Expiring tapes so they can be used for backup

[mascardr]

Is bpexpdate on the main server the only way to expire tapes? I do not have access to the main server. I work for local government and am not allowed access to the Netbackup server. There is to much politics to even try to accomplish this. I have tapes but they can't be used because the date hasn't expired yet. Is there a way in GUI or Java Admin console to do this? I can disable the images on the tape or the tape itself, it doesn't matter. I just need some tapes to use for my vault jobs.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Debra

[Anonymous]

GUI procedure

===========

If you can access the Catalog branch in the Admin Console then put in the mediaID you want to expire

and remember and change the date range (the from date - set to way in the past)

A list of images should come back for that tape.

Select All or individually right click and Expire

Now, I have been caught out here through the GUI (Windows). (I am on NB 6.5.2 master)

I then went to Media view and refreshed view and the mediaID showed 0 valid images (as expected) but the assignment field still had an entry, so I could not immediately use the tape - still assigned.

For me the difference between bpexpdate command line and the catalog expire was that the former did clear the assignment field of the media immediately.

The GUI expired media had to WAIT for the regular interval job bpexpdate -deassignempty to run.

I think you can see this running regularly in the ALL Logs Entries report. Or it is run as part of Image Cleanup. It used to run I think every 12 hours - maybe on previous version.

From the help pages it should be possible from a Media Server command line

bpexpdate

-M master_server [,...]

                Specifies the master server that manages the media catalog
                that has the media ID. If this option is not specified, the
                default is one of the following:

                For NetBackup Server:

                NetBackup Server supports only one server (the master) with
                no remote media servers. Therefore, the default in this case
                is always the master server where you run the command.

For NetBackup Enterprise Server:

                If the command is run on a master server, then that server
                is the default.

                If the command is run on a media server that is not the
                master, then the master for that media server is the
                default.
 

[mascardr]

Thank you for the direction of the catalog. That takes care of expiring the images but still need to run the bpexpdate from command line on server? I'm being told this isn't needed by the person who maintains the master server. But as my tape still tells me I can't erase the tape because it is assigned...I have no other option but to run bpexpdate...correct?

Thanks,

Debra

[Omar_Villa]

You can manage all the images from the catalog and running the bpexpdate command from a media server can work if you add the -M master directive, but not sure if you have the access, one thing you should consider is that expiring media it can be a big issue for any company and more for the goverment, so I will recomand to ask before you do anything or request more media, because if for any reason you expire an image that they still need, you can potencialy lose your job.

hope this helps.

regards