[SOLVED] Tape backup: use of retention

[grefabu]

Hi,

i define a Mediapool WEEK with retention of 3 weeks.
For the Pool I add four tape witch we changed every week, so if we insert the fourth one, it should be overide.

But always I got the message the inserted tape is full.
Did I think wrong or could this an bug?

The current installation is on pbs 2.0-7

Bye

Gregor

 

[dcsapak]

can you post the exact error and where it occurs ?

 

[grefabu]

There is no real error message:
From Tape Job:
2021-08-30T00:00:08+02:00: TASK ERROR: alloc writable media in pool 'WEEK' failed: no usable media found

I supose for my config (4 Tapes, altered weekly and rentention of 3) that the actual tape should be override.
Even when I've look on the invenotry the tape is marked as full.

 

[dcsapak]

can you post your media pool config ?

 

[grefabu]

root@ph-pbs001:~# proxmox-tape pool config WEEK
┌────────────┬──────────┐
│ Name │ Value │
╞════════════╪══════════╡
│ name │ WEEK │
├────────────┼──────────┤
│ allocation │ continue │
├────────────┼──────────┤
│ retention │ 3 weeks │
└────────────┴──────────┘

 

[dcsapak]

ok so you have 'allocation' set to 'continue' which mans that it never tries to allocate a new tape
if you want a new media-set to start each week, you have to set that accordingly

 

[grefabu]

hmm, then it is my fault, I supposed it.

Question:

In the moment I've two datastores on my pbs.
I can't create a job which include both to one tape.

Is this in any setup possible? Or 've I use one tape for each store?

 

[dcsapak]

In the moment I've two datastores on my pbs.
I can't create a job which include both to one tape.

Is this in any setup possible? Or 've I use one tape for each store?

you just have to specify multiple tape jobs on the same drive/pool, it will then put both datastores on the same media-set (the allocation/retention is per tape pool)

 

[grefabu]

Hi,

I still have a question about the retention.
After I switch the Settings of the media pool:
┌────────────┬───────────┐
│ Name │ Value │
╞════════════╪═══════════╡
│ name │ WEEK │
├────────────┼───────────┤
│ allocation │ sun 00:01 │
├────────────┼───────────┤
│ retention │ 3 weeks │
└────────────┴───────────┘
I suppose that a tape what was write on the fifth of september should writeable after the 26.09. ?
Always I put the next tape in the library the tape is displayed as full.

 

[dcsapak]

I suppose that a tape what was write on the fifth of september should writeable after the 26.09. ?

no only on 03.10.

if the allocation policy is a calendar event (not continue or always) the retention begins when the next media-set started
so in your case the media-set that began on 05.09 starts its retention period on 12.09 (new media-set were triggered). plus 3 weeks = 03.10

edit: the idea here is that the retention counts for *finished* media-sets (whenever it's possible to calculate that)

 

[grefabu]

A that's the clue ;-)

I switch it from 3 to 2 weeks and now the tape is shown as expired.

But when I read about the retention in the current documentation, I can't comprehend the algorithem from it. Maybee you can add an example there,...

 

[dcsapak]

But when I read about the retention in the current documentation, I can't comprehend the algorithem from it. Maybee you can add an example there,...

the clue about retention is in the 'allocation policy' section

Note
Retention period starts when the calendar event triggers.

though i would recommend reading the whole tape section in the docs before using it
but an example would probably not bad, would you mind opening a bug report on https://bugzilla.proxmox.com for it?


edit: quoted wrong part of the docs