Helper service automatic but inactive; erasing tapes automatically?

[tboncher]

My client is running SBS 2003 with the appropriate downloaded version of Retrospect to match (as of early January). I have two questions:

 

1. The "Retrospect Helper" service has a startup of "Automatic" but I never see it running. I have not had problems with any backups, but it does show up on the daily server error log as "not started". Is there any way to resolve the error condition if there is no operational problem (could I set it to "Manual")?

 

2. I am relatively new to Dantz's products, but have worked quite a bit with CA and Veritas. I am looking for an option to automatically erase tapes from the job. Something like "Overwrite with same name" would be best, but "Overwrite any" would work too.

 

Thanks, Tom.

[natew]

Hi

 

The helper service "helps" restore the registry/ active directory after a full disk restore. It is only run at that time so what you are seeing is normal.

 

The preference you are looking for is "automatically re-use prenamed media" and can be found in the media handling prefence. Retrospect does not have a "use any tape" option so you will find it to be more picky about which tapes it will automatically erase.

 

Nate

[tboncher]

Thanks for your reply. However, one follow-up "helper" question if I may:

 

If the helper service is only used for restores of registry/AD, would there be any reason to not set the service to "manual"? I would presume that such a restore would require enough server function that the service could be started manually and/or set back to automatic if needed.

 

Thanks, Tom.