Tape to remove after completed backup

[joe.watkins]

We have a client that uses a multi loader tape drive and we would like a report created to inform us of the tape that needs to be removed once the backup has completed successfully.
We did previously have a custom made PowerShell Script to inform us of this but this is no longer compatible with the newer version of Veeam.

The report we previously had working would inform us of the information below.


Tape Name Barcode Last Write Time Slot #
PS7443L5 PS7443L5 29/07/2016 06:07:59 Slot 3


If anyone is able to assist with creating this report for us it would be very much appreciated. If any further information is required please let me know.

Many thanks

Joe

[Shestakov]

Hello Joe and welcome to the community!
Are you on the latest version of Veeam ONE? There is a new report called Tape Exportation which appeared in v9.

[joe.watkins]

Hi Shestakov
Thanks for the reply. I had notice this report which looks close to what I want but it isn't showing my online media.

What I would like if possible would be a simple report which just tells the client which online media to remove. I think that if the client received a report of all tapes they wouldn't know what to do and I would like to make it as easy as possible for them.

I hope this makes sense.

[Shestakov]

The report intended to cover use cases like yours, if I understood you correctly.
It`s made for cases when some tapes were filled by backups, exported and admin needs to know which tapes are exported. If you want to take the tape off once the job is done why not to Export current media set upon job completion?
Thanks!

[Stan-san]

Hello all,

I have the same exact requirement as the topic starter so that I decided to continue this topic as it does not seem too old.

The challenge is to get a list of tapes which the customer needs to send offsite. With the "Tape exportation" report, you can only get the list of tapes which have already been exported.

Nikita, this recommendation

If you want to take the tape off once the job is done why not to Export current media set upon job completion?
Thanks!

would be helpful, but our tape library has 20 I/E slots while the tape jobs use more than 24 tapes. That means 4 tapes will never be exported automatically using the option you mentioned and will not get into the report.

My question is how to get around all the limitations and get simple and nice list of tapes which were used during the latest tape backup session? I am absolutely sure this is possible because the customer used DPM for tape backups prior to using VEEAM, and DPM had this report built-in, even though its reporting capabilities are quite limited.

So far I found several workarounds, but all of these require follow-on manual revision, filtering, etc.

[techgal64]

I would also like to be able to create a weekly report to tell me which tapes to removed. This report should ideally show which tapes were used for the weekly backup to tape jobs and which ones now need to be exported to go offsite.

I have created a report but it includes all the tapes for every job and just keeps getting longer!

[Shestakov]

In other words you want to get a list of tapes were getting written during a period of time? I.e. table with tape job, job runtime, tape(s) barcode?
Do you receive emails after the tape backup job completion by the way? As far as I understood what you request is a summary of all the received notifications.
Thanks!

[Stan-san]

In other words you want to get a list of tapes were getting written during a period of time? I.e. table with tape job, job runtime, tape(s) barcode?

Exactly. "Period of time" are the keywords. The "TAPE GFS BACKUP FILES" report is nice, but why it does not have any options to limit its output?
Take a look at the "BACKUP JOB HISTORICAL INFORMATION" report. It has predefined intervals (Current week, last week, etc.) AND, additionally, the possibility to specify any custom range.
The same functionality is crucial for the "TAPE GFS BACKUP FILES" report. And most likely for the other tape reports too.
By the way, I had a case 02083444 with the custom range question, and was advised to post a feature request on the forum. So this is considered to be a feature request

I.e. table with tape job, job runtime, tape(s) barcode?

Yes, and in addition to what you've named, it also would be nice to enumerate all the VMs which were included in the tape job.

Do you receive emails after the tape backup job completion by the way? As far as I understood what you request is a summary of all the received notifications.

I don't receive notifications on any tape jobs. Disk only. Are you trying to say that there is a way of getting the tapes IDs ready for offsite (in other words, written during the latest session) through a notification? Can you post a link to a doc how to achieve this?

[techgal64]

Hi Shestakov
I do get a daily report from veeam when a backup was completed, these backups are to a repository server, not to tape.

On the weekends the backups go to tapes (with a barcode) I would like a report Monday morning that shows me which tapes were used during the weekend backup and need to be exported to go offsite.

