GEN 3 media restoration issue on IBM TS3500 Library

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Hi All,

I am facing one restoration issue in our environment. Please confirm whether GEN 3 media is readable in GEN 5 drives?

          A pending request has been generated for this resource request.
          Operator action may be required. Pending Action: Misplaced tape,
          Media ID: 123456, Barcode: 123456 , Density: hcart2, Access Mode: Read,
          Action Drive Name: N/A, Action Media Server: xxxxxxx2, Robot Type(Number): 8(0),
          Volume Group: 000_00000_TLD, Action Acs: N/A, Action Lsm: N/A

Regards,

Sagar

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

Generally the support is valid for previous two generations. So LTO5 should support LTO3 medias. 

Now the issue you have mentioned can be related to media charasteristics. Please give some more details -

1. Is this new or used media?

2. Was it used for backups by another software i.e. OS/BackupExec/etc.. If yes then you need to allow media override in the host properties of the master server->media and then check the boxes accordingly. For backupexec it is BE-MTF1. Also you can try selecting all of those option to see if it works. After changing the options you will be required to restart the services. If you cannot then run following command from admincmd path "bprdreq -rereadconfig"

3. If it is used media and it is already part of your netbackup infrastructure, were you using it with another tape library or tape drive which has Gen3 tape drives.

4. If you are trying to use the Gen5 drives for the first time with the Gen 3 media, you should make sure that the density of Drive and Media matches. E.g. I can see that the media is HCART2, can you please confirm if the Drive is also configured as HCART2. If not then it wont be able to use.

5. The media might have been misplaced, that is the mentioned slot information for that media is not correct. e.g. the media is mentioned to be residing in slot number 12 but the media is not present there. 

In this case there might be two reason - 1. The media is stuck in drive and not present in its slot 2. The media was moved from its place with tape library software. In this case you need to perform two things - 1. Make sure that the tape is not stuck in drive. You can use robtest to get access to tape library and run       "s d" which will list all drives and then check if the tape is in any of drives. 2. Run inventory and see if it detects the media. 

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Hello , PFA update.

1. Is this new or used media?  Used Media(HCART3)

2. Was it used for backups by another software i.e. OS/BackupExec/etc.. If yes then you need to allow media override in the host properties of the master server->media and then check the boxes accordingly. For backupexec it is BE-MTF1. Also you can try selecting all of those option to see if it works. After changing the options you will be required to restart the services. If you cannot then run following command from admincmd path "bprdreq -rereadconfig" --- Only used for Netbackup.

3. If it is used media and it is already part of your netbackup infrastructure, were you using it with another tape library or tape drive which has Gen3 tape drives. --- We were using L700 Library which is not present in our environment now.

4. If you are trying to use the Gen5 drives for the first time with the Gen 3 media, you should make sure that the density of Drive and Media matches. E.g. I can see that the media is HCART2, can you please confirm if the Drive is also configured as HCART2. If not then it wont be able to use. --- I have changed the density of HCART3 Media to HCART2 and yes drives are configured as HCART2(IBM TS3500)

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

Just check my last point - I had forgot to add it. 

5. The media might have been misplaced, that is the mentioned slot information for that media is not correct. e.g. the media is mentioned to be residing in slot number 12 but the media is not present there. 

In this case there might be two reason - 1. The media is stuck in drive and not present in its slot 2. The media was moved from its place with tape library software. In this case you need to perform two things - 1. Make sure that the tape is not stuck in drive. You can use robtest to get access to tape library and run       "s d" which will list all drives and then check if the tape is in any of drives. 2. Run inventory and see if it detects the media. 

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Hi ,

The media might have been misplaced, that is the mentioned slot information for that media is not correct. e.g. the media is mentioned to be residing in slot number 12 but the media is not present there.  --- Actually the case is , media is not getting updated automatically after completing the inventory. We are moving the media to the slot number manually. When we are starting the inventory , we are getting below error. After that , we are moving media to slot from GUI manually.

Logically add new media 123456 (barcode 123456L3) to robot slot 160.
Logically add new media 789012 (barcode 789012L3) to robot slot 161.
Updating volume configuration ...

Processing new media added to the robotic library by logically
adding media with new media IDs as follows...
        Media ID        Slot
        ========        ====

Update failed: could not add new media ID '123456' into slot 160
Insert media failed:
media ID not unique in database (34)

Kindly note , media is not getting stuck.

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Also in robtest , I am able to see the media in slot.

slot 160 (addr 1184) contains Cartridge = yes
Barcode = 123456L3
slot 161 (addr 1185) contains Cartridge = yes
Barcode = 789012L3

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

Please send following output

vmquery -m 123456 -l

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

I guess we need to move the media to standalone and then move it back. Just get me the vmquery output.

[Sagar_Kolhe]

media ID:              123456

media type:            1/2" cartridge tape 2 (14)
barcode:               123456L3
media description:     Created_by_NBCCR
volume pool:           CD_Mont_Backup_pool (10)
robot type:            NONE - Not Robotic (0)
volume group:          ---
vault name:            ---
vault sent date:       ---
vault return date:     ---
vault slot:            160
vault session id:      ---
vault container id:    -
created:               Sat Sep 17 13:34:04 2011
assigned:              Mon Oct 31 18:06:07 2011
last mounted:          ---
first mount:           ---
expiration date:       ---
number of mounts:      31
max mounts allowed:    ---
status:                0x0
 

221796  -       HCART2    221796L3          -                 -             NONE       -      -  -      ---                        CD_Mont_Backup_pool       10  -                         31       0          -  09/17/2011 13:34  10/31/2011 18:06  00/00/0000 00:00  00/00/0000 00:00  00/00/0000 00:00       0  -                          00/00/0000 00:00  00/00/0000 00:00     160  -             50  Created_by_NBCCR
 

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

Use robtest to move the tape in access port and quit out of robtest.

