autoloader, traget specific tape with multiple jobs

[cssge]

Hi all, is it possible to setup a partition of 4 slots and get multiple jobs to hit a specific tape in that partition?

I want to setup my incremental jobs across the span of a week (mon, tues, wed, thurs) to hit one specific lto 5 tape in that partition of 4 tapes (4 tapes for a 4 week rotation).  The following week the jobs should target the second tape in that partition and so on.

thanks in advance

Chris

[pkh · Accepted solution]

No.  If you have multiple tapes in one partition, then there is no guarantee that a particular tape would be used for a particular job.  This can only be achieved with one tape per partition.  However, this means that the chances of job failure due to lack of suitable tapes in the partitions would increase.

You should not micro-manage your tape this way.  Remove your partitions and let BE and the tape library manage your tapes for you.  See my article below

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/must-mondays-backup-be-monday-tape

[cssge]

So if i just give my incremental jobs a partition of 4 tapes and have overwrite protection of 4 weeks then it will just keep writing to any tape with free space across the week for 4 weeks?

[Colin_Weaver]

Hi cssge - which tape in a multi-tape partition is chosen by a job is directly affected by

1) when each tape was last used (and as it happens what it was last overwritten as well)

2) what media set each tape was last used in

3) how long the overwrite protection period is set to in the media set

4) how long the append period is set to in the media set

5) whether or not the backup job is set to start as an append or start as an overwrite

6) if set to start as an append whether or not any appendable media are in your partition at the time.

You should take the time to read the section relating to tape managment and media sets in the admin guide and potentially read any blogs on the subject ( I believe pkh on these forums has written at least one)