Netbackup does not ask the tapes from Scratch pool

[Zahid_Haseeb]

my netbackup attached with tape library. i given my 2 tapes to Scratch pool. when my any pool needs a tape after it gets full capicity of tape it takes the free tape from any assign policy but not from Scratch pool :(

Thanks

Zahid Haseeb

[Andy_Welburn]

First question: Is your Scratch Pool set up as a Scratch Pool (i.e. not just in name) ?

Right-click on  your 'Scratch Pool' in the GUI, select change & ensure the Scratch Pool box is ticked.

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Yes Andy  the Scratch Pool box is ticked.

Thanks

Zahid Haseeb

[Andy_Welburn]

Sorry, just had a re-read of your initial posting.

If you have available tapes in the pool that NetBackup is using for the current save, then it will take its tapes from there. It will only take tapes from the Scratch Pool when there are no other available tapes.

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Andy this is good if any policy can get the tapes from scratch pool but what the problem is: if a policy is running and it needs a tape because the current tape is out of space in the pool so it should get the tape from scratch pool why it takes any tape from any assign tape policy

thanks

Zahid Haseeb

[Andy_Welburn]

The way it should work (?) briefly:

You have a backup running using tape ABC123 from Volume_Pool_A (this Volume Pool being set either at the Policy level or over-ridden at the Schedule level). This tape fills during the running of said backup. NetBackup should then take an 'available' tape from the same Volume Pool (A). If there are no available tapes in this pool then it should assign one to it from the Scratch Pool.

Are you saying this isn't happening? Or am I mis-understanding your issue?

Have a look at the solution to the following post, it may give you some insight:

How does NetBackup determine which media in volume pool to use for a backup

[Zahid_Haseeb]

---

@Andy Welburn wrote:

The way it should work (?) briefly:

You have a backup running using tape ABC123 from Volume_Pool_A (this Volume Pool being set either at the Policy level or over-ridden at the Schedule level). This tape fills during the running of said backup. NetBackup should then take an 'available' tape from the same Volume Pool (A). If there are no available tapes in this pool then it should assign one to it from the Scratch Pool.

---

Dear Andy Welburn  You understood my problem well

"""If there are no available tapes in this pool then it should assign one to it from the Scratch Pool""".....This must happen but unfortunately not happening

[Andy_Welburn]

Are the tapes that are in your Scratch Pool set to the correct 'Media Type' (e.g. HCART, HCART3) as those being used by the backup?

Are the tapes FROZEN or SUSPENDED ?

Have they had a Volume Expiry set on them? (this is different from 'normal' image expiry - you can set them with a date after which they can no longer be used (a "Use by" or "Best Before" date if you will)).

[RAPHAEL_F_CARVA]

Additionally, have a look at vm.conf and check if has SCRATCH_POOL={Scratch_Pool_Name}. If you upgraded to 6.5.3, you may have this issue (appears at windows console checked as scratch pool but not in vm.conf). I've had this one time.

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Dear Andy Welburn

1.) i just want that when any request come to the scratch pool it should give the tape to the volume pool so the backup can be done. i just want that the tape cant go from any other volume pool.

2.) How could i can verify that the scratch is properly configured?

3.) apart from that how can i see from netbackup that how many slots are licensed in tape library? because my tape library has 18 tapes showing in the Netbackup but when i try to put 19th tape it does not show in the netbackup Media but showing in the Tape library own GUI Web interface:(

Message Edited by Zahid.Haseeb on 01-27-2009 02:09 AM

[Andy_Welburn]

Hi Zahid.

Under no circumstances should a request for a backup using, say, Volume_Pool_A take a tape from, say Volume_Pool_B.

***Second Edit*** Unless Volume_Pool_B is configured to be the Scratch_Pool

This is covered by the link in my earlier post, but essentially the backup should first look for available tapes in Volume_Pool_A, if none are available it should then request one from the Scratch_Pool. If none are available there then the backup will fail with a "Status 96: unable to allocate new media for backup, storage unit has none available"

***First Edit***

2) Check out the Admin Guide for your NB version - should be straightforward.

3) Not sure (I honestly didn't realise we were licenced by slots) - maybe it's on a paper version of your licence or thru' the licencing portal.

Message Edited by Andy Welburn on 01-27-2009 10:25 AM

Message Edited by Andy Welburn on 01-27-2009 10:29 AM

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Thanks Andy for you precious reply. i try to work more and see the things more deeply but what about my point 2 and 3 :(

[Zahid_Haseeb]

thanks Andy...

dear today i realized that my scratch pool is giving the tapes to request and right now my scratch pool is empty.... but if volume pool A need any tape, it gets from volume pool B.Why?could i restrict forcefully the tapes of each volume pool to keep them selve inside there volume pool

Message Edited by Zahid.Haseeb on 01-27-2009 03:06 AM

[Andy_Welburn]

From this it's as if your installation is recognising 'Volume_Pool_B' as a Scratch Pool.

Did you check Raphaels suggestion earlier? (i.e. the  entry for SCRATCH_POOL in vm.conf)

Also, confirm that 'Volume_Pool_B' is NOT configured as Scratch Pool (right-click on Volume Pool, select change & ensure Scracth Pool box NOT ticked - if your correct volume pool is set as scratch then this box should be grayed out anyway).

Apart from this I'm all out of ideas, sorry . Maybe it's time to place a call to Symantec?

[Zahid_Haseeb]

Dear Andy bundle of thanks

i checked the vm.conf file in the "C:\Program Files\Veritas\Volmgr" and its just showing "MM_SERVER_NAME = veritas-netbkup"

where veritas-netbkup is the name of my netbackup server.Could i manually add any thing in the vm.conf file?

i confirm that 'Volume_Pool_B' is NOT configured as Scratch Pool I right-clicked on Volume_Pool_B, select change & ensured Scracth Pool box NOT ticked and scratch pool is set as grayed.

Message Edited by Zahid.Haseeb on 01-27-2009 04:13 AM

Message Edited by Zahid.Haseeb on 01-27-2009 04:15 AM