If I'm not mistaken, NetBackup will unload the tape (rewind offline it)
& then fail to move it from the drive back to the slot.  So although
vmoprcmd will list the tape, "mt -f ... status" will report "no tape
loaded or drive offline".  You could possibly periodically check each
drive & work out from this.  It's a bit messy though, what happens if
you catch a drive that NetBackup is in the process of successfully
unloading?

If Solaris, you should be able to check /var/adm/messages for relevant
messages to say it can't put the tape away.  (Doesn't NetBackup down the
drive anyway?).  Or somewhere in the NetBackup logs (sorry I don't know
where off the top of my head).

Sorry, only vague ideas.  I did something with a similar robot where I
ran a script from cron every hour to check and correct for any
mismatches between NetBackup and the tape robot, using various options
to vmupdate.  Also as the Ops changed the tapes by opening the robot &
moving tapes, part of the script to control that also checked that slots
were kept free for tapes currently in the drives.  Possibly not quite
what you're after but I'm happy to post the scripts if you think they
could be of use.

cheers, Phil

> -----Original Message-----
> From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu 
> [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf 
> Of Dave Markham
> Sent: 19 June 2007 14:33
> To: Justin Piszcz
> Cc: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Identify drives in use
> 
> 
> Justin Piszcz wrote:
> > On Tue, 5 Jun 2007, Dave Markham wrote:
> >
> >   
> >> Justin Piszcz wrote:
> >>     
> >>> On Tue, 5 Jun 2007, Dave Markham wrote:
> >>>
> >>>       
> >>>> Netbackup 5.0MP7 Solaris9
> >>>>
> >>>> Anyone know how to identify from command line what 
> drives are in use, or
> >>>> what tapes are in use while a job is running.
> >>>>
> >>>> We have an issue where ops keep opening the jukebox and 
> changing tapes
> >>>> while jobs are running. The job is fine as the L700 library just
> >>>> suspends writes but the problem is they fill slots up which are
> >>>> destination slots of tapes in use. Once the tapes have 
> finished and a
> >>>> new tape is required to continue the job the old tape 
> cannot be put back
> >>>> into its slot as it has some tape in it.
> >>>>
> >>>> I therefore sometimes need to manually move the tapes to 
> another slot
> >>>> using robtest. Issue is a lot of the time the backup job is still
> >>>> running and i dont want to unload the tapes in use so i 
> need to identify
> >>>> them.
> >>>>
> >>>> I have been using iostat -xnd 2 10 |grep rmt and seeing which are
> >>>> written to and then double checking with the gui the 
> tape ids, but i'd
> >>>> like a nice netbackup command to just say tapes being 
> written to at that
> >>>> moment in time.
> >>>>
> >>>> Cheers
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> Veritas-bu maillist  -  Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> >>>> http://mailman.eng.auburn.edu/mailman/listinfo/veritas-bu
> >>>>
> >>>>         
> >>> How to see what drives are in use? vmoprcmd -d ds
> >>>
> >>>       
> >> Thanks.
> >>
> >> Problem with this command is it shows tapes in all the 
> drives due to the
> >> problem i mentioned in my mail. Tapes are in drives due to 
> not being
> >> able to move back to destination slots. I need to confirm 
> the drives
> >> which are in use for the current job(s) running. Normally 
> its just one
> >> job running see and as im using ITC 2 drives will be in 
> use. I need to
> >> determine these so i can then safely move tapes out of the 
> other drives.
> >>
> >> Cheers
> >>
> >>     
> >
> >   
> >>> I therefore sometimes need to manually move the tapes to 
> another slot
> >>> using robtest. Issue is a lot of the time the backup job is still
> >>> running and i dont want to unload the tapes in use so i need to 
> >>>       
> > identify them.
> >
> > Read more closely, that is your problem!  If you do not 
> re-inventory in 
> > NetBackup -AND/OR- you put the tape in a slot that was 
> already kept vacant 
> > for a tape that's in the drive, you're going to have problems.
> >
> > Justin.
> > _______________________________________________
> > Veritas-bu maillist  -  Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> > http://mailman.eng.auburn.edu/mailman/listinfo/veritas-bu
> >
> >   
> 
> I know exactly that if you dont inventory and put tapes in 
> you are going
> to have problems. I think you need to read more closely.
> 
> What i am saying is Operators do this while jobs are still running. Im
> 200 miles away supporting these systems.
> 
> Now as tapes cannot be moved back into the correct slots, as ops staff
> have filled them, they stay in the drive. If i have a job 
> still running
> then i have 4 tapes in use. How do i know which ones are being used by
> that job from the command line. i know vmoprcmd will show which tapes
> are in which drives but thats not what i require.
> 
> Thanks
> _______________________________________________
> Veritas-bu maillist  -  Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> http://mailman.eng.auburn.edu/mailman/listinfo/veritas-bu
> 

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