How to configure TL 4000 and BE 12.0 for backup jobs

Apply barcodes to all tape and then just put all your tape in the library as you like.
Just schedule your jobs as you did before with the standalone tape drive.

The only real difference is that Media Sets become more important. You have to create a media set for every type of retention. Say you need to keep your daily tape for 2 weeks, then you create a media set with overwrite protection of 2 weeks. If you need to keep your monthly tapes for a year, you create a second media set for 1 year.

You can run a report to see what tapes contain what information. For example the "Media Required for Recovery" report. But check other reports as well.
You can also open the job log for a certain job. At the top it will list the "Media used" for that job.

thanks for the info,

can you please make more specific by guiding me more on how to creat medai sets in BE12, although i know but i want to make sure if i am doing right. plus you mean to say for each back up i will need to make media set, like for all my daily backup jobs, weekly back up and monthly back up i should have seperate media set?

plus then do i have to import the tapes on the media? how?

Yes - you do need a different media set for each backup where you want to have different media retention periods. For example if you want yor daily and weekly backup both to be protected against overwriting during a one week period, then you create 1 media set for both jobs. In the properties of the media set you set the overwrite protection period to 1 week. If for the monthly backup however you want to protect the media against overwriting for 1 year, then you create a second media set for the monthly backups and you specifiy an overwrite protection setting for that media set of 1 year.

Do not import tapes to the media set. That will lead to problems. Any new tape will be in the Scratch Media Set. Leave it there. When a backup begins, Backup Exec will pick a tape from the scratch media set and move it to the correct media set.

We partition the library depending on the type of job, so we have Daily, Saturday and Sunday partitions. All tapes in a particular partition have a media set assigned. This makes it easier to keep track of the tapes.

Make sure you use the bar code cards as this helps you keep track of the tapes. Also do not write on the cards as this WILL stop the scanner from reading the barcode. Also do not place any stickers anywhere on the tapes as these can easily come off and get jammed in either the drive or the picker arm.

When you put tapes into the I/O slot on a TL4000 and click import on an empty library slot, the library will take the bottom tape of the 3 I/O slots. If you highlight 3 slots and click import it will put all 3 tapes in for you. As Honmapog says, don't assign a new tape to a library slot if you need to use it straight away because, as soon as you do, it will take that media sets protection. ie a tape added to a 30 day protection media set will not be overwritable for 30 days.

Next you need to create a backup job. After making your data selection, you can set it to target a particular partition and media set so that job will always run on tapes ONLY in that partition and media set. (see image).

This way you can quickly take control of your jobs and media set protection. For example, we use individual tapes for each daily backup and our media set overwrite protection is set to 27 days. So by the end of the month when it is time to put the first tape of the month back in, it has come out of overwrite protection and is ready to be written to.

Have a read of:


An explanation of the "Overwrite Protection Period" and the "Append Period"
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/237374.htm

The basics of Advanced Device and Media Management (ADAMM) for Backup Exec for Windows Servers
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/192265.htm

As always I forge to upload the image.
media-set.gif

hello,

thanks alot for the info, i am trying to make a media set for all my differential back ups, i will have daily 6 backup tapes that this will work as diff for the whole year, and every fridays i will have full back up that will contain 4 tapes for every friday in a month, every last friday it will be monthly that will be a diff meadia.

so my qustiions are:
1. Do i have to creat seperate media set for my diff back up, weekly full back up and monthly full back up? means three media sets?

2. how can i manage to put the tapes in which manner in the slots so i know which tapes are daily and which are weekly and which is monthly?

3. since i have installed the Dell TL 4000 and the BE 12, whenever i do an inventory on my IBM 1 device, the inventory runs successfully but i don't see any media showed in devices when i click the IBM device (please see attached print shots)

4.  i have got IBM 2 under the robotic libraries, where it shows me that i have 44 slots and i have put about 24 medias in it (attached the print screen schoot 2) for ur info.
when i run a back up job now and in the pool when i select IBM 2 (as attached "pool") and move to general tab it gives me the attached error "general tab"

when i go back to the device pool and select IBM 1 it and i go to general tab it doesn't give me any error, and when i run the job then it gives me the "attached screen shot for overwritable media"

please advice,

attached screen shots
screen-shot1.bmp
screen-shot2.bmp
pool.bmp

screen shots
general-tab.bmp
error-with-IBM-1.bmp

Here are the answers:

1. I tried to explain in my previous post, but maybe it was not clear. Let's do it this way: tell us how long you want to be able to restore each of the backups (diff, weekly and monthly) and we'll tell you what the best media set properties are.

