Scratch pool in NetBackup Administration 7.5

[Thirun]

Hello,

I'm new to the NetBackup, need to clarify how the NetBackup working with DataDomain. The DataStore pools have 1140 virtual virtual tapestapes, Scratch pool have 487 virtual tapes, ToRemove pool have 207 virtual tapes. But DataDomain is struggling over a month over 90% full, and yesterday 98% full. My question is, why it did not pull(used) the tapes from Scratch or ToRemove pool ? Does it need a manual intervention to activate these virtual tapes?

Thank you

Regards,

Thirun

[Marianne]

Are all media in Scratch the same density as VTL tape drives and in the same robot?
NBU will only pull from Scratch when no media is available in required pools. 
NBU can only use ToRemove tapes if policies are configured to use this pool.

What does 'available_media' report show? (please post as attachment).

We know that when tapes expire in NBU that most VTLs will not automatically delete data from underlying disk, and that only by re-labeling the tapes in NBU (which is similar to a quick erase) will actually free up space on disk.

NBU treats VTL exactly the same as physical tape and will never try to delete actual data on tape when images expire. 
The only time that NBU will delete data is when disk is configured as a disk-type STU.

In summary - you will probably need to label tapes in Scratch pool in order to free up VTL disk space.

[Thirun]

Marianne,

Sorry I was with upgrading the DD to 5.4. The answers to your questions;

Are all media in Scratch the same density as VTL tape drives and in the same robot?

>> yes, 100GB

NBU will only pull from Scratch when no media is available in required pools.

>>  if so, why its not pulled when it was 98%, then to 100%, need a reboot to hick the backups again.

NBU can only use ToRemove tapes if policies are configured to use this pool.

>> there is 207 tapes just sitting there, times by 100GB.

What does 'available_media' report show? (please post as attachment).

>> I do not know how to get the "available media" report.

We know that when tapes expire in NBU that most VTLs will not automatically delete data from underlying disk, and that only by re-labeling the tapes in NBU (which is similar to a quick erase) will actually free up space on disk.

NBU treats VTL exactly the same as physical tape and will never try to delete actual data on tape when images expire.
The only time that NBU will delete data is when disk is configured as a disk-type STU.

>> how to check the disk-type??

In summary - you will probably need to label tapes in Scratch pool in order to free up VTL disk space.

>> how can I label the tapes in scratch pool

Thank you

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

With this question:

Are all media in Scratch the same density as VTL tape drives and in the same robot?

I actually meant media type in NBU -
hcart? hcart2? hcart3? Something else?

I have no idea what you mean with this answer:

NBU will only pull from Scratch when no media is available in required pools.

>>  if so, why its not pulled when it was 98%, then to 100%, need a reboot to hick the backups again.

VTL is seen as tape.
NBU has no insight into underlying disk capacity.

available_media is a script on the master server in ....\veritas\netbackup\bin\goodies that you can run from cmd.
If the command produces a lot of output, best to redirect output to a file.
So, if you have C:\Temp folder, you can cd into the goodies folder, then run the command :
available_media > C:\Temp\media.txt

>> how to check the disk-type??

You have missed the point that I was trying to make. VTL is configured as TAPE, so, not possible for NBU to check.

Only if DD is presented to NBU server as DISK, not TAPE, only then can NBU manage disk capacity.

>> how can I label the tapes in scratch pool

Right-click on media-id, select Label. 

Quite a number of posts in this forum where users have created scripts:

is there an easy way to recycle VTL tapes, to free space 

Scratch Tapes and Quick Erase in VTL 

VTL tape Quick Erase Question 

VTL Issue and Media lebelling 

low free space 

Bplabel script for VTL?