Scenario:
3 backup schedules:
Daily Incremental
Weekly Full
Monthly Full
Weekly job runs on friday, tapes are taken out library the following week. Retention is 4 weeks
Monthly job runs in place of a weekly, usually at the beginning of the month and the retention is 12 weeks
The hardware is a mixture of 24 and 8 tape capacity hp autoloaders.
There are over 200 seperate cells, in various difference locations globally, over a number of different time zones.
We have a system in place that is both antiquated and very labour intensive. I am hoping one of the kind folk on this forum can offer a suggestion as to how some of it might be automated / scripted.
The current method of getting the tapes changed is:
1. Admin logs on to server and opens DP
2. Selects "Devices and Media"
3. Hightlights the autoloader in the "Devices" tree and runs a barcode scan (reason is to make sure information as to what is where is current and up to date)
4. Navigate to "Media" then "Pools" then "Weekly" or "Monthly"
5. Observes the tape that has an icon that denotes it is in the library (this is the one that should be ejected)
5a. Barcode / location in library / date of expiry is then recorded in a spreadsheet by admin
5b. If there is one tape, it is then ejected (assuming the mailslot is not full)
6. If there are multiple tapes for that weekly job, all tapes that need ejecting have the same info recorded
7. That information is then relayed to someone physically at the location of the library and they eject the tape(s) and store them somewhere
8. When those tapes are removed, expired ones are put in to replace them
This operation is repeated over and over for each site until all tapes are swapped.
You can imagine that all of this has to be auditable, so all of this is recorded in a clunky excel spreadsheet. Or even worse, bits of paper (shock horror)!
So, as I see it, what we need is a bit of scripting ! I believe perl libraries are bundled with DP. We are running version 7.
What I need to be automated is the gathering of the tape barcode info.
So I need DP to do the following:
1. Weekly job finishes, DP produces a text file as such:
[jobtype(weekly/monthly)], [barcode], [library location(slot number / mailslot)], [date of expiry], [status of tape(in library/mailslot)]
2. Furthermore, if it is a single tape that needs to be ejected, DP does it automatically. If mailslot is full, then DP enters the tape in the mailslot into a magazine slot, then ejects said tape. If there is no slot free in magazines then DP does nothing with it and its information is recorded as above. In all instances, the operation that was carried must be recorded into above text file.
So the file would look something like this:
weekly, 00982klf, 5, 03/09/2016
or
monthly, 0094534,0334225,0554235, 3,9,12, 04/09/2016,05/09/2016,05/09/2016
or
weekly, 0093363, mailslot, 09/08/2016
Once that information is sat in a text file, I can then get it to my sheet and then do what i want with it.
Furthrmore I notice that DP allows the execution of scripts after jobs has run, so ideally if this were scripted it would be ran straight after the said weekly or monthly job.
Another thing - we cannot upgrade the version of DP or install any software on the servers. Whatever does the automation must be already in DP / server.
In anticipation..................
Will
will.mowat@gmail.com