Slow catalog

[Rob_Nicholson]

This is a problem that's worried me for a while. Backup Exec v9.1 running on NT 4 server with LTO 1 SCSI tape backup. Backup and restore speed is fine. However, when we need to restore a catalogue, it takes hours. It's certainly not just reading a catalogue off the tape - more like scanning each file. The "Use storage media-based catalogs" option is checked and always has been. I assume the tape catalogue is always written to tape with Backup Exec as I can't find any option around that area as there is with ArcServe.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Rob.

[Simon_Armstrong]

Do your backups span to 2 or more tapes? If so then cataloging is done a little diferently.

[Rob_Nicholson]

Not in this case - single tape. I found an old post on the same subject and managed to contact the original poster. They resolved it by looking at the SCSI bus speed on the SCSI adapter BIOS.

I aborted the catalog two days ago as we had to let the normal back up run. It had been running for 2:37 minutes. When I cataloged it again the next day, it only took 55 minutes which further confused me :) Maybe it already had part of the catalog scanned from tape so carried on from where it had got to.

Cheers, Rob.

[Rob_Nicholson]

Sorry, 2:37 hours not minutes.

Cheers, Rob.

[Simon_Armstrong]

Is the tape you are cataloging from the same media server? If not then check the settings of the media server the backup tape is from (check the "Use storage media-based catalogs" I mean).

Was this tape from a completed backup? What I mean is if the backup was running and the server was rebooted in the middle of the backup then it doesn't close off the backup properly, therefore you won't have the media catalog on the tape.

[Renuka_-]

Hello,
Please check the restore selections and verify if you can see the backed up data here, if yes you are not required to catalog it again.

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[Rob_Nicholson]

Yes, same media server and from complete backups. They are just tapes that have been purged out of the catalog. We've adjusted the catalog so this doesn't happen again in the future.

Cheers, Rob.

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

As we have mentioned earlier can you see the backed up data in restore selections?

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[Rob_Nicholson]

No we can't see the selections in the restore window which is why we're re-loading the catalog in the first place.

Cheers, Rob.

[Simon_Armstrong]

Have you tried to delete the media from Backup Exec's media set (first move it to "retired media" then delete it), then run an inventory on the tape and then run a catalog.

[priya_khire]

Hello Rob,

Could you provide us an update on this case? Did an Inventory and catalog help resolve the problem? If not, do revert with details.

Note : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked ‘assumed answered’ and would be moved to ‘answered questions’ pool.

Regards.

[Network_Support]

If I may add to this discussion;. I am having the same problem as Rob. I have been trying to catalog tapes from several months back for a database recovery. The catalog is very slow. around 80-200 mb per minute. In the Restore window I am not seeing any of the data. I have to wait until the catalog is finished. Catalogs from later in the year run much faster. I cannot remember if I rebuilt the server between the periods of these 2 series of tape sets. Do you think that this may cause the catalog to be slower?

Thanks

Paul

[Rob_Nicholson]

No, we haven't tried that - will give it a go.

Cheers, Rob.

[Rob_Nicholson]

> recovery. The catalog is very slow. around 80-200 mb
> per minute. In the Restore window I am not seeing any

We never got a satisfactory solution to this I'm afraid. The functionality and mechanism around the tape based catalogs and restoring the catalog seems rather, well, vague. Rather worrying as this is a critical part of disaster recovery.

As we're looking at a major system upgrade in the New Year, our backup solution is under review so resolving this issue has been parked. There are other things in Backup Exec that are akward to use.

Cheers, Rob.