The media pools on our vtl are set to expire after two weeks, also 2
weeks is set on the clients.  You can set the retention policy on the
clone media pool to whatever you'd like.  Although I had to scan the
indexes back in after the 2 week period for a restore the retention time
was set to what I wanted on the clones.  I just had to make sure I
cloned the data within two weeks to physical tape.

If you decide to go to 7.5.x you can set the browse and retention on the
cloned tapes through the nsrclone command.

-----Original Message-----
From: EMC NetWorker discussion [mailto:NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU] On
Behalf Of dmitri
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 11:56 AM
To: NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: [Networker] VTL, Cloning & Retention Policy Question

bbartick wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I have a basic VTL/Cloning question. We are currently using Networker
7.4.5 and are just in the process of deploying a VTL solution. What I am
looking to do is fairly standard:
> 
> 1. Backup to the VTL
> 2. Clone from VTL to our tape Silo
> 
> Here is where I'm confused. Let's say we have a group with a:
> browse policy of (6) months
> retention policy of (6) years
> 
> When I save to the clone both my virtual and physical tapes will now
have the same browse and retention policy. But, I want to recycle
virtual tapes after say (3) months so that my VTL doesn't fill up. What
would be the best why to implement this?
> Do I just script it out with mminfo and nsrmm? Will I be able to
delete the virtual tape and still keep my (6) month browse and (6) year
retention policy on my clone?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Brett

7.4.X allows different retention policies for source and cloned data,
therefore you'll be able to recycle your virtual tapes in their due
time, independently from clone.  Keep in mind that "volretent" will show
your source tapes' expiration as equal to the clones', however source
tapes do expire according to client retention policy.
We write to VTL, and then clone to physical tape using custom scripts,
based on mminfo and nsrclone.  Don't recycle tapes manually, let NW
manage them.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------
|This was sent by dmitri_ryjikh AT ml DOT com via Backup Central.
|Forward SPAM to abuse AT backupcentral DOT 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

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