Which tape to use in next backup?

[Dan_McLaughlin]

Total noob question here. We are moving from Netware 5.1 with ArcServeIT 6.6 to Windows Server 2003 R2 with Backup Exec (thank you Jesus). So far, it has been a quantum leap in terms of reliability and usability. However, one very basic procedural item eludes me. When I come in in the morning, which tape do I stick in the tape drive (single tape LTO3 drive)?

I've setup a GFS backup scheme (Son at 2:30 a.m. Tues - Friday, Father at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Grandfather at 2:30 a.m. last Saturday of every month). Daily, Weekly, and Monthly media sets have append times of 1 hour ( I don't want data appended to any tape) and Overwrite protection periods of 6 days, 5 weeks, and 4 years (SFG).

Very similar to our old ArcServeIT setup. Every day, the old ArcServeIT report tells me, "Put in tape serial number 1153-6298-12 for the next backup". This is a tape in the appropriate media set whose overwrite period has expired.

I cannot find, in any report produced by Backup Exec, an analogous piece of data. I have specified that it should use recycled tapes in the appropriate media set first, then tapes in the scratch set, then recycled media. Backups complete just fine, but in the volume of data in the backup report, not one line says, "Use this (or one of these) tape/tapes in the next backup".

Do I really have to fire up this application every day, examine the media sets, figure out whether the next backup is daily, weekly, or monthly, look for a blue colored media label (indicating it is recycled, or past its OPP), procure blank media if no appropriate recycled media is available, and then load that into the drive? Not to whine, but that is WAY more time consuming than ArcServeIT ever was. Plus, there are a slew of reports with essentially useless data for me, but not one that produces two lines. 1. Success or failure of last backup. 2. Tape to put in the drive or next backup.

I feel like I am missing something crucial, as this really shouldn't be hard. Probably just too stuck in the old ArcServeIT world to see the obvious. Any help would be appreciated.

[David_Sanz]

Dan

As you defined the periods correctly, there is a trick you could use: go to the corresponding media set, and there should only be one overwriteable tape (whose label shows in blue). That's the next tape of your cycle.

Regards

[Dan_McLaughlin]

Hey David

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm aware that I can fire up Backup Exec and look at the appropriate media set to determine if there is an overwritable tape to use, but I'm hoping to find a simpler solution. Preferable a report of some sort. Partly for my own use, but primarily so that I can delegate the loading of tapes when I am out of the office for extended periods. Sending a report to the substitute tape-loader person would be much easier than having them fire up Backup Exec on the server and examine the appropriate media set.

[David_Sanz]

Dan

I'm not sure if there is a predefined report you could use, but almost sure you can create your own one. Backup Exec 11d allows the creation of customized reports, querying the Backup Exec database. Maybe you could define a query with the "only overwritable tape in every media set", schedule it and send it daily through e-mail to the tape-loader person.

Just try it

[Dan_McLaughlin]

Thanks again.

I'll create a custom report at you indicated - I just figured this would be a question every user would need answered, so I find it shocking that it isn't included as a default report. Oh well - Backup Exec still rocks compared to ArcServeIT.

[Philip_Pearson]

Don't know if this helps but I setup an outlook calender with the tape rotation and exported it to html format, it is now published on a web server so the tape changers around the country just refer to that.

[Steven_Oberholt]

I had similar frustration with BE when we switched from Arcserve a 5 years ago. Our solution: We keep our tapes off site. I just added enough tapes to the pool so that we can have 5-6 overitable tapes available for use. It is a pain having to look for the blue labels and write down the list of tapes to grab.
Glad to hear you are not having problems, I was considering going back to Arcserve because of problems with 11d