Using tapecopy to span multiple tapes

[bdfry]

Here is my delimma....
We were experiencing media write errors trying to backup large amounts of data across our network to an Exabyte X-80 library with Mammoth-2 drives. Exabyte and CA told us that the slow data throughput was causing the errors, so we did the following:
1. Upgraded to ARCserve v.9 so that we could backup to disk (utilizing a SAN configuration so that I have approx. 2400 GB of space to use) instead of tape (resolved the media write error)
2. Planned to copy the backup image on disk to tapes for off-site storage and to alleviate the room on disk so that we could perform the next weeks full backups to disk.

My problem is that when I use the tapecopy utility to copy the backup image on disk to a tape, it stops when the target tape is full (which makes sense, but I was hoping that it would eject the tape, load another, and continue on...).

Does anyone know if it is possible to use the tapecopy utility to copy a 300 GB backup image stored on disk to a set of tapes (I estimate it would take about 6 tapes); and if so, how do I do it???

thanks for any assistance w/ this.... Brantley

 

[markshaw100]

Brantley

Out of interest - you've spoken to CA support. Don't they know if there are limitations ???. Have you found anything on the CA site?.

Mark

 

[bdfry]

CA support assured me that the tapecopy utility would indeed span multiple tapes but said that I had to create a single group and include all of the slots in my Exabyte X-80 in it. I also had to create seperate groups for each of the 'backup images' on disk (i.e. DBSRV - for the database server image, etc..). I did this and it started to work but errored out on me on the 2nd or 3rd tape. I did some more digging and found out that CA certifies the Mammoth-2 tape drives at the v04b firmware level; my drives were at the v07g firmware level. I changed the firmware version on the drives and the tapecopy utility works like a champ. Thanks for the reply !! Brantley

 

[markshaw100]

Brantley

Hmmm... Sounds like a bit of a workaround (bodge) from CA here. We've had a lot of problems with firmware causing problems with TAPESERVER.NLM n stuff. Lots of wierd errors have appeared over the years. They don't obviously relate to the firmware but, once updated and NLMs patched to the latest, the errors go away. (As you found yourself).

I think your're "pushing the envelope" here with the product. Sounds like it isn't quite up to the job but so-far-so-good. SANs have interested me and I've tried to recommend them but we've never had time to look at them fully.

Regards

Mark