Ever since ARCserve 2000 was installed on our first backup server, I have been fighting with append failures. Does not matter if using VLDB or SQL2000. I currently have two backup ARCserve2000 servers with SQL2000 on each server. The append failure occurs on both servers. If I use ARCserve 2000 to connect to an ARCserve 6.61 Server and modify jobs (using the ARCserve2000 GUI), the 6.61 jobs are susceptible to append failures. I am not expecting any solutions to this post, I'm just wondering if anyone else out there has this problem.
The way appends work with ARCserve2000:
When setting up a new custom backup job, and the tape library is full of blank tapes, type in the media label desired and submit the job. (Append to tape is default). The first time the job runs, it will format the first blank tape it can find with the tape label specified in the job file. The second time the job runs, it will append to the tape if there is room on it. Each time the job runs, the tape will be appended to. If the tape fills up, the job will span tapes but the append feature will continue to work. If the job is modified the for first time and a unique new media label is typed in, the modified job will grab a blank tape and format it with the new tape label and future scheduled jobs (for this job) will append as mentioned above. Everything works like it is supposed to...until the job is modified several times with tape label changes over long periods of time.
Eventually, a tape label modification will cause the append feature to stop working. I still don't know why this happens (not caused by pruning). Each time a new tape is formatted (with each successive run of a job with an append failure issue), the astape table receives a new record with the necessary information for ARCserve to "know" that the tape is there.
Wouldn't a job that has the append feature enabled query the astape table looking for a tapename equal to the media label and if found (and is in the correct virtual library) and if the tape is not full, append to the tape?
There are two "solutions" (if you want to call it that),:
1. Delete and re-create the backup job
A second option is easier but not a "fix":
Format a blank media with a new original media label.
Modify the job and for the media, choose the tape that was just formatted.
Note: this is not a fix. If in the future, an original media label is typed in rather than chosen from a pre-formatted tape during a job modification, appends will start to fail again.
Also: I am uncertain how things will go if the backups start to span tapes using this second method to prevent append failures.
The advantage to this second method is that the job does not have to be re-created.
The disadvantage is that any time there is a media label change needed in the future, pre-formatting a tape is now necessary.
The way appends work with ARCserve2000:
When setting up a new custom backup job, and the tape library is full of blank tapes, type in the media label desired and submit the job. (Append to tape is default). The first time the job runs, it will format the first blank tape it can find with the tape label specified in the job file. The second time the job runs, it will append to the tape if there is room on it. Each time the job runs, the tape will be appended to. If the tape fills up, the job will span tapes but the append feature will continue to work. If the job is modified the for first time and a unique new media label is typed in, the modified job will grab a blank tape and format it with the new tape label and future scheduled jobs (for this job) will append as mentioned above. Everything works like it is supposed to...until the job is modified several times with tape label changes over long periods of time.
Eventually, a tape label modification will cause the append feature to stop working. I still don't know why this happens (not caused by pruning). Each time a new tape is formatted (with each successive run of a job with an append failure issue), the astape table receives a new record with the necessary information for ARCserve to "know" that the tape is there.
Wouldn't a job that has the append feature enabled query the astape table looking for a tapename equal to the media label and if found (and is in the correct virtual library) and if the tape is not full, append to the tape?
There are two "solutions" (if you want to call it that),:
1. Delete and re-create the backup job
A second option is easier but not a "fix":
Format a blank media with a new original media label.
Modify the job and for the media, choose the tape that was just formatted.
Note: this is not a fix. If in the future, an original media label is typed in rather than chosen from a pre-formatted tape during a job modification, appends will start to fail again.
Also: I am uncertain how things will go if the backups start to span tapes using this second method to prevent append failures.
The advantage to this second method is that the job does not have to be re-created.
The disadvantage is that any time there is a media label change needed in the future, pre-formatting a tape is now necessary.