In regard to: [Networker] mminfo on old tapes, Francis Swasey said (at...:

When I first took over running networker two years ago, I could use mminfo to examine the savesets on the tapes that had been sent to the vault -- all the way back to the oldest tapes we keep.

If you're only querying on savesets, that information should be stored in
the media database.  Stuff in the media database shouldn't go away unless

- the tape is relabeled (recycled)
- you specifically delete the tape or you specifically delete the
  saveset(s) with nsrmm.

The information is NOT removed removed when the tapes pass retention, so
that's not the issue.

One other possibility would be some kind of past media database corruption.

Somehow I've managed to delete something in the two years I've been
doing this that has removed that ability.  Now, I need to restore a
system from the backup that was made of it in May of 2004.

I have the bootstrap information (The bootstrap report that tells me where it is) -- is there anyway I can use that to retrieve the information about these tapes I need (without destroying my current environment). In otherwords, I don't think I want to use mmrecov on my production system -- anyone have any advice?

Set up a VM system or use a test system and do the mmrecov to that system.
That will get you enough info so you can query the media database and find
where the saveset(s) are that you need.  Then use either scanner + recover
or saveset recovery on your production server to get the data back.

Tim
--
Tim Mooney                                             Tim.Mooney AT ndsu DOT 
edu
Enterprise Computing & Infrastructure                  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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