Catalogue using two tapes

[redplumptomato]

Hi,

Recently, our catalogue backups are consuming two LT05 tapes. I can't imagine that the catalogue is that big. Has anyone ever run into this issue?

We are using Netbackup 7.1. 2 Drives. I even disabled a drive yet still, netbackup requires two volumes for backup.

I'm new to netbackup and would appreciate any assistance you can provide.

 

[etchingsj]

How big is your catalog?
Do you use catalog archiving?
How long does the backup take and are you using inline backups?

 

[redplumptomato]

the Catalogue backs up about 38GB. I notice that the first tape it mounts, it only writes 160MB. The next tape contains the rest of the catalogue.

We don't use catalogue archiving. The backup on the first volume tapes a few seconds, the next volume is about 10 Minutes.

Inline? I'm not sure. I'll have to check.

Thanks so much for your response on this. Symantec is having a hard time figuring this out!

 

[etchingsj]

The inline function creates two copies on tape (or to any storage unit)
This is helpful if you have a retention policy where one copy is kept onsite and one goes off to Iron Mountain (vault)
The 160Mb could be the EMM staging.(staging/EMM_DATA.db)
And the other is the catalog.

This is common in NBU 6.5.3
The fix if desired is as follows:
Set up another storage unit specifically for the Catalog Backup.
This storage unit should be set to only ONE maximum concurrent drive & should be applied to the policy(ies) that control your catalog backup(s).
And .......bpdown and bpup to apply the change.

I could confirm with a little info:
Can you post or attach the following output?
bppllist <policy_name> -U
Do you have LTO compression applied too?
What type of tape are we talking about?

 

[redplumptomato]

Here is the output of bbllist.. Thanks again for helping.

------------------------------------------------------------


Policy Name: RealLTO_Catalog


Policy Type: NBU-Catalog
Active: yes
Effective date: 06/27/2011 11:28:23
Mult. Data Streams: no
Client Encrypt: no
Checkpoint: no
Policy Priority: 0
Max Jobs/Policy: 1
Disaster Recovery: 0
Collect BMR info: no
Residence: STU_LTO5
Volume Pool: CatalogBackup
Server Group: *ANY*
Keyword: (none specified)
Data Classification: -
Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy: no
Application Discovery: no
Discovery Lifetime: 28800 seconds


Granular Restore Info: no
Ignore Client Direct: no
HW/OS/Client: PC Windows2008 netbackupprod1


Include: CATALOG_DRIVEN_BACKUP


Schedule: Full
Type: Full Backup
Frequency: every 1 day
Maximum MPX: 1
Synthetic: 0
PFI Recovery: 0
Retention Level: 0 (1 week)
Number Copies: 1
Fail on Error: 0
Residence: (specific storage unit not required)
Volume Pool: (same as policy volume pool)
Server Group: (same as specified for policy)
EXCLUDE DATE 0 - 02/09/2012
Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy: 0
Daily Windows:
Monday 11:00:00 --> Monday 13:00:00
Tuesday 11:00:00 --> Tuesday 13:00:00
Wednesday 11:00:00 --> Wednesday 13:00:00
Thursday 11:00:00 --> Thursday 13:00:00
Friday 11:00:00 --> Friday 13:00:00


Catalog Disaster Recovery Configuration:
Email Address: [email protected]
Disk Path: C:\Netbackup catalog recovery info
User Name: (none specified)
Pass Word: (none specified)
Critical policy: (none specified)


Do I enable LTO compression on the tape library itself, or, via Netbackup? I logged into our library and don't see any options for drive compression.

LT05 Tapes are what we use.

Also, I tried setting up a separate STU, with 1 concurrent drive, but, same issue. Netbackup loads one tape, writes about 160MB, than loads another. Strange thing is, sometimes, (about once a week) it only uses one tape! This thing is finicky!

 

[redplumptomato]

Now that I mention it, when I added a new STU, I didn't bpdown and bpup. I'll try that now.

However, I don't see this as being a concurrent drive issue, as it doesn't mount both tapes at the same time.

 

[redplumptomato]

This issue was resolved. The issue was due to the tape cleaning flag being active for both drives. Our library handles tape cleaning so, to resolve this, we had to clear the flag and add a touch file. Here is the link to the fix:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH62699

and here is how to disable the tape alert (windows)

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH21624