Issue with Media ID after putting new tapes

[hargy]

Hello all,

I have started to look after some new back ups using NetBackup 6.5.4 and am having issues with putting new tapes in.  

In a nutshell the Media Id does not correspond with the Barcode when a rescan/update barcodes is completed.  

Is there a process that I need to follow when putting new tapes in?

many thanks in advance

Paul

[revarooo]

"In a nutshell the Media Id does not correspond with the Barcode when a rescan/update barcodes is complete" 

Can you give an example of this? 

Did you inventory the robot?

[Marianne]

Have a look at Media ID Generation - if there is an entry in vm.conf on the master server, and you are using a media server and/or a Windows Admin Console, you need to add this entry to the server where you are working from.

As per revaroo's post - please provide details of the issue. This will enable us to provide better assistance.

[hargy]

Thanks for your responses.

A robot inventory shows the correct barcode details but the Media ID column does not update with the new details in NBU Admin Console for example

the barcode of the tape 1 is DVD1234 and this shows in the Net backup admin console as

Media ID     Barcode

D1234          DVD1234

and we insert a new tape with a barcode of DVD5678 and then run a inventory

it will show

Media ID       Barcode

D1234           DVD5678

This prevents me from using the new tape.   I believe I have either missed a step or need to set something up.

I am unable to see anything in the Media ID Generation or Barcode rules (which may be the issue?)

THe Advanced robot Inventory Options show as all defaults with the Use Barcode rules ticked but I am unable to see any rules listed.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Regards

Paul

[Marianne]

NBU Media id has 6 digits - are you sure about the 5 digits?

Does your robot have a barcode reader?

Please run this command from cmd (...\volmgr\bin) and post the txt file as File attachment:

vmcheckxxx -rn <robot-number> -rt tld -rh <robot_control_host> > C:\temp\vmcheck.txt

[hargy]

        Robot Contents          Volume Configuration

Slot    Tape  Barcode           Media ID Barcode        Mismatch Detected
====    ====  =============     ======== =============  =================
   1     Yes  DVD107L4          D136L4   DVD107L4
   2     Yes  AHU437LU          U447LU   AHU437LU
   3     Yes  AHU446LU          U449LU   AHU446LU
   4     Yes  AHU459LU          U459LU   AHU459LU
   5     Yes  DVD134L4          U448LU   DVD134L4
   6     Yes  AHU409LU          D107L4   AHU409LU
   7     Yes  DVD133L4          U457LU   DVD133L4
   8     Yes  DVD166L4          U456LU   DVD166L4

[revarooo]

Bizarre, lets see your volmgr/vm.conf file!

[hargy]

MM_SERVER_NAME = <name of backup server>  and that is all

[revarooo]

Is that the vm.conf from the robot control host?

[hargy]

Yes I believe it is that is taken from the master server that everything is connected to

[revarooo]

There is no way those labels would be applied with no barcode rules. Someone has made a mistake somewhere.

[mph999]

Wow ... Looking at the top exampple you have media id / bardode D1234 / DVD1234 This is fine and 'as expected'. You then put in a tape DVD5678 and upon running the inventory you expan you get media id D1234 This should error, complaining of 'dupliace media id' You say this is a new tape, by that, can you confirm it is a tape, where NBU has never seen this barcode before. I have no idea what is going on here, can you also confirm you ran a normal inventory as opposed the the vmphyinv command. Ususally where this goes wrong, it's because the duplicate media id is caused like this eg. barcode is 001234L5 and media id is 001234 (1st 6 charcters) barcode 001234L4 is then put in, and the media id would be a duplicate -- 001234 Or barcode 001234L5 / media id 001234 Robot is then changed and new config is set to only display barcode of 1st 6 characters So you get barcode 001234 and then NBU goes, oh, new tape (as barcode is unique) but the media id again comes out as 001234 OK, so you get the idea ... but you don't have this .... It is possible using the # charcter in the media id, the insert characters iinto the media id that are not in the barcode (why you would want this I don;t know, but it can be done) - so you could create a completely different media id than barcode if you wanted, but I cannot see this has happened here - it would make no sense, and be very time consuming to do. If these tapes have been used before (the media id is written to the tape header) - and the barcode labeels had been swappped, this could explain how you could end up with a different media id on the header, complare to what it should be - but the only way this would be accepted by NBU is if you ran a vmphyinv. vmphyinv tells NBU to list the media ID written to the tape header against the barcode, so in theory, I could write a tape with no barcode, expire it, stick a random barcode label on, and vphyinv it to get a 'valid' entry in NBU that lists a media id against a totally diff barcode - again, not something you would do - I'm just explaining all the ways I know of to have odd media ids / barcodes. media id gen rules are shown in the vm.conf file - so if they are not ther, they are not there. I think you'll have to log a call on this one, it needs to be looke at via webex ... IF you can, post the case number up here and I'll have a look.

