Simple Question... 1

[AllUserNamesAreTaken]

How do I find the ID of a tape?

I can't restore a session or just a single file without going through each tape and trying them in the server one by one.

This is REALLY annoying, so if someone could shed some light upon how I can find that random tape ID, I would really appreciate it!

 

[Mia03]

I'm assuming 2 things:
- You're talking about Arc Serve
- You know which tape your backup is on.

Go to Device and click the tape drive you are using in the left pane. In the right pane, the tape that's currently in the drive should be displayed.

When you click on this the properties (including tape ID) are displayed in the bottom pane.

When I'm restoring I click on restore by session. This gives a list of the tapes showing date, time and tape ID. You should be able to select your tape here and see all the sessions on it.

Hope this helps,

Mia

 

[AllUserNamesAreTaken]

Absolutely brilliant.

That was the answer I was looking for!!

Another question while I'm here (and you?). I've got 3 servers all running tape drives with Brightstor Arcserve (yes assuming I'm talking about Brightstor Arcserve) Only two of the servers actually pop their tapes at night.

I can run the cleaning tapes through them as many times as I want but it makes no difference.

Any ideas why?

 

[Mia03]

Just to clarify, do you mean that the tape doesn't pop out after the job is complete? (Sorry, my brain doesn't kick in until Tuesdays usually... not very focused today )

If so, open the job status on the server where the tape isn't popping out. Highlight the job and click modify. Click options. Click the Operation tab and you'll see a section asking what you want to do with the media upon completion of the job. If you click "eject media" here then the tape should pop out when the job is done.

If this setting is already in place then make sure the job is completeing successfully. I notice that if a job fails, it won't eject the tape.

Hope that answers your question.

Mia

 

[AllUserNamesAreTaken]

Yeah, the tape doesn't pop after the backup is written.

(Same here - Mondays and my brain just don't go together)

I opened the job status and clicked modifiy and I get an error message "Cannot modify DB Prune job. Please use Brightstor AB Server Admin to modify DB Prune job".

So.. I tried the admin, but all there is there are some configuration options. Nothing to do with the actual popping of the tape after the job has completed.

Any ideas?

Ian.

 

[Mia03]

The prune job isn't an actual backup, it's something that runs to reduce the size of the Arcserve database. It doesn't use a tape so it won't pop one out after it's done. It just changes the size of the database on the server.

Is that the only job set up on the server? If so, you don't need to put a tape in but you may also want to check if that server is actually being backed up. Maybe there is a job set up on one of the other servers that includes that machine?

 

[AllUserNamesAreTaken]

It's not? (!)

Yes it is the only job set up on the server, infact it's exactly the same on all 3. (I've taken over the IT guy here so I'm in the process of learning the systems!)

As far as I was aware it should be backed up everynight at was doing so.

I've taken a screenshot for you to have a look at.

http://www.angelfire.com/linux/rox2/Arc.JPG

 

[Mia03]

That sounds a bit odd. You should be able to see a list of backup jobs in your job status screen. When you click modify on those jobs you should see a list of all the servers, directories, files, databases etc that are being backed up.

If the only jobs that are listed are prune jobs then it doesn't look like a backup is running. But if your tapes are popping out, that suggests something is happening.

You can check by putting in one of the tapes and looking at the contents as if you were going to restore.

That link brought me to a blank page so I couldn't see the screen print.

Mia

 

[AllUserNamesAreTaken]

I have actually restored some files recently so can't see any reason why the backup is not taking place, although only 1 of the tapes actually pop's. 2 don't.

Link works fine for me.

I'll put a blank tape in all 3 tonight and see what it's like tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help.