Darrin Posted June 7, 2003 Report Share Posted June 7, 2003 Hi askirkland, In my other thread you asked: Quote: Darrin, What are your talking about with your multi-tape recycle issue? I have multiple tape backups and recycle them every 6 weeks... I have never had an issue where the backup job sits and waits for me to hit proceed. Am I misunderstanding you? What is your config and backup type... possibly there is some other work around... Here's what I'm doing: At one location, standalone NT4 SP6a server with single DDS4 drive, no autoloader. Retrospect Small Business Bundle (Single server and Open File Option). I have two 3-tape sets: 1-week1, 2-week1, 3-week1 2-week2, 2-week2, 3-week2 I have each set recycle on every second wednesday, respectively. Eg. 1-week1 in Wednesday June 4. It runs that evening and requests 2-week1. 2-week1 is inserted ~6 hours later (my media timeout is set to 16 hours), and then it needs to be selected and proceed clicked before it will use it, even though it shows in the media request window as 2-week1. This then happens again when 2-week1 fills and it requests 3-week1. The whole process recurrs with the other set when Wednesday June 11 comes around and 1-week2 tape fills. It always properly takes the 1- tapes without further confirmation, but the 2- and 3- tapes always require proceed be clicked, even though they always show properly in the tape request window. They do show up grey in that window though, probably because I told it to recycle the 1-tape and it 'forgets' the set catalogue at that point. Are you running the same sort of backups without this media request happening? If so, we should compare preferences and settings 1-1 all the way through, if you have time. At another location I have a standalone Windows 2000 Pro workstation with a Travan 40 drive, running Retrospect Single Server and it exhibits precisely the same behavior with tape requests. Thanks for your help, D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2003 ^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2003 The plot thickens. I have three backup scripts: 1. Server (local hard disks) 2. Workgroup 1 (5 workstations) 3. Workgroup 2 (7 workstations) Last night, Server ran as scheduled, no errors. It then ran Workgroup 1 as scheduled. It filled tape 2 of the 3 tape set and requested tape 3. Tape 3 was placed in the drive but I didn't click proceed. 12 hours later the media request timed out (I have my media request timeout set to 12 hours). BUT It failed the Workgroup 1 script with "execution incomplete" because I didn't click proceed on the tape, but it ran Workgroup 2 immediately following the media timeout and it worked properly, using tape 3 without me needed to click proceed. It changed the set member logo from grey to black. So it appears there is a glitch in that Retrospect DOES know the right media is in the drive but has to timeout the request before it will go ahead and use the media correctly anyway. Could someone at Dantz please test this and let me know how to get around it? This is the last of the bugs I've worked around on my own and it would be utterly fantastic to finally have it running truly unattended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted June 18, 2003 Report Share Posted June 18, 2003 If the tape is available when requested, as in a tape library or in chained tape drives, Retrospect will automatically grab the tape, erase it and continue writing. If the correct tape is not found automatically, Retrospect will go into interactive mode and wait for instruction from the user. Any tape inserted at that point will require the user to "Proceed." After manually inserting the tape, you will need to manually hit the "Proceed" button. When the second script launches, the correct media is already available, which is why the backup proceeds automatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2003 This is a single DDS4 DAT drive. How can I have it complete the current script when the media is inserted, without pressing proceed? Why is it interactive for the current (what matters) script, yet runs properly and unattended for the following script? All in all, not unattended operation. Thanks, D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 19, 2003 Report Share Posted June 19, 2003 Is this 6.0 or 6.5 of Retrospect. Media handling is different for the two versions. http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=kbase&ACTION=KBASE&id=27941 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 21, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2003 Hi, this is version 6.0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2003 ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 24, 2003 Report Share Posted June 24, 2003 When using a script, Retrospect will automatically take any tape that is erased or named identical to what it is looking for, like 1-backup set A (at the time of a recycle backup or when requesting a new tape). You should not need to set any other options. If Retrospect is not automatically taking a tape like that, then a rare device communication could be involved. A normal "backup" script has the "check media" option available when you do a "Check Script" form the directory. This will often help. If you turn on auto-skip to blank media in the preferences, we will take any erased tape at any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 25, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2003 Quote: Mayoff said: When using a script, Retrospect will automatically take any tape that is erased or named identical to what it is looking for, like 1-backup set A (at the time of a recycle backup or when requesting a new tape). You should not need to set any other options. If Retrospect is not automatically taking a tape like that, then a rare device communication could be involved. Please give me more details about this. It's a standard Seagate DDS4 SCSI drive that has worked 100% with Veritas software for years. Actually, the drive was just replaced in-warranty because the previous motors failed. Brand new drive, same model and config. Brand new tapes, all verified, cleaning at greater-than-recommended frequency (all this was before Veritas was removed and Retrospect was installed). Quote: A normal "backup" script has the "check media" option available when you do a "Check Script" form the directory. This will often help. If you turn on auto-skip to blank media in the preferences, we will take any erased tape at any time. Check media under devices shows the correct media in the drive, but grey member logo. I have not yet checked the media manually because it is always mid-script when it asks for additional tapes and I have to manually click proceed. Skip to blank is currently enabled, but this behavior occurrs regardless of this setting. Thanks for your help and further info, this is the last workaround I need to do in order to finally get the software running as I would like it to be. I found it hard to believe Dantz wouldn't make the software run properly unattended, so perhaps I am affected by this 'rare device communication' issue. Please give me more details. Thanks, D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 25, 2003 Report Share Posted June 25, 2003 If you use the Check Script>Check Media command, and the check completes successfully then your unnattended backup should take that tape. If the unnattended (scripted) backup fails to take the tape, then that could be an indication of a device communication issue of some type. Run