How to perform Media Management with standalone Drives in NetBackup.

Problem

How to perform Media Management with standalone Drives in NetBackup.

Solution

NetBackup is designed primarily to work with Robotic Libraries with barcode readers, and with media that have barcode labels. When an inventory is run on a robotic library with a barcode reader (and media with valid barcode labels), the Inventory communicates with the robot to determine which media is in what slot, based upon the barcode label on the tape.

In a standalone drive, there is no mechanism to read a barcode label (even if one were on the media in the standalone drive).  Therefore, most of the automated media management processes that work on a robotic library with a barcode reader must be performed manually with standalone drives (or with media without barcode labels in a robot or in a robot that does not support barcode labels)

General Notes On NetBackup Media Management in a Standalone Tape Drive:

• The NetBackup Automatic Volume Recognition (AVR) daemon will read the backup header information from the physical tape once the tape is inserted into the drive. If the tape is new, there will be NO header, and the AVR daemon will generate a new media ID (usually A00000, A00001, ... by default). This auto-generated media ID will be used when the tape is first written to -OR- it can be overwritten by the NetBackup "Label" process.
• User-defined 'external' media ID label: If an 'external' media ID sticker/label is placed on the tape, the tape can then be labeled in NetBackup with an Internal media ID (the "Recorded media ID" written to the tape). This will write the label to the tape and place this name in NetBackup's database.
• NetBackup Media ID conventions: NetBackup only recognizes a 6-digit alpha-numeric combination as a media ID. (A00000; NBU001, 0011L2, etc...) If placing 'external' labels on tapes, they should follow this naming convention so the "external media id" and the (internal) 'Recorded Media ID' match.

How to Label new media in a standalone tape drive (to match an external label):

Note: A NEW media can be labeled from the NetBackup Administration Console or from the command line:

To "label' a tape in a Standalone tape drive from the NetBackup Administration Console:

1. Open the NetBackup Administration Console > Media
2. Select the media by the temporary media ID created by the AVR process (A00000, A00001, ...)
3. Right-click the media and select "Label"
4. Follow the wizard specifying the 6-digit alpha-numeric media ID that MATCHES the 'external' media label

To "label' a tape in a Standalone tape drive from the command line:

1. Open a command prompt to the install_path\Veritas\volmgr\bin directory:
2. Run the command: tpconfig -d
3. Make note of the Drive Index, the Drive Name, and Drive Type for the next command.
4. Insert a tape (that already has a media ID in the NetBackup Volume Database created in step 1) into the standalone drive.
5. Open a command prompt to the install_path\Veritas\NetBackup\bin\admincmd directory:
6. Run the command: bplabel -m <mediaID> -d <density> -o -p <volume_pool> -u <drive_index>

Ex ample:
bplabel -m NBU001 -d hcart -o -p NetBackup -u 0

Note: if running this command from any NetBackup server other than the server where the standalone drive is physically attached, you will need to specify the -host <media_server_name> option to the end of the above command line to specify that server.

To confirm the media ID you created has been written to the tape in the standalone tape drive:

Open the NetBackup Administration Console > Device Monitor and check the column "Recorded Media ID" for the Standalone tape drive.  It should be seen that the media ID (created by one of the above methods) has been written to the tape currently in the standalone tape drive.

To Inventory media that has already been written to in a Standalone tape drive (and to update that volume in the Volume database):

For media that has already been labeled and written to by NetBackup; you can perform a physical inventory on the standalone drive or robot to update the Volume DB:

1. Open a command prompt to the install_path\Veritas\volmgr\bin directory.
2. Run the command: vmphyinv -u <drive_index> -h <media_server_name> -verbose

Example:
vmphyinv -u 0 -h Master1 -verbose

For media with no Barcode labels in a Robotic Library

1. Open a command prompt to the install_path\Veritas\volmgr\bin directory
2. Run the command: vmphyinv -rn <robot_number> -rh <robot_control_host> -slot_range <from> <to> -d <density>

Example:
vmphyinv -rn 1 -rh Master1 -slot_range 2 6 -d hcart

Note: If you have media that has been previously written to by NetBackup (at a different site, or at this site and the images have expired); the Image information on the media can be recovered for restores by "Importing" the image information directly from the tape into the NetBackup databases. The "Import" operation can be run from either the NetBackup Administration Console or from the command line, and consists of 2 phases: phase 1 recreates the catalog entries for the backups that are on a specified media; phase 2 creates the backup image index files from the specified media (After phase 1 has completed)

To "import" media in a Standalone tape drive (or media in a robotic tape drive that does not have a barcode label):

1. Inventory the media (per the above directions).
2. Run the Phase 1 Inventory on the media to display the images that were found on the media.
3. Run the Phase 2 Inventory ONLY on the images that need to be recovered for the restore job(s).

To Import media from the NetBackup Admin Console:

Phase 1:

1. Open the NetBackup Administration Console and highlight Catalogs
2. Click on the Actions drop-down menu & select "Initiate Import"
3. Select the Media server running the import job as the Media Server:
   • Enter the <media ID> in the text box Media ID:
4. Click OK; track progress from the Results tab in the bottom right-pane

Phase 2:

1. Open NetBackup Administration Console and highlight Catalogs
2. Select Import from the Action drop-down box in the right-pane
3. Select <media ID>  from the Media ID drop-down box
4. Enter the Date / time range > Between & And ranges for day the backup job was originally run (ex: 1/15/18 12:00 AM & 1/17/18 12:00 PM)
5. Click the Search Now button to display images for import
6. Highlight the Images to import from the Images listed
7. Click on the Actions drop-down menu and select "Import"
8. Track progress from the Results tab in the bottom right-pane

To import media from the NetBackup command line to the install_path\NetBackup\bin\admincmd directory:

Phase 1:

Run the command: bpimport -create_db_info  -id <media ID>  -server <media host hostname>

Example: bpimport -create_db_info  -id NBU001  -server Master1

To display the information about the backups that are candidates for import (After Step 1):

Run the command: bpimport -PM  -s <start date> -e <end date>

Example: bpimport -PM  -s 1/15/2018 -e 1/17/2018

Phase 2:

Run the command: bpimport -client <client name> -backupid <backup_id> -id <media ID> \

Example: bpimport -client Master1 -backupid Master1_1516060800 -id NBU001

For further information on managing media in a Standalone tape drive in NetBackup, please review the documents in the "Related Documents" section below.