Tape identity

[Helpdesk_IT]

Hi,

I am using Backupexec10.0 on three WIN2K servers everyday, the tape drive is Sony AIT autoloader LIB-D81 with 8 slots, I backup data goes to 2 tapes (90GB approx) and I rotate the media every month, tapes are named 01-A, 01-B, 02-A, 02-B…….31-A, 31-B, (according to the current date, corresponding tapes are inserted ) I created the partition and assigned the slots 1-6 for backup and slots 7& 8 for cleaning tape and assigned the job to the device (partition 1-6) and the media is set to overwrite.
The problem I am facing is if I fill the six slots for 3 days backup (slot 8 holds the cleaning tape) eg.
1st Aug (01-A, 01-B) Slot 1 & 2
2nd Aug (02-A, 02-B) Slot 3 & 4
3rd Aug (03-A, 03-B) Slot 5 & 6
It picks up random tapes and not in order.

How do I configure to pick tapes in order say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Cheers,

[patrickkuah]

Further partition the slot 1-6....
partition it to be slot 1-2 , 3-4, and 5-6 ;)
modify the job to use the respective partition


patrickMessage was edited by:
Patrick Kuah

[Helpdesk_IT]

Hi,

Thanks for your response, If I further partition 1-6 as 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, does it identify and pickup correct tape between 1 & 2 or it will take first Tape2 and later Tape1.
There should be some way to define the begining slot and ending slot.

Cheers,

[Shyam_Sundar]

Hello,

When you have 2 slots in a partition and if a backup job is targeted to the partition, the tape in the slot which is free will be the one to which the job will be targeted to. If both the slots are free, then by default the first slot will be taken. Eg. if slot 3 and 4 are in a partition, then slot 3 will be taken by default.

http://support.veritas.com/docs/262055


Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm



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.


Thanks.

[Chris_Pente]

I ran into the same problem, and no one has an acceptable solution. The way Backup Exec handles tapes is by order of the oldest "allocated" tape in a partition goes first. This is a pain, becuase it is hard to determine which tape is the oldest until it is put into the changer or library. I found that if you erase each tape individually you will get a new allocation date on the tape. This works especially well on BE 10, as you can queue up numerous erase jobs and let them run. On BE 9, you have to wait for each erase job to start before submitting another, as BE 9 will randomly pick from multiple erase jobs, and thus you have the same problem of out of order tape allocation. If you erase the tapes in order, say slot 1 to 5 , they will be written to in order slots 1 to 5. Hope this helps!!

[Asma_Tamboli]

Hi,

In reference to our previous reply to your post, we would request you to update us on the progress.



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.

[Helpdesk_IT]

Hi

From your advice I now need to create 3 jobs I suppose and allocate each job for that particular partition eg. Partition1 (slot 1 & 2) for Job 1 which should run only on Monday & Thursday.
Partition2 (slot 3 & 4) for Job 2 which should run only on Tuesday & Friday.
Partition3 (slot 5 & 6) for Job 3 which should run only on Wenesday.
I am doing this because I need 2 tapes per day and I also make sure that the 1st tape allocated date is always older than the 2nd tape on any slot.

I will try this way and see how it goes, Please advice me if you have any better solution and also advice how can I copy a current scheduled job so I can rename and allocate it the way I mentioned above.

Cheers,

[priya_khire]

Hello,

In order to better understand the behavior of the way Backup Exec picks media, the following two technotes can be helpful:

Title:The basics of Advanced Device and Media Management for Backup Exec for Windows Servers
http://support.veritas.com/docs/192265

Title: An explanation of the "Overwrite Protection Period" and the "Append Period"
http://support.veritas.com/docs/237374

In order to copy a current scheduled job, you can use the duplicate backup sets following a job option as described in the technote given below:

Title: How to duplicate backup sets in Backup Exec 9.x/10.0 for Windows Servers
http://support.veritas.com/docs/255866

Hope this answers your query. In case of further doubts, do write back at the forum.

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.

[Helpdesk_IT]

Hi,
I did the following and it seems to the best solution for me.

Partition1 (slot 1 & 2) for Job 1 which should run only on Monday & Thursday.
Partition2 (slot 3 & 4) for Job 2 which should run only on Tuesday & Friday.
Partition3 (slot 5 & 6) for Job 3 which should run only on Wenesday.
I am doing this because I need 2 tapes per day and I also make sure that the 1st tape allocated date is always older than the 2nd tape on any slot.

I created 3 jobs which will run :
Job1 - Runs on Monday and Thursday
Job2 - Runs on Tuesday and Friday
Job3 - Runs on Wednesday

I have tapes Labeled as 01A, 01-B; 02A, 02B; 03A, 03B;......31A, 31B as I am rotating the tapes on monthly basis.

Day before yesterday I filled all the 6 slots - 10A, 10B; 11A, 11B and 12A, 12B (according to the dates) on Partition 3, 1 and 2 respectively.

It is doing a perfect job so far, I made the rules and it works accordingly - No more worries or cross fingers about tapes written randomly.

I hope this might be helpful for someone who is using Autoloader.

Cheers,

[Asma_Tamboli]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. This post will now be archived since the issue seems to be resolved.

[Madhuri_Shenoy]

Hi,

As per our previous reply, marking the case as "assumed answered" and moving it to "answered questions" pool.


Thanks!