Importing expired tape from different master / version

[lovethatcheese]

Hello. I have some tapes that were written to by an old NB environment (last month, version 6.0, Windows Server 2003). Moved tape drive over as well. I had two sets of tapes that I was switching out - first set is relabeled and added to new inventory, second set has been left untouched.

I am now pointing this client to a new NB Master, running 7.5.0.4 on Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise..My question is, if I need the data on the old tapes, is it better to try to point the client to old NB master, and re-inventory tapes / restore from there,  OR

can this be done through my new Master? Basically, can my current Master import an expired tape from a different NB Master running 6.0.

Just wanted to be sure...seen various techdocs about importing expired tapes, but nothing regarding different versions and such..

-Scott

[Will_Restore]

Sure, you can import from the older version on the new Master.

If it's expired you would have to import it on the old Master anway.  Might as well just use the new one.

[sksujeet]

I am now pointing this client to a new NB Master, running 7.5.0.4 on Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise..My question is, if I need the data on the old tapes, is it better to try to point the client to old NB master, and re-inventory tapes / restore from there,  OR

If your old Master server is still intact then you can run the restore from the old one without any problem.You also might need to change the ownership of your tape to this master server if other media servers are decommissioned which wrote the backup on the tape.
bpmedia -movedb -m media_id -newserver newservername or FORCE_RESTORE_MEDIA_SERVER entry forces restores to go to a specific server, regardless of where the files were backed up.

can this be done through my new Master? Basically, can my current Master import an expired tape from a different NB Master running 6.0.

Yes you would be able to do it once you run phase 1 and 2 import on the new master server. Once done you would be able to restore the data.

Also make sure if you have changed the barcode or for some reason a new barcode is placed on the tape it won’t able to load and NBU will give message that media ID already exist with different barcode.
In this case to make the Media ID and Barcode same we have to run below command without running the INVENTORY
vmadd -m mediaid -mt <media_type>  -b <new-barcode>  -p <pool_number>
This should add the media as standalone. Manually load the tape in a slot in the robot (e.g. robtest).
Inventory the robot to update media id with the correct slot in the robot.

Also you might want to check the barcode rules for these tapes in the old environment and new one otherwise it might have issue reading it.

[Marianne]

I agree with previous posts - no problem importing from older versions of NBU.

[lovethatcheese]

sazz...I followed the techdoc to import an expired tape, and got an error status 176:

1/23/2013 5:03:25 PM - started process bptm (4372)
1/23/2013 5:03:25 PM - mounting 000105
1/23/2013 5:04:00 PM - mounted; mount time: 00:00:35
1/23/2013 5:04:00 PM - Error bptm(pid=4372) WRN - Cannot import media id 000105, that media id is already active on this server.
1/23/2013 5:04:00 PM - Error bpimport(pid=3368) Status = cannot perform specified media import operation.     
1/23/2013 5:04:00 PM - end Import; elapsed time: 00:00:38
cannot perform specified media import operation(176)

As you mentioned, the media ID is already in the library. To run the command you have listed

vmadd -m mediaid -mt <media_type>  -b <new-barcode>  -p <pool_number>

Can you elaborate, if possible? The media ID above is the tape I want to import (000105). To fix this, running the command you listed, do I give this tape a new barcode, say 11111? and pool number? I created a new 'Imports' volume pool, how would that be listed via number?

Thanks for your help on this.

[sksujeet]

1/23/2013 5:04:00 PM - Error bptm(pid=4372) WRN - Cannot import media id 000105, that media id is already active on this server. 1/23/2013 5:04:00 PM - Error bpimport(pid=3368) Status = cannot perform specified media import operation. Please check if this tape is frozen, if so please make sure create a different pool with anyname. Unfreeze the tape and move this tape to that pool. Try to import again.

[Mark_Solutions]

Do you have tapes from both systems with the same barcode labels? If you do and they have the same media ID then you won't be able to do the imports unless the matching tapes have expired and you can delete them from NBU first

As per the other posts if all things are correct and any barcodes changed set correctly when the tapes are brought into the system the actual NBU version will not be an issue for you.

Have you tried to import that tape previosuly (in the last week or so?) If so it wont let you import it again until the current import phase 1 expires (about a week i believe)

Hope this helps

[Marianne]

If you don't have duplicate barcodes, there is another possibility:

Tape was not write-protected or not put in a separate, non-backup pool...