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

1     Yes  DVD107L4          D136L4   DVD107L4      xxxx
2     Yes  AHU437LU          U447LU   AHU437LU     xxxx
3     Yes  AHU446LU          U449LU   AHU446LU     xxxx
4     Yes  AHU459LU          U459LU   AHU459LU     OK
5     Yes  DVD134L4          U448LU   DVD134L4    xxxx
6     Yes  AHU409LU          D107L4   AHU409LU    xxxx
7     Yes  DVD133L4          U457LU   DVD133L4     xxxx
8     Yes  DVD166L4          U456LU   DVD166L4     xxxx

ONE of those tapes seems Okay!!

No idea how this happened.
NBU uses the last 6 digits of a barcode by default as media-id.
So, the default for DVD107L4 would be D107L4 - no idea where and how D136L4 was added as media id.

We add Media ID Generation to tell NBU to use 1st 6 chars instead of last 6 -  DVD107.

If these tapes have expired (Unassigned), it will be best to delete all of them, the decide if you want 1st 6 or last 6 characters (most users want 1st 6), add Media ID Generation Rule, then perform inventory.
Media id should now match the barcode.
 

You will then have to overwrite internal label to match media id.
Use the GUI - right-click, Label. De-select 'Verify label' tick-box.
 

[mph999]

My only thought is that the tapes that are wrong can be corrected as per Mariannes post above, but is the issue going to continue happening.

Hence why we need to know if the tapes that are showing this issue when inserted are totally new and previously unknown to the environment.

[hargy]

First of all thanks for your post.  I have followed Mariannes suggestions and this seems to have corrected the problem but as you say this is likely to continue.   With this in mind I have ordered some new tapes as I am unable to acertain the age of the tapes.

[Marianne]

Are these tapes really 'new'? Or previously used tapes just re-introduced?

We should've asked for this output before media-ids were deleted:

nbemmcmd -listmedia -mediaid <media-id>

If any of these incorrect media-ids are still available, please run above command.

[hargy]

Apologises all for not responding Mariannes suggestions seems to have worked.

However I have put some brand new tapes in this morning and when I try and run a test back up it is saying it need operator input.  Is there a process I should be following when adding brand new tapes?

[hargy]

Just thought.   Once the tapes are added I have run a inventory on the robot and it see the tape correctly it just doesn't seem to be able to use them.

[Marianne]

Please show us attributes of one of these new tapes not getting used:

nbemmcmd -listmedia -mediaid <media-id>

as well the Storage Unit specified in the policy:

bppllist -label <STU-name> -L

Also copy all text in the job details of the job that says ' need operator input' and post here.

If tapes were added to Scratch pool or to a pool that is specified in the policy, and if density correctly matches the tape drive and STU density, there is no reason why tapes should not be used.

[hargy]

Hi Marianne,

Thanks for the quick response,   below is the output for the first commeand is below

NBEMMCMD, Version:6.5.4
====================================================================
Media GUID:                     1fbe5bbb-0f46-4a67-ad5f-cfb191f1a62b
Media ID:                       Y211L4
Partner:                        -
Media Type:                     DLT
Volume Group:                   ---
Application:                    Netbackup
Media Flags:                    1
Description:                    Added by Media Manager
Barcode:                        NPY211L4
Partner Barcode:                --------
Last Write Host:                NONE
Created:                        10/14/2013 13:00
Time Assigned:                  -
First Mount:                    -
Last Mount:                     -
Volume Expiration:              -
Data Expiration:                -
Last Written:                   -
Last Read:                      -
Robot Type:                     NONE
Robot Control Host:             -
Robot Number:                   -
Slot:                           -
Side/Face:                      -
Cleanings Remaining:            -
Number of Mounts:               0
Maximum Mounts Allowed:         0
Media Status:                   ACTIVE
Kilobytes:                      0
Images:                         0
Valid Images:                   0
Retention Period:               -
Number of Restores:             0
Optical Header Size Bytes:      0
Optical Sector Size Bytes:      0
Optical Partition Size Bytes:   0
Last Header Offset:             0
Adamm Guid:                     00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Rsm Guid:                       00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Origin Host:                    NONE
Master Host:
Server Group:
Upgrade Conflicts Flag:
Pool Number:                    1
Volume Pool:                    NetBackup
Previous Pool Name:             -
Vault Flags:                    -
Vault Container:                -
Vault Name:                     -
Vault Slot:                     -
Session ID:                     -
Date Vaulted:                   -
Return Date:                    -
====================================================================
Command completed successfully.