Tape Files growing unusually

[stefank]

Hi Folks,
we have a strange Problem. On every friday we backup our backupfiles from the week on a lto4 libary. Usually we save 3.5 TB on 4 to 5 tapes (each 800 MB). since 5 weeks the netto files are still 3.5 TB but on the tapes we have 4.8 TB and raising each 14 days. we have no idea where it Comes from. Veeam 7.x is up tu date, the firmwar from the drive and from the libary are up to date. we Need some help please. thanks.
best regards
Tom

[foggy]

Tom, have you checked whether only the required backup files (those from the last week) get copied to tapes? Simply put, do you have similar sets of files on disk and on tapes reporting different total size?

[stefank]

Hi foggy,
we cross checked everything x-times. The size of the tape files are the same as on the repository. Now i'm going to erase the tape fully and not quick. i'll let you know the result after the Weekend. thenks for your Response, tom

[Dima P.]

stefank,
Additionally could you, please, let us know how the retention and the media set creation of the media pool in the question is configured? Thank you

[stefank]

Hi d.popov,
well we weekly, monthly, quaterly and yearly sets. each set are 6-7 tapes. we always add manually files to the Job, like weekly. the files are from each Server (30 Servers) the full vks's and the vib's after each full vbk. all together we have around 45 files to backup - about 3.7 TB. We have LTO4 HP Tape drive with a Fujitsu tape-libary. this "error" occurs since end of August. it raises every week up to 100 GB, but the netto data ist almost the same. it is really strange.

[stefank]

also as i have seen on friday - ist seems that veeam writes only ~ 550 Gb on one tape (for larger files over 700 GB). So the change from the next tape comes to early. the other thing is, that veeam says there are only 1,7 GBs left on the tape with 781,5 Gb. this couldn't be true because we written 6 tapes with 781,5 GB on it and one tape with 390 Gbs on it - for 3.7 TB? Thanks

[Dima P.]

stefank,

we always add manually files to the Job

So you are using File to tape job instead of Backup to tape job, right?

[stefank]

Yes we are

[Dima P.]

I wonder, is it possible for you to configure the Backup to tape job instead and check the difference in the size of the written media? You can point backup to tape job either to existing B2D jobs or to the whole repository.

[stefank]

yes we ca do this for a test drive. we wonder too, because veeam says we wrote 780 Gb to tape but i saw the veeam wrote only 555 Gb to this tape, luckily was on the Server during the tape Change ;o). i'll let you know, thanks

[Dima P.]

stefank,
Thank you, awaiting for the results!

we wrote 780 Gb to tape but i saw the veeam wrote only 555 Gb

It could happen if on the media pool > media set step you used "Create new media set for every backup session" option. Also, users reported same behavior with the Quantum drives/ libraries - it relates to the tape partition being not carefully created.

[stefank]

d.popov,
now i had contacted Fujitsu to change the Tape-Drive. We had a damage at the drive in August this year. Fujitsu changes the drive. Since we had this problem. Now the problem raises every week. i guess it will be the same error as on the Quantum drives. we will see, i'll let you know.

[stefank]

d.popov,
we contaced Fujitsu again - we send them dumps from the LTO4 drive. The result is, the drive (replacement drive) is very worst/bad. We have a lot of crc errors and rewritings during writes. the result is, the the tapes cannot fully be written by the drive becaus of the errors. we get soon again a replacement drive. maybe this will help some other admins. thanks für all, tom

[Dima P.]

Tom,
Thank you for keeping us updated! I share your pain with the drive issues you got and hope you would successfully resolve all of them! Please, let us know if you need any help or advice. Cheers!

[stefank]

hi d.popov,
i have also say thank you for your very helpfull tips and adviced. fujistu contaced me and they replace the drive in the next 4 hours. the veeam forum is cool, because you get very good Infos.

After the coming Weekend, i'll let you know about the tape backup result. best tom

[stefank]

Hi Dimitry,
yes - we are back on track! The changed drive does the trick. The Weekend backup files to tape Job work as weeks befor. The tapes a fully written and not only partly as during the last 2 month. We did also for the changed drive a test writing with a hp testsoftware, is went out just perfect. the Fujitsu guys helpeda lot for the drive Exchange with no Charge. thanks all of you for your help. best tom

[Dima P.]

Tom,
Perfect, I am glad you resolved your tape issues! Please, feel free discuss any issues, questions (and solutions ) or thoughts at our forums. Cheers!