be2012 how to automatically export medias at end of backup of several servers

[PascalFr]

I am wondering if the GUI and sheduler is smart enough to do the following :

• I have set up a group of servers with 4 servers
• I have setup a backup job for the group which shows up as 4 jobs, one for each server in the group
• all jobs have the storage option : append else overwrite media
• all jobs have the storage option to use the same media set

Now if I want an automatic export to a media center how do I set this up ?

If I select the server group then update all jobs, then select export to media center in storae option, will it export after each server is backed up (which obviously would fail the backup of the other servers), or will it export after the LAST server in the group is backed up ?

[Colin_Weaver]

If you set all 4 jobs to expport, even if you cerated the jobs in a Group, the first job to finish will send the Export command.

Of course by using Export - I assume you have a library and if that library has more than one tape device, then just because you specified use the same media set does not mean all 4 servers will end up on one tape anyway

So if you want all 4 servers on 1 tape in a library and the last job to eject then you will probabkly have to do the following:

1) Partition the slots in the libary so that the jobs can be sent to a specific slot.

2) Set the job for the first server to start at a specific time as an Overwrite job with no Export setting applied

3) Set the job for the second server to start slightly later than first server's job and set it to append, again with no Export setting applied

4) Set the job for the third server to start slightly later than second server's job and set it to append, again with no Export setting applied

5) set the job for the fourth server to start slightly later than third server's job and set it to append but with the Export Media setting enabled.

Please note however that with a partioned library if your jobs need more than one tape, unless your partition contains enough tapes the job sequence will eventually fail so ONLY create a partition containing 1 slot if you know your jobs will fit on one tape.

[PascalFr]

Thank you for the answer.

Humm, that seems another drawback of the server centric approach of 2012. There is no notion of job chain, but only group of jobs and we have to control order by scheduling. But this requires to at leat know the average duration of the jobs before and playing with job schedule timeouts.

So I have to arrange the schedules of the 4 jobs to solve this problem.

A more intuitive approach would have been the notion of ordered job chains in the group and to setup a fith job in the group to export medias after the first 4 have succeeded... I guess we could do this in 2010, but not in 2012.

I also guess the only way to order the 4 jobs in the group is by scheduling time ?

Is it possible to define a single export job somewhere ?

[Colin_Weaver]

OK there are customer members on this forum that have found ways to chain jobs with BEMCLI - If you cannot find their post (which might be a blog) then  I suspect one of them will post in this thread shortly.

EDIT: I just found the Article in question

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/use-bemcli-chain-jobs

With regards to chaining within BE itself, this particular problem with the server centric approach (particularly with reference to tape usage) has been brought up with our Product Management and Engineering teams and they are currently looking at better options for this type of requirement. At the moment there are no specific details as to what changes (if any) might be possible as the discussions are currently still in early stages.

[PascalFr]

That's nice to read that at least these questions are beeing studied by support and design team.

[Larry_Fine]

I would suggest creating a backup of a single file, scheduling it for the end of your backup window, and having it eject the tape.