Quick Erase defined as Pre Job, bad idea?

[KaJuHe]

We use a 36 slot tape library and ARCserve 9.01.

Is there a simple way to Quick Erase ie.only destroy media label before the job automatically for one tape,every time only the next tape in turn,without using Scheduled Erase since that would require me to setup one Scheduled task for each tape each day of the year?

To resolve this, i am now planning to use Quick Erase as an Pre Job Execution task something like as follows:
dmjob -cherase -i 1 -s 30 "GROUP0" q 31 "GROUP0" q

The problem in my example is though that the slot number (31 in the example above) is always different and therefore i am not sure how to exactly resolve my problem.

Maybe there is a much easier way to achieve this?

Thank you very much in advance!

 

[KaJuHe]

Hopefully the following example demonstrates the logic that we try to achieve:
<Slot 1:> 01.04.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 2:> 01.04.2004 5:00 PM
<Slot 3:> 02.04.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 4:> 02.04.2004 5:00 PM
<Slot 5:> 02.04.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 6:> 02.04.2004 5:00 PM
..etc..etc..
<Slot 35:> 05.05.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 36:> 05.05.2004 5:00 PM

Now when all the 36 tapes are used, i want ARCserve to continue again from the beginning as follows:

<Slot 1:> 06.05.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 2:> 06.05.2004 5:00 PM
<Slot 3:> 02.04.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 4:> 02.04.2004 5:00 PM
<Slot 5:> 02.04.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 6:> 02.04.2004 5:00 PM
..etc..etc..
<Slot 35:> 05.05.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 36:> 05.05.2004 5:00 PM

and the next day it continues in the same way again:

<Slot 1:> 06.05.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 2:> 06.05.2004 5:00 PM
<Slot 3:> 07.05.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 4:> 07.05.2004 5:00 PM
<Slot 5:> 02.04.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 6:> 02.04.2004 5:00 PM
..etc..etc..
<Slot 35:> 05.05.2004 4:00 AM
<Slot 36:> 05.05.2004 5:00 PM
..etc

As far as i can understand everything would work as wanted as long as i could Quick Erase the tape everytime before the job, not sure if that is possible.
In the example above ARCserve currently continues with <Slot 1:> after the <Slot 36:> but the Media Label stays the original (01.04.2004 4:00 AM) instead of the wanted name (06.05.2004 4:00 AM).

We use Custom Schedule ie.we do not use Rotation Scheme;
we have several jobs which are backed up on one tape.
Overwrite Same Media Name, or Blank Media First, then Any Media option is also in use.

I hope this clarifies what i'm trying to achieve.

 

[KaJuHe]

Our tape library has the Device Number of 2.

After browsing through some more old FAQs, have i understood correctly that the solution for me is to simply add the following command to the backup as a Pre command and the tape will automatically be erased prior to backup:

TAPETEST.EXE -z -d2

Is it really this simple or should i take some other issues in consideration also to achieve the wanted result?

 

[KaJuHe]

None of the following did unfortunately resolve the problem when defined as a Pre execution job
TAPETEST.EXE -z -m0 -d2
TAPETEST.EXE -z -m1 -d2
TAPETEST.EXE -z -m2 -d2

The media gets erased but the original Media Name stays the same.As mentioned in the earlier post,in the example BAB still continues after the Pre-erase with <Slot 1:> after the <Slot 36:> but the Media Name in <Slot 1:> stays the original (01.04.2004 4:00 AM) instead of the wanted new Media Name eg.(06.05.2004 4:00 AM).

How to automatically rename the Media Name in my case?
What next? Any new ideas are more than welcome..

 

[velley]

KaJuHe,
are u sure the tapetest did erase the tape in pre job? what I'm thinking is the device group is opened at the beginning of the job starts. tapetest can't operate on the media w/ "group already open" error.

to confirm this, execute a batch file instead of tapetest:
tapetest -z -m1 d2
pause
you can get the output of tapetest and see what happens.

 

[KaJuHe]

Thanks velley for the idea,interesting theory,could be true,not sure how to avoid or workaround it though if that really is the case.I have also already tried 10 min Delays etc.Can't try the suggested batch until next week sometime but this is how it goes now ie. no "group already open" type of errors anywhere to be seen at least in the BAB Activity Log:

04/04/07 14:58:33
Run Command: D:\Program Files\CA\BrightStor ARCserve Backup\tapetest.exe -z -m1 -d2.
04/04/07 15:01:33
Start Backup Operation. (QUEUE=1, JOB=5)
04/04/07 15:01:33
Description: TEST.
04/04/07 15:01:34
Overwrite media 4/07/04 12:24 PM, ID F5C1, sequence #1
04/04/07 15:01:47
Tape Engine finished formatting media.(new name: 4/07/04 12:24 PM, old name: 4/07/04 12:24 PM)
04/04/07 15:01:47
Format Successful!
04/04/07 15:01:47
Use media 4/07/04 12:24 PM, serial # 000001L2, ID F856, sequence #1
04/04/07 15:01:47
Begin cleaning database.
04/04/07 15:01:47
Session is cleaned. (MEDIA=4/07/04 12:24 PM, ID=FFFFF5C1, SES=1, RECS=2)
04/04/07 15:01:47
End cleaning database. (CLEANED=2)
04/04/07 15:02:01
Source Directory: C:
04/04/07 15:02:01
Backup Session 1 on Media 4/07/04 12:24 PM Serial # 000001L2