Expected behaviour for write-protected tape?

[howartp]

Hi,

B&R v7, Patch 4.

I ran my Christmas archive Tape Backup job on Friday, with 7 tapes.

Unfortunately, I forgot to remove the Write-protect tab from the last two, so when the job got to around 90% the job failed with:

Code: Select all

Task E:\path\to\my\files failed: Tape erasure error. The media is write-protected
Task E:\path\to\my\files failed: Tape session is not opened
Task E:\path\to\my\files failed: Tape session is not opened
Task E:\path\to\my\files failed: Tape session is not opened
Task E:\path\to\my\files failed: Tape session is not opened
Task E:\path\to\my\files failed: Tape session is not opened

Do you expect a job to simply fail when it has encountered a write-protected tape, or do you expect it to pause and prompt me to insert a new tape (or remove the write-protect tab) so the job can continue?

If I now go and remove the write-protect, can I re-run the last 10% of the job, or do I need to wipe the tapes and re-run the whole job?

I don't know if this feature is present/works differently in v8 because I want to get a full tape backup BEFORE I upgrade to v8.

Peter

[veremin]

In order to be on safe side, I'd remove write-protection, perform short erase and only then execute tape backup job anew. Thanks.

[howartp]

In order to be on safe side, I'd remove write-protection, perform short erase and only then execute tape backup job anew. Thanks.

That's what I have done since I posted; is there any functionality for dealing with this nicely in v8?

If not, can I propose it?

Peter

[veremin]

Being software by nature backup server has no control over hardware write protection. Though, starting from version 8 you can use software protection, instead. Or you just want to stop tape job immediately (in case a tape is write protected) and also be notified about that? Thanks.

[howartp]

Or you just want to stop tape job immediately (in case a tape is write protected) and also be notified about that? Thanks.

I'd like the job to pause, notify me, unlock the tape drive/autoloader and allow me to un-protect the tape(s), then continue the job.

Peter

[veremin]

The following is the way we're working with hardware protected mediums:

- If a medium has been inventoried first, backup server will mark this tape with a "lock" icon
- If inventory has not been performed, in the beginning of a job backup server will identify that the tape is protected and throw a warning in the job session. The next medium will be taken by the job.
- If there are no free mediums, backup job will be sitting and waiting ("waiting session")

If my memory serves we well, in version 7 there have been some issues related to the way VB&R worked with protected cassettes. More specifically, backup server could take a protected tape and try to write on it. Now, protection verification happens first, before the data is written.

Thanks.

[howartp]

If my memory serves we well, in version 7 there have been some issues related to the way VB&R worked with protected cassettes. More specifically, backup server could take a protected tape and try to write on it. Now, protection verification happens first, before the data is written.

Thanks.

It sounds like this is what I'm seeing; it does seem to be trying to write to the tape before it realises it is protected.

It therefore sounds like you have implemented basically what I wanted into v8, so hopefully I will be ok once I've upgraded.

Peter

[veremin]

Kindly, let us know about the results of you findings, once you've upgraded to the version 8. Thanks.