2. In my opinion the best way to do things - with the least administrative overhead is not to worry about where daily, weekly or monthly tapes are. The only reason why you would need to know where tapes are is to export them for offsite storage. But in that case you should just use an automatic export job through Backup Exec policy.
But if you absolutely must know, then you should create partitions as Mr-Madcowz suggested.

3. That IBM1 drive should be listed under IBM2 - not under standalone drives. Try going into Tools/Wizards and running the Device Configuration Wizard. When you get to a screen which I believe is called "Drive configuration", then drag the drive from under standalone drives to under the library. See http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/235252.htm - this article is for a previous version of Backup Exec but should hopefully help.
Now I do have some doubt that this will work. If it does not work, then it may mean that you misconfigured the library.

4. Solve 3. and 4. will also be solved.


And a small other tip, save your screenshots as JPEG instead of BMP. It will reduce the size considerably.

Dear Honmapog,

Answers,

1. I want to be able to restore the back up jobs for a long time, anytime someone can delete a folder from my file server and i should be able to restore it anytime, lets say 1 year at least
2. i would only want to keep ke monthly full back up tape off site the storage, and put it somewhere safe from my server room. while the weekly and diff tapes can be on the storage. so how can i know which specific tape is my last full back up job every month so i keep it off the library?

3.as you suggested i put the IBM 1 under the IBM2 in the robotic library, but in my BE in the monitor screen i got the attached alert message so what to do next?

in the meantime please see the "device status" print screen if i have moved the IBM 1 to the right place, and also then what is IBM2?

tnx for reminding me for the JPEG conversion!!!
IBM1-under-IBM2.JPG
Devices-status.JPG

1. One year is a very long time. You may need a lot of tapes to allow for a one year retention for all backups. But if one year is what you want, then create a media set with a name you choose and you set the following parameters in the Properties: Overwrite Protection: One Year; Append Period: Infinite.

2. I would suggest to create a policy for the Monthly backup job. Add a backup template to the policy with the same definition as the Monthly backup you just defined. Then add an Export Media template to the same policy. This will automatically export all the weekly backup tapes to the Import/Export slots of your library after the weekly backup finishes.  The only thing you need to do then is take them out of the 3 slots in the library that are dedicated to Import/Export.
See the Backup Exec admin guide if you need more information about Policies or Export templates.

3. IBM2 represents the library or the robotic arm of the library. You may have problems because the partition [0001...0044] doesn't have a drive associated to it.
Personally I would remove the partition again. Change your two jobs weekly and monthly and choose "All Devices" instead of the partition. Then right-cick IBM2 and choose Create Partition, then remove the partition [0001..0044].
Also go into Tools/Options/Media Management. In the dialog choose "Partial" and uncheck the checkbox about imported media. Then also choose the option "Overwrite recyclable media before overwriting scratch media".
The fact that on the screenshot IBM1 is in use is not promising. Go into the Windows Services and make sure that the "Removable Storage" service is stopped AND disabled.

Hi,
1. I created two media sets, one for my daily (diff) jobs which i don't need overwrite i rather need the append option for long time, and second media i created for my weekly full back up job.

2. lets forget about the monthly matter for now, lets focus on making the back up at least start.....then once the back up jobs are started i will find out the last full back up tape and i will replace it with another tape, i hope that will work.

3. as you suggested, i removed the partation for IBM2, now i don't have any partations assigned all i can see in the robotic libraries is IBM 1 and Slots.

even now i can not take a back up  job, when ever i try to take a back up and select a media set like daily, it says:

"Please insert overwritable media into the robotic library using the import command.

Overwritable media includes scratch, blank, and recyclable media. Please note that depending on the current Media Overwrite Protection setting, imported and allocated media may be overwritable as well. Consult the online help for more information on overwritable media.

4. the right bottom magazine might have some cartridges in it, and how can i open that?

i put some tapes in the right upper of the library but they don't show up in the BE slots of the IBM 2, and from the web user and the control panel of the library i didn't find any way to open right bottom magazine of the library, and why doesn't the BE see the tapes i put on the right upper of the library?

