VAULT - Duplicate of backupid XXX failed, backups are not allowed to span media (166).

[MartinVi]

Hi all,

i have configured a vault job to duplicate our monthly backups to tape. I also disable to allow span media:

DISALLOW_BACKUPS_SPANNING_MEDIA = YES

Now i get the following message and the vault job ends with status 306.

write failed, backups are not allowed to span media (166).
21:17:25.506 [6348] <2> vltrun@DuplicationJob::process_image_line^5: [BN=1 PID=6357] Found IMG_ID=>ROHKGPFP02_1381227174< LINE=21:17:22 INF - Duplicate of backupid ROHKGPFP02_1381227174 failed, backups are not allowed to span media (166).

02:40:47.398 [6348] <16> vltrun@main FAILed NB_EC=306 NB_MSG=vault duplication partially succeeded
02:40:47.398 [6348] <2> vltrun@main: EXIT STATUS 306

What could be the issue here? We have enough free tapes in the library.

Regards, Martin

[SymTerry]

Hello Martin,

Status 166, as per HOWTO35042, means that a End of Media was encountered. What is the size of the image your duplicating and will it fit on the media your duplicating to?

Also it states the duplication is retried automatically with a different volume/media. Do you ever see a successful duplication of ROHKGPFP02_1381227174 at some point?

[Marianne]

 I also disable to allow span media:

Just one question from me: WHY???

You are setting yourself up for LOTS of failures..........

[MartinVi]

ok but why does NBU not use a new tape for the image. the image has about 500G. We're using LTO6 and there should be enough space on the tape. could it be that there is a timeout for using the next tape? both tape drives are in use in case of create multiple copies.

@Marianne:

our customer want to have each image on one tape and not spanned over diffrent tapes so that they're able to use only one tape for a restore.

thanks ...

[Marianne]

ok but why does NBU not use a new tape for the image. 

Because the tape is not FULL, Suspended, Frozen or in any other state that means media cannot be appended to. As long as the media is in the robot and in Active state, NBU will append to it.

Better to Suspend media after backups have completed. This means that media cannot be appended to. When all images have expired, media will be unsuspended and become available again.

What will happen when image size outgrows tape capacity?

Allow NBU to perform media management - that is why your customer purchased an Enterprise product.

Aattempts to micro-manage lead to all sorts of headaches and frustrations.... like you are experiencing now...

[MartinVi]

our customer are afraid of losing data when images are spanned over more tapes. for example when one of two tapes is damaged. i think i will try to talk to them again.

[sksujeet]

I agree with Marianne,where is the  icon gone

as an example, what if you are backing up a > 5TB client, the images will going to get spanned over more tapes.  The data will not loose for the just reason that it is spanning multiple tapes but yes if the tape itself gone bad due to some wear and tear you will going to loose data anyways.

You will end up having more issues doing this like using more tapes, backup failures , duplication issues ...........................................