Catalog Backup

[djoaquin]

Version: Netbackup 6.5.1
OS: Suse Linux 10

Question:  When is media removed from the catalog database?  I went to restore from a tape and found that it was not in the catalog to be restored.  I had to do a Phase 1 and Phase 2 import to get it back in and restor.  The strange thing is it appears to me that there is older media which was still in the catalog.  So why was the one I needed to restore gone?  How is it determined how long media is kept in the catalog?

Thanks,
Daniel

[J_H_Is_gone]

When you say the media was gone - do you mean that when you looked at the media list the tape number did not show up?

Or
Do you mean that the media id was there but it showed the tape to be unassigned.

We will assume the second.

Retention is the answer -  if you do a backup and the retention on the backup image is 2 weeks, then 2 weeks latter when the image clean up is run the images will be expired.  If there are no more valid images on that tape it will be unassigned - means it is avail for new backups if it is in the library.

Even if you have 2 different images on the tape, if one expires you are only going to be able to see the unexpired image.  To be able to restore the expired image you have to do the import.

The other thing is someone can expire the images by hand before the end of the retention period.

[djoaquin]

Hello,

Thank you for your help.  The problem is actually the first issue you sceanario.  The media in question I have labled as A00042.  When I looked through the GUI, it was not in my list of media at all.  Even though every other media number A00001 through A00075 is there.  It sounds like maybe someone deleted that media from the catalog?  I'm the only one who does the backup except our programmer does it for me during my vacations.  So maybe he did it by accident.

I was just concerned because I searched the date of the backup which should have allowed me to browse the backup tree and select what to restore but I received an error saying there was nothing from that date.  Once I imported the media again, I was able to search that date and restore what I needed.  I was just trying to figure out how it was gone and if there was some other type of setting which handled how long media was kept in the catalog.

Thanks,
Daniel

[J_H_Is_gone]

I know of nothing in netbackup that would delete the media from the media list.
Even if all images have expired the media ID should still show up, even if it is not in the library.

Someone, or some script had to have expired and deleted the tape.


You cannot delete a tape that has vaild images on it, so it would have to been expired first, then deleted.

[Will_Restore]

one cannot delete a volume if it is assigned
all images must be expired, either manually or by scheduled retention date lapse

it could be done by accident but it's intentionally not easy to do

[Will_Restore]

one cannot delete a volume if it is assigned
all images must be expired, either manually or by scheduled retention date lapse

it could be done by accident but it's intentionally not easy to do