Rotate tapes for full backups?

[wingnut144]

We don't have a ton of data, a full backup covers about 6 800gb tapes, but we don't have a way to replicate this data off site so its safe (disaster recovery wise).

I have thought about removing the tapes involved in the full backup and then putting NEW tapes in their place for the next run of the full backup.  Is there anythign special I need to do in Backup Exec to remove these tapes and not cause a problem in the system if I need to reinsert them into the backup drive for recovery????

Or is it just a process of removing the tapes in question, and inserting new tapes into those empty slots???

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Doesn't matter if you add new tapes at all. It might be worth your while to physically protect those tapes by moving the protection tab across them. The reasoning behind this is that the minute you put them into the DR site, they would get detected as either foreign media or scratch...and this is what I would do to add another level of protection.

There is nothing wrong with doing what you would like to do either. If you put a tape back into your production server's autoloader/library on a date past it's retention level, it would be overwritable anyway, so no worries there.

Thanks!

[wingnut144]

They actually wouldn't be in another backup system at the DR site, just in a storage closet.

I didn't know if by putting other tapes in our current autoloader if BE2010 would keep track of the tapes that were removed, or if I need to move the taps to a new media vault ??

[pkh]

You don't have to set up any media vault.  If the tapes are not present in the library, they would automatically be marked as off-line in BE.  When they are returned to the library, they would be marked as on-line and can be used.  

The OPP and AP applies to the tapes whether they are on-line or offline.  Suppose you have a rotation scheme which keeps the tape off-site for 2 weeks.  You can specify an OPP of 13 days.  If they are returned to the library earlier, they would be protected.  If they are returned to the library after 2 weeks, they would be overwritable and can be used immediately.

Exporting/importing tapes into the library would be the best method to let BE know their status.  Otherwise, you got to do a inventory or a scan after you remove tapes from or insert tapes into your library.  You do a scan if you are using barcode labels.  If you are not using barcode labels, I would suggest that you use them.  They are much more efficient.  See my article below

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