Hm...I seem to learn something new every day. This list is a valuable
resource. As to the comment about my 9940 tapes being good forever, I
was just being a bit whimsical. :) I know from experience that they are
not perfect, but they have been extremely reliable.
Mark.Donaldson AT cexp DOT com wrote:
>Nope - it's this (from the vmchange command)
>
> -exp date Expiration date for this volume.
>
>From the Volume Manager SAG (p445 in v5.1 guide)
>===
>Changing the Expiration Date for Volumes
>
>The administrator can change the expiration date for any volume in the
>volume database. The expiration date refers to the age of the media (not the
>data on the media) and is the time at which the media is considered too old
>to be reliable. When its expiration date has passed a volume can still be
>read, but it will not be mounted for a write access.
>
>Requesting write access to a volume whose expiration date has passed results
>in an error; requesting read access results in a warning being logged to the
>system console log.
>===
>
>So - expiration date as reported by vmquery is volume expiration - it's
>about tape age. Expiration date reported by bpmedia & bpmedialist are about
>image expiration on a tape, not the tape itself. The commands query
>different databases, vmquery is a VolDB command, bpmedia & bpmedialist are
>MediaDB commands. The media manager software controls the VolDB database,
>Netbackup (proper) controls the MediaDB. Since the products sections were
>once completely separate products, the word "expiration" is used differently
>by each.
>
>As an example, here's the bpmedialist output for one of my tapes:
>
>
>
>>bpmedialist -mlist -m 004800
>>
>>
>Server Host = ug-50
>
> id rl images allocated last updated density kbytes
>restores
> vimages expiration last read <------- STATUS
>------->
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>----
>004800 6 158 03/25/2005 09:12 05/17/2005 10:22 hcart2 480581327
>0
> MPX 05/17/2006 10:22 N/A FULL
>
>
>The (image) expiration on this tape is 5/17/2006, the date when the last
>image on this tape will expire and the tape becomes reusable. At this time,
>the media info will be completely deleted from the MediaDB and the VolDB
>will be modified to have the assigned date changed to "00/00/0000". The
>fact that sometimes this process screws up is represented in the "vmquery
>-deassignbyid" command.
>
>The removal of the info from the MediaDB can be proven by trying the
>bpmedialist command against a Scratch tape, it results in "requested media
>id was not found in NB media database and/or MM volume database" but it
>remains in the VolDB
>
>The vmquery output for this same tape is:
>
>
>
>>vmquery -m 004800
>>
>>
>============================================================================
>====
>media ID: 004800
>media type: 1/2" cartridge tape 2 (14)
>barcode: 004800
>media description: Added by Media Manager
>volume pool: nas_fs (21)
>robot type: TLD - Tape Library DLT (8)
>robot number: 0
>robot slot: 1701
>robot control host: ug-50
>volume group: ADIC10K_HCART2
>vault name: ---
>vault sent date: ---
>vault return date: ---
>vault slot: ---
>vault session id: ---
>vault container id: -
>created: Wed Jan 19 15:32:20 2005
>assigned: Fri Mar 25 09:12:24 2005
>last mounted: Tue May 17 03:24:24 2005
>first mount: Fri Mar 25 22:52:07 2005
>expiration date: ---
>number of mounts: 4
>max mounts allowed: ---
>status: 0x0
>============================================================================
>====
>
>This output shows that an expiration date of "---". Wide output would show
>00/00/0000 instead but it's the same value.
>
>Max mounts allowed & volume expiration date are defaulted so that the tape
>never is marked unusable. Your 9940 tapes aren't good forever but Netbackup
>isn't about to tell you that.
>
>I let my tapes run forever, anticipating that they'll be taken out of
>service through error counts.
>
>HTH - Mark
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
>[mailto:veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu]On Behalf Of Jack L.
>Forester, Jr.
>Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 2:17 PM
>To: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
>Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Query regarding the vmquery command
>
>
>I thought the expiration date in the vmquery was the date that all of
>the images on the tape would have been expired and the tape can be
>unassigned, ready to be used again. I have many tapes that have an
>expiration date of INFINITY that have images that never expire. Some
>have no expiration date at all. Or, are my 9940 tapes so good that they
>never wear out? :)
>
>Are you thinking of the maximum number of mounts allowed?
>
>Mark.Donaldson AT cexp DOT com wrote:
>
>
>
>>These are different dates that you think, I suspect.
>>
>>Vmquery's "expiration date" is the date that the tape media itself expires,
>>ie: the tape becomes too old to use further). Some companies make the
>>assumption that any tape more than 18 months old is suspect to failure so
>>they refuse to use the tape past that time. This is media expiration time.
>>Netbackup will refuse to use a tape past it's media expiration date.
>>
>>bpmedialist draws its info from the Image DB and prints the date that the
>>last image on that tape is due to expire. This is the date that the tape
>>
>>
>is
>
>
>>marked empty, is deassigned, and is reusable for new backups.
>>
>>Unfortunately, two different "expiration dates" that are not well
>>differentiated in the command set.
>>
>>-M
>>
>>-----Mensagem original-----
>>De: veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
>>[mailto:veritas-bu-admin AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu]Em nome de Parnell,
>>Bill
>>Enviada em: quinta-feira, 31 de março de 2005 05:52
>>Para: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
>>Assunto: [Veritas-bu] Query regarding the vmquery command
>>
>>
>>Hi all,
>>Can someone tell me why when I execute the following command I do not get
>>any information in the expiration datetime column?
>>
>>vmquery -a -w
>>
>>I can get expiration dates from the bpmedialist command and can parse the
>>output to associate the exp dates to the media id's I would just like to
>>know why it is not listed in the vmquery command. All the entries are
>>coming back as 00/00/0000 00:00 the rest of the results are fine as far as
>>I can tell.
>>
>>Best Regards,
>>Bill.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
--
Jack L. Forester, Jr.
UNIX Systems Administrator, Stf
Lockheed Martin Information Technology
(304) 625-3946
|
