Networker

Re: [Networker] Not all tapes are fully used

2006-08-16 08:31:05
Subject: Re: [Networker] Not all tapes are fully used
From: Stuart Whitby <swhitby AT DATAPROTECTORS.CO DOT UK>
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:25:18 +0100
Why would you mark a tape bad and then keep writing to it?  The whole point of 
it being marked "bad" would be that you can't trust it to retain data.  
 
The main problem that I see with this is that while NetWorker marks savesets as 
suspect and the volume as full, it doesn't flag the volume itself.  In time, it 
will relabel that volume and use it again.  I'd personally like to see those 
volumes marked as read-only instead of being reused.
 
Cheers,
 
Stuart.

________________________________

From: Legato NetWorker discussion on behalf of Nico De Ranter
Sent: Wed 16-Aug-06 12:41
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] Not all tapes are fully used



On Wed, 2006-08-16 at 08:48 +0100, Wood, R A (Bob) wrote:
> Nico,
>
> Networker will flag a tape as full if it has a write error on that tape.
> It doesn't matter what caused the write error (physically reached end of
> tape, dirty drive, lumpy power supply, SCSI resets, etc.) Networker's
> response is to mark the tape as Full and move on.

That's what I was afraid of. However somehow I would have expected
Networker to flag the tape as bad in stead of just moving on to the next
tape. I've got 1 tape device which sometimes writes at a very low speed,
I'm keeping an eye on it.  Of course since the moment I decided to keep
an eye on that drive it works perfectly at full speed. It knows, I'm
sure it knows...

Thanks

Nico

> As you're getting quite a few of these you may wish to try a bit of
> investigating yourself (were the tapes written on the same drive? Are
> there any messages in the system log that correspond to the time that
> the tapes were marked full? If connected via fabric, any messages on the
> switch?)sort of thing. Try to find out if it is tape drive, connection
> or media related.
>
> Whether you crack it or not, you'll know a little more about your setup
> than when you started (and that's no bad thing)  :)
>
> Regards
> Bob
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Legato NetWorker discussion
> >[mailto:NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU] On Behalf Of Nico De Ranter
> >Sent: 16 August 2006 08:27
> >To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
> >Subject: [Networker] Not all tapes are fully used
> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >I'm using LTO-1 tapes that can hold up to 105GB. I just
> >noticed that many of my tapes that are labeled 'full' in the
> >volumes overview are only partially used e.g. only about 80GB
> >or in some cases even 18GB is used but the tape is labeled as
> >'full' anyway. Is does normal or does it look like I have a
> >problem with one of my tape devices?
> >
> >Nico
> >
> >--
> >Nico De Ranter
> >Senior System Administrator
> >Sony Service Center (NSCE)
> >The Corporate Village, Da Vincilaan 7-D1
> >B-1935 Zaventem, Belgium
> >Telephone: +32 (0)2 700 86 41 Fax: +32 (0)2 700 86 22
> >
> >To sign off this list, send email to
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> >
> >
>
> To sign off this list, send email to listserv AT listserv.temple DOT edu and 
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--
Nico De Ranter
Senior System Administrator
Sony Service Center (NSCE)
The Corporate Village, Da Vincilaan 7-D1
B-1935 Zaventem, Belgium
Telephone: +32 (0)2 700 86 41 Fax: +32 (0)2 700 86 22

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