Still missing important tape backup handling features

[TommyB]

Hi,

I'm still missing the following functionality in Veeam 7:

(I'm using a single standalone tape drive)

- Notify me via email when tape is full, add name(s) of "next free" tape(s) into this email.
- Option to eject tape when it is full
- Notify me via email when wrong tape is in tape drive.
- Option to define more than one person to be notified = multiple email addresses (this is nice-to-have, I could probably solve this by using distribution groups on my exchange server)

Thomas

[Dima P.]

Hello Thomas,
Thank you for your feedback!

Notify me via email when tape is full, add name(s) of "next free" tape(s) into this email.

Correct me if I am wrong - you want to get a notification email containing the name of the tape(s) which is next in backup to tape operation?

Option to eject tape when it is full

This option is in the Tape Job settings - Eject media once the job finishes check box

- Notify me via email when wrong tape is in tape drive.

Same as the first one - notification that wrong tape is loaded and needs to be changed to the correct tape?

Option to define more than one person to be notified

Granular tape notification option was already added to the feature list; however currently it is possible in the general notifications for VBR to add multiple recipients “ ; “ (no quotes) separated.

[veremin]

Option to eject tape when it is full

The QA team has just confirmed that if you have “Eject media once the job finishes” option enabled, the corresponding tape medium will be automatically ejected when it gets full and you will be asked to input another cassette in order for tape job to continue.

Thanks.

[rgcooper]

The QA team has just confirmed that if you have “Eject media once the job finishes” option enabled, the corresponding tape medium will be automatically ejected when it gets full and you will be asked to input another cassette in order for tape job to continue.

Thanks.

Odd, I had tried this with an IBM TS3500 library and after the job ran the tape stayed in the drive. Next, I tried to dump another Veeam tape backup to the same drive/tape and the backup job was waiting for the tape to mount (even though the tape was still in the drive). To work around, I used the TS3500 web gui to dismount and remount the tape in the drive which resulted in the Veeam tape backup job progressing and eventually finishing successfully.

Thomas, what previous backup environment are you coming from?

[veremin]

Hi, Robert. Even before patch#1 was introduced, “Eject media once the job finishes” option had worked properly with tape libraries. So, if you’re experiencing different behavior, kindly, open a ticket with our support team and let them investigate it directly.

Thanks.

[dualdj1]

I experience the same issue when the job is scheduled as: As new backup files appear. Could this be because the job is running continuous and never truly "ends", even though the current operation may be completed? Both my incremental and full tapes stayed in the drives of my library, until I ejected them. I would much prefer that they eject after the current set of passes on my backup jobs completes. Also, following erase operation, you have to manually eject the tapes as well. Can this be at least added as an option, if eject isn't the default post erase operation?

The manual eject command works just fine for me.

[veremin]

Hi, Jason,

According to QA team, currently automatic ejecting doesn’t work in case of “continuous” job schedule. However, it should be fixed in one of the next product patches/releases.

Thanks.

[dualdj1]

Thanks, maybe it's not realistic to have it eject right away, if you have jobs that trigger the tape backup, that have "gaps" in run time. Maybe a more realistic feature would be "eject after idle X min/hour". Appreciate you looking into it.

[veremin]

Ok, thanks for the feedback. According to the recent information, this functionality will be added not in the patch, but in the next product release.

[TommyB]

Hi,

just enabled the eject feature again after installing V8 last weekend... unfortunately, this is still not working as expected - or at least not as I would expect

The tape (no. 1 of 3) got ejected after it was full, but the tape job did not wait for the next tape to be inserted but instead stopped and sent an error notification by email:

Tape library: HP Ultrium 4-SCSI
Used tapes: FT_2.1
Tape not exchanged. Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.
The specified network name is no longer available
The specified network name is no longer available
The specified network name is no longer available
The specified network name is no longer available

Probably I need to open a support case for this.

Thomas

[Dima P.]

Thomas,

Please open a support case and post the case ID to this thread, so I could forward it to QA team. Thank you.

[TommyB]

Case ID: 00674591 - I also included full log information

[Dima P.]

Thomas,

Thank you for the provided information, we will look into this.

[Dima P.]

Thomas,

QA confirmed such behavior as unexpected. Please, continue working with support team, once the fix is ready they would let you know. Thank you for your patience and sorry for any inconvenience caused.

[TommyB]

Support fixed this a few days ago via a hotfix.

But there still is an important functional difference between "eject when job finished" and "eject tape when full".

I'm running a weekly tape backup cycle that copies the nightly VM backups to tape the next morning each day.

So on Monday the backup fills 3 tapes with full backups - each of them gets ejected by the "eject when job finished" setting.

But since the last one is not completely filled, it should stay in the drive to be ready for the following tape backup cycle on Tuesday morning that adds new incremental backups from Monday night to the tape.

And despite the notification settings, I did not get any emails telling me to insert the next tape.

[Dima P.]

Thomas,
I am glad hotfix helped you to get the issue resolved! We will look into eject options for further releases. Notification for ‘waiting tapes’ case will be enabled in the upcoming patch, however it will be pretty straightforward (since it is the patch and we can’t include any features into patches)

[veremin]

For now you can probably put simple PS script into use. It will check the status of drive and let you know in accordance. Thanks.

[TommyB]

Thank you both - I wished all vendors I'm working with would be so quick and responsive like Veeam (you can quote me on that

regards
Thomas