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nbu 7.5 media expiration

shashi0621
Level 5

Hi All,

I have tapes with full backup with 1 month retention.

Now a request came to have retention  of one of this clients data to 1 year from the above full backup.

 

I have searched the media and have extended the retention of the media on which this image is.

 

Now my query is the image on that tape is of  1 month.After 1 month the image will be expired from the tape although media expiration is 1 year.

Now the tape is empty.

 

When bpexpdate -deassignempty will run or NBU scheduler will check,This tape will be returned to Scratch pool.

 

So media expiration date is correct process?

 

 

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH60787

 


The NetBackup scheduler automatically checks for tapes which are allocated to a media server, but hold no valid images (ie, tapes that are "empty").  This automatic check is performed approximately every 12 hours.  If the check identifies an "empty" tape which is allocated to a media server and is not currently being used by a running backup, the tape is expired and returned to the scratch pool.

This check is necessary because if a backup has failed, a tape which was allocated for the failed backup may contain no valid images, but remain allocated to a media server and unused until it expires - which may be for days, weeks, months, or in some cases indefinitely, depending on the retention period of the schedule which execute the failed backup.

Another situation which may also result in a tape that is allocated to a media server becoming "empty" is when all of the images on a tape have been expired prior to the tape's expiration date - for example, by a Storage Lifecycle Policy.  The empty tape will remain allocated to a media server until its media expiration date is reached (possibly "forever," if the retention period is infinite), or until it is identified as an empty tape.  In this particular situation, failure to expire empty yet allocated tapes may ultimately result in NetBackup having no tapes available for backups or duplications.

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RamNagalla
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RamNagalla
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i do get few questions..

1) how did you extend the retenction of the media? and what it actaully did?

2) if you believe image will be expired after one month , by extending the retnction of the media why did you extend the retenction of the media...?  you should have extend the rentection of the image right...?

 

shashi0621
Level 5

1...bpexpdate - m mediaid -d 10/26/2014.

2..i can also extend the image retention.

 

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Am i correct with below statement of mine?

Now my query is the image on that tape is of  1 month.After 1 month the image will be expired from the tape although media expiration is 1 year.

Now the tape is empty.

 

When bpexpdate -deassignempty will run or NBU scheduler will check,This tape will be returned to Scratch pool.

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mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited
This is how to check. Run bpimmedia -m (it might be -mediaid can't remember) Look at the lines starting with FRAG, there will be one or more for each image on the tape. Ignore the ones that have a -1 at the beginning - this is TIR info On each FRAG line you will see 4 or 5 ctime values, a big number with 10 digits, eg 1372456353 Find the biggest one on the line, this will be the expiration time Convert it. - bpdbm -ctime Does this value match the expire time of the media.

RamNagalla
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No...not correct..

becasue when you run the command bpexpdate - m mediaid -d 10/26/2014, it will extend the all the images in the media to 10/26/2014.

so after one month image will not expire... it will have the valid images... 

so tape will not be empty

 bpexpdate -deassignempty will not be applicable for this tape.

 

Stumpr2
Level 6

In the future when you have such a lengthy expiration of a single client simply duplicate its image to another tape. Keep it simple.

shashi0621
Level 5

@Nagalla:One last query.

 

bpexpdate - m mediaid -d 0.

 

What above will do then ?

Marianne
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Question: why would you want to do that?

Please have a look at all of the options to bpexpdate and the meaning of '-d 0' in the NBU Command Ref Guide:  http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC5182

shashi0621
Level 5

Thanks Marianne .I have read the docs.

 

 bpexpdate - m mediaid -d 10/26/2014, it will extend the all the images in the media to 10/26/2014.

 

I under stand above.

After Reading the docs,I have come to below conclusion:

 bpexpdate - m mediaid -d  0,   this will  expire all the images on my tape who so ever is there  imeediately.

And then the tape becomes empty.Then deassign command will send it to scratch. Correct ??

RamNagalla
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deassing will send it to its previous pool 

read the below T/N

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH69807

Marianne
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And then the tape becomes empty.

Tapes do not become empty. There are simply no valid images associated with tape.
Check the following output for expired and non-expired tape:
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/nbemmcmd -listmedia -mediaid <media-id>

All image info in NBU catalog is removed and tape is returned to scratch (if tape originally came from scratch) but nothing is done to the tape. That is why images on tape can be imported again once images have expired. (Also explained in Catalog section of Admin Guide I: http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC5157)

NBU merely makes tape available to be overwritten from the beginning.