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Tapes Fail to Load

mitch_sprague
Level 4

Here's the config: Scalar i80 tape library attached via fibre to a Backup Exec 2010 server.  The library has 48 tape slots in use with two LTO 4 tape drives. 

On Saturday I cancelled a job that appeared to be running too slow to be able to finish within the normal time frame for the amount of data being backed up.  This is normal, I've done it before without issue.  Cancel the slow job.  Restart and it ramps up to a much faster rate and finishes. 

On Saturday, after I cancelled the job, I attempted a rerun and the library would not/could not load a tape in either of the tape drives.  The drives, shown in Media, alternate from in-use to idle and back again continuously until the job is cancelled.  Symantec has confirmed the drivers are at the correct revision.  Backup Exec 2010 SP1 has been installed.  No modifications of the jobs or device have resulted in successful start of the job. Inventory and cleaning functions perform successfully and normally.

Now the weird part.  There are several other jobs that completed successfully after six or more hours of troubleshooting the problem yesterday.

Has anyone else seen anything like this and can perhaps recommend a course of action?  Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

9 REPLIES 9

pkh
Moderator
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Were there any alerts when the job was behaving strangely?

CraigV
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Hi Mitch,

 

Couple of other things to try:

 

1. Restarting the media server + tape library and trying again.

2. removing the library completely from the OS and BE, and disconnecting it physically from the server. From there, restart the server, let it boot into Windows and verify the library no longer shows up in BE or the OS. Shut down the server, reconnect the library and then turn it on. Let it initialise, and then start up the server. Reinstall the drivers and try the backup again.

 

Thanks!

mitch_sprague
Level 4

No alerts.  Everything was normal except the speed of the backup. 

mitch_sprague
Level 4

We've shut down and restarted both devices a couple of times.  Powered down, powered off, wait for a couple of minutes, power on the library, allow it plenty of time to initialize, power on server, allow plenty of time to start up.  Still no success.  We'll have to look at your option two as well.

What baffles me is that I am still getting successful backups on all but that one job.  The other jobs are using the same tapes, the same library, the same server.  Everything is the same.  FYI, I tried running a monthly job (same criteria and settings as the non-responding job) and got the same result.  It's all very bizarre.

CraigV
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Hi mitch,

 

Have you deleted the job and recreated it?

mitch_sprague
Level 4

Hi Craig,

I think that will be our next step.  Thanks.

mitch_sprague
Level 4

No luck deleting and re-creating the jobs.  We're still having the same issue with all "daily" jobs running and completing successfully but "weekly" jobs not getting past the starting gate.  Any thoughts on the idea of there being too many tapes in the library?

CraigV
Moderator
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Hi Mitch,

 

Not sure if you have come right here, and no idea why I didn't pick this up.

You're only able to put x-amount of tapes in the library depending on the # of slots. If you have more in there, it could be a tape stuck in the drive, and if this is the case, it could either be human error, or hardware.

Can you confirm that the hardware is OK?

 

THanks!

sympanse
Level 3

Any solution?
Seems I have the same problem ('..alternate from in-use to idle and back again..'!).
Backing up to hd works but I can't get it on tape cause the drive doesn't load the tapes anymore. Same with the inventory function.