Adding replaced tape drive to existing media pools (without Veeam B&R Enterprise)

[JosvwHLT]

Recently I replaced a failed single tape streamer from a Veeam B&R backup server. Still see the failed streamer as "offline". New one is "online" and working. I cannot "add" the new streamer to the existing media pools because we don't have Veeam B&R Enterprise Edition. How do i go about moving the existing "offline/protected" tapes, which are listed under the offline library, to the newly connected tape library?

Thanks for your help in advance!
Jos

[Dima P.]

Hello Jos,

Keep tapes within existing media pools and remove the library from every Media Pool by going under Media Pool properties > Tape, then click Manage. The list of assigned libraries will be displayed: remove old device and add newly added device. Once done, you just need to load your tapes to a new device. Cheers!

[JosvwHLT]

Hello Dima, thanks for replying! That is excatly what i'm trying to do. I see the offline tape device and can remove it. I don't see the newly added tape device. The "add button" is greyed out. At the bottom of the screen it tells me "Requires Veeam B&R Enterprise edition", which we don't run. So i wonder if this option is available for the edition we are running (which is "Veeam B&R Standard edition" - v9.5 Update 4).

[Dima P.]

Jos,

Can you please confirm that Add button remains greed out after the retired device has been removed? Cheers!

[JosvwHLT]

I didn't try removing the retired drive because i don't know what the effect is on the media pools and related tapes. If it is save to go that route without having the risk of losing the connection between the pools and the tapes then i can give it a try. It's that doubt which keeps me from trying to remove the retired drive. Other forum links and Veeam doc. suggests to add the new drive first before removing the old or retired one.

[Dima P.]

If it is save to go that route without having the risk of losing the connection between the pools and the tapes then i can give it a try.

Tapes remain in the media pool no matter what. Tape device acts like a hardware, so can be replaced in case it's needed without no effect on the media.

It's that doubt which keeps me from trying to remove the retired drive. Other forum links and Veeam doc. suggests to add the new drive first before removing the old or retired one

Yes, the best possible way is to remove the old device, add new device and then load tape to a new device, as otherwise you might get issues with duplicated tapes.

[JosvwHLT]

After removing the old device and adding the new one I lost the new device (went offline in Veeam). A rescan of the tape server brought the device back. But I'am now faced with no "tape libraries" within all my "media pools". The "offline/protected" tapes are still in the media pools. When opening up a media pool I got the error "Tape library was not found (id:)". The new device is there but I cannot see any tapes when managing the media pools.
I created a "test pool" to see if moving around the tapes would reconnect them within that new pool; when moving a tape to this newly created pool (connected to the new tape library) I receive the following error: "Cannot move the selected tapes because target media pool is not linked with the source library". Checking with PowerShell shows the correct (Tape)LibraryID showing with the media pools, but it is not reflected within the GUI.

[Dima P.]

Jos,

Please raise a support ticket to make sure that we are doing everything right and share the case ID with me. Cheers!

[JosvwHLT]

Opened support case: #04001679

[Dima P.]

Thanks! Asked RnD team to review the case details.

[JosvwHLT]

Vitaly (Veeam support) dealt with this issue on behalf of Veeam. By updating some database records which link the tapes within the pools to the newly added tape library fixed the issue. An incorrect order of handling with the tape drive replacement, on our side, could be part of our problem. Looking back in the forum there are more issues raised related to the same subject. I mentioned this with Veeam (Vitaly) and remarked that there is some room for improvemnt on this procedure (when replacing a failed tape library). The remark is taken on board. I close this item with complementing the way Veeam (Vitaly) dealt with this issue, technically and communicative!

[Dima P.]

Jos,

Thank you for sharing the update and glad to hear that the issue is now resolved. We will discuss how to improve the drive replacement procedure and provide a step by step instructions via our Help Center. Cheers!