Export Media - Advanced

Exporting Specific Media

If you wish to export one or more media, and know where the media is available in the library, you can use this option. This operation can be performed from the following levels in the CommCell Console:

• Media in Library (discovered and undiscovered media)

• Scratch pools

• Cleaning Media

• Retired Media

• Assigned Media

• Media List dialog box that appears when you select the View Media option. This dialog box can be accessed by right-clicking a Storage Policy copy.

• Media List dialog box that appears when you select the Change Data Path option. This dialog box can be accessed by right-clicking a Storage Policy copy.

• Media List dialog box that appears when you select the Media Not Copied option. This dialog box can be accessed by right-clicking a Storage Policy and Storage Policy copy.

• Media Used By Job ID dialog box which appears when you select the View Media option from the Data Protection Job history, Backup Job History, or Data Migration windows.

You can export one or more media when you know its location in a library.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Storage Resources | Libraries.

2. Right-click the appropriate tape library and select your media from one of the following pools:

   • Media by location | Media in Library (discovered and undiscovered media) pool

   • Media by Groups | Scratch pools

   • Media by Groups | Cleaning Media pool

   • Media by Groups | Retired Media pool

   • Media by Groups | Assigned Media pool

   • Media List dialog box (From Policies | Storage Policies. Right-click the appropriate storage policy copy, point to View and click Media.)

   • Media Used By Job ID dialog box( From the Data Protections Job History, Backup Job History, or Data Migration History. Right-click the job and click View Media)

3. Right-click a specific media, or hold down Shift while clicking the right mouse button to select multiple media, point to All Task and then click Export.

4. In the Export Media dialog box, select the New Export Location check box, select a location from the list and click OK.

   Note

   The MediaAgent cannot manage the media after it leaves the library configuration. You can view location details to track your exported media.

5. At the Export Media prompt, choose how you want to move the media:

   • If you are exporting through a mail slot, click OK, wait for the media to be moved to the mail slot, and then remove them from the library.

   • If you are removing media directly, click OK, open the library door, remove the media that you want to export, and then close the door.

Setting Media Location

Use this feature to do the following:

• To predefine the location, export location or container for media available in a library. This will ensure that the export locations are preset for the media.

• To redefine a previously defined location or container.

• To define the export location for exported media.

This operation can be performed in the CommCell Browser from the Library level, or at the Exported Media group level or individually for the specific media.

You must pre-define the location to store one or more exported media.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Console, expand Storage Resources | Libraries | Appropriate Tape Library | Media By Location.

2. Right-click the Exported Media pool, and then click Set Location.

3. In the Set Export Location dialog box, select a specific or multiple media for which you want to set the export location from the Select Media for which you want to set the location table.

4. Select the New Export Location check box and choose the location where you want to export the media:

   • Select a location from the list to set as an export location for the media.

   • Set a container for the media, select the Container check box, and select a container from the list.

5. Click OK.

Preventing Media from Being Exported

You can flag one or multiple media and prevent media from being exported. The media can be prevented from being exported for a specified time or indefinitely as per your specific requirements. The Prevent Export and Allow Export operations can be performed on a specific media, from the scratch pool and the Media in Library levels in the CommCell Browser.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Storage Resources | Libraries | Appropriate Tape Library | Media By Location | Media In Library.

2. Right-click the media, point to Options and then click Prevent Export.

3. In the Confirm prompt, click Yes.

4. On the Prevent Export dialog box, choose whether you want to prevent the export of the specific media indefinitely or restrict the export for a specific period:

   • Select the Infinite option to prevent the media from being exported for an infinite period of time.

   • Select the Select a Date option to prevent media from being exported for specified number of days.

5. Click OK.

Marking Media As Exported

When you replace a MediaAgent or a library, you can logically mark all the media in a library or in all the libraries in the storage resources as exported. This feature is useful when you wish to replace a MediaAgent or a library. In such situations, you can mark all the media in a library as exported, before changing the data paths for all the storage policy copies that access the MediaAgent or library. (See Change Data Path for information.)

Since this option logically marks all the media as exported in the CommServe database, you can re-import the media into the library after changing the data paths.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Storage Resources.

2. Right-click Libraries, and then click Mark Media Exported.

3. In the Confirm prompt, click Yes

4. Select the New Export Location check box, select a location from the list for the media, and click OK.

Related Topic

Change Data Path

Moving Exported Media

You can move exported media from the exported media pool to either a compatible library or to a shelf.

Move the exported media to a library if you want to restore the backed up data when the source library is unavailable or when the source library is in a physically different location.

However, move the exported media to a shelf (media repository) to track and manage the media that you want to store in an outside storage location.

Moving Exported Media to a Library

You can move the exported media to a compatible library. By moving the media to a compatible library, you can restore the data if the source library is not available or if the source library is in a different location

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Storage Resources > Libraries > Tape Library > Media By Location > Exported Media.

2. Right-click the appropriate exported media, click Options > Move to Library.

3. From the Please select a Destination Library list, select the appropriate library and click OK.

   A warning message is displayed, confirming if you want to move the selected media to the library.

4. Click Yes to move the selected media to the library.

Related Task

• Refer to the "Moving Exported Media to a Shelf" on this page.

