Tape_alert how does it work

[NetbackupIsToug]

Does anyone know how the tape alerting works with netbackup? Assuming the tape alert is setup in the hardware side of things, is there a configuration within netbackup that is required to get it to work properly. And how do I know that the tape alerting is working?

Are there logs that show the tape alerting or is it library specific?

Thanks in advance,

Enoch

[CY · Accepted solution]

What you need is "NetBackup 6.0 Media Manager System Administrator's Guide"

For Unix/Linux:
http://support.veritas.com/docs/279267

For Windows:
http://support.veritas.com/docs/279268

Take the Guide for Unix for example, page 332 "Using TapeAlert" section provided the requirements for using TapeAlert with Media Manager as below:

To use TapeAlert, all of the following conditions must be true. No additional configuration is needed.
◆
The drive must support the TapeAlert capability and the TapeAlert must be enabled on the drive.
To determine if drives support TapeAlert, see the VERITAS support site for information on drive support for TapeAlert.
◆
For drive cleaning using TapeAlert, a cleaning tape is configured and available in Media Manager for the robotic library.
◆
The cleaning tape being used has cleanings remaining.
◆
Passthru device files must be configured on UNIX media servers (see the VERITAS NetBackup Media Manager Device Configuration Guide for UNIX, Windows, and Linux).


As for how do you know it works, take a look at your Media Server:

/usr/openv/netbackup/db/media/errors

If you see something like this, you know the Tape Alert is working.  :)

05/23/09 08:19:35 SL0123 3 TAPE_ALERT nbu_srv1_r01_d10 0x00004000 0x00000000
05/23/09 12:38:34 SL0123 3 TAPE_ALERT nbu_srv1_r01_d10 0x00000000 0x00002000

The format for the log file entries is: <date> <time> <media id> <drive index> <TapeAlert error>

Reference KB technote doc:
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/284473.htm

Hope this helps.

[Sriram]

In addition to that you can do that below to streamline the monitoring aspect

Also you can script from the db/error logs to email the daily errors on tapes found to your admin group.

This will ensure you have all the tape alerts is notified on time.