Unable to Delete tape from Netbackup

[smckelvey]

This was a Backup Exec tape that I used the Backup Exec Reader in Netbackup 7.0 to inventory. I'm not sure what the difference is, but I've done others too, but this tape cannot be deleted from Netbackup.

BPEXPDATE command

Manual deletion from the GUI

NBEMMCMD command

[mph999]

The bpexpdate command does not delete a tape from NBU, it will however delete the tape from the Media database.

If this command :

bpmedialist -m <media id> gives the result :

Requested media is not assigned to this host in the EMM DB

then this shows that he tape is NOT in the media DB.  

Now, we see this message on the bpexpdat command , which suggests this, but you could try the bpmedialist command for fun ...

So, I see you have attempeted to delete the tape, and this gives the confusing result that it cannot delete as it is allocated.  Unfortunately , the bpexpdat command suggests otherwise, and I suspect the bpmedialist command will do as well.

From the EMM command, I see there is no assgn time, a tape nomally has this when it is in the media db, and a missing assign time is an indication the tape is not in the media db (there may be exceptions, hence I use the term 'indication').

I don't have a server to hand to compare against, so without this I will suggest two options ...

At first glance, it looks like the db has got confused, my VERY VERY STRONG RECOMENDATION is 1.

1.  Log a call with Symantec.  I would expect the engineer to get to  dump of the emm db and look in the tables to see what is up with the tape.  It should be possiible then to use maual SQL commands to either fix the entries, or just delete the tape.

I don't recommend 2. because at the sec, I can't test it.  I shouldn't mention at all if I have a doubt, but I will do so only as I can mention my concerns.

2.  Use the bptm makedbentry option to see if this wil create a new media db entry for the tape ..

bptm -makedbentry -m A00001 -den 4mm -poolnum 1

Only try this if the bpmedialist command shows the tape is not in the media db .

If this works, the bpmedialist command should now work, and you should be able to bpexpdate the tape, then delete it.

Regards,

Martin

[Marianne]

One more thought - I wonder if there is perhaps an orpaned resource allocation in nbrb for this tape?

Please check the last part (MDS allocation) of this command:

nbrbutil -dump

If this media id is listed in the output, release the allocation as follows:

nbrbutil -releaseMDS <allocation number>

[smckelvey]

Thanks Marianne:

I remember having this problem  about two years ago and after painstakingly following an article or guide of some kind, the final recommendation/solution was "contact support". Which I guess is what I'll do this time.

FYI, here's the BPMEDIALIST

And here's the nbrutil -dump. It is listed.

After which I tried nbrbutil -releaseMDS, which appeared to be successful, but still the same message when i try to delete the media.

[Marianne]

Please rather copy the text in cmd window. It will be a lot easier to post and to read.

We cannot see the media id's in the nbrbutil output.

Have you checked nbrbutil output again?

Is A00001 still listed or not? maybe 'something else' is causing the resource allocation.
What else is active in Activity Monitor?

[Mark_Solutions · Accepted solution]

Ok - having saved your picture i can see that the first in the list is A00001 so it does have an allocation

The bpexpdate does not work as the tape is not actually assigned and so bpexpdate is not relevant.

Are you sure that this tape is not actually in a drive? If it is then eject it in order to be able to delete it.

To clear the allocation run:

nbrbutil -releaseMDS 966291

You should then be able to delete it.

If it still doesn't work then when no backups or duplications are running run:

nbrbutil -resetMediaServer yourmediaservername

and then try again

[J_H_Is_gone]

look in the gui and see which host "owns" the tape

then to your bpexpdate add the -h <hostname>

the error you keep getting is it does not belong to "this host"

so hadd the -h and the host that it does belong too should make it work.

[smckelvey]

Well, it wasn't in the tape drive, nor was it listed in the Admin Console as being in the tape drive. But something related to the tape drive was the problem b/c once I rebooted the tape drive and ran another inventory, then do nbrbutil -releaseMDS 966291, I was able to delete said tape. Thanks for your help.