Guidelines for using a tape library?
Hi, I have a Qualstar tape library, which has 20 tapes. The library can be configured to look like one massive tape drive, with the 20 physical tapes hidden from the host application. I can cause the unit to eject the current physical tape and load a new one by using the mt offl command. My question is this. Does anyone have any tips for using Amanda in this type of a configuration? In particular, I am interested in any tips regarding labeling of tapes, since when I advance the unit to the next physical tape, I cannot guarantee that it will still have an old Amanda label. What do you think? Thanks in advance! David _ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com
Re: Guidelines for using a tape library?
--On Thursday, April 11, 2002 03:26:08 + David Trusty [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, I have a Qualstar tape library, which has 20 tapes. The library can be configured to look like one massive tape drive, with the 20 physical tapes hidden from the host application. I can cause the unit to eject the current physical tape and load a new one by using the mt offl command. My question is this. Does anyone have any tips for using Amanda in this type of a configuration? In particular, I am interested in any tips regarding labeling of tapes, since when I advance the unit to the next physical tape, I cannot guarantee that it will still have an old Amanda label. What do you think? Thanks in advance! David Why not just leave it configured in its 'normal' state as a 20 slot changer? Then you can just tell Amanda what range of slots to use and amlabel the tapes in those slots. That's how I use our Qualstar 80 slot, and it is working fine like that. I don't think the 'just one really big tape' idea fits well with how Amanda works, but maybe someone else on the list can give some advantages to that approach. Good luck, Frank -- Frank Smith[EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems Administrator Voice: 512-374-4673 Hoover's Online Fax: 512-374-4501
Re: Guidelines for using a tape library?
Frank, Thanks! Here is some more info. I am using the Qualstar under HPUX. I haven't found a way to address the tapes individually. I see only two SCSI devices, whether I use the RANDOM or SEQUENTIAL modes on the Qualstar. Is that how yours works too? Does Amanda have some way of accessing the individual tapes? Also, if a dump image is bigger than one physical tape, I don't think amanda would work. I'm just starting on the task now, so I'm not sure that would be the case. What is your experience in this area? Thanks!! David From: Frank Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: David Trusty [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Guidelines for using a tape library? Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 00:00:35 -0500 --On Thursday, April 11, 2002 03:26:08 + David Trusty [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, I have a Qualstar tape library, which has 20 tapes. The library can be configured to look like one massive tape drive, with the 20 physical tapes hidden from the host application. I can cause the unit to eject the current physical tape and load a new one by using the mt offl command. My question is this. Does anyone have any tips for using Amanda in this type of a configuration? In particular, I am interested in any tips regarding labeling of tapes, since when I advance the unit to the next physical tape, I cannot guarantee that it will still have an old Amanda label. What do you think? Thanks in advance! David Why not just leave it configured in its 'normal' state as a 20 slot changer? Then you can just tell Amanda what range of slots to use and amlabel the tapes in those slots. That's how I use our Qualstar 80 slot, and it is working fine like that. I don't think the 'just one really big tape' idea fits well with how Amanda works, but maybe someone else on the list can give some advantages to that approach. Good luck, Frank -- Frank Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems Administrator Voice: 512-374-4673 Hoover's Online Fax: 512-374-4501 _ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com
Re: Guidelines for using a tape library?
--On Thursday, April 11, 2002 04:21:10 + David Trusty [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am using the Qualstar under HPUX. Mine's on a Linux box. I haven't found a way to address the tapes individually. I see only two SCSI devices, whether I use the RANDOM or SEQUENTIAL modes on the Qualstar. Is that how yours works too? Does Amanda have some way of accessing the individual tapes? I'll verify with my docs at work tomorrow, but I believe that 'random' makes it work like a true changer and 'sequential' behaves more like a stacker. Amanda has changer scripts that can be configured to find and use the correct tape(s) for each run. Mine shows three devices, one is the changer mechanism (the scsi driver sees it as a Qualstar) and the other two are the two tape drives in the unit (the scsi driver shows those two as Sony). Look in your boot messages to see if you have something similar (its been many years since I've touched HPUX, someone else will have to chime in on how to probe scsi devices on HPUX). You may also need the mtx drivers to control the changer (http://mtx.sourceforge.net/) if HPUX doesn't have enough builtin support. Make sure you can load/unload/move tapes from the command line before you even bother with the amanda changer scripts or you will waste a lot of time and get very confused. Also, if a dump image is bigger than one physical tape, I don't think amanda would work. I'm just starting on the task now, so I'm not sure that would be the case. What is your experience in this area? With the released version that is true, although you can use GNU tar and backup subdirectories that are each smaller than a tape. I believe tape-spanning is in development but I don't know an ETA. I personally prefer tar over dump, but many on this list have the opposite opinion. Good luck, Frank -- Frank Smith[EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems Administrator Voice: 512-374-4673 Hoover's Online Fax: 512-374-4501