Moving Exported Media to a Shelf

You can move the exported media to a shelf, which is configured in a media repository. By moving exported media to a shelf, you can track and manage media that you want to store in an outside storage locations.

Before you begin

To move exported media to a shelf, ensure that a shelf is configured in a media repository, as described in Manage the Media Repository.

Procedure

1. On the ribbon in the CommCell Console, click the Storage tab, and then click Media Management.

2. On the Vault Tracker Configuration tab, for the Include Media Repository shelves in destination library list when moving exported media parameter, type 1, and click OK.

3. From the CommCell Browser, expand to Storage Resources | Libraries | Tape Library | Media By Location | Exported Media.

4. Right-click the appropriate exported media, point to Options, and then click Move to Library.

   You can select multiple media simultaneously.

5. In the Please select a Destination Library list, select the appropriate shelf and click OK.

   A warning message is displayed, confirming if you want to move the selected media to the shelf.

6. Click Yes to move the selected media to the shelf.

Related Task

• Refer to the "Moving Exported Media to a Library" on this page.

Moving Exported Media from a Shelf to a Library

You can move exported media from a media repository shelf to a library. You can track and manage media that you want to store in an outside storage location when the media is in the shelf. However, you can restore the data from the media only after moving the exported media from a shelf to a library.

Before you begin

To move exported media from a shelf to a library, ensure that the shelf is configured in a media repository, as described in Manage the Media Repository.

Also, ensure that the exported media is available in the shelf. For more information on moving exported media from a library to a shelf, see the "Moving Exported Media to a Shelf" on this page.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Browser, expand to Storage Resources | Vault Tracker | Media Repository | Appropriate Media Repository.

2. Right-click the appropriate media from one of the following pools and click Move to Library.

   • Default Scratch

   • Cleaning Media

   • Retired Media

   • Overwrite Protect Media

   • Foreign Media

   • Assigned Media

3. From the Please select a Destination Library list, select the appropriate library and click OK.

   A warning message is displayed, confirming whether you want to move the selected media to the library.

4. Click Yes to move the selected media to the library.

Scheduling Media Export

Scheduled media export can be performed using Vault Tracker.

Appropriate event messages to indicate the start and completed/failed status of a scheduled media export job are logged in the Event Viewer.

For more information on creating schedules, see Scheduling.

Viewing Exported Media Pool

The Exported Media pool is the logical repository for all media which were previously discovered and subsequently exported from the library.

From the CommCell Console, you can view the properties such as the media location, container, barcode, Storage Policy/Storage Policy Copy, last write time, and size of stored data for the media listed in this pool.

In addition the following operations can be performed on the media available in the Exported Media pool:

• View the contents

• Move the media

• Move Media to Library

• Delete the media

• Mark the media bad

• View the media properties

• Mark media full

• Mark Media Appendable

• Update Media Barcodes

• Set Scratch (for libraries attached to the ACSLS Server)

For stand-alone drives, all the media residing outside the drive will be listed in the Exported Media Pool.

Media With Data Marked for Extended Retention

Media containing data that are marked extended retention is displayed with the suffix (E). This will help you identify media containing data marked for extended retention. See Tape Handling for more information.

Viewing Exported Media Location

By default, the MediaAgent retains the container and export location associated with the Media. These associations are viewable from the Media Properties - General tab. If necessary, you can enable a global option in the library from the Library Properties -Media tab, to automatically remove these associations when the media is brought back in to the library.

Creating an Exportable Media Set

It might be necessary to export a set of media, either a one-time operation or scheduled export operation. For example, to export the daily backups to an offsite storage location. This can be accomplished using the Vault Tracker feature.

In addition you can use the following options, if the daily backups should be directed to a new set of media, which is in turn exported using a scheduled export operation.

• Enable the Start New Media option, which is available from the Media tab of the Advanced Backup Options dialog box. This dialog box can be accessed when the job is scheduled using either a regular Schedule or a Schedule Policy, or when a data protection job is run immediately.

  Consider the following when you select the Start New Media option:

  • For an individual job the job will use a new media.

  • For a scheduled job at the backup set level, all jobs that belong to the schedule from that backup set will go to a new media.

  • For a schedule policy, all jobs that run from that schedule policy, will go to a new media.

• In addition you can use also enable the Mark media full after successful operation option and the Allow other schedule to use media set options, if necessary. These options are useful when several data protection jobs are started at the same time by a schedule or schedule policy and the associated data must be written to the same media set.

  • When the Mark media full after successful operation option is enabled, the system marks the media as full two minutes after the completion of a job. If another data protection job is queued or started within the two-minute period, the media will be used by that job.

  • When the Allow other schedule to use media set option is also enabled (this option can be enabled only if the Mark media full after successful operation option is enabled), jobs from other schedules can also use the same media set.

  Consider the following example:

  • Schedule Policy 1, with the Mark media full after successful operation option enabled initiates two data protection jobs - job 1 and job 2

  • Schedule Policy 2, with the Mark media full after successful operation option not enabled initiates two data protection jobs - job 3 and job 4

  If the Allow other schedule to use media set option is also not enabled, jobs 1 and 2 will be written to a new media and jobs 3 and 4 may or may not be written to the same media, depending on whether the job gets a reservation for the operation within the two-minute interval.