Networker

Re: [Networker] Can you "scanner" a SDLT tape in a SDLT-600 library?

2008-08-11 15:19:21
Subject: Re: [Networker] Can you "scanner" a SDLT tape in a SDLT-600 library?
From: Tim Mooney <Tim.Mooney AT NDSU DOT EDU>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:13:35 -0500
In regard to: Re: [Networker] Can you "scanner" a SDLT tape in a SDLT-600...:

Delete it from the media database.  But then when you run scanner, it
will mark the tape as the same type as your sdlt 600 drive is configured
as.  Or you could redefine one of your SDLT-600 drives to be the type
that matches the type your other SDLT-320 drives are defined as.

The reason it's complaining is that the tape already exists in the media
database, with a volume type of e.g. sdlt320.  You're trying to scan it
on a drive that is defined within NetWorker as some other type, e.g.
sdlt600.  NetWorker is trying to add the volume to the database but it
can't since there's already a volume there with a different type.

Sooooo .... if I scan it on an SDLT-600 drive, I will *always* have to use
that tape in a SDLT-600 drive from now on? It's marking the tape the same
as the drive, even though the tape is *not* the same as the drive.

Yes, unless you delete it from the media database and scan it using a
drive that's defined as some other type.

When a volume is entered into the media database, it's assigned its
volume type solely based on the drive type that was used to label it (or
scan it).

I don't want to redefine my SDLT-600 drives .. I need them read/write as
SDLT-600.

Are you perhaps assuming that how the drive is defined within NetWorker
has any bearing on how much data will fit on the tape, or what "mode" the
drive will write it?  Because in general, it does not.  The *only* area
that I'm aware of where NetWorker's definition of a drive has any
influence on how the drive actually performs is with the default
blocksize, and even then it's hit or miss.

I just (somewhat naively) assumed that I could use a SDLT-600
drive to read a SDLT-320 tape (which the hardware is capable of doing),
but apparently NetWorker is blocking me from mixing and matching tape
types.

Everywhere I turn, obstacles ...

NetWorker has never had strong support for mixing media types, especially
within one jukebox.  One can sort of make it work, especially in a
migration situation where you only need to be able to read from old media,
but you have to have a good understanding of NetWorker.

Regarding the other issue you're having, I have to ask: did support
recommend you install a fresh NetWorker server on different hardware?  If
so, did they recommend you preserve the client ids?  If EMC support
steered you in that direction but didn't warn you about the issues you
would have with restoring from old tapes if you didn't preserve client
ids, then you should be yelling at them.

If they did warn you about those issues and you didn't do it, well then...
;-)

Tim
--
Tim Mooney                                             Tim.Mooney AT ndsu DOT 
edu
Enterprise Computing & Infrastructure                  701-231-1076 (Voice)
Room 242-J6, IACC Building                             701-231-8541 (Fax)
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164

To sign off this list, send email to listserv AT listserv.temple DOT edu and type 
"signoff networker" in the body of the email. Please write to networker-request 
AT listserv.temple DOT edu if you have any problems with this list. You can access the 
archives at http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/networker.html or
via RSS at http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/wa?RSS&L=NETWORKER