Old Tapes not detecting while Tapes are available at Library

[Harish_Ramakris]

Hello -

We loaded new scratch tapes recently after which, Old tapes are showing as NONE rather than TLD in Netbackup, however all the old tapes are still available at tape library.

* Netbackup version 7.5.0.3.
* Barcode series was continued with New tapes loaded.
* Inventory was ran at both Library and Netbackup end.
* Physicaly verified tape availabilty at tape library (IBM TS3500)

Any solutions?

Regards
Harish

[mph999 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Do exactly these steps .

1.  Make a note of a few of the tapes that show as NONE

2. Run robtest (select the correct library if you have more than one )

3. Run 's s'

4. Look for the barcode of the tape(s) that show as NONE

OR (If robot control host is unix/ linux)

Run tpconfig -d (on robot control host )

Find the robot path in the output eg.  TL4(0)     robotic path = /dev/sg/c0t5l1

echo 's s' |tldtest -r /dev/sg/c0t5l1 >file.txt  (In this command put YOUR robot path )

This will output the 'robtest' output to a file which is easier to look through.

I suspect the tapes will not be found in this output (or robtest, depending on how you do it).

If I am right, you have a problem with the library, not NetBackup.  The IBM3584 is well known for 'hiding tapes' from the backup software, due to various settings within the library software, of the use of ALMS and virtual I/O slots (which backup software cannot see).

Martin

[Karthikeyan_Sun]

Do as martin mentioned above;

addition to that, just make sure you are seeing this medias on library web/console page?

also make sure you went update library contents option during robot inventory on netbackup end.

[Harish_Ramakris]

Hello Martin -

I followed your guidelines and I was surprised to see none of my old tapes were visible in any of a slots, while I try to check running "robtest" with SS command.

I believe you were right, the issue seems to be with tape library, I have logged a case with IBM and yet to here back.

Thanks

[mph999]

Hi Harish,

Here is a copy of a TN I created for this exact issue, it might not fix your issue, but will at least demonstrate to IBM that this issue CAN be caused by the settings on their library.

In summary, as you are aware if the tapes are not visible in robtest 's s' then NBU will never be told about them.  The usual reason for this is that the tapes are in virtual I/O slots.   I've also seen a memory fault on a IBM2584 cause this exact issue as well.  It could also be worth a complete reboot of the library - also fixes things sometimes.

Here is the TN.

Problem

IBM TS-3500 After ALMS and Virtual I/O features were enabled it was found that cartridges located in the Virtual I/O were not accessible to Netbackup. If the cartridge was moved to a slot belonging to a logical library via the IBM Library web interface, the cartridge will become accessible to Netbackup.

Environment

AIX 6.1 / NBU 7.0.1 IBM 3584 Library

Cause

Library setting 'Queued Exports' incorrectly set causing the library to incorrectly function with NetBackup.

Solution

There are no settings in NetBackup that can influence the behavior of the Virtual I/O slots.

NetBackup up does not directly 'Inventory' a library. Instead it queries the library and waits to be told what tapes (barcodes) are located in which element address (slots/ drives). If NetBackup 'cannot see' a particular cartridge(s) it is because the library is 'hiding' the location, not because of any setting within NetBackup.

For the logical library, we set 'Queued Exports' to HIDE from within the IBM web console on the library. Running an inventory then causes the tapes to be added to the logical library and not left in the virtual I/O ports.

Robtest is a useful tool for checking what cartridges/ positions of cartridges that the library is allowing NetBackup to use. At no time, will the IBM 3500 series library allow Netbackup to directly access the virtual I/O slots. This can be demonstrated but the fact that the robtest ' s p ' (show ports) command will only ever show the contents of the physical CAP/ MAP.

To obtain further assistance or details regarding this library setting, Symantec recommends to contact IBM.

Martin