6.5.350 Multiserver and Exabyte VXA-2, don't scan for media

[mpartyka]

Hello,

 

I have a Exabyte VXA-2 1x10 firewire autoloader. I am new to Retrospect so i am definately not certain that i am just not setting this up incorrectly.

 

I have two sets of 10 tapes ("Backup Set 1", and "Backup Set 2"), which i want to change out weekly and take the tapes offsite. I added each blank tape as members to the respective backup sets, named 1-Backup Set 1, 2-Backup Set 2, etc. And i have two backup scripts that rotate every other week.

 

The problem is that i expected the backup to grow automatically into the tapes it needed but this is not happening. First of all the tape it's looking for HAS to be loaded in the drive or Retrospect will wait asking for the media to be loaded, which is not how i understand it was to work. I thought it would scan all tapes until it found the appropriate tape then start the job. So i am probably talking about two issues here:

 

1-The loaded tapes are not scanned until the tape is found then the job starts, it simply sits waiting for the correct tape to be loaded.

 

2-The job does not seem to start were it left off on the last tape, and the next time it runs it sits asking for the next member to be loaded, is this expected behavior?

 

I updated the Exabyte firmware to the latest as well as the drive itself, but to no avail. The device, is set to NTpassthrough, I really didn't want to load the ASPI drivers if i didn't have to.

 

Can anyone tell me if what i am expecting is not possible with this version of Restrospect?

 

Thanks!

[nembot]

Hi,

 

If you only have one script, then check that you have 2 backup sets as destinations, check as well that your script schedule specified to which backup set you want to send your backup each day.

 

Thanks,

[nekr0phage]

Hi,

 

This drive should work without any problems. You do not mention which version of Retrospect you are using or which operating system it is on, though it must be a Windows machine to use NT Passthrough.

 

The best way to get Retrospect to use tapes without prompting is to make sure all the tapes are erased, leaving them "Untitled." Then go to Configure>Preferences>Media Request and enable the option for "Automatic skip to blank media."

 

Regarding issue #2 - Make sure the Action in your schedule is set to Normal and not New Member.

 

If you still have problems, please get back to us with OS/Retro version and more info on how the firewire drive is connected to the machine (onboard port/pci card/fw hub).

[RonaldL]

I believe there was an issue where the loader is not recognized when Retrospect is launched from a scheduled script. This issue should be resolved in Retrospect 7.5. Do the backups run properly if you manually start them?