Use GUI to select 123456, right-click, Move. Select Standalone.
This will update NBU config to know thay media is no longer in the robot.

Next, perform Inventory and select 'Empty media access port prior to update'.

NBU will be updated with new location. you can re-submit your job.

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Hello,

Use robtest to move the tape in access port and quit out of robtest. with help of which parameter in robtest.

Use GUI to select 123456, right-click, Move. Select Standalone. --- Standalone but which volume pool

This will update NBU config to know thay media is no longer in the robot.

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

Click on the arrow next to Robot you will see Standalone.

Robtest commands - 

s p   ----> to list the access ports.
Address 16, import_enabled = 1, export_enabled = 1, access = 1
  except = 0, import_export = 1, full = 0
Address 17, import_enabled = 1, export_enabled = 1, access = 1
  except = 0, import_export = 1, full = 0
Address 18, import_enabled = 1, export_enabled = 1, access = 1
  except = 0, import_export = 1, full = 0
Address 19, import_enabled = 1, export_enabled = 1, access = 1
  except = 0, import_export = 1, full = 0
READ_ELEMENT_STATUS complete

m s1 p1     -----> to move the media to access port
Initiating MOVE_MEDIUM from address 4096 to 16
MOVE_MEDIUM complete

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Move medium completed. Please confirm me the standalone , we have 2 volume groups 000_000)_TLD and another is - - -. Can I move the media to --- with same robot host and robot no.

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

Sagar, have you run the catalog recovery NBCCR on this environment. In the previous output you sent I can see this entry here .

221796  -       HCART2    221796L3          -                 -             NONE       -      -  -      ---                        CD_Mont_Backup_pool       10  -                         31       0          -  09/17/2011 13:34  10/31/2011 18:06  00/00/0000 00:00  00/00/0000 00:00  00/00/0000 00:00       0  -                          00/00/0000 00:00  00/00/0000 00:00     160  -             50  Created_by_NBCCR

Looks like you have edited the media ID to 123456 in your post but the actual media ID is 221796. If so looks like you actually need to delete this media. Is there any data on it.

Can you please run bpimmedia -mediaid <mediaID> -U

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Yes data is present on this media.

Backup-ID:            vvvvv_1320077935
 Policy:              CHAN_D_W_M_FWBRN_VMBRANCH_SET11
 Schedule Type:       FULL
 Retention Level      16
 Number of Files:     13
 Compression:         N
 Encryption:          N
 Image Type:          Regular
 Primary Copy:        1
 Expires:             Sat Oct 28 21:48:55 2023
 Image on Hold:       0
 Indexing Status:     0

  Copy Number:        1
  Fragment Number:    1
  Fragment Size (KB): 86681
  Media Type:         RMed
  Density:            hcart3
  File Number:        33
  Offset:             655645
  Host:               abc3
  Device Written On:  14
  MPX:                Y
  Expires:            Sat Oct 28 21:48:55 2023
  Retention Level:    16
  MediaID:            221796
  Copy on Hold:       0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Backup-ID:            xxxxxx_1320086294
 Policy:              Chan_D_W_M_xxxxxxx

 Schedule Type:       FULL
 Retention Level      16
 Number of Files:     252403
 Compression:         N
 Encryption:          N
 Image Type:          Regular
 Primary Copy:        1
 Expires:             Sun Oct 29 00:08:14 2023
 Image on Hold:       0
 Indexing Status:     0

  Copy Number:        1
  Fragment Number:    1
  Fragment Size (KB): 12495872
  Media Type:         RMed
  Density:            hcart3
  File Number:        52
  Offset:             722345
  Host:               abc3

  Device Written On:  14
  MPX:                Y
  Expires:            Sun Oct 29 00:08:14 2023
  Retention Level:    16
  MediaID:            221796
  Copy on Hold:       0

  Copy Number:        1
  Fragment Number:    2
  Fragment Size (KB): 19968
  Media Type:         RMed
  Density:            hcart3
  File Number:        53
  Offset:             826938
  Host:               abc3

  Device Written On:  14
  MPX:                -
  Expires:            -
  Retention Level:    -
  MediaID:            221796
  Copy on Hold:       0

  Copy Number:        1
  Fragment Number:    3
  Fragment Size (KB): 366592
  Media Type:         RMed
  Density:            hcart3
  File Number:        54
  Offset:             827097
  Host:               abc3

  Device Written On:  14
  MPX:                -
  Expires:            -

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

You have an option. You can expire the media. Delete it. Rerun the inventory and add it. once it is added you can perform import and recreate the catalog information for it. I can see that the data is not more than 15GB. It can be faster.

Also just to make sure that there is no duplicate entry available you can run following and check the output.

Windows  - 

vmquery -a | find "221796L3"

Unix -

vmquery -a | grep 221796L3

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Hello ,

we won't be able to expire the media as I need to take approval for this and it is vey time consuming.

But there is no duplicate entry.

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

Can you please confirm the last time the backup was run on this media? and the date when nbccr was performed?

[Sagar_Kolhe]

Last backup Date 1st Nov 2011.

I am not getting NBCCR run date. from Where I can find this ?

[GulzarShaikhAUS]

When was the last time you perform the upgrade. The nbccr directory is normally located at this location.. just see if you can find one.

Program Files\veritas\NetBackup\bin\support\output