Networker

Re: [Networker] Odd recycle pattern

2004-04-19 14:17:25
Subject: Re: [Networker] Odd recycle pattern
From: Darren Dunham <ddunham AT TAOS DOT COM>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 11:17:17 -0700
>
> Hi,
>
> I have been adjusting our browse/retention periods.  Our server is HPUX
> 11i, Networker 6.1.3, and all of our clients that concern me are UNIX
> (Sun, HP, Linux) running Networker 6.1.3 client.
>
> We have a rotation cycle where we do incrementals throughout the week
> and fulls staggerd on Saturday/Sunday.  We have enough AIT-2 tapes to
> maintain about 1 month of data on tape before we need to reuse the tape.

> I would think that the tapes would be automatically marked as recyclable
> in the same order that they were written to.  For example:
>
>    Tape #       Last Written to         Recycle On
>    ----------------------------------------------------------
>    1            March 3, 2004           1 month after March 3
>    2            March 4, 2004           1 month after March 4
>    3            March 4, 2004           1 month after March 4
>    4            March 5, 2004           1 month after March 5
>    5            March 6, 2004           1 month after March 6
>
> So one month after March 3, I should see that tape#1 was recycled, and
> one month after March 4, I should see tape#2 and tape#3 recycled, and so
> on.
>
> What I'm seeing, though, is that tape#1 and tape#5 will be recycled on
> the same day, and then a couple of days later, tape#4 will be recycled,
> and yet later tape#2 and tape#3 will be recycled.  And the pattern is
> not always the same.  Sometimes tape#2 and tape#3 will be recycled
> first, and then tape#5, and then tape#4, and then tape#1.  While they
> all get recycled within a 1 week period, I'd like Networker to
> automatically recycle them in order so that I don't have to do it
> myself.

Don't forget that networker cannot recycle dependent savesets until all
dependencies are recyclable.  That means that your full will not be
recyclable until all the 'incrs' that depend on it are also.  So that
should change your expectations a bit.

> If the recycle policy is such that there are usually at most 1 or 2
> tapes available for Networker to use, this creates the possibility that
> Networker can use the tapes out of order.

Yes.  Is this a problem?

You can "fiddle" with things if necessary.  I've written perl scripts
that will do manual recycling of volumes based on arbitrarily complex
algorithms from customers, but such work is outside the scope of pure
Networker configuration.
--
Darren Dunham                                           ddunham AT taos DOT com
Senior Technical Consultant         TAOS            http://www.taos.com/
Got some Dr Pepper?                           San Francisco, CA bay area
         < This line left intentionally blank to confuse you. >

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