Re: [Networker] Recycle to/from other pools

In regard to: Re: [Networker] Recycle to/from other pools, Davina Treiber...:

I think you are in a minority of users who have bar codes but don't
match them to labels.


We're in that minority.  When I set up NetWorker here in 1995, the
documentation at the time didn't really spell out any advantages or
disadvantages of the "match" setting.  I felt it would be easier for
humans if we did NOT match, so that's what I chose.

Others might say that when relabelling a tape the label should follow
the label template.


That's certainly my opinion.

Is it nor possible for you to start matching barcodes? In my experience
it is the best option except for where barcode readers are not
available, such as on standalone drives or very low end libraries.


Davina, can you elaborate on what works better when "match" is true?
Our NetWorker team is going to be doing some reorganization in the near
future, and maybe that would be a good time for us to switch a few things.

I know of one major area where "match" helps, and I've mentioned it on
the list before.  The bootstrap report includes the volume label, but if
match is NOT true, your report looks like:

April 11 10:36 2008  backupserver's bootstrap information Page 1

    date     time       level ssid        file  record   volume
     03/07/08 10:36:11   full 2228317947   194       0 NDSU_ITS_Misc:046
     03/08/08 10:34:20   full 2312290316    85       0 NDSU_ITS_Misc:028
     03/09/08 10:35:10   full 3117679534   160       0 NDSU_ITS_Misc:028
     03/10/08 10:35:50   full 4174730582   208       0 NDSU_ITS_Misc:028
     03/11/08 10:35:55   full 97953499     118       0 NDSU_ITS_Misc:029
     03/12/08 10:35:51   full 634910807     74       0 NDSU_ITS_Misc:001

which is a big problem if you find yourself in a disaster situation: you
have no idea which of the hundreds of tapes in your jukebox you need to
load to mmrecov.

I run an mminfo report daily to match volume name to barcode and mail it
to a different system, so I can reconcile the bootstrap to an actual tape
if I need to mmrecov.

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

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