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Volume groups - robot inventory

AlGon
Level 6

 

Hello everyone
 
We have a few master servers positioned regionally within our company.  Each region has several sites.  
Media servers are positioned at each site and connect to the appropriate master server.
 
I'm about to put in a new media server at a site which will have a fibre attached LTO4 tape library.
 
I would like to organize the tapes using volume groups so that when I look from the admin console I can easily see where the tapes are located. 
 
Under the advanced options in the robot inventory dialogue box I can set a custom volume group name for when new media is added into the library.
 
Each time I inventory the library when new media is added I have to type in this custom volume group name.
 
Is there a way I can set this to happen automatically every time the library is inventoried without having to manually type in the volume group name? 
 
Also, when tapes are ejected from this library is there a way I can set them to automatically go into an offsite  volume group similar to the way Vault does
 
Thank you
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Nicolai
Moderator
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Each site get it's own pool with prefix of the bar code series ( Barcode JP = volume pool jp_scheduled). We haven't modified any volume group settings, we relying on the barcodes and storage unit names. Storage unit's also use the barcode naming style.

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13 REPLIES 13

Nicolai
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Does the media from site to site use diffrent barcodes ?.

I think barcode rules should do the job - See page 329 in the Admin guide.

 

AlGon
Level 6

Hey Nicolai,

Thanks for replying. 

This can only be set to move media into a specific volume pool instead of a volume group.

This is ok, but I thought the idea of volume pools are to separate media by usage and volume groups are used to indicate media location.  This is why I preferred to use a volume group.  What’s your take on this?

AlGon
Level 6

 

Any other suggestions on this one?

Nicolai
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Volume pool is something Netbackup takes control of when you perform a inventory of the robot.

If you wan't to know if a media outside a robot, look for the volume group collum in a volume pool.If the collum say "---" it mean the media is outside a robot.

We got a simelar setup with branch offices and this is how we do it.

Hope I got it right :)

AlGon
Level 6
>Thanks Nicolai.

So instead of trying to create custom volume groups for media to go in when it's ejected\injected I should just rely on the default volume groups.

I guess I'd really need the vault option if I wanted to do this.

Just one more thing, are you using a separate volume pool for each of your sites?

Cheers

Nicolai
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Each site has it's own barcode series and volume group. The barcode indicate location - JP for Japan, Fr for France, PH for Philippines and so on.

And storage units are "on demand only" -  else backup is Japan end up in France surprise

AlGon
Level 6

Ok, I see.

The barcodes that were ordered don’t really indicate the location (they weren’t ordered by me) :(

Did you customize the volume groups or are you using the defaults and completely relying on the barcodes labels to easily identify the location?

What I would have liked is that each robot located at each site has a custom named volume group i.e. site1, site2, and site3

Cheers

Nicolai
Moderator
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Each site get it's own pool with prefix of the bar code series ( Barcode JP = volume pool jp_scheduled). We haven't modified any volume group settings, we relying on the barcodes and storage unit names. Storage unit's also use the barcode naming style.

J_H_Is_gone
Level 6

I get custom barcodes and I can tell by the first letter what they are for ( can you also get them different colors for quick id when you look at the physical tapes)

I have some that are in the same robot, so I have barcode rules to put them in their own volume pool.

I don't look at volume groups at all.

AlGon
Level 6

Ok, so you’re using a separate volume pool for each site. 

Are there any real drawbacks using this method? 

I was thinking of setting it up this way, it’s just I read that volume groups should be used to distinguish location of media and volume pools used to separate application usage, i.e. exchange backups, oracle backups etc.  I guess I’m looking into it a little too much.

Again, thank you for all your help with this

Cheers

 

AlGon
Level 6

 

Thanks J.Hinchcliffe

Each site here has a three letter site code associated with it, so I've decided to use this as the start of bar codes.  We haven’t started using the already ordered bar codes as yet, which is lucky.

From what I understand is it best to try and keep volume pools to minimum for each robot so as to reduce the number of partially full media?

Cheers

Nicolai
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Not really.

I general try reducing the number of volume pool for each site. If you have 3 client, each in a different volume pool, but only one tape drive, the backup would serialized. If all 3 client was in same volume pool the backup would be parallel (assumption: Retention is the same).

J_H_Is_gone
Level 6

the fewer pools you have the fewer tapes you may need, and transport offsite, and pay for storage offsite.