Catalog Policy failing - unable to allocate new media for backup, storage unit has none available(96)

[pmc214]

NBU 7.1.0.2, Windows 2003 SP2, Master Server.

Recently my Catalog which was written to a NAS share started failing with error - unable to allocate new media for backup, storage unit has none available(96).

I changed the policy to write to the master server itself (as it was originally years ago) and it still fails with the same error.

I deleted the policy and created a new Catalog policy, it still fails.

I have not found anything related to this error that doesnt involve backup to tape or volume reference.

Any ideas?

[Marianne]

Please post policy config?

...\veritas\netbackup\bin\admincmd\bppllist <policy-name> -U

[pmc214]

Policy Name:       catalog2

  Policy Type:         NBU-Catalog
  Active:              yes
  Effective date:      11/16/2011 11:19:58
  Mult. Data Streams:  no
  Client Encrypt:      no
  Checkpoint:          no
  Policy Priority:     0
  Max Jobs/Policy:     1
  Disaster Recovery:   0
  Collect BMR info:    no
  Residence:           (specific storage unit not required)
  Volume Pool:         CatalogBackup
  Server Group:        *ANY*
  Keyword:             (none specified)
  Data Classification:       -
  Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy:    no
  Application Discovery:      no
  Discovery Lifetime:      0 seconds

  Granular Restore Info:  no
  Ignore Client Direct:  no
  HW/OS/Client:  PC            Windows2003   horus

  Include:  CATALOG_DRIVEN_BACKUP

  Schedule:          Full
    Type:            Full Backup
    Frequency:       every 1 day
    Maximum MPX:     1
    Synthetic:       0
    PFI Recovery:    0
    Retention Level: 1 (2 weeks)
    Number Copies:   1
    Fail on Error:   0
    Residence:       (specific storage unit not required)
    Volume Pool:     (same as policy volume pool)
    Server Group:    (same as specified for policy)
    Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy:     0
    Daily Windows:
          Sunday     00:00:00  -->  Sunday     24:00:00
          Monday     00:00:00  -->  Monday     24:00:00
          Tuesday    00:00:00  -->  Tuesday    24:00:00
          Wednesday  00:00:00  -->  Wednesday  24:00:00
          Thursday   00:00:00  -->  Thursday   24:00:00
          Friday     00:00:00  -->  Friday     24:00:00
          Saturday   00:00:00  -->  Saturday   24:00:00

Catalog Disaster Recovery Configuration:
  Email Address:   XXXXX@XXXXX
  Disk Path:       C:\backup
  User Name:       XXXXX\horus
  Pass Word:       (none specified)
  Critical policy: (none specified)

[Marianne]

You did not select a Storage unit in the policy:

Residence:           (specific storage unit not required)

Only Storage Unit that does NOT have the "On demand only" attribute selected can be used for this policy.

The default for Disk Storage Units is to have "On demand only" selected. This means that this policy will not use your NAS fileshare STU.

Please select a Storage Unit.

[pmc214]

Still fails with Residence changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Policy Name:       catalog2

  Policy Type:         NBU-Catalog
  Active:              yes
  Effective date:      11/16/2011 11:19:58
  Mult. Data Streams:  no
  Client Encrypt:      no
  Checkpoint:          no
  Policy Priority:     0
  Max Jobs/Policy:     1
  Disaster Recovery:   0
  Collect BMR info:    no
  Residence:           horus-hcart-robot-tld-1
  Volume Pool:         CatalogBackup
  Server Group:        *ANY*
  Keyword:             (none specified)
  Data Classification:       -
  Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy:    no
  Application Discovery:      no
  Discovery Lifetime:      0 seconds

  Granular Restore Info:  no
  Ignore Client Direct:  no
  HW/OS/Client:  PC            Windows2003   horus

  Include:  CATALOG_DRIVEN_BACKUP

  Schedule:          Full
    Type:            Full Backup
    Frequency:       every 1 day
    Maximum MPX:     1
    Synthetic:       0
    PFI Recovery:    0
    Retention Level: 1 (2 weeks)
    Number Copies:   1
    Fail on Error:   0
    Residence:       (specific storage unit not required)
    Volume Pool:     (same as policy volume pool)
    Server Group:    (same as specified for policy)
    Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy:     0
    Daily Windows:
          Sunday     00:00:00  -->  Sunday     24:00:00
          Monday     00:00:00  -->  Monday     24:00:00
          Tuesday    00:00:00  -->  Tuesday    24:00:00
          Wednesday  00:00:00  -->  Wednesday  24:00:00
          Thursday   00:00:00  -->  Thursday   24:00:00
          Friday     00:00:00  -->  Friday     24:00:00
          Saturday   00:00:00  -->  Saturday   24:00:00

Catalog Disaster Recovery Configuration:
  Email Address:  XXXXXXXX@XXXXXX
  Disk Path:       C:\backup
  User Name:       XXXXXXXXX\horus
  Pass Word:       (none specified)
  Critical policy: (none specified)

[Marianne]

So, you are not trying to backup to the NAS Storage Unit as per your opening post?