5. i understand that IBM 2 is the library and i see the slots.....but what is the IBM 1 then? when i right click the IBM 1 i see the attached limited options "print screen IBM 1"
is the IBM 1 my tape drive? if it is my tape drive then why don't i have those options like inventory, erase and other things when i used to have in the stand alone tape device,

sorry buddy, i have thousand questions for you.....!!!!
IBM-1.JPG

IBM1 is indeed the tape drive. Tape drives in libraries do not work like standalone tape drives. In a library you do an inventory from the robot (IBM2 in your case) or from one of the slots in the robot. That's why you have limited options on IBM1.
To address the "Please insert ..." problem, can you run an inventory on IBM2? Does that job finish correctly? If it is OK, what do you see in slots? If you see tapes in slots, can you right-click one of the slots and choose "Quick Erase"? Does that work? Is the backup job working after that?

Have you done the things I suggested in Tools/Options/Media Management?

i did inventory and i get error attached is the error message, i get the same message when i do quick erase and it doesn't work.

plus one more thing that i have put tapes on the upper right of the TL 4000, but i don't see them in the slot arean of my BE 12.0 it only shows a couple.

as my previous comments above, how can i open the right bottom magazin? and yes i did the things you suggested in Tools/Options/Media Management.
Inventory.JPG

"i did inventory and i get error attached is the error message, i get the same message when i do quick erase and it doesn't work."

See:

The error "0xA000821 - Library Error - incompatible storage media detected in robotic library" occurs when an inventory is run against the robotic library.
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/258269.htm


"plus one more thing that i have put tapes on the upper right of the TL 4000, but i don't see them in the slot arean of my BE 12.0 it only shows a couple."

Run an inventory on the library (not BUE).

"as my previous comments above, how can i open the right bottom magazin? and yes i did the things you suggested in Tools/Options/Media Management."

From the control panel, press enter, then control, then Magazines, then right and it will unlock it and then tell you to pull them. Both open at the same time.

Due to the number of features of the TL4000 and Backup Exec when compared to a standalone drive, I would highly recommend reading the relevant manuals so that you can ensure you get 100% from them. I have been using BUE for many years now and learn something new every day (esp from honmapog)

The TL4000 manuals are available either as online or pdf here:

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/stor-sys/tl2k4k/en/index.htm

and this page has all the documentation for BUE:

Symantec (TM) Backup Exec 12 for Windows Servers (BEWS) Consolidated Release Documentation (English)
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/297324.htm

Details:

The attached zip file contains the following documentation :

    * Symantec " Backup Exec 12 for Windows Servers (BEWS) Readme First Release Notes
    * Symantec " Backup Exec 12 for Windows Servers (BEWS) Quick Installation Guide
    * Symantec " Backup Exec 12 for Windows Servers (BEWS) Administrator's Guide
    * Symantec " Backup Exec 12 for Windows Servers Command Line Applet Guide
    * Symantec " Backup Exec 12 for Windows Servers Utility (BEUtility) Guide
    * Addendum for the BEWS 12 Administrator's Guide and Command Line Applet Guide
    * Symantec Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server (CPS) 12 Quick Installation Guide
    * Symantec Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server (CPS) 12 Administrator's Guide

dear madcowz,

the library i have has bar code reader and the rule was enabled by defult, do you think i should disable the rule permenantly?

i disabled the rule as per the documentation link you sent me for bar code, and i mad another bar code and added it.

again when i run the inventory the jobs failed with similliar error message, plus it is not very important to do inventory for me......as i said i am not able to take any back up job when ever i run a back up job it failes .....i can not do anything. please help

if you want you can do remote connection to that server and try and see everything.

Do not use barcode rules. Disable the option as per the article - permanently. I'm sure the inventory will work afterwards.
If you say that the inventory is not important to you, then you're completely wrong. An inventory is one of the most simple operations you can do on a library. If that fails, a backup will fail.
And in most cases the inventory operation will give you more detail about why the backup fails. That's why we ask you to do an inventory first, then a quick erase. The inventory did point us to the fact that you had barcode rules enabled.

Just for your understanding: you do not need barcode rules set up in your configuration of Backup Exec - even if you have barcodes on your tapes.
The only reason why you ever would need barcode rules enabled is if you have a library with 2 type of tape drives (say LTO2 and DLT).

thanks guys for the info, i appreciate both your support,

but i just found out the problem, actually it was the Symentec drivers that was causing problem and not working........i had to install Dell drivers .........just for your info you might need it.

now the jobs and inventory runs successfully,

sure man i just accepted that, i appreciate both of your help, the reason i was tryin go delete it was since it went too long, and if someone else would have same problem.....he/she would be confused to read this :)

thanks guys again