Replication and full tape syndrom
Another battle with Acronis Cyber Backup and it's implementation of replication to tape:
The backups on the weekly tape are gone according to the retention rule (and if I click Show backups, there are not any). But the tape is shown as full, and as soon as the replication task attempts to write more content the tape is ejected, which is especially nasty since it does not allow to fix the issue through remote management. (The other nasty point is that I cannot tell the software to eject the tape after successfully completing a replication job, not even define a job do perform that at a given time. But in my opinion, if something works manually it should be configurable in a task as well.)
The overwrite single tapes feature for backups seems not to work for replication tasks.
Questions:
How can I tell Acronis Backup not to eject a tape if its full?
How can I suppress this "full tape" behavior besides manually moving the tape to the free media pool?
Best greetings from Germany
Olaf
Hi Maria,
on each tape of the daily backup set a full backup is created. The task is set to keep the backups for 6 days.
However, even if there are only deleted backups on that tape, the job will fail to overwrite the tape and eject the media, if the assumed consumed size and the backup size are going over the capacity.
This is a replication job and the settings for tape handling do not apply for those as it seems.
The only functional method is to move the tape to the free media pool - but is there any way do perform this automatically (acrocmd or a scheduled acronis task)?
Best greetings from Germany
Olaf
Hello Olaf.
The only functional method is to move the tape to the free media pool - but is there any way do perform this automatically (acrocmd or a scheduled acronis task)?
Please use the following undocumented commands:
acrocmd list tape pools -> to know the tape pool GUID
acrocmd list tapes -> to know the GUID of the tape
acrocmd change tape_pool -> to move
for more info about each command please issue:
acrocmd help command (with all spaces) -> info about this command
acrocmd help --full -> info about all undocumented commands
This is a replication job and the settings for tape handling do not apply for those as it seems.
I should note that the latest Update 2 has many improvements in this area, so I advise that you test it in your environment.
Hi Maria,
thanks. Sounds like a good idea but it seems I stumble from block to block.
First syntax error, easy to solve - it's
acrocmd list tape_pools --output=raw
to get the command run (I don't see the underscore in your example) and to get the GUID in readable format.
The second one: acrocmd list tapes - here I am stuck now, since it shows nothing besides a success message.
As of now, update 2 has solved not a single of my issues with Acronis Cyber Backup, but created a bunch more on customer systems, which were working well before (especially regarding replication plan schedules, which do randomly no longer run).
Meanwhile this is the most frustrating commercial product experience for me in a long life in IT administration, stealing my time and nerves and the customers money for the services needed to solve their backup issues.
Best greetings from Germany
Olaf
Hello Olaf.
First syntax error, easy to solve - it's
acrocmd list tape_pools --output=raw
Yes, you are correct, the syntax should be list tape_pools
The second one: acrocmd list tapes - here I am stuck now, since it shows nothing besides a success message.
That is what I warned you about not documented commands. However, you can also try list tape_drives and list tape_libraries.
As of now, update 2 has solved not a single of my issues with Acronis Cyber Backup, but created a bunch more on customer systems, which were working well before (especially regarding replication plan schedules, which do randomly no longer run).
The new multistream writing to tapes and auto inventory features are released in Update 2.
Step by slow step.
acrocmd list tape_drives --service=asn --output=raw
gives following output:
HP Ultrium 7-SCSI M571 9C19466B89 true \\?\scsi#sequential&ven_hp&prod_ultrium_7-scsi#020200#{53f5630b-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} A11604FF-CFC5-4463-9A90-7A4B0D59F458 7006C1AF-E977-416A-B376-7EA549D1C2A2
Unfortunately this returns only the DeviceID (A11...) and the LibraryID (700...), nothing about the inserted media which I need to validate in a script for subsequent actions. (Moving the resourceid of a tape into the free media pool to clean it up does not make much sense if it is not the real tape in the drive.)
Besides that I run a fast inventory - this should give me more output than just "success". Tape shows properly in the overview in the console (label = "Mittwoch"), but in details I still see the properties of yesterday's tape in the media section.
{
"occupiedSpace": 2113907195904,
"barcode": "",
"state": "idle",
"capacity": 5999999057920,
"kind": "data",
"id": "6E828D5C-2A2B-4391-9D34-C3F333D179BF",
"label": "Dienstag"
} |
So how can I use acrocmd to verify that the tape with a given id is inserted in the local tape drive?
Best greetings from Germany
Olaf
Hello Olaf!
Thank you for your efforts.
The issues you are describing need a more in-depth investigation on our side.
Please create a Support ticket from your Acronis account page - Support section and we will reach to you directly for the next steps.
Thank you and have a great day!
Best Regards,
Andreea