Drives are Quantum SDLT 220s - Media is SDLT-I - I don't know the media
manufacturer off hand, I'd have to look.  We buy whatever is cheapest.
=P  Before being requested back the media was at our offsite / media
storage facility.  I'm not sure what kind of environmental stuff they've
got going on there.  To be honest, we don't keep data this long per
policy - but we did have several hundred media sitting around waiting to
be destroyed and I was asked to inventory it.  So I guess a year or so
in a cardboard box (in the plastic case) was part of the life cycle as
well.  Aside from what's being kept offsite for long term retention
we're 100% on LTO3 media now / all this media was going to be destroyed
pending legal yadda yadda...
 
-Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: Justin Piszcz [mailto:jpiszcz AT lucidpixels DOT com] 
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 2:07 PM
To: Martin, Jonathan
Cc: Jon Bousselot; veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: RE: [Veritas-bu] Media Tape lifespan

Jonathan,

That is quite remarkable and impressive!

What type of tape media?

How do you store the tapes?

What type of environmental conditions?

Had they not been used since 2001?/

Justin.

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007, Martin, Jonathan wrote:

> I recently imported some 26,000 images from media going back to
7/2001.
> I only did phase one, then produced a report.  We did phase two and 
> restore on media going back to 1/2002 for windows file servers.
>
> -Jonathan
>
> Here's the technote you are refering to - I got some data back using 
> this method.
>
> failed phase 2 import
>
> ACTION: Discovered that the image is on only one tape, so determine 
> that the tape has a bad spot on it.  The phase 2 import ran for three 
> hours then gave the error "tar did not find all the files to be 
> restored". to use the following procedure to read as much data off the

> tape as possible.
>
> bpexpdate -m media_id -d 0
> bpimage -cleanup -allclients
>
> Solution:
> The following touch file allows for this to happen:
> install_path\netbackup\db\images\"client_name"\xxxxxxxxxxxx\debug_add_
> fi
> les
> This touch file can be used under certain circumstances to restore 
> from a partial import if the catalog is in a binary format. If the 
> catalog is in an ASCII format, these steps can be used but you will 
> not need to add the touch file.
> The first phase of an import creates the header file (non.f). The 
> second phase of an import creates the files file (.f file). If the 
> import fails during the phase two import for some reason (bad tape 
> block, missing tape in a multi-tape backup, or the backup was 
> incomplete etc.), NetBackup will not be able to browse the image for 
> restore even though both files needed are created (assuming that the 
> second phase of the import did not fail right away).
> 1. Perform the phase one import. Your directory structure will look 
> something like this. The directory may have many images. This example 
> assumes there is only one image.
> Directory of C:\Program 
> Files\VERITAS\NetBackup\db\images\Sap\1058000000
> 07/22/2003 01:54 PM <DIR> .
> 07/22/2003 01:54 PM <DIR> ..
> 07/22/2003 01:51 PM <DIR> catstore
> 07/22/2003 01:51 PM 822 Sap_test_1058889087_FULL 2. Create the 
> debug_add_files touch file. Here is an example showing the new touch 
> file.
> Directory of C:\Program 
> Files\VERITAS\NetBackup\db\images\Sap\1058000000
>
> 07/22/2003 01:54 PM <DIR> .
> 07/22/2003 01:54 PM <DIR> ..
> 07/22/2003 01:51 PM <DIR> catstore
> 07/22/2003 01:24 PM 0 debug_add_files
> 07/22/2003 01:51 PM 822 Sap_test_1058889087_FULL 3. Run the phase two 
> import. As long as the phase two import gets to the point that 
> actually starts writing entries in the files file, the structure may 
> look like this.
> Directory of C:\Program 
> Files\VERITAS\NetBackup\db\images\Sap\1058000000
> 07/22/2003 01:54 PM <DIR> .
> 07/22/2003 01:54 PM <DIR> ..
> 07/22/2003 01:51 PM <DIR> catstore
> 07/22/2003 01:24 PM 0 debug_add_files
> 07/22/2003 01:51 PM 822 Sap_test_1058889087_FULL
> 07/22/2003 01:51 PM 181,627 Sap_test_1058889087_FULL.f
> 07/22/2003 01:50 PM 338,287 Sap_test_1058889087_FULL_debug.f 4. When 
> the phase two import finally does fail or is stopped, rename the .f to

> .f.old or any other name, and rename the _debug.f to just .f 
> Sap_test_1058889087_FULL.f becomes Sap_test_1058889087_FULL.f.old 
> Sap_test_1058889087_FULL_debug.f becomes Sap_test_1058889087_FULL.f 5.

> This is where you would start if you are running an import to an ASCII

> catalog and it fails.
> Edit the header file (Sap_test_1058889087_FULL).
> Change the "IMAGE_TYPE" from 1 to 2. The IMAGE_TYPE is set to 0 (zero)

> for backups, 1 after a phase one import and 2 after a successful phase

> two import. If the IMAGE_TYPE is left at 1, Backup, Archive and 
> Restore will not browse it for restores.
> Example:
> IMAGE_TYPE 2
> Open the files file (Sap_test_1058889087_FULL.f) in a program that can

> count line numbers. Textpad can do this by going to Configure | 
> Preferences | View, and selecting the checkbox for Line Numbers. Count

> the number of lines in the files file.
> Edit the NUM_FILES entry in the header file to represent the number of

> lines as above.
> Example:
> NUM_FILES 1778
> You should then be able to open up Backup, Archive and Restore and 
> browse the image for restore. Since this was a partial import, not all

> files will be available for restore, but you may get the required
file.
>
> -----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 Jon 
> Bousselot
> Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 1:32 PM
> To: Justin Piszcz
> Cc: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
> Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Media Tape lifespan
>
> 6 years old, so probably written with NB 3.2 or 3.4.  AIT-2 media, 
> five tapes, five fragments,  and fragment 4 was damaged in such a way 
> that NB could not finish the catalog import phase 2, but the data I 
> wanted was on tape 3.
>
> Support gave me a tech doc that tells NB to keep the catalog data for 
> all images found prior to a failure.  Without this method, it would 
> fail on the import and discard all the previous work. (several 
> hours!!)
>
> The AIT-2 media was used in a small tape changer that lived in an 
> environment where drywall dust was present during construction, 
> rendering a number of the tapes faulty.  Don't do drywall work in a 
> live datacenter!!
>
>> Poll:
>>
>> What is the oldest tape you have restored from? 1 year? 3 years? 5+?
>>
>> Justin.
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>

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