available media in pool but driver look into scratchpool

[superdupa]

we are trying to optimize the backup setting because we dont have enough tape for all the daily and weekly backup.

my problem is that i found must of the pool have 50% of media full but other 50% half full. but despite that, each time the driver write on one media in that particular volume pool, if the media get full. it goes directly to the scratch pool to look for empty media to use.

which in my opinion is not optimum. there is a way to set Netbackup so that all the media of a volume pool should completly full before it go and look for new media into the scratchpool.

thank you

URGENT REQUEST PLEASE.

[Marianne]

Show us what you see...

Post output of available_media and policy that should be using existing media.
bppllist <policy-name> -U

If you have multiple media servers and media sharing is not enabled, then media can only be appended to by the the media server that 'owns' the media.

bpmedialist 
can be used to view media ownership.

You may want to enable MPF (Maximum Partial Full) parameter on the Volume Pool. 

Oh, I also found this TN that may explain what you are seeing:

How to cause NetBackup to use and fill older media before selecting new media just added
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH35407

[superdupa]

hello Marianne,

thank you for you for the response.

i will execute those commands and send you the result, but the link you post dont work. can you tell me the content, it will help to research the page.

thank you

[Marianne]

Oh dear.... Another TN that got removed.... 

Symantec employees recently did a major cleanup of HOWTOs and TECH docs.

I have unfortunately only saved the heading and URL - not the contents.

I will ask someone at Symantec to share the contents.

*** EDIT ***

My awesome friend at Symantec has shared the contents. If this works for you, it means that the TN is still applicable (please explore other possibilities in my reply above first as this contradicts
these docs:

How NetBackup allocates media
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH69322

How NetBackup selects media ) :

Solution

VERITAS NetBackup (tm) tries to load balance tape usage, favoring media with the fewest mounts assigned first. When a new tape is added with zero mounts assigned, that tape would be a prime candidate for use first. In some installations with smaller tape libraries, it may be desirous to first fill the older media prior to writing to the new unwritten tapes, the end result being, those older media can be filled and replaced, maximizing tape usage.

In the Media section of the GUI, sort the contents by selecting the Robots tab to display those media currently in the library first. Review the Mounts column for each media to find the tapes with the highest number of mounts.
Add the new media to the library, then perform a robotic inventory.
Then for each of the new tapes just added, run the following command from the master server:

/usr/openv/volmgr/bin/vmchange -n <number> -m <mediaID>

where <number> = a mount count higher than any currently within the tape library.

[RonCaplinger · Accepted solution]

Your profile indicates you are new to this Connect board, so I will assume you are new to backups in general.

"i found must of the pool have 50% of media full but other 50% half full"

How are you determining that only half the tape has been used? Check the column "Media Status" in the Media And Device Management section of the GUI. 

• If that field shows a tape is "Full", then it truly is full and has no more room to write data, no matter how many kilobytes are shown written on the tape.
• If that field shows a tape is "Active", then there is still some space left to write more data to it.

This is due to how well the data is being compressed by the tape drive; some data will compress 2:1 or better, but some data doesn't compress well at all and you may appear to be getting only half as much data on a tape.

Assuming you have the "Maximum Partially Full" setting set correctly for your environment as Marianne pointed out above, then NetBackup is performing correctly and is pulling a new tape from the Scratch Pool because there are no tapes with any available space on them and that meet the rest of your backup policy's criteria.

[Marianne]

Still waiting for output.... We can only assist if you show us what you see... anything else is just guessing.

[superdupa]

Hello,

thank you Marianne i implemented "Maximum Partially Full" and it seems to synchronize everything well.

i will inform you if i have a problem.

thank you