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Why are the IMG0000xx folders not erased from a RDX Cartridge in the B2D cycle?

Philip_Lakic
Level 4

Below is a screenshot of the file structure of a RDX 160GB Cartridge.
Whenever I run the erase command on the cartridge only the \VERITAS\B2D\*.bkf files are erased.
These IMG0000xx folders continually remain and cause the backups to fail because the cartridges run out of disk space for the next backup.
These folders contain backups of Microsoft Exchange.

Why are these folders not overwritten or erased in the B2D cycle?

 

51 REPLIES 51

Peter_Sheridan
Level 6

Hi,

I am also having this same issue with BE2012 and the IMG folders not being overwritten. I am using USB Disk storage though, not RDX media.

I will contact Symantec tech support on monday and try and obtain the hot fix and post back if it works successfully.

Thanks

Peter_Sheridan
Level 6

Just got off the phone from tech support and the guy didn't know what hotfix I was referring to (I even showed him the forum).

Apparenly I will be getting a call back from the small business server team (since i am using SBS 2008) and hopefully they will know what hotfix i am referring to.

I very much doubt it is a small business server issue but will see how we go!!

Bulbous
Level 5
Partner

This is not good. I'm going to open up a tech support case myself.

Sush---
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Hello Peter,

    May be since you mentioned HOTFIX the technician may have got confused. You can tell the agent to specifically look at the technote " http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH192382 ". At the bottom of the technote we have provided the Etrack number 2844365 .
This number is used to track the defect. You can ask the technician to check this etrack and confirm that the issue that you are facing are exactly the same as mentioned in the etrack and its for same version of BE. After this is fully confirmed ask them to escalate the case.

BTW, can you PM me the case number which you had opened?

 

Thanks,

-Sush...

Bulbous
Level 5
Partner

I wasn't able to get the hotfix for the case I opened. I didn't have any trouble with tech support - referencing the Technote and the Etrack number was enough to get me to a level of support that was able to confirm the problem.

Unfortunately, in my case, the only reason why the IMG folders were being created in the first place was because I had (somehow) installed a trial of the Active Directory Agent, which uses GRT. The solution presented to me was to uninstall the agent trial, after which no more IMGs would be created for my environment.

Kind of a workaround to the problem, and I didn't really force the issue. I will be setting up another RDX soon that will be backing up Exchange, so I will be opening a new case at that time. I'll keep you posted.

I was advised that the Hotfix for this problem should be published in the near future, but you can always call support to get it in the meantime.

 

 

Peter_Sheridan
Level 6

I ended up getting the hotfix after tech support confirmed i was having the same issue.

Am yet to apply it, but will hopefully do that today if no on Monday.

Bulbous
Level 5
Partner

I'm taking another run at this on a different server.

Peter_Sheridan
Level 6

Just to update everyone on this. After the hotfix had been applied the IMG folders are being successfully overwritten....

However overwritten is probably not the best term though. What it does is actually deletes any IMG Backup sets that have past their Overwrite protection period. This can happen at any time, not just when a backup job runs.

For example, say you backup exchange, and protect the media for 6 days. As soon as that media is 6 days 1 hour old, BE and DLM will Groom and delete that backup set.

I'm still undecided on this concept though, as if a clients backup isn't working, they could essentially be left with NO GRT Backups because backup exec just kept on deleting expired backup sets.

On the other hand, lets say it is a good idea (and there are reasons as to why it is), then why not have it clean up .bkf files as well? Why is it only doing IMG folders? If the concept is to clean up storage devices, such as NAS and USB Drives it would make sense to do the same with .bkf files as well.

Before Symantec release an official hotfix for this, I would really like to see this idea considered, as to me it appears to be half completed atm.

 

Cheers

Peter Sheridan

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Just to to clarify IMG folders never do get overwritten in any version of Backup Exec which is why we use the term "reclaimed" as we actually delete them (exactly when depends on BE version and storage device type)  

Also DLM by default will not delete the last copy of any specific backup set no matter if it is beyond the retention time or not (so you cannot be left with no backup) although there is a registry key to change this behaviour .