If tape was put in the library in normal backup pool or scratch pool, your tape was probably overwritten...

Please post output of:

nbemmcmd -listmedia -mediaid 000105

[Mark_Solutions]

You also cannot run an import against a tape if it is in the scratch pool - it has to be in any pool other than a scratch one

[lovethatcheese]

Hi. Can you help make some sense of the attached screenshots? Are these strictly catalog backup files, or is there an image listed as well? If so, how can I pull this image off of tape?

I have tried importing this mediaID into a seperate, newly created volume pool, but it gives me errors...

Backup-ID            Policy     Type  RL  Files   C  E  T  PC  Expires
Copy Frag    KB Type Density FNum      Off       Host       DWO MPX Expires          RL MediaID
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

mubackup_1356598909  MU_Catalog FULL  3   401     N  N  R  1   04:01 01/27/2013
 1 IDX       50 RMed hcart3  2241      16250452  mubackup   534                         000105
 1   1   702250 RMed hcart3  2240      16239477  mubackup   534 N   04:01 01/27/2013 3  000105

mubackup_1356598808  MU_Catalog FULL  3   7       N  N  R  1   04:00 01/27/2013
 1   1    54078 RMed hcart3  2239      16238630  mubackup   534 N   04:00 01/27/2013 3  000105

mubackup_1356512522  MU_Catalog FULL  3   403     N  N  R  1   04:02 01/26/2013
 1 IDX       50 RMed hcart3  2238      16238627  mubackup   534                         000105
 1   1   703146 RMed hcart3  2237      16227638  mubackup   534 N   04:02 01/26/2013 3  000105

mubackup_1356512408  MU_Catalog FULL  3   7       N  N  R  1   04:00 01/26/2013
 1   1    54278 RMed hcart3  2236      16226787  mubackup   534 N   04:00 01/26/2013 3  000105

mubackup_1356426108  MU_Catalog FULL  3   414     N  N  R  1   04:01 01/25/2013
 1 IDX       52 RMed hcart3  2235      16226784  mubackup   534                         000105
 1   1   860831 RMed hcart3  2234      16213331  mubackup   534 N   04:01 01/25/2013 3  000105

mubackup_1356426008  MU_Catalog FULL  3   7       N  N  R  1   04:00 01/25/2013
 1   1    54278 RMed hcart3  2233      16212480  mubackup   534 N   04:00 01/25/2013 3  000105
 

[Marianne]

Please help us to understand your requirement?

You started this discussion with the need to restore from 'some tapes that were written to by an old NB environment'.

Last post : ...how can I pull this image off of tape? ... I have tried importing this mediaID into a seperate, newly created volume pool, but it gives me errors...

Images that are known by current master can be duplicated to media in a new pool, not 'imported'.

The tape that you are showing us is in CatalalogBackup pool and contains catalog backups.

So, not sure which image you are referring to - I see only Catalog backups. 

If your tape was overwritten by the new master, it is not possible to access/import images written by old environment.

Tapes from old environment that you need to import in new environment should be write protected to prevent them from being overwritten in new environment. You should ideally have a separate pool for these tapes as well - call it something like IMPORT or OldMaster.

[sksujeet]

Yes thease are all catalog images. Also as per nbemmcmd output this is in catalog volume pool Time assigned 12/07/2010 Last Mount : 01/23/2013 Last Written: 12/27/2012 It seems as per Last written the tape is overwritten and there is nothing can be done in that case. Data on tape is overwritten. You can only import a tape after expiration if it is not overwritten. Check the other tapes as well if they are overwritten there is nothing can be done.

[lovethatcheese]

Marianne,

I'm new to restores (sad, but true) - they are nice and easy, however, in switching over to my new environment (new master, phasing old ones out, etc), I confused myself I believe.

This tape drive was moved over to a new environment, and without notifiying me, a local tech switched the tape drive back over, ran a re-inventory, and tried to restore..

I believe this caused my issues, and when I tried to follow the steps to fix this, nothing would import into a seperate volume pool.

I included the screenshots to help make sense of the output - that's the first time I've ran a listing of a tape through the command line, and some bigger filesizes had me fooled there may be an image on there to save....

No biggie, NB is a constant learning experience for me - I figure there was bound to be some issues like this in the first month of switching over. Thanks everyone for your time / efforts.

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

In all fairness - I have pointed out overwrite possibility over here: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/importing-expired-tape-different-master-version#comme... and again in my previous post...