You will need to explicitly select the disk STU if you want to do the Catalog backup to it.

You have selected a tape STU:

  Residence:           horus-hcart-robot-tld-1
  Volume Pool:         CatalogBackup
 

Please confirm that you have hcart media available in robot 1 in CatalogBackup pool or in Scratch.

[falti_manullang]

empty media on your volume pool (CatalogBackup) or maybe the media was frezzed, try to unfreeze first.

[demo4119]

try to place blank media in the scratch pool and make sure the hcart type is configure properly.

[pmc214]

We are writing the file to the ready NAS. It has worked this way up until a few days ago.

We do have HCART media in the CatalogBackup pool.

The only thing that has changed recently was my upgrading to 7.1.0.2.

[Mark_Solutions]

Status 96 means you do not have any available tapes in the CatalogBackup Pool - i can only assume you mean you are writing the DR file to the NAS box, but in your policy it does say the C drive.

This is a little confusing now but your opening post says status 96 so you need to see why you have no tapes in the CatalogBackup pool

Run the following from a command line and post the output text file on here:

volmgr\bin\vmquery -pn CatalogBackup -w>c:\catpool.txt

[Marianne]

"We are writing the file to the ready NAS." What file?  I assume you are not referring to the DR file since that is written to C:\backup, right? Backup is not going to the NAS either (horus-hcart-robot-tld-1) .

Your opening post says "Recently my Catalog which was written to a NAS share..."
Does this mean that you have a Disk Storage Unit defined for the NAS share?
If so, have you tried to select the Disk STU in the policy?

Residence/STU of 'Any Available' (specific storage unit not required) will select tape STU, same as when you have manually selected the tape STU.

So far we have not seen any evidence of any attempt to write to a disk STU.

Please post output of :
..\veritas\netbackup\bin\goodies\available_media

[pmc214]

sorry for the confusion. (I did not set this up, and only recently had it added to my long list of duties)

Originally we were writing a file (Catalog_1320771828_Full) to a share on a NAS. When the Catalog Backup failed, in an attempt to rule out the NAS I changed the policy location the said file gets saved to C: on local Master Server. That also failed so I changed it back to the original NAS share location in the policy.

I do not see a Scratch Pool. (None, Netbackup, DataStore, CatalogBackup)

There are 2 tapes in the CatalogBackup Pool, .... 1 tape is not assigned a Robot Type (NONE), or a volume group... but does have 108 mounts. Like I mentioned I didnt set any of this up, this is how it was when I inherited this.

[Mark_Solutions · Accepted solution]

OK, so the file you are referring to is the catalog DR file whose location is set on the Disaster Recovery tab in the policy

If it was not working to the NAS the credential supplied may have been wrong.

If you are now writing it to the C drive of the Master Server i would remove the credentials all together as they shouldnt be needed.

However your status is 96 which means the actual catalog backup, which writes to tape, does not have a tape to use

If there is only one tape in the library then it is wither Full or Frozen - right click on the top column and select Columns - Layout and set the "status" to show which will let you see the position - or send the output i asked for earlier

So you need to find a usable tape and put it in the library and in the CatalogBackup pool to get this working

It is not related to the DR file location - you just dont have an available tape to write the backup to

[pmc214]

media   media   robot   robot   robot   side/   ret    size     status
 ID     type    type      #     slot    face    level  KBytes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CatalogBackup pool

000019  HCART2   NONE     -       -      -       -     -        AVAILABLE
093734  HCART    TLD      1       17     -       1     2979130786       FULL

DataStore pool

NetBackup pool

[Mark_Solutions]

There you go then ...

The one in the library is Full

Grab a tape and load it in the library, change it so that it is in the CatalogPool and it will then work

Or - find 000019  and put that back in as it is available to use

Your catalog backup will then work

[Andy_Welburn]

- 000019 is different media type, so you'll need to assign a "new" HCART.

(You're nearly there!)

[Mark_Solutions]

Thanks for that Andy - so excited at finally cracking this that i missed that! - thumbs up!

[Andy_Welburn]

Yep, been watching each episode with interest!

[Marianne]

000019  HCART2  is probably a different media type.

Please find a blank, available HCART tape in another pool that is in robot 1 and change it to CatalogBackup pool.

Please do not confuse the DR file (currently written to C-drive) with the backup destination. More info about the DR file can be found in chapter 18 of NBU Admin Guide for Windows, Volume I  http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC3653

[pmc214]

My slots are full, so i removed the full tape and put in a new HCART tape in to the CatalogBackup pool.

the catalog backup is working  again, so many thanks to all for the help. We have no budget for training, so its fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants around here! 

Looking at this, I have 78 HCART2 tapes that show available, but are not in my library. I guess it is something from the previous guy. They are in a different volume group and have no robot type (NONE) or slot. kind of confusing. I bet they are in our old L80 library.