Also BKF files are handled by DLM in the same way that IMG is (RDX being a special case for IMG and BKF where media set control is still used) 

 

 

We do have another defect affecting unplugged USB drives (or offline/disconnected NAS drives), that is not the same cause   as for IMG on RDX, that means that BKF and IMG media may not be reclaimed on these devices if they are disconnected when the DLM activity takes place.

 

Philip_Lakic
Level 4

Hi Peter,

I never had a problem with the BE2010 overwriting my BKF files according to my media set properties, only those IMG folders.

Do you have a name or number for the hotfix that was given to you? I only just bought a copy of BE2012 so now I'm entitled to the support and the hotfix.

Cheers,

Philip Lakic

Peter_Sheridan
Level 6

Collin,

Thats good news about the last backup set not being deleted. Does that apply if the backup set didn't complete successfully? As in, say it failed verification, will it search through and find the last successful one?

Re the other defect, so this is known to Symantec and is being looked at? I can confirm what then my .bkf files are expired that the USB drive is not connected to the server. So that might be why.

 

Philip,

Yep the hotfix was called BE1401798Orph26.7. If it helps as well the lady's name that originally dealt with the case was Smita Vinchankar.

 

Cheers

Bulbous
Level 5
Partner

I have called in and obtained the Hotfix. However, you need to manually tell BE how many folders to expire.

This isn't going to work for me. We use a custom cartridge rotation of Monday to Thursday and Friday 1-5.

That means, on the third Friday of the month, you would use the Friday-3 cartridge - so the Friday cartridges are only used monthly. (Monday to Thursday are used weekly).

We will need this data to be retained for a month, not reclaimed due to the auto-expiry settings. And the Friday-5 tape is only used a few times a year!

Peter_Sheridan
Level 6

Really? I didn't have to do anything like that. Where do you specify how many folders it is going to delete?

If you set the expiration to 6 days it shouldn't be a problem for the Monday to Thursday drives. With the friday drives though, since they are only going to seen one a month, care needs to be taken to put the correct friday drive in otherwise it will be cleaned up.

 

I still don't get why they arn't cleaning up .bkf files as well as IMG folders though...

Bulbous
Level 5
Partner

I had to and add a DWORD "AutoExpireGRT" under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Backup Exec For Windows\Backup Exec\Engine\Misc as directed by the readme file and also a tech who contacted me to help me determine the right value to enter.

The jury is still out on the Friday settings. I may need to configure additional media sets with different retention settings.

Donald_Eady
Level 6
Employee Accredited

Peter, 

 

(I still don't get why they arn't cleaning up .bkf files as well as IMG folders though...)

 

In the settings of the job do you have it configured to "overwrite recyclable media before scratch media" or do you have it set to "overwrite scratch media before recyclable" if the later please choose "overwrite recyclable media before scratch media" please view the following doc.

 

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO73320

 

Colin_Weaver
Moderator
Moderator
Employee Accredited Certified

Hi Bulbous

 As long as the number is bigger than needed it will sort it out, I have been setting 200 for this reg key until you have cycled all the cartridges at least once after applying the update, after that you can probably drop the number down to maybe 10 or 20 (kind of depends on how many backup sets are created on each cartidge in a day)

Peter_Sheridan
Level 6

Donald,

I have the job configured for "overwrite recyclable media before scratch media".

Don't get me wrong, they are being overwritten properly... But only when the back job runs.

I would have thought since IMG folders are being cleanup up as soon as the backup device is attached to the media server or when DLM Grooms the backup sets, that .bkf files would behave the same way and be cleaned up as well...?

Bulbous
Level 5
Partner

Actually, one of the technicians was going to get me confirmation on exactly when the IMG folders are reclaimed... when the cartridge is inserted, or when the next backup job runs? Are you able to explain?

Peter_Sheridan
Level 6

What I’ve found is it pretty much happens immediately  of the drive being inserted and detected by backup exec.

For example, i'll connect Thursdays Drive, walk back to my desk, and by the time i get there Backup exec and DLM have already deleted all of the expired IMG Folders and backup sets.

Now, i'm sure there is a schedule it runs on as well, but perhaps when media comes online it gets triggered as well..

 

.bkf files are still only being over written at the time of the backup and when needed. And " overwrite recyclable media before scratch media" has to be configured in the settings as well (or if the destination is full that it will forceablly overwrite expired media).

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

The DLM grooming cycle runs every 4 hours or when the disk gets full.