If I run Tape report but it shows me all tapes that have been used since starting with VB&R, I would like a report that just shows each weekend.
Julie

[Shestakov]

Stan,

The "TAPE GFS BACKUP FILES" report is nice, but why it does not have any options to limit its output?
Take a look at the "BACKUP JOB HISTORICAL INFORMATION" report. It has predefined intervals (Current week, last week, etc.) AND, additionally, the possibility to specify any custom range.
The same functionality is crucial for the "TAPE GFS BACKUP FILES" report. And most likely for the other tape reports too.

Initially we assumed that there GFS Media pools are not going to bu huge so we just gave an option to filter Media pools themselves, not the reporting interval, all the more report`s layout is not really predisposed to it.
By the way, there is a list of VMs backed up and date of the restore point.

I don't receive notifications on any tape jobs. Disk only. Are you trying to say that there is a way of getting the tapes IDs ready for offsite (in other words, written during the latest session) through a notification? Can you post a link to a doc how to achieve this?

I`m talking about regular tape job notification options.
Thanks!

[Shestakov]

Julie,

On the weekends the backups go to tapes (with a barcode) I would like a report Monday morning that shows me which tapes were used during the weekend backup and need to be exported to go offsite.
If I run Tape report but it shows me all tapes that have been used since starting with VB&R, I would like a report that just shows each weekend.

I`ve got your request. Looks like both your and Stan`s demand could be fulfilled by something like Taps Job report concentrating on jobs themselves, rather than media pools and backup files.
Thanks!

[Stan-san]

Nikita,

thank you for your suggestion on the tape notifications. I'm going to try these on the upcoming Saturday run. However, it cannot be scheduled to a specific point in time, i. e. it will be sent right away after the job completion, while we have a customer's requirement to schedule it to 7 AM each Tuesday.

As per the list of VM backed up and the restore point dates, I'm aware of this but this report is still requires some manual processing to get the information, furthermore, you have to know what you're looking for. In case of the customer, they don't want to do this. Only simple list of the tapes ready for offsite.

[Shestakov]

You are right on the job notifications, it is not the same thing as a report of course. I just asked if you use it to clear up the request.

As for the report,
agree with most of your statements, just want to comment this one

...but this report is still requires some manual processing to get the information

and that`s how it will work, because some users have 1000+ VMs in the job with lots of jobs running, that`s why we keep the detailed information in drill-down report.

[Stan-san]

that`s how it will work, because some users have 1000+ VMs in the job with lots of jobs running, that`s why we keep the detailed information in drill-down report.

I see your point. I only can emphasize that enabling custom range selection in tape reports will satisfy all the parties.

By the way, several smart guys already achieved this without Veeam One, only by using PowerShell script. For details, please refer to this post powershell-f26/require-last-24-hours-us ... ml#p194567
I don't know PowerShell much , but the script is very easy to adapt. Going to use it while waiting for similar functionality to be implemented in Veeam One.

[Shestakov]

Could you explain how custom range selection can help in the report?
Thanks!

[Stan-san]

Let's take my scenario for visibility:

What I need:
1. Run the report on Tuesday with the custom range of 5 days back and email result as an attachment
2. The result will include tapes written on the closest Saturday, Sunday and Monday ONLY
3. Profit - open the attached report to find out what tapes you need to send offsite WITHOUT ADDITIONAL EFFORT

What we have:
1. Run the report on Tuesday, not limiting the date range, email the result
2. The result will include tapes written to tapes from the moment of the job creation
3. You need to go to the report and filter it by the date of the latest restore point - this EXTRA STEP should be eliminated by customizing date range
4. Get the list of tapes

[Shestakov]

Thanks for the clarification.
So the idea is to have an option to either have data in drill-down report or explicitly in the main report and another option to shorten the data range so you can play with this 2 to get the best view for your situation.
We will take it into account, however lots of customers like Veeam for not overloading UI.
Anyway, thank you for the valuable requests!

[Stan-san]

Basically, the report named "TAPE MEDIA RETENTION PERIOD" has all the information which I need. Unfortunately, it needs additional manual filtering in Excel.

It would be nice to add the following customization features directly in Veeam ONE reporter:

1. Add custom date range selection and several presets ("Last week" at least): such feature exists in the "BACKUP JOB HISTORICAL INFORMATION" for example
2. Add a combo box which would allow you to select media pools: such feature exists in the "TAPE GFS CONFIGURATION" for example

[Shestakov]

The request makes sense, Stan, thank you for that!

[Stan-san]

For anyone who's interested in obtaining a list of tapes ready for offsite, this can be achieved by using PowerShell and Windows Task Scheduler. Details are in this thread post235756.html#p235756.