Change tapes

[Amuro]

Hi,

I have a simple question.  I am not a backup administrator, but since our backup guy just left, I am taking his spot for temporary.
We have NetBackup 6.5.4 and Dell PowerVault TL2000.  I am trying to change tapes and I was able to remove old tapes out and put new tapes in, but I cannot seem to figure out how to initiate the new tapes.
In another word, the tape library, and NetBackup took the new tapes and read the barcodes, but it still shows old information, such as kilobytes and Volume Pool for old old tapes.
How do I make this old information go away and get the new tapes started as fresh?

I don't know much about NetBackup, so Please please be specific when you give me a how to do solution.

Thanks in advance, 

[Andy_Welburn]

Right-click on robot in Media & Device Management/Media/Robots/robot_id in Admin Console GUI & select "Inventory Robot...", select "Update Volume Configuration"

[Andy_Welburn]

not sure if your library has a media access port? But, if so, the safest way to change tapes would be to select the ones you wish to remove in the GUI, right-click & select "Eject volume from robot" then physically remove them from the MAP (or CAP or whatever!). Then load the ''new' tapes into the MAP, inventory the robot as in my previous post but select "Empty media access port prior to update".

I say "safest" because it is possible, if you do it manually by opening the library, that you can put a tape into a slot that appears empty but it is actually the residence of a tape that is currently loaded in a drive - this can cause no end of problems when the robot then tries to return that tape to its original slot. Not fun! :s

[J_H_Is_gone]

when in the console and you go to media
Do you have the columns
Time Assigned and Data Expiration?  ( if not go to layout and add them)

The Data Expiration says when the data (backups on the tapes) is scheduled to expire.
If that is a future date then you need to wait for that date to arrive - this was set by the backup policy as to how long you need to retain the backups.  If the date has passed - then right click the tape and see if you can unfreeze it - a frozen tape will will stay assigned until unfrozen ( a frozen tape can be cause by tape problems or a write protected tape had an attempt to be written to).

If you want the tapes to expire now you will have to use the command bpexpdate.
Caution  on this as if you expire all images on a tape you my be expiring some you want to keep.
You can see what backup images are on a tape and when they were taken by running the Images On Tape report (on the left Reports/Tape Reports/Images on Tape)

Take a look at this and come back to us if you still have questions.

[Anonymous]

I had this annotated diagram I showed a new admin some of the best columns/layout to get an overview of one of their volume pools and what certain values mean.

Hope this is helpful to you. (and correct)

[Amuro]

I am sorry I did not see your responds until now.  I thought I was supposed to get notified by email when there was a respond, but I was not.

Inventory Robot with update volume configuraiton did not help.  However, when I right clicked the new tape and select Unfreeze, it looks like it initiated the new tape.  The volume pool was changed to Scratch_Pool.  I am still not sure if this is a proper way to do it.  If anyone is still monitoring this issue, would you please verify the steps I write below is correct?

1. Remove old tape by right Click and select Eject Volume
2. Add a new tape
3. Inventory the robot with selecting "Update Volume Configuration' option".
4. Right click the new tape and select "Unfreeze"

Another question is how do you know when you need to change tapes?
Does NetBackup tell you whic tapes need to be changed? or do you always monitor the size of each tapes?

Thanks for all your replies.
 

[Andy_Welburn]

This would normally occur if the tape library had several mount failures or read/write errors for that tape in a pre-defined time period. When you say 'new' do you mean brand-new or just older tapes that are now being cycled back into the library from off-site? If the latter then it could be that these tapes are being frozen due to a lot of read/write errors & so may need destroying & replacing.

As far as monitoring tapes is concerned, everyone will have their own routines (or even software) to decide on what tapes need to be removed or inserted, depending on your environment & requirements. We basically keep an eye on the number of Scratch tape we have loaded (so backups never fail due to lack of tapes) & our weekend tapes are removed (hopefully) by staff on a weekly basis & replaced with Scratch tapes.

As far as your steps are concerned: 1-3 are correct. Step 4 I've covered above - shouldn't be necessary, but may point to drive or tape issues if you're getting a lot of frozen tapes.

[Amuro]

Yest, it is a brand new tape.
We implemented the NetBackup about 2 or 3 month ago and new tapes were added at that time.  That was first set of tapes, and now I am trying to replace them with another brand new tapes as 2nd set.  Since the backup admin left the company without leaving any instruction, it is kinda hard to manage the netbackup for a newbie like myself.

Pardon my inexperience, I still don't fully understand your backup side of language.
I think I have many freeze tapes because when I right click on each tapes, I see "Unfreeze' option is available as well as "freeze" option.  Does this mean there are some corrupted data that can not used for restoration?
My second question is that do I normally perform step 1-3 when I change tapes? no additional steps?
If Step 4 (Unfreeze) is not necessary for normal tape change operation, how do I get the new tape initiated changing the volume pool to the 'Scratch_Pool'? 

Thank you,

[Andy_Welburn]

the media status as an option (well it is for us anyway!) Look in the "Media Status" column to see if it is indeed frozen (if the column is not there then you can add it by right-click/columns/layout)

If the tapes are not going in to the scratch pool then you could apply "barcode rules" (via Advanced Options" when you inventory robot) so that it does this automatically. We don't bother, all new tapes go into Netbackup volume pool, we then right-click/change & then change the volume pool to scratch via the "new Pool" drop down box.

***EDIT***
To summarise then:

1) Select tapes to remove. Righ-click & eject. Remove tapes from library.
2) Add new tapes
3) Inventory the robot with selecting "Update Volume Configuration' option".
4) Select new tapes. Right-click/change & select new volume pool (e.g. Scratch)

As already mentioned step (4) could be omitted if barcode rules (New Media/Media Settings) are applied.

[Amuro]

Under the media status column, I only see just one frozen, which is the cleaning tape.  I guess it is OK, right?

I think I have a clear idea at least how to change tapes.  I cannot understand everything at once. 

I really appreciate all your answers to get me through this.

Thank you, and Happy holidays!

[Andy_Welburn]

The Admin Guides are pretty good at getting you through most things. Don't have to read them all through at once, just pick the bits you are interested in & start there!

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