How can I get the tape serial number?

[Hollycapri]

Please, somebody know if there is a netbackup command to get the tape (media) serial number?

I am using NB 6.0 MP5 Windows 2003.

Tks!

Message Edited by Hollycapri on 07-18-2008 10:26 AM

[Rakesh_Khandelw]

Tapes do not have serial numbers unless you are referring media barcode or Media ID assigned by NetBackup as serial number.

Your robotic library should be able to tell you the physical barcode and if this tape is already assigned to NetBackup, you can go to to media tab in java console and search for the barcode number. Once you see the barcode you can see the Media ID assigned to it.

If you have the media ID and you are interested in knowing the barcode for it, you can find it from same window or run vmquery command

vmquery -m <MediaID> 

or you can use "vmphyinv" command to read the header of a tape and get the information. 

Message Edited by Rakesh Khandelwal on 07-18-2008 11:23 AM

[CY]

There is a way to know the "internal Meida ID" If you have a tape without barcode label, but you want to know what was recorded Media ID on the tape.

Manually load the tape into a tape drive (use robtest if the tape is in a robotic library), and wait for a little while and check the tape drive status with either NBU Admin Console -> Device Monito, or use "vmoprcmd -d" and you should see something like below

                                  DRIVE STATUS

Drv Type   Control  User      Label  RecMID  ExtMID  Ready   Wr.Enbl.  ReqId
  0 hcart2   TLD    root       Yes   L04134  L04134   Yes     Yes        0
  1 hcart2   TLD    root       Yes   L05512  L05512   Yes     Yes        2
 

In the example above, both tapes have the "external Media ID" match to their "interal/recorded Media ID".  But it would tell you the recorded Media ID of the tape even if you lost the external barcode on that tape.

[Hollycapri]

Thank you very much for all tips and comments!

The exactly problem is not to get the media label or ID, but the media serial factory number! My HP library displayed me an error in a specific media (tape) and showed me the media SN, but I don't know how can I get the serial number and the correspondent barcode.

tks!

[Patrick_Whelan_]

I have the same problem with several tapes. The only way is to look at the backup of the tape. :)

[CY]

My experience with ADIC tape libraries is they always report the tape barcode ID when there is a media error.  I am curious why HP would report tape S/N since it's very user unfriendly.

Well, open a support case with HP as long as you have a maintenance contract for the tape library.  You already paid so much for it, so it's time to let the money do its work.

If tech support can't solve the question, check with your HP account rep He/she should be able to help you get the question routed to the most knowledge person to answer.

[Hollycapri]

Thank you CY, but support case has been open and HP asked me to remove the problem tape.

Follow the message:

"The errors may be due to an attempt to load a misplaced or faulty cartridge (Serial Number: 068N410603)....