a test. Go to Configure>Preferences and set all preferences to Use Default Create a new backup script. Create a new backup set as the destination Don't schedule the script Go to Configure>Devices and erase a tape Go to the Run menu and Run the new script. What happens? Retrospect should take this tape. If it does not, then something in the device communication path is preventing us from correctly identifying this as a valid tape to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 25, 2003 Report Share Posted June 25, 2003 If you do not use an erased tape during the process of doing a recycle backup, Retrospect will display a media request confirmation dialog to proceed and erase the tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2003 Quote: Mayoff said: If you do not use an erased tape during the process of doing a recycle backup, Retrospect will display a media request confirmation dialog to proceed and erase the tape. These are set members, but not erased. They are the correct members though. I don't think erasing tapes manually ahead of time is unattended operation. Similarly, if Retrospect cannot take the correct tape to recycle it without requiring a proceed button be clicked, how is that unattended operation either? I want it to proceed and use the correct tape that is inserted without asking for proceed to be clicked, regardless if the tape is empty, erased or full, but as long as it is the correct member that Retrospect is requesting at the time. Again, it seems to take the tape fine after a media request timeout occurs, then the next job that needs that set takes the tape in the drive fine, without proceed button even coming up. Why would it ask during the running script, then not again for the next script's execution? Thanks for your help, I'd really like to finally resolve this because it is the last (large) issue I am having, and I don't want to have to remotely log into these servers multiple times every week just to click proceed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2003 Quote: Mayoff said: If you use the Check Script>Check Media command, and the check completes successfully then your unnattended backup should take that tape. If the unnattended (scripted) backup fails to take the tape, then that could be an indication of a device communication issue of some type. Run a test. Go to Configure>Preferences and set all preferences to Use Default Create a new backup script. Create a new backup set as the destination Don't schedule the script Go to Configure>Devices and erase a tape Go to the Run menu and Run the new script. What happens? Retrospect should take this tape. If it does not, then something in the device communication path is preventing us from correctly identifying this as a valid tape to use. Yes, takes the tape fine (automatically use new or erased media, that's a given). I understand that we could manually erase tapes ahead of time but that's very inconvenient and should be unneccessary for unattended backups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THolm Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 I have a multi-tape changer, have prefs set to "skip to blank tape" but was running into the same problem (being that I remove my tapes off-site daily and that my tapes are already appropriately named). Amy had suggested configuring the Backup set to skip by: Configure>Backup Sets>BACKUP SET NAME>Configure>Options>Action>Skip This works fine for the NEXT backup, but then resets itself to NOT SKIP. So this has to be repeated on each storage set for each backup daily. Then it will skip to the next appropriately named tape. Is there a way to make this stay "set to skip" until you "toggle" it off? Please see the following page for my original question: http://forums.dantz.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=suggestionsx&Number=26864&fpart=&PHPSESSID= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 Configure>Preferences has an automatic skip to blank media option you can leave on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted June 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 So for me it's back to step 1, that RetroSpect cannot run unattended? a. I need to erase tapes manually before the scheduled script = not unattended. Or b. I need to click proceed when the correct tape is already inserted = not unattended. Or c. I need to wait for the media timeout and then the next scheduled script that uses the same set will correctly use the tape that is in the drive, even though the previous script requested a proceed click that was never given = not unattended because the current script doesn't finish. Could someone from Dantz please confirm if version 6.5 exhibits the same unattended limitations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted July 1, 2003 Report Share Posted July 1, 2003 6.5 will work the same way as prior versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THolm Posted July 7, 2003 Report Share Posted July 7, 2003 I don't think you are understanding the problem. Retrospect works fine on the 1st backup (which is a RECYCLE backup) because it CAN find the tape it is looking for. If you remove the tapes used in the FULL Recycle Backup and put in the NEXT appropriately named member (from the previous backup cycle), Retrospect will ask for the LAST tape that it wrote to. At this point, IF you've ERASED the tape (and you've set the Preferences to "Automatically Skip", you're OK. If you HAVEN'T ERASED the tape (even though its named the way Retrospect will name the next tape), it will stop at the dialog box. I run multiple backups out of the same 20 tape changer, so it is impractical for me to have MULTIPLE ERASED tapes in the changer. Retrospect may choose the WRONG erased tape and I end up having to check which tapes got used in each backup and moving labels to match what Retrospect named them. Why can't the Preferences be: "Skip to Blank OR Next Media"?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted July 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2003 Exactly. This breaks unattended operation. I've gone back to Backup Exec on one of my servers. When the correct tape is placed in the drive, guess what? It reuses it. No buttons, no pre-erases. If there is ANY workaround or patch that Dantz can offer for version 6.0 and 6.5 (since Mayoff confirmed it is broken in 6.5 also), it would be VERY well received! This is the last nagging issue with Retrospect that I need to work out, and also the most brickwalling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted July 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted July 15, 2003 Report Share Posted July 15, 2003 We do not consider the program "broken" - it is functioning the way it was designed. There are no workarounds or patches available. Product suggestions can be logged in the Product Suggestions forum or through Product Feedback Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrin Posted July 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2003 Why would anyone design something that is normally run when no one is around to require someone be around Back to Veritas product on 2 of the "upgraded" RetroSpect servers. Working 100% every op, no errors. I can't in good conscience recommend Dantz product to any future customers. You've just admitted that this operation is intentional. It's true, you get what you pay for and RetroSpect is much less expensive than Veritas' offerings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.