Networker

Re: [Networker] Can someone confirm the following about "scratch" tapes or "scratch pools" ?

2007-04-13 06:41:44
Subject: Re: [Networker] Can someone confirm the following about "scratch" tapes or "scratch pools" ?
From: Davina Treiber <DavinaTreiber AT PEEVRO.CO DOT UK>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:39:39 +0100
Karen Hensley wrote:

I am trying to figure out the analogy of scratch volumes or a scratch
pool in NetWorker.  I think I have it worked out, but would appreciate
having someone confirm or correct what I think.

        2) In NetWorker there is a setting for each volume pool indicate
whether expired tapes are "Recycle to other pools".

This is correct. All pools except the Default pool can have these flags modified. For this reason I never use the Default pool.

        3) For each volume pool you can indicate if it can fetch expired
tapes from other pools with via "Recycle from other pools" setting.
        4) For tape pools that have both the above 2 settings at "yes"
you can see that tapes in the "recyclable" state act as a scratch pool.

They do, but you can also create a scratch pool for when you label up new tapes. I do this then mark all tapes in the scratch pool as recyclable. The scratch pool has the "Recycle to other pools" flag set, but it is not necessary to set the "Recycle from other pools" flag.

        5) "unlabeled" tapes also act as a scratch pool.  Unlabeled
tapes are ones that are new and do not have a label that NetWorker
recognizes.

Assuming you are using Auto media Management, then yes. Personally I do not use it, as I believe it is dangerous since there are circumstances when a valid tape could be overwritten. I am referring mainly to cases when tape drives go bad ("When Tape Drives Go Bad" sounds like a poor quality TV series...)

        6) Any pool can grab unlabeled tapes.

Again, assuming AMM.

        7) The default pool is not a scratch pool.  A backup that has no
assigned pool, or that cannot find a tape in the correct pool to use,
will write to a tape in the default pool.  But that tape stays in the
default pool.

True. The Default pool is a strange anomaly. It does not allow you to change vital attributes such as "Recycle to/from other pools", yet there are circumstances when only the Default pool can be used. This has been like this since the year dot, and no-one has bothered to fix it.

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