Backup Strategy

[94ce473c-394c-419b-9502-5b5c8e7fcba7]

Hi,

 

i've a question about a backup strategy. I've 5 tapes (LTO-5) for one week, and would like to cycle through more off this sets.

So i made a media-set with "Week-1" and added 5 Tapes to this set. Is it right, that i have to insert always the absolutely right tape? (1-Week-1, 2-Week-1 ....)? Can i configure Retrospect, to accept tape 3 automatically also if normally tape 2 would be in the order?

 

I've also read about that "Weekday" set's but would like to prefer one set per week, because assuming that the data would grow faster, to have a set of 5 tape to store the files on.

 

Also there should be an initial backup on Monday, and after that store the differente files to the next tape. Is there any change to realize that?

[twickland]

i've a question about a backup strategy. I've 5 tapes (LTO-5) for one week, and would like to cycle through more off this sets.

So i made a media-set with "Week-1" and added 5 Tapes to this set. Is it right, that i have to insert always the absolutely right tape? (1-Week-1, 2-Week-1 ....)? Can i configure Retrospect, to accept tape 3 automatically also if normally tape 2 would be in the order?

 

I've also read about that "Weekday" set's but would like to prefer one set per week, because assuming that the data would grow faster, to have a set of 5 tape to store the files on.

 

Also there should be an initial backup on Monday, and after that store the differente files to the next tape. Is there any change to realize that?

Don't get confused between Media Sets and tape members. A tape media set consists of a catalog and one or more tape members. The members are filled in numerical order, so you cannot write to tape 3 of a media set until tape 2 is filled (or until you manually skip to tape 3, in which case you could no longer write to the rest of the blank space on tape 2). Also, each catalog belongs to a specific media set, and doesn't share its information with other media sets. Thus, if a particular file has been backed up to "Media Set A" and you load the tape for "Media Set B" and run a backup, that same file will also be written to Media Set B. You can't perform an initial backup to Media Set A and then have only the changed files backed up to Media Set B.

 

 

It is a good idea to have more than one media set, and it sounds like this may be what you really have in mind. You can write a single backup script that will write to different media sets on different days, or if you prefer, you could use several scripts. With a standard backup script, the correct media member needs to be in the tape drive or the script will not run. If you want the backup to run no matter what media set is available, you would need to write a proactive backup script.

 

Only you can decide how many backup sets you need and the best way for you to rotate among your different media sets. You could use different sets for different groups of sources. Then for each group of sources, you might choose to use a different set for each day of the week, or two sets for alternating weeks, etc. etc. The more sets you have for backing up a given group of sources, of course, the more blank tape you'll need, since each backup set will contain data that duplicates what's in the other backup sets.

[94ce473c-394c-419b-9502-5b5c8e7fcba7]

If you want the backup to run no matter what media set is available, you would need to write a proactive backup script.

 

OK, once again:

 

Tried it with a proactive Sript:

- "Source" is the HDD with the data on

- "Media set" is set to a set of 5 LTO-5 tapes

- "Rules" is set to all files

- Schedule is set to:

-- Back up sorces every 2 hours

-- for every day of the week

-- from 00:00 o'clock

-- to 00:00 o'clock

 

In the activity monitor I see that the script was running long time ago, but now there is always "Script not running" and the backup isn't working.

 

Is there something that I have to look at?

 

In the user manual there is a paragraph with:

When you want to rotate or introduce new media, do Recycle or New Media Set backups by executing regular backup scripts using the same Media Sets used by your Proactive Backup scripts. You can schedule these or manually run them from Retrospect’s Scripts view.

To manually set a Media Set for a Recycle, configure the Media Set and set the media action.

 

What does it mean for the proactive backup? Do i have to touch the medium with a normal backup, to be recognized by the proactive backup?

 

Many questions.

[twickland]

Do i have to touch the medium with a normal backup, to be recognized by the proactive backup?

No.

 

In the activity monitor I see that the script was running long time ago, but now there is always "Script not running" and the backup isn't working.

This seems to suggest that you were able to perform at least one backup.

 

Can you post a screenshot of the script window with the summary details of your script?

[94ce473c-394c-419b-9502-5b5c8e7fcba7]

No.

 

 

This seems to suggest that you were able to perform at least one backup.

 

Can you post a screenshot of the script window with the summary details of your script?

 

Sure here in german, when you need it in english GUI i could switch an upload it again.

[94ce473c-394c-419b-9502-5b5c8e7fcba7]

And here is week 2:

[94ce473c-394c-419b-9502-5b5c8e7fcba7]

OK I'm coming closer: Deactivated Script for week 2 and immediately the proactive script for week 1 was running. Would keep it deactivated for further testing.

