media lable

[arjun7]

1. when we need to chage the label to media?

2. plz explain what is the relationship between media label and tape barcode?

[RonCaplinger]

You normally don't have to change the media label.  This is done by the tape library/drives once, only when the tape is first inserted into the library and gets mounted in a tape drive.

There are two tape labels on a tape: the physical barcode label on the outside, and one that is written in the first few inches of the tape by the tape drive.  When you "relabel" a tape, you are telling NetBackup to overwrite this second label.  This is usually done when you find out your tape library is reading only 6 characters of the 8-character physical barcode label, and you want to change which 6 characters are written to the tape label in the cartridge. 

[CRZ]

Are you administering a NetBackup environment?

[mph999]

1.  You usually don't change the label - NBU re-writes the label when the tape is used first after being expired, or when first used.

If you cahnge the barcode on the tape, it would need to be manually relabelled.

The media header, or label is used to identify the tape, and also so NBU can check it has the right tape, a safety measure.

The relation ship to the barcode is that the media label is 'usually' made up of characters from the barcode.  By default it is the first 6 characters but it can be changed to be the laster six, or in fact and combination you like in any order.

Its also possible to use characters that aren't in the barcode, but this isn't generally recommended.

[arjun7]

thanks for all,

I faced one issue like, data is expired in tape and the tape is not mounted to backups.  then I have run the bpexpdate -m <media id> -d 0 command and then relable the media. After that the tape is mounted and used for backups.

why its happen?

is there any issue to relable the media?

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

There is no need from NBU point of view to re-lable media.

If all images have expired, there is no reason why tape cannot be used. Please bear in mind that image cleanup (and therefore media recycle) only happens every 12 hours.
You will notice Image Cleanup jobs in Activity Monitor.

Please show output of this command next time you believe a tape should be used but is not:

nbemmcmd -listmedia -mediaid <media-id>

One more thing:
Some VTL's will not release space unless media is re-labelled.
This is a VTL limitation, not NBU requirement.

[arjun7]

please find the mediadetails.

E:\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\admincmd>nbemmcmd -listmedia -mediaid xxxxxx
NBEMMCMD, Version: 7.5.0.4
====================================================================
Media GUID:                    efgh03bc-3f2a-46fa-98ee-46e3b4
Media ID:                       xxxxxxx
Partner:                        -
Media Type:                     HCART3
Volume Group:                   000_00000_TLD
Application:                    Netbackup
Media Flags:                    1
Description:                    Added by Media Manager
Barcode:                        ACxxxxxx
Partner Barcode:                --------
Last Write Host:                NONE
Created:                        04/02/2014 12:01
Time Assigned:                  -
First Mount:                    04/02/2014 12:10
Last Mount:                     04/19/2014 23:50
Volume Expiration:              -
Data Expiration:                -
Last Written:                   -
Last Read:                      -
Robot Type:                     TLD
Robot Control Host:             host1
Robot Number:                   0
Slot:                           15
Side/Face:                      -
Cleanings Remaining:            -
Number of Mounts:               15
Maximum Mounts Allowed:         0
Media Status:                   ACTIVE
Kilobytes:                      0
Images:                         0
Valid Images:                   0
Retention Period:               -
Number of Restores:             0
Optical Header Size Bytes:      0
Optical Sector Size Bytes:      0
Optical Partition Size Bytes:   0
Last Header Offset:             0
Adamm Guid:                     00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Rsm Guid:                       00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Origin Host:                    NONE
Master Host:                    masterhost1
Server Group:                   -
Upgrade Conflicts Flag:
Pool Number:                    2
Volume Pool:                    DataStore
Previous Pool Name:             -
Vault Flags:                    -
Vault Container:                -
Vault Name:                     -
Vault Slot:                     -
Session ID:                     -
Date Vaulted:                   -
Return Date:                    -
Media on Hold:                  0
====================================================================
Command completed successfully.