Backup Set Rotation?

[glaviolette]

I am using Backup Server with an HP SureStore DLT 418 Autoloader. I have a server script setup with three backup set destinations (Backup Set A, B & C). I loaded the drive with the first tape named "1-Backup Set A" and then erased the rest as "Untitled". The first couple of days it appears to work correctly, grabbing the untitled tapes and naming them correctly (i.e. 2-Backup Set A...). About the second day backup server started grabbing the untitled media and naming it "1-Backup Set B" for use in that backup set. After talking with Dantz they recommended that I specifically label all the media for the appropriate backup set (i.e. 6-Backup Set A, 7-Backup Set A...). It still continued to use the newly labeled media, probably as it had a status as "erased". I tried reordering the backup sets in the list of the script, putting my current backup set at the top of the list but it would still use the next destination.

 

 

 

For the time being I have removed all of the other backup set destinations from the script except for the one that is currently in use. My current theory is that once all the media for each backup set has been written to I might be able to add all the backup set destinations back to the script as the media isn't "erased", however I'm sure there will be a day when I need to add more appendable media to a backup set and I fear the same problem will occur?

 

 

 

All I could find in the documentation on this subject is on pg 81 "Rotate Among Backup Sets". "Create multiple backup sets and use them all as destinations in your Backup Server script. Rotate through the sets by inserting different media in the backup device each day. The Backup Server uses whatever media you inserted."

 

 

 

Also, Backup Sets tab in Server is a little puzzling. If I add all the destinations to my script (Backup Set A, B & C), and there is no apendable media in the drive, this tab will show all the backup sets and all with a state of "Ready". If I add appendable media to the drive, the state still shows as "Ready". When does it not show "Ready"? How can this be if there isn't any media available for them to append to? There isn't much in the documentation on how this tab works and it's possible different states.

 

 

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

Greg LaViolette

[lv2ski]

can you list out the EXACT scenario rotation scheme that you want to achive? I am still unclear at what you want it to do.

[glaviolette]

I have three backup sets (Backup Set A, B & C). I want to rotate between the sets weekly, recycling each set every two weeks, that should give me 6 weeks worth of data. Currently I will put 8 tapes in the autoloader on a Friday at the start of a new catalog (i.e. Backup Set A), then on Monday I take all those tapes out and fill the autoloader with tapes for the rest of the week. On Friday I remove those tapes to take off site for two weeks, and then fill the autoloader again with the next backup set tapes (Backup Set . I'm expecting it to rotate through the Destinations each week as I change the tapes, instead it is using them all simultaneously.

 

 

 

My Backup Server script is simply all my server shares as the "Sources" and currently I have only one "Destinations" as the current backup set week (i.e. Backup Set A) because if I add more destinations, it will grab the "erased" media and use for another backup set. Then I have it selecting all files, once every day with a schedule of M-F 4PM-10AM and the all hours on the weekend.

 

 

 

If I look how the script reads it seems to say "Backup these sources to the ALL these destinations once every day within these hours". Which is what it seems to be doing, but then how do you rotate among backup sets? I know I could create basic scripts and solve the problem, but it seems I should be able to do this with server...

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

Greg LaViolette