Tape Ejects

[Alameen_Muthali]

Hi All,

I’m facing one simple problem. I’ve Backup Exec 9.1. I’ve 6 tapes named as sat, sun, mon, tue,wed,thr and fri for everyday backup. I’ve two media set, First one has 5 days overwrite production period and another one 10 hrs overwrite production periods but both have infinite append periods. Tapes Sat to wed are belongs to First media set and thr ,fri are belongs to second one.

In Jobs, I’ve enabled the option that “Append to Media, Overwrite if no Appendable media is available”.

It is Internal Dell PV DLT VS 160 Tape drive.

The jobs are scheduled at everyday night 11 PM. Now the problem is, While backing up, If the tape is full, It’s ejecting and expecting new media stating the there is no overwrite media is available.

This is the existing setup, this causing lot of problem to me. when the backup expecting new media, I won’t be there to insert a new media. The backup stops, it failure with out.


Now guys, tell me is there any way to configure Veritas backup exec, before it start backup, verify the available & required space , based on that it should either append or overwrites. So that the tape will not be ejected and backup wont to stop.

Or


Is there any way to configure Veritas backup exec, while taking backup, if the media full, it should not eject the tape. it should rewind it and continue writing on the same tape. So that the tape will not be ejected and backup wont to stop



I’m very sorry to asking this type of questions. But I’m not very clear about how backup exec works. Ultimately, I want, the backup should not failed becoz of there’s no space in the media. Help me guys… This is very urgent

Thanks in Advance

Regards
Ameen

[Milouse]

Good Morning Ameen,

No Backup Exec does not have th epossibility to rewind the tape to continue writing on it, it will prompt for another blank/appendable/overwritable media, or just pick up an available one in the media set you define in the backup job settings.

Remember:

* Backup Exec picks media from autoloader's slot according to Allocation date of media

1. Media Overwrite Protection Level is set to "Full" or "Partial" from Tools > Options > Media Overwrite

2."Overwrite scratch media before overwriting recyclable media contained in the targeted media set" is selected, from Tools > Options > Media Overwrite

3. Erase all media in sequence i.e. Media from slot 1 should be erased first, then Media from slot 2 and then slot 3...

How it works:

1.When an overwrite backup job runs with 'Append to media, Overwrite if no Appendable media found' selected, media from slot 1 is used for overwrite job.

2.After the first job (mentioned in step 1) finishes, if any append job runs with 'Append to media, Overwrite if no Appendable media found' selected, media 1 is used for append job.
When the capacity of media 1 reaches it's limit then media from slot 2 (media 2 ) is used for overwrite operation.

Note: If the backup job after first job is run with 'Overwrite media' option then next available media from scratch media which has lower Allocation time i.e. media 2 is used.

Important:

1. Allocation date is changed by Overwrite or erase job on the media. Thus it is not always required to erase the media in sequence. In the above example all 3 media are overwritten in sequence and hence their Allocation date are in sequence.

When these media needs to be reuse, simply place them in sequence in the auto loader's slot i.e. media 1 which was in slot 1 earlier should be placed in slot 1 and move all the media to scratch.

2. When a media from a user defined media set is erased, media is moved to scratch automatically.

3.When a backup job runs with 'Append to media, Overwrite if no Appendable media found' option selected and the user media set contain a media then this media is used for backup (append) .
If an overwrite job is run then media from scratch is used as "Overwrite scratch media before overwriting recyclable media contained in the targeted media set" is selected.

4.If more than one user defined media sets are created and overwrite protection (OP) and append period (AP) are remaining on the media, then the media sequence depends on the OP and AP remaining:

Example,

a. If all the media in a media set have following OP and AP :
OP: 0 Hours AP: Infinite
An overwrite job uses a media in a sequence according to Allocation date, as mentioned above.
b. If three media sets are created and following OP and AP is remaining on each media:
Media 1 OP : Infinite AP: Infinite
Media 2 OP: 0 hrs AP: Infinite
Media 3 OP: Infinite AP: Infinite

A append backup job uses media according to media set selected in backup operation i.e. If media set 1 is selected then media from slot 1 (media 1) is used for append. If a overwrite job runs, media from slot 2 is used as it is the only media available for overwrite (if no media is available in Scratch).

Thus, Backup Exec picks media in sequence according to Allocation date, when one media set is used. When using multiple media sets, media sequence depends on Allocation date, overwrite and append protection period of the media.

...ouch *headache*...


Hope this helps :)

Sam

[padmaja_rajopad]

Hi,

Could you please give us an update about the issue?


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