Tape Library: No usable media found

[proxwolfe]

Hi,

I am completely new to tape backup. But I found myself a very reasonably priced tape library to experiment with.

Created an encryption key, physically imported a new empty tape, loaded it into the drive, formatted it and labeled it. Status of the tape is "writable".

Created a backup job using the drive in the library.

But when I try to execute the job, I get an error telling me: "alloc writable media in pool 'lto5pool1' failed: no usable media found".

Any ideas what I might be missing? (Please consider that I really have no clue!)

Inventory shows the tape as "offline" - although it is sitting in the drive - might that have to do with it?

Thanks

 

[dcsapak]

what does

proxmox-tape status --drive DRIVENAME
proxmox-tape changer status CHANGERNAME

show?

edit: also

proxmox-tape media list

 

[proxwolfe]

proxmox-tape status --drive lto5

┌────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
│ Name │ Value │
╞════════════════╪══════════════════════════╡
│ blocksize │ 0 │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ density │ LTO5 │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ compression │ 1 │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ buffer-mode │ 1 │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ alert-flags │ (empty) │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ file-number │ 2 │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ block-number │ 4 │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ manufactured │ Fri Feb 7 01:00:00 2020 │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ bytes-written │ 37.00 MiB │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ bytes-read │ 0 B │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ medium-passes │ 0 │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ medium-wearout │ 0.00% │
├────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
│ volume-mounts │ 1 │
└────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘

proxmox-tape changer status MSL2024

┌───────────────┬──────────┬────────────┬─────────────┐
│ entry-kind │ entry-id │ label-text │ loaded-slot │
╞═══════════════╪══════════╪════════════╪═════════════╡
│ drive │ 0 │ --FULL-- │ 2 │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ import-export │ 1 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ import-export │ 24 │ --FULL-- │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 2 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 3 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 4 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 5 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 6 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 7 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 8 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 9 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 10 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 11 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 12 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 13 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 14 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 15 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 16 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 17 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 18 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 19 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 20 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 21 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 22 │ │ │
├───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────────────┤
│ slot │ 23 │ │ │
└───────────────┴──────────┴────────────┴─────────────┘

proxmox-tape media list

┌────────────┬───────────┬────────────────┬────────┬──────────┬──────────┬─────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────┐
│ label-text │ pool │ media-set-name │ seq-nr │ status │ location │ catalog │ uuid │ media-set-uuid │
╞════════════╪═══════════╪════════════════╪════════╪══════════╪══════════╪═════════╪══════════════════════════════════════╪════════════════╡
│ lto5tape1 │ lto5pool1 │ │ │ writable │ offline │ ok │ 2bc92272-e94e-4b2d-a5cc-9b453737e401 │ │
└────────────┴───────────┴────────────────┴────────┴──────────┴──────────┴─────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────┘

 

[dcsapak]

did you put a barcode label on the tape? for a library to detect which slot/drive contains which tape, there must be a barcode on the tape
this is explained in our docs: https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/tape-backup.html#label-tapes

 

[proxwolfe]

did you put a barcode label on the tape?

No, actually I haven't. I did order some labels to print myself (the preprinted ones are outrageously expensive) but they haven't arrived yet.

I thought I had read somewhere in the documentation that labels are recommended but not strictly necessary (I wasn't able to find that again, so I may have misread it), so I thought I'd start without them.

In my defense, I was able to successfully run a backup onto a stand-alone drive on an unlabled tape. But you are saying that labels are required for the library, right?

In that case, I will wait and try again, once my labels arrive and report back.

(Out of curiousity and for my better understanding: I could understand that the library is unable to find a certain tape, if it is not labled. But in my case the unlabled tape is already sitting in the drive. Why is the drive still unable to find it?)

Thanks!

 

[dcsapak]

In my defense, I was able to successfully run a backup onto a stand-alone drive on an unlabled tape.

yes, because the admin is required to insert the correct tape when requested

Out of curiousity and for my better understanding: I could understand that the library is unable to find a certain tape, if it is not labled. But in my case the unlabled tape is already sitting in the drive. Why is the drive still unable to find it?

for libraries, we automatically get the tape from a slot to the drive. if the library cannot scan the barcode, it does not know the label of the tape and thus we do not know that the tape is actually in the library. in that case automatically finding the tape by loading from each slot would take too long (~1min per slot, so a library with hundreds of slots takes hours only to (maybe) find the right tape), not including the possibly necessary rewinding, etc.

 

[proxwolfe]

Reading through the documentation, I came across this

Physical labels and the associated adhesive should have an environmental performance to match or exceed the environmental specifications of the cartridge to which it is applied

So now I am wondering whether it is such a good idea to scrimp on the labels.

There are proper label packs to be had on the internet that retail for a bit less (still expensive for what it is). But they say, for example, "L3" instead of "L5". It is my (admittedly very basic understanding) that this marker is not encoded in the barcode and, therefore, no read by the library. Hence, I would assume that it does not matter (other than, potentially, confusing me). Can anyone confirm this, lest I order the wrong labels...

Thanks!

 

[flames]

you can print on any paper and glue them with any glue that fix paper on plastic. the environmental specs are optional.
i bought avery zweckform (common in europe) DIN A4 sized sticker a pack of 100pc., printed on them and just cut with scissors to size.