Now he claims i should insert a media for week 1, but there IS a media from week 1 inserted.

 

He wants the media "Woche-1 unknown" but as you see in the media overview the tapes are labled: "1-Woche-1", "2-Woche-1", "3-Woche-1" and so on.

 

Why is he requesting "Woche-1 unknown" :glare:

[twickland]

Why is he requesting "Woche-1 unknown" :glare:

I don't know the reason for the particular terminology (I haven't seen that myself) but...

 

 

Now he claims i should insert a media for week 1, but there IS a media from week 1 inserted.

 

...the problem here is that you have inserted member 5 of media set Week-1, but your list of media set members indicates that the member of Week-1 that Retrospect wants is member 2. Try putting in the correct member and see if the backup proceeds as it should.

Deactivated Script for week 2 and immediately the proactive script for week 1 was running. Would keep it deactivated for further testing.

I'm not sure why this should be the case. If multiple proactive scripts are scheduled to run at the same time, Retrospect should run whichever ones that it can, depending on what sources and media sets are available at the time.

 

How many Activity Threads are you allowing Retrospect to perform (the default is 8)? (You can find this information in the General tab of Retrospect Preferences.)

 

Some users have reported different bugs with the various localized versions of Retrospect. Perhaps this is one of those issues.

[94ce473c-394c-419b-9502-5b5c8e7fcba7]

...the problem here is that you have inserted member 5 of media set Week-1, but your list of media set members indicates that the member of Week-1 that Retrospect wants is member 2. Try putting in the correct member and see if the backup proceeds as it should.

 

Where do you see that? In the second screenshot he claims "Select media: Woche-1 unknow", but as you see in the first screen where is no member called like that?

Why does retrospect wants that media? I thought Retrospect would look in the media member table, which media to choose.

 

 

How many Activity Threads are you allowing Retrospect to perform (the default is 8)? (You can find this information in the General tab of Retrospect Preferences.)

 

Some users have reported different bugs with the various localized versions of Retrospect. Perhaps this is one of those issues.

 

Yes the settings are set to 8 activity threads.

[twickland]

Where do you see that?

Your screenshot of your Tandberg LTO-5 tape drive shows member "5-Woche-1" in the drive.

[94ce473c-394c-419b-9502-5b5c8e7fcba7]

Your screenshot of your Tandberg LTO-5 tape drive shows member "5-Woche-1" in the drive.

 

Yeah i understand, that Nr. 5 of the media set, correct. And he should do a backup on this media. But instead is is asking for "Woche-1 unknown" as in the first line of the same screenshot. And the question is: Why is is asking for a member which isn't part of the member table?

 

I thought he only wants one member from that 5 in the list?

[twickland]

I thought he only wants one member from that 5 in the list?

Yes. Based on the list you posted of your media set members, you should insert "2-Woche-1," because it would appear that this is the member Retrospect wants to write to. Retrospect would only want to write to "5-Woche-1" if something unusual happened to tell it to do this, like a fatal tape error or a manual skip to the next member. How do I know this? Because member "2-Woche-1" has only a little data written to it, and members "3-Woche-1," "4-Woche-1," and "5-Woche-1" have no data written to them. Retrospect writes to media set members in numerical order, and will not move on to the next member until the previous member is either full, encounters a fatal write error, or the operator (you) manually tells Retrospect to skip to the next member.

 

If, after inserting the correct media set member, you still cannot back up to this media set, there may be a problem with the catalog. If this is the case, you would need to rebuild the catalog from the tapes.

[94ce473c-394c-419b-9502-5b5c8e7fcba7]

Retrospect writes to media set members in numerical order, and will not move on to the next member until the previous member is either full, encounters a fatal write error, or the operator (you) manually tells Retrospect to skip to the next member.

 

An i thought a proactive backup script would ignore that, and write to the tape which is inserted, no matter if it's the next in the list.

Is there any possibility to tell Retrospect to save to that member, no matter if it's next in the list or not?

[Lennart_T]

An i thought a proactive backup script would ignore that, and write to the tape which is inserted, no matter if it's the next in the list.

Is there any possibility to tell Retrospect to save to that member, no matter if it's next in the list or not?

No, not if it belongs to the same Media Set. Within a Media Set, Retrospect always uses tapes in sequence.

 

I assume (but haven't tested) that if you have a Proactive Script with many Media Sets as destination, that Retrospect will check which Media Set is available and use that Media Set.