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How to know what is next Tape for next backup schedule ???

XTK
Level 3

Hi All

I want config 01 schedules for 31 Tape for backup incremental daily and 01 schedules for 12 Tape for backup monthly.

My question:

Can you please give me instruction to config for this requirement. When I tried to config and I got an error when job run

"An operation was requested on a media ID that is in use. An example of this operation is the attempt to suspend or freeze a volume while it is in use for a backup or restore. Status 97: requested media ID is in use, cannot process request "

 How can I know what is tape for next backup schedule?

 

Thanks

 

20 REPLIES 20

sdo
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Certified

Your question has been asked many many times before.   In short, NetBackup simply does not work like that.  NetBackup selects the next tape.  NetBackup manages media, and NetBackup is very very good at mananging tape media (and other forms of media for that matter).  NetBackup is far far better at managing tape media than either you or I could ever hope to be.  Search this forum for similar questions and you'll find the answers that you are looking for.

 

Hi SDO,

Thanks alot about your respone.

But i am newbee with netbackup. Can you give me link or anykey work about netbackup manage tape.

 

 

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

NetBackup selects a tape based on the following criteria.

Is the correct media type.

Is for the correct robot type (if applicable).

Is located in the requested robotic peripheral (if applicable).

Resides on the requested host.

Is in the correct volume pool.

Is not currently assigned (not already allocated to NetBackup).

Is not expired (if an expiration date is defined in Media Manager).

Has not exceeded the maximum number of mounts allowed.

If more than one volume qualifies, Media Manager chooses the volume that was least recently used. NetBackup then adds it to the media catalog and assigns it the specified retention level.

If there are no unassigned volumes of the requested type, the backup terminates withan error indicating that there was no available media.

NetBackup will try and select a partially full media in the correct volume pool if there is one, as opposed to selecting a empty or media from scratch pool. The exception to this is if a backupis running to a tape which becomes full, NBU will then always try and take an empty tape from the scrach pool if there is one.

You cannot 'guess' what media NBU will select next ...  Netbackup is also not designed to use tape1 for Monday, tape2 for Tuesday etc ...

In summary, you should add enough media to your enviroment to cope with the amount of backups you run, and forget about it.  NBU will do the rest.

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

I want config 01 schedules for 31 Tape for backup incremental daily and 01 schedules for 12 Tape for backup monthly.

By default, NBU will NOT mix backups with different retentions on the same tape, so the incremental and monthly backups, if they have different retention levels will automatically run to the correct tapes.  If you want to limit the number, you could have two volume pools, one called NBU_Inc and NBU_month (or whatever you like).  Add 31 tapes to the inc pool and 12 tapes to the other.

I wouldn;t receommend this, it is fine to have two pool, but I would just create a scratch pool and add all the tapes to that, NBU will then pick what it needs.  

Marianne
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

@XTK 

Just my 2c in addition to excellent advice from @sdo and @mph999  :

Can you confirm that you have a tape library with barcoded media?

Although NetBackup can be used with Standalone tape, it is not advisable.
NetBackup does not play well with standalone tape and tape management is a nightmare. 
NetBackup is an enterprise product that works best with a tape library.
All you need to do is to ensure sufficient media per retention per volume pool.
NBU will choose tapes based on the selection criteria explained by @mph999 . 

You don't need to try and keep track of which media is used on which day - NBU keeps all of that in its catalog.
When you want to restore, all you need is the client name, policy type and date that you need to restore from. 
NBU will then find the media-id that was used.
If the tape is in the robot, NBU will automatically mount the tape. 
If the tape is not in the robot, there will be a message to say 'admin intervention is required'.

@mph999 @Marianne  thanks your response.

I pretend to fresh configure my Netbackup with robot.
Can you please give me an example or any link to do it.
Because after reading 2 part of Administrator Guide. I can not find complete instruction for this job.

My current version 7.7 

 

Thanks.

Marianne
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Configuring robots and tape drives (Chapter 9) is in Section 3 of NetBackup 7.7 Admin Guide I. 

@Marianne  @mph999  Thanks a lot and Have a nice day.

