Multiple Tape library issue

[apurva]

Hi All,

If I have 2 tape library attach to a tape server then tape of 1 library is not recognizable by another library. Why it is so?
Secondly if I want upgrade to new library then what will happen to old tape?

[Dima P.]

Hi apurva,

What tape drive generations you have in both libraries? Was that tape barcode labeled?

[apurva]

Hi Dima,

Both the library are having LTO6 tape drives and the tape are barcoded.

My second question is of more concern that what will happen if I replace the old tape library with new one? As simple media pool is tied to tape library and once library is removed, the pool gets offline along with all the tapes. What is procedure to restore from these tape? I hope it is not to import the media in new library, as it will take 4 to 6 hours per tape if it is LTO6?

[Dima P.]

Hi apurva,
Sorry for keeping silence.

Both the library are having LTO6 tape drives and the tape are barcoded.

Then this behavior is unexpected. Generally, you can share the same tape between tape libraries without any issues. Tape should be exported from once device via VBR console and then loaded to another device. You should see this tape under second library > media > online.

As simple media pool is tied to tape library and once library is removed, the pool gets offline along with all the tapes. What is procedure to restore from these tape? I hope it is not to import the media in new library, as it will take 4 to 6 hours per tape if it is LTO6?

Should be easy. Just change the tape device in media pool properties and remove the old one. Tape media and catalogue info should remain untouched. Take a look at this article for more details

[twano]

Hi Dima,

We have the same problem. We use Veeam 9.5.0.823 and tapes are LTO6
We have 2 libraries in 1 media pool. Tapes used by library 1 are unrecognized by library 2
Also when restoring from tape one has to use the same library as was used to backup the files.
Is this a bug?

[veremin]

Assuming global media pool is in use and both libraries have the same LTO generation, the described problems should not appear. Can you reach our support team for further investigation?

[twano]

We use simple media pool. With global do you mean a GFS pool?

[veremin]

By global I'm referring to single media pool spanning across multiple libraries, which seems to be the case in your environment. Thanks.

[chalkynz]

Hi, any updates on this? I've always had the exact same issue.

[Dima P.]

Hello Nathan,

Can you please clarify you set up? When both devices are added to the same media pool and supported tape generations are the same - it should work out of the box without any issues. Cheers!

[chalkynz]

Hi Dima, apologies - I only saw your reply now when searching for a solution to this issue!

We have 1 x LTO-7 library and 1 x LTO-8 library. Single media pool (GFS), spanning both libraries. Using same bunch of LTO-7 tapes in both libraries, with barcodes, and we randomly fill each library with whatever tapes are expired. Each library has never IDs the tapes last written by the 'other' library - they always show as correct barcode, but Expires In = 'Not defined', Media Pool = 'Unrecognized', Media Set = (blank). Run an inventory, they're correctly ID'd perfectly. Anyone got a solution or a hotfix for this?