++ Blank tape and set new label per command line / start bat ++

Question

Hello, 
 as far as I see NetVault attaches each job data to the inserted tape instead of overwriting it. This results in a backup faleid, because media is full. My questions are: Is it possible to overwrite the tape from the beginning on and not after the last set, to always have the full tape capacity available? Is it possible to blank the tape media using nvblankmedia or nvbulkblankmedia? (I did some tests, but it looks like only libraries are working with it!?) Is it possible to label a media and set as label the current date/time for example? Thanks in advance for your tips.

Andre.Cooley · Accepted Answer

JD168 
 
I'd like to help and answer some of your questions. 
So, Yes, it is possible to overwrite a tape from the beginning, but the tape must first reach the criteria of being "Marked for reuse" 
This is when a tape, regardless of Full or not has expired savesets on it. 
If a Full or empty tape has all indexes expired on it, and it it able to be reused via the "Target Set" definition, then it will be reused. 
However, if you want it to continually overwrite the tape after the last set, then you must set the expiration of that set to not exceed the point of when the next time the tape is to be used again. 
So, it would work something like this: 
Tape A is 500GB - it has a 200GB backup written to it. 
The 200GB backup on the tape is the first job on the tape as well. 
The 200GB job has a retention to expire after 5 days as if this job runs every 6th. 
The tape will be marked for reuse after its expiration on the 5th day. 
 
This is easy to do when you only have a single job written to the tape. However, if you have another job write to that tape the next day, that starts the expiration countdown all over again, and now you have an extra day added on until the tape can get reused. 
 
*Note that this is designed this way to protect data from being overwritten* 
 
So, in order to get around this, you basically have to set the backup job to retire every day, and then on the last day of the week, use the same set, but schedule that job to run at a different time so its retired before it runs. 
 
There is another option which is based on generations, which would be retirement after a FULL, but this would not work if you want the tape to be overwritten everytime. This is because there will always be a Full on the tape that needs to run before the previous can be overwritten - UNLESS - you send the FULL to a different tape. As long as it is the same job, if you had two tapes working side by side, you can realistically alternate between the two where the tapes will always be ready for reuse. 
That is my response to question 1. 
 
Question 2: 
You cannot use bulkblank operations if you do not have a library. If we are talking about multiple individual drives, then each drive is its own entity and needs to be managed individually. 
 
Question3: 
By Default, NetVault labes the media with the first timestamp that is written to it. If that tape is reused, it does not erase the header, so it will still have the same timestamp. You can disable this option by going into the "Settings" of the NV Server->General and checking the box "Use Barcodes As Labels" - then on the target tab set a meaningfull label for the tape or use a group label, however it does not keep updating the date and time everytime its written to. 
 
Please let me know if you have any further questions. 
If you would like more information and assistance on this and you are in the US hours, then you can create a Service request on the Support Portal and ask for Andre. I will be happy to help. My hours are M-F - 8am-5pm Pacific Time.

Andre.Cooley · Answer

Hi, 
Did you change the retention time on a specific job? 
Keep in mind, a saveset has its own retention, so if there are other savesets on the same media that have a different expiration or a longer one, then the tape will not be expired until that one is. This is why you may have to manually expire some tapes still. 
Also, if the saveset is part of a string of incremental or full that is not yet expired, then the tape will not be expired as well. 
If you change the retention on a job, it does not change the retention on the tape, it just changes the retention for future savesets. All previous savesets will still have the original/old retention and will expire at that time unless manually changed.

Andre.Cooley · Answer

Reuse will mark the tapes for re-use so the tapes can be overwritten, but until they are overwritten, the old backups/savesets are still there. 
It is best not to use a different Retention for each job because that could cause issues with tapes never expiring due to all the mixed retention periods. 
It is best to have a couple different retentions and stick to those. 
For example a retention set for your Fulls, Retention set for Incs, and another maybe for any type of monthly/bi-yearly/yearly backups.