Is there a way that I can vault only Full tapes?

[skyblue]

We have recently setup a new backup environment  for our production servers.

• We have 8 LTO4 tape drives and are using LTO4 tapes for backups.
• The vault job runs everyday after nightly backups.
• We don't duplicate the tapes before vaulting.
• There is a 3 month retention for all backups.

I have observed that we are vaulting about 4 to 6 partially full tapes on a daily basis. At this rate I would need about 400 tapes before I can expect the first lot of tapes returned from IM.

Is there a way that I can restrict partially full tapes from being vaulted?

Thanks,
-Deepak

[Liam_Finn1]

I think this should be marked as part of the backup forum not the Enterprise Vault forum 

[Dion · Accepted solution]

I don't think there is a way to eject only full tapes natively from within NetBackup.  You would have to do some scripting to achieve this.

NetBackup 6.5 and higher does provide a couple of mechanisms to help reduce the number of media that get sent offsite.  I was originally sending around 8 tapes a day for data and now I send around 3.

Rather that retyping the options, this thread has a couple of suggestions

Use the settings for MPF and create server groups for your media (if you have multiple media servers).  For MPF, you can start off with a low setting and then throttle up as you run out of time for duplications.

Another thing to note, as a start, is that the following can't share the same media.
1. Images with different retentions (by default but can be changed)
2. Media duplicated by different media servers (can be fixed by setting up Server Groups)
3. If you are vaulting to different volume pools, these will stay separate (of course)

Take a look at the following threads for some extra information that should cover what you need.

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/vault-duplication-many-differente-retention-backup
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/how-do-you-estimate-how-many-tapes-will-be-needed

[skyblue]

I would try the MPF option and see if it can reduce the number of media going out.