On 11/11/2009, at 09:13 , Jen Peters wrote:

> I have tapes that I set to expire on 10/9/09 as they are set to backup for 
> 90 days.  After 90 days, the tapes should be recycled or reused.  What 
> scripts or settings control this?  I recently updated to ver 7.5.1 and my 
> tapes are not being put back into the usable pool. 
> 

Are you factoring in saveset dependencies?

Based on previous similar questions that are posed onto this list periodically 
by others, my first take is that saveset dependencies are preventing your media 
from becoming recyclable when you're expecting, but NetWorker is behaving as 
designed (and as appropriate).

As an example, if on one of those volumes you've got a full backup which is 
outside its retention period, but you've got another saveset somewhere (e.g., 
an incremental) which depends on the full for complete filesystem/data 
recovery, NetWorker won't recycle the full because the incremental is not yet 
outside its retention period.

NetWorker builds up "dependency chains", for want of a better term, and (unless 
you only do fulls), savesets typically only become recyclable when all the 
savesets in the chain are recyclable.

I.e., instead of considering discrete/individual backups of say:

full            -> Day 1
incr            -> Day 2
incr            -> Day 3
incr            -> Day 4
incr            -> Day 5

NetWorker's backups should be more considered along the lines of:

full <- incr <- incr <- incr <- incr

Where "X <- Y" should be interpreted as "Y depends on X for complete recovery".

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Preston.


--
Preston de Guise


"Enterprise Systems Backup and Recovery: A Corporate Insurance Policy":

http://www.amazon.com/Enterprise-Systems-Backup-Recovery-Corporate/dp/1420076396

http://www.enterprisesystemsbackup.com

NetWorker blog: http://nsrd.wordpress.com


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