Video Screencast Help
Search Video Help Close Back
to help
New in the Rewards Catalog: Vouchers for "Symantec Technical Specialist" and "Symantec Certified Specialist" exams.

Tape is not getting empty after expiring

Updated: 21 May 2010 | 9 comments
Zahid.Haseeb's picture
0 0 Votes
Login to vote
This issue has been solved. See solution.

i am expiring the backup from Netbackup administration console-->Catalog but when i am trying to use the below command i am watching that the status is showing FULL....even i close and open the command prompt and even Netbackup Administration Console as well....what can happen????
C:\Program Files\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\goodies>available_media.cmd

My second point. How can i view how many space is available in Tape from GUI (Netbackup Administration Console) and what is the state of Tape (Available, Active, Full)

Thanks in advance

discussion Filed Under:

Comments

Sriram's picture
19
Jun
2009
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

Hi Zahid, Are you still

Hi Zahid,

Are you still having any images left out in the tape to be expired?

When all the image expires on a tape, then the tape is ready to be overwritten.

Zahid.Haseeb's picture
19
Jun
2009
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

1st Thanks for your kind

1st Thanks for your kind reply dude.....

  YES i have not expired all images. i just removed few images from the tape via Netbackup administration console-->Catalog ...is it must that i should remove all the images from tape if i want to see the tape is empty from the command available_media???

2nd i have to remove all images if i want to write new backup on the tape??

Any comment will be appreciated. Mark as Solution if your query is resolved
__________________
Thanks in Advance
Zahid Haseeb

zahidhaseeb.wordpress.com
 

Sriram's picture
19
Jun
2009
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

Point 1: Can you

Point 1:

Can you try bpmedialist -m <media_id> command shows for the tape?  If its FULL then
do
Expire all the images on the tape
Run bpmedialist -m <media_id>.  this command will not list the tape if the tape is moved to scratch.
Run bpmedialist -summary to check if the tape you are looking for is not listed.
done

Point 2:

You need to expire all the images from the tape to be reused.  When all the images in the tape is expired the tape will also expire and will be moved to scratch.  This means netbackup has chosen a tape which is expired and ready to be reused.

 

Gerald W. Gitau's picture
19
Jun
2009
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

If you are sure about

If you are sure about expiring the tape use thiscommand:

bpexpdate -d 0 -m media_id

Netbackup will automatically overwrite the data on tape. The command above just remove the catalog entries.

Zahid.Haseeb's picture
19
Jun
2009
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

ok sriram thanks. basically

ok sriram thanks. basically what i was doing ...actually i wanted to keep some images from the tape bcuz some images were important for me thats why i  was not removing all the images from the tape via Netbackup GUI administration Console ..so you mean i should remove all the images from the Tape if i want to reuse the tape.right? .....

my conclusion is that we have to remove all the images from the Tape not partial ...right?

Any comment will be appreciated. Mark as Solution if your query is resolved
__________________
Thanks in Advance
Zahid Haseeb

zahidhaseeb.wordpress.com
 

J.Hinchcliffe's picture
19
Jun
2009
2 Votes +2
Login to vote

yes

Tapes are linear - meaning that they write from the front to the back.

if we look at a tape.
BOT|day1image|day2image|blankspace|EOT

now the day1image expires on the tape - the assigned date does not change and you have this.

BOT|expiredimage|day2image|blankspace|EOT

if you try to write to this tape again it will ONLY write in the blankspace as tapes are Linear - meaning they can only append (tapes cannot write here and there like a disk can)

Now day2image expires - the assigned date of the tape goes blank - no assigned date

-------

Now look at it with multiplexing.

you use the tape - it gets an assigned date.

BOT|server1part1|server2part1|server1part2|server2part2|blankspace

if the backup for server1 fails or if the backup image expires then you have this

BOT|expiredimage|server2part1|expiredimage|server2part2|blankspace

remember tape is lienier it cannot go back and write in those spaces where the failed image went.

So if a tape is full it cannot be written to again until ALL the images on the tape have expired.

I don't have to know how to spell....I work on Unix.
NetBackup 7.0.1 - AIX & Windows

Sriram's picture
19
Jun
2009
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

Thats correct

Thats correct

Zahid.Haseeb's picture
21
Jun
2009
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

Thanks for kind replies of

Thanks for kind replies of all guys

Any comment will be appreciated. Mark as Solution if your query is resolved
__________________
Thanks in Advance
Zahid Haseeb

zahidhaseeb.wordpress.com
 

Raghuraam's picture
21
Jun
2009
0 Votes 0
Login to vote

That's correct

Raghuraam

Best Regards

RrV