Tape Drives 3 & 4 Don't Get Used

[Ben_Blackmore1]

Hi,

We have a server running with 2 Dell TL2000 tape libraries, each with 2 LTO5 tape drives. We have the libarary expansion option installed (see pic). Until recently, backups were performed using any/all 4 of the drives. However, in the past week, we've been getting an issue where only 2 of the drives will be used (see attached pic). This means a lot of backups are being queued and/or failing when their alloted run times expires. Last week I was able to resolve by rebooting the BE server, however this morning I've done the same, and it hasn't helped! 2 of the drives are just sat doing nothing, when we have 3 backups to run! I've also tried re-initializing the 4 drives, removing and re-installing all the drives & libraries. But it hasn't helped!

We're running BackupExec 2010 R3, on Windows 2008 R2.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Ben

[VJware]

Would you pls post adamm.log from \Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Logs

[CraigV]

Hi,

remove the LEO licenses and re-add them and check to see if this resolves things.

Thanks!

[Ben_Blackmore1]

Hi,

I tried removing & re-adding the LEO license, but it didn't help :(

Attached is the adamm.log file, had to rename to adamm.txt as the forum wouldn't let me upload a .log file!

Ben

[Colin_Weaver]

probably relates to this known issue

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH203646

[Ben_Blackmore1]

I hope not, seeing as the issue says;

"This issue is currently under investigation by Symantec Corporation. Pending the outcome of the investigation, this issue may be resolved by way of a patch or hotfix in current or future revisions of the software. However, this particular issue is not currently scheduled for any release."

So no resolution as of yet!

I just tried to install 2010 R3 SP2 and that fails with error

"A program that was part of this update failed when it ran. This update was not applied."

However, again, the Symantec site says:

"This issue is currently under investigation by Symantec Corporation. Pending the outcome of the investigation, this issue may be resolved by way of a patch or hotfix in current or future revisions of the software. However, this particular issue is not currently scheduled for any release."

So I'm a bit stuck! Need to get it working ASAP as we're a GMP site, so we have to have the backups working!

[CraigV]

If there is an AV installed, have you tried to disable it before installing SP2?

[CraigV]

If there is an AV installed, have you tried to disable it before installing SP2?

[Larry_Fine]

I see you have some errors in the adamm.log file.

What SAS HBA are you using?  Please make sure it is not a RAID SAS HBA, unless it is on the approved list http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH70907

If you target a job to one of the idle drives, will that job run?

[Ben_Blackmore1 · Accepted solution]

Apologies for not replying sooner, it's been a hectic week!

I was able to get all the drives working eventually, but was a bit odd! In the original pic I posted, you can see Drive02 is in use, however when you click on it, it wouldn't show any tape details, it was just blank. Even after rebboting the server, and the libraries, it was still showing as in use, but with no tape. So I connected to the built in web console of the library, and checked the device status, and it had an expired cleaning tape, which seemed to be stuck in the drive, and the cleaning job had been running for 67hrs! From the web console I was able to stop the drive, move the tape to the I/O draw and export it. Then rebooted the server & library again, and all 4 drives started working!

Not sure why/how this 1 tape affected the other 3 drives, but at least it's working now!

[Larry_Fine]

and the cleaning job had been running for 67hrs!

Was this a BE cleaning job?  or something you saw in the library UI?