Exporting is the process by which you physically remove one or more media from a library. If a data protection operation requests an exported media, depending on the options selected for the library in the Media tab of the Library Properties dialog box, one of the following operation will be performed:
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The exported media will be automatically marked as full, and a new media will be used for the data protection operation.
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The job will remain in the waiting state, with the Reason for job delay stating that the media is outside the library.
However, if a restore or auxiliary copy job requires data from an exported media, the system will prompt you to import the media in order to complete the operation. Information about exported media will be retained in the system; they do not have to be rediscovered if they are reimported.
Note
If a media is reserved by a job for a read or write operation, the media cannot be exported.
When a media is exported an optional entry to specify the storage location for the media is provided. This information can be viewed or updated in the Media Properties dialog box. This feature helps you to keep track of the exported media. The exported media are displayed with the location in the Exported Media pool in the CommCell Console.
Note
Media that is left in the mail slot after an export operation will be treated as an exported media. Pop-up messages associated with media outside the library and the media information in the CommCell Console will indicate that the media is in the I/E Port that is associated with the mail slot.
There are two ways to remove the media from the library:
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You can remove the media through the library’s mail slot (if available and supported by the library).
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You can open the library door and remove media from the storage slots by hand.
Removing media through a mail slot offers the following advantage: The inventory update that is triggered by a mail slot export is much less time-consuming than the full inventory operation that is triggered when you close the library door. However, under certain circumstances you may want to open the library door even though a mail slot is available. For example, if you want to remove many media from a library at once, it may be faster to open the door than to use the mail slot.
Note
Removing media from and closing the mail slots of some libraries may trigger a full inventory operation (rather than an inventory update).
When the mail slot is full, the system retries the export operation and the number of retries is based on the Export Operation Retry Count option in the Media Management Configuration (Service Configuration) dialog box available in the Control Panel.
Information about exported media can be obtained from the following:
In addition, you can also use the Media Information Report to obtain a list of media that can be exported.