Networker

Re: [Networker] Tape Sorting Routine

2006-05-01 21:25:57
Subject: Re: [Networker] Tape Sorting Routine
From: Preston de Guise <enterprise.backup AT GMAIL DOT COM>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 11:23:25 +1000
On 4/30/06, Stan Horwitz <stan AT temple DOT edu> wrote:

On Apr 28, 2006, at 8:40 AM, King, David - Eastman wrote:

> What with us replacing many tapes that have gone bad with new ones,
> our
> barcodes are out of order.
>
> Has anyone written a routine to resort them?

Why bother ordering your bar codes? With over 1,000 tapes in two
libraries, I have found that the best way to handle the tapes is to
allow NetWorker to do it through its automated means.



I concur with Stan. A key benefit you get from barcodes is to achieve
complete separation of label from content, which has several advantages:

- While security through obfuscation is never ideal, it's a starting point
in relation to "removable copies of your servers"

- Not tagging barcode to content enforces use of the media database, and
avoids using NetWorker as an index-less system, something I've seen quite a
few organisations try to do (e.g., "this tape is Monday-Set-1-Tape-1, this
tape is Monday-Set-1-Tape-2, etc.").

- Invariably when you start assigning slot ranges or barcode ranges to
pools, etc., you end up in situations where you may either:
* Artificially run out of capacity in the library (spare tapes available but
not in the slot range or barcode range required).
* Overwrite your "policy" to avoid artificially running out of capacity...

All in all, painful as it is, it is far better to instead not focus on
whether barcodes are sorted in the library, and instead just work on the
basis that you have sufficient capacity.


Cheers,

Preston.

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