Migrate Tape Library

[kimihira]

All,

I have a new tape library with new drives and tapes and I need to migrate the contents of the old library to the new library (copy the tapes).   I currently have both libraries connected to Netbackup and wondered if there is a command that lets you migrate the contents of one tape to another.   I’m moving from LTO3 to LTO4.   I know I can duplicate a backup, but this really isn’t an option as I have thousands of backups, whereas I only have 200 tapes, so a tape migration would be easier.

Thanks

David

[Marianne]

I am not sure how you see 'migration' as something different from duplication?

Why not simply keep all the LTO3 tapes? These tapes can be read by LTO4 drives (even written to).

When you want to restore from them in the new library with the LTO4 drives, you simply have to change the density of one or two LTO4 drives to match the density of the LTO3 media (presumably hcart3).
Change density back after the restore.

[kimihira]

Hi,

As I said, I haven tens of thousands of backups on a few tapes, so I would have to set off tens of thousands duplication jobs.   If I could migrate the whole contents of a tape to a new tape it would be easier (200 jobs).   There is no way the old tapes will be allowed in the new library, so that is not an option.

David

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

bpduplicate (or even GUI option) can duplicate an entire tape.

Use 'bpduplicate -id <media-id> -d <start-date> ..... ' 

The same question was asked yesterday: 

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/script-duplicate-old-tapes

[Nicolai]

I suggest you let the old backup expire, the number of hours you can use to copy tapes can be significant.

If not a option the link below may provide the guidance you are looking for:

Judy previous provided this step by step guide:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/how-duplicate-netbackup-media-tape-backup-another-media-tape

Other GUI approach:

https://sites.google.com/site/jhonnyoliveira/howtos/netbackup-datamigrationbetweentapes

[Marianne]

There is no way the old tapes will be allowed in the new library

Curious to know the reason for this when it is perfectly supported by the hardware and backup product??

[kimihira]

Company policy.