We have written a set of Perl scripts to manage our off-site rotation - these 
scripts essentially mimic the media management functions provided by AlphaStor. 
 Generally, we aren't cloning - cloning is too taxing on the system resources, 
and very expensive as well, so we're sending our original backup volumes 
offsite.  Therefore, we're only cloning archive data and sending the clones 
offsite for the duration of the archive period.  We've also observed that 
Legato does a much better job of tracking original backup volumes in the mmdb 
than it does with clones.  We use mminfo to determine which tapes have been 
written to in the last 30 days and are still in the jukebox, and then we use 
nsrjb to eject the tapes.  We use mmlocate to update the location field in the 
media database, and nsrmm to mark the tapes as full - you don't need to mark 
the tapes as suspect - the whole purpose of doing that is so the system won't 
try to use them while they're offsite - updating the location field to 
something other than the name of the jukebox and marking the tapes full 
accomplishes that for you.  That's how we get tapes off-site.

As far as getting the tapes back, our off-site courier has such services 
available (we would have to provide them with a return date and such, but that 
didn't work out the way that we hoped).  So, we have written scripts to recall 
tapes as well.  We use mminfo to determine which tapes are offsite and were 
last written to a specified number of days back.  We also search for offsite 
tapes that have expired (we use this for the minimal amount of cloning that we 
do).  When the tapes come back, we use mminfo to update their location and we 
have another script to deposit/inventory/recycle tapes back into the jukeboxes. 
 

You are correct in that the location of the tapes will not automagically update 
when you place them in the jukebox.  You need to inventory the jukebox (or the 
slots that the tapes are loaded into) in order to tell NetWorker that the tapes 
have been placed back in the jukebox.  If you don't like doing a full inventory 
of the jukebox (which can be time-intensive, but is good for the system, 
especially with larger - 300+ slots -jukeboxes), you can write a script that 
detects non-inventoried slots in the jukebox.  Use nsrjb | grep "\-\*" to 
figure out which slots need to be inventoried.  However, our staff feels that 
using a standard nsrjb -I to run a full-scale inventory of the jukebox is worth 
the time when you are moving 15 tapes a day out of each jukebox.  As far as the 
problem you described with full inventories and your new tapes, if you label 
the tapes when you put them in the jukebox, you will not have that problem.  We 
have a policy in place to label new tapes once they are placed in a jukebox - 
that way we always know we have a problem if we have an unidentified tape in 
the library.  If you have a smaller operation, that might not be such a 
problem, but we have to manage 7,000 tapes.

Overall our system has been working very well, and cheap too!  (we didn't have 
to spend a hundred grand on AlphaStor, and it has saved our company big 
insurance dollars).  If you have any further questions about any of this, 
please feel free to email me back.


Brandon Jackson
Carlson Companies, Inc.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
bjackson AT carlson DOT com



-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Skolnik [mailto:eskolnik AT INTERPUBLIC DOT COM]
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 10:24 AM
Subject: How are folks handling offsite storage? We were sending clones
off site manually, but then the clones won't scratch (recycle) till the
primary save set does. 


How are folks handling offsite storage? We were sending clones off site
manually, but then the clones won't scratch (recycle) till the primary
save set does.

How I am looking to clone the world and mark the originals as full,
suspect, and then send them offsite. Some-how I'll delete (using mminfo
and nsrmm -d -y -S) the clone savesets after  14 days so I don't double
my tape usage.

How for specific questions:
I was wondering how others perform this process.
I've been playing around with updating the location on the media
database using nsrmm, but when the volume is re-deposited in the juke
box the location doesn't get automatically updated.
How you deposit takes in your juke box,  When I deposit , I have to do a
full inventory of the juke box, which causes all the new tapes (never
used by networker) to be mounted and read for a label that's not found.

Does any know what command updates and reports  the remarks in the media
database?
  (I looked at the mmifo man page and can't find anything)



Ed Skolnik
The Interpublic Group Of Companies, Inc.
GIS  Chicago System Administrator
676 North St. Clair Street
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Phone: 312-425-6554
Fax: 312-425-6924
e-mail: eskolnik AT Interpublic DOT com

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