1. This is my topology. Is it mean all component (Master Server, EMM, Media Server) in the same Computer?

Topology.png

2. This is my Standalone. Do I need to delete all media?
Standalone.png

3.How can I change status of Tape?
TapeList.png

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

Yes, master/ media all in one

Not sure why one tape is showing a barcode, as the drive is standalone.Why do you think you need to delete anything ?

Why do you want to change the status of a tape, what do you want to change it to and why.  The fact there are images on the tapes suggest everything is working.

@mph999 

I received this system from old IT.

I do not know why have one barcode when using standalone.

I just want schedule can run normally with any tape.

What I need to do in this case

Thanks

 

@Marianne  Hi, Can you let me know if my tape device just has 1 slot. Can I config robotic?

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

There is no robot configured.  If there is a robot and it is not configured we cannot tell, you would have to answer that.

A confiured robot would look like this would have a icon for the robot arm, the slots and the drives.  You just have a single drive.

@mph999 nice day to you.

You right totally. My device not support robot and just have only 01 slot.

So I think problem related about MME database. Because if I run command bpexdate -m A000xx -d 0 then delelde MediaID A000xx in pool. After that I mount Tap with media id A000xx. They work normally.

So now can you give me any bestpractise for standalone config.

 

Thanks

 

 

Marianne
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

I have no idea why you believe that there is a problem with the EMM database.
If you have a single, standalone tape drive, where you have to manually load a tape before backups,  then you need to perform all media management tasks manually. 

You should not run bpexpdate on any tapes. 
By doing so, you expire valid backup images that are needed for restores.

If you run available_media script from cmd, you will see which media can be appended to or which ones are AVAILABLE (previous backups have expired). 

Important that you manually add stickers/labels to your existing tapes that matches the media ID. 
Everything in your Media GUI that do not have a 'Time Assigned' can be re-used for new backups. 

There is a section in NBU Admin Guide II that explains how media is used with Standalone tape drive. 
Look for: 
How NetBackup selects media 
    About selecting media in robots 
    About selecting media in standalone drives 

Some of my previous posts about standalone tape: 

https://vox.veritas.com/t5/NetBackup/Netbackup-7-0-with-Standalone-drive/m-p/321663#M64069

https://vox.veritas.com/t5/NetBackup/Tape-Cartrige-changes-name-in-NBU/m-p/342566#M69513

You may want to speak to your management to consider buying a tape library (robot).... 

 

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

This  ...

"You may want to speak to your management to consider buying a tape library (robot).... "

NetBackup does not really work that well with standalone tapes, sure - it will run backups/ restores - but the whole idea of backup software is 'media management' and 'automation' - which is severly reduced if you have standalone devices.

 

Honestly, this is my customer system. I am onsite to provide support services and Netbackup with Standalone drive include support contract services.

@Marianne "Important that you manually add stickers/labels to your existing tapes that match the media ID" ==> You right, they used this way. 
"Everything in your Media GUI that does not have a 'Time Assigned' can be re-used for new backups" ==> It's mean I just need to add all media in a pool. And NBU will automatic choice Media do not have "time assigned" use to the backup job? 

Finally, I want what settings decide time assigned. What happens when all my media have "Time assigned"? is the backup job can not run?

 

Thanks

@mph999 with your instruction and @Marianne I learned a lot about NetBackup. I am very approciated. But I don't have any permission to request new devices supported robotic library. They just want schedule run and backup job complete.

mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

An empty unused tape has no time assigned.

When it is picked for a backup (or duplication) it is give an 'assigned time' - it keeps this time until all the images have expired.  We say a tape with an assigned time is 'in the media db'  - this is really something that dates back to the early version of NBU, it's just a term that is used.

A tape with no assigned time (empty) will NOT appear in bpmedialist -m <media id>

A tape with an assigned time will

A tape with an assigned time will be used over and over until it is full, it is not true to say an assigned tape will not be used.

Generally, if a tape has an assigned time it will contain valid (unexpired) images - there are some exceptions to this

1.  The tape is frozen, but all images have expired

2.  The tape was picked for backup, given an assigned time and then the backup failed

3.  Images have expired, the tape will stay 'assigned' until next image cleanup

There may be other exceptions, but those are the ones I can think of.