPLIES 4

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

What are you backing up? The risk would be to data loss if the tape starts issuing hard write errors, possibly making all the data on the tape unrestorable.

Thanks!

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

OK this is confusing

 

Pre-- and Post- command in jobs are so you can take environmental actions before and after the job uses the tape (although the processing actually takes place inside the job, near the start and end, and not before or after it)

 

Pre- and Post-  commands do not usually run backups (especially as the tape device may be locked by the overall job)

 

OR are you referring to something outside of Backup Exec that is taking place (as a Batch) and you run a backup both before and after that - if this is the case then I am not sure what your risks are as you just seem to be taking 2 backups separated by some time.

 

 

Note: If the backups are small enough to both fit on one tape, you could set the first job to overwrite and the second job to append (and set the OPP to long enough to not allow the earlier set to be overwritten as well) and possibly get both jobs on one tape instead of two.

 

 

K_3
Level 2

Ok let me explain the actual scenario:

1. Business transaction from 8am to 8pm

2. Hold Business User access. No more update after 8pm

3. Use LTO6 to do backup before before start end of day batch jobs

4. Once all end of day batch jobs completed,

5. Use another LTO6 tape to backup after batch

For the above setup, I require 2 tapes per day. To reduce the tape usage, can I use 1 tape for backup before and after batch? Ofcourse I may use append where there will be 2 set of data (data before batch jobs and after batch jobs). If yes,

1. What are the risk I may face?

2. What happend if the tape spoilt/error after backup before and can't be use for backup after?

3. Other risks (if any)

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

1. If the tape is bad, you lose all your data...this is true of any backups that are put onto a single tape.

2. If the tape has hard write errors, then backups will begin to fail. Take the tape out of rotation.

3. Drive failure...

Thanks!