How to copy all the files from ONLINE tapes

[hyvokar]

Hi,

I have a hundred not-too-well-sorted tapes, containing "files to tape" backups.
I have a tape library, capacity of ~20 tapes.

My goal is to copy of the contents of the tapes to another storage device. How can I do that easily?
Basically, I'd like to load the 20 tapes and copy their contents, then load next 20 and copy their content etc.

[Dima P.]

Hi hyvokar,

Load the tapes and go for file from tape restore to the new storage. If the tapes were not added to the Veeam B&R catalog - you might need to perform catalog operation on such media.

[hyvokar]

When I try that, I get an Warning, that I dozens of tapes are needed in restore.

https://unsee.cc/6cd9b80a/


Is there a way to clear all tape inventories and catalogs? I think that should do the trick

[Dima P.]

Every tape media in the media set 'knows' previously written tape media till the fist full backup made with file to tape job and it's asking for those tapes to build the folder history while performing the recovery of the folder structure and file content. Do you have access to these tapes?

[hyvokar]

I believe I do. However, my media sets are only 2-3 tapes each, so I guess I'm doing something wrong here.

[Dima P.]

hyvokar,

Then recovery should not be a problem. If you have all the media in place you should load the prompted tape during recovery process (you will see the notification in file from tape restore session). Cheers!

[hyvokar]

I may or may have not all the tapes needed. Also, I have no idea, which tape is which, so just trying randomly add the required tapes would take ages.

So, back to original question; How can I copy the contents of ONLY the online tapes?

[csydas]

Hey Hyvokar,

We ran into this with Veeam Support once, and their solution was hackish, but worked.

https://www.veeam.com/kb1471

Change the SqlDatabaseName key name here from whatever it currently is to _1 (e.g. if it's VeeamBackup, change ti to VeeamBackup_1). This will just make a new DB for veeam, it won't touch the old one.

Restart the Veeam Backup Service, then launch Veeam. Readd your tape infrastructure, and just catalog the currently inserted tapes. This should avoid the "look back to eternity for folders" issue.

When you're done, just change SqlDatabaseName back to the original name.

[Dima P.]

For each of the tape media loaded in to the library you can right click the tape, open it's properties and find out the exact list of files on this tape. Screen shot or right it down and go to File view. Under the Tape tree find the file from your tape media and hit restore.

We ran into this with Veeam Support once, and their solution was hackish, but worked.

This might be a solution but I strongly recommend to consult with our support team before making any modifications in backup server database.

[hyvokar]

Hey Hyvokar,

We ran into this with Veeam Support once, and their solution was hackish, but worked.

https://www.veeam.com/kb1471

Change the SqlDatabaseName key name here from whatever it currently is to _1 (e.g. if it's VeeamBackup, change ti to VeeamBackup_1). This will just make a new DB for veeam, it won't touch the old one.

Restart the Veeam Backup Service, then launch Veeam. Readd your tape infrastructure, and just catalog the currently inserted tapes. This should avoid the "look back to eternity for folders" issue.

When you're done, just change SqlDatabaseName back to the original name.

Thanks! This worked very well. Although I since I had ~100tapes, I had to split the restoring during the week and change SqlDataBaseName back and forth, but nevertheless, this made the task a lot easier. I wish this kind of feature would be built-in.

[veremin]

Instead of modifying product db, probably the easier and safer way will be to install separate backup server, add tape device to it and catalog the currently inserted tapes. You can simply remove this server afterwards. Thanks!

[hyvokar]

Hi,

Cant afford to buy a dedicated server for just reading tapes.
We used fiber connected tape library, so it's hard to connect to virtual servers.

ps. if anyone can suggest a tape library that plays well in vmware cluster, I'm all ears.

[Dima P.]

hyvokar,

You can install Veeam Community Edition on any physical server and connect your tape device to the community edition server for restore purposes. The only drawback of such approach - your tape device can no longer be user by primary backup server.

However, if library supports partitioning - you can give one partition to the primary backup server to continue regular tape outs, and second partition to Community Edition server for restores only.

[hyvokar]

"You can install Veeam Community Edition on any physical server and connect your tape device to the community edition server for restore purposes." That translates to buying a new server, since I don't have extra servers lying around here.

[Dima P.]

hyvokar,

You've said that tape library is connected to a physical machine (which most likely acts as a Tape proxy), so I was wondering if it's possible to use that server for your file restore project.

[hyvokar]

Ah ok. That server was decomissioned in last december. It wasnt tape proxy but a VBR server, so installing another edition on that would not have solved the problem.