Networker

Re: [Networker] Tapes marked full prematurely

2012-06-08 09:02:02
Subject: Re: [Networker] Tapes marked full prematurely
From: Frank Swasey <Frank.Swasey AT UVM DOT EDU>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2012 08:57:42 -0400
I have a Qualstar XLS with 14 IBM LTO4 drives and I had massive problems with 
tapes being
marked full prematurely.

After getting a lot of free tape drive replacements (covered under the 
maintenance agreement),
I finally was told that the way the LTO4 drives ask to be cleaned is a HUGE 
problem.  The LTO4
drive (at least IBM's... but I assume this is the generic LTO4 spec) will 
realize it is dirty
and needs to be cleaned, but it will not raise the necessary TapeAlert back to 
NetWorker except
during the tape ejection process.

Now, if your tapes sit in the drive until they are full (which is the NetWorker 
default), I
think you can see how a tape drive could be filthy for a LONG time and never 
ask to be
cleaned.  I have been forced to figure out how frequently my drives need to be 
cleaned to
reduce (I have not eliminated) the issue.  Some of my drives (that see lots of 
tapes every day
of the week) have to be cleaned every 3 days.  That tends to wear the drive out 
in a little
over a year.  So, you will definitely want to keep the maintenance agreement 
current on your
library/drives!

Frank

On 6/8/12 7:50 AM, Ronald Benvenuto wrote:
> Hello All,
>
>
>
>  I am running Networker 7.6.1 on a windows 2003 server and am backing up to a 
> Dell ML6020 with 6 fiber channel LT04 drives.  all of my backups that use two 
> of the 6 drives will work just fine, the other four drives will start backups 
> and mark the tape as full after as little as 40GB and as much as few hundred 
> gb's but never to it's full native or compressed capacity, once it marks it 
> full i cannot append to that tape again. The only way to use it is to 
> re-label it.
>
>
>
>  Has anyone else seen this problem before and know how to fix it ?
>
>
>
>  thanks much,
>
>
>
>  Ron Benvenuto
>
> Sr. System Administrator
>
> SRI International Sarnoff
>
> 201 Washington Road
>
> Princeton, New Jersey 08540
>
> Phone: 609-734-2401

-- 
Frank Swasey                    | http://www.uvm.edu/~fcs
Sr Systems Administrator        | Always remember: You are UNIQUE,
University of Vermont           |    just like everyone else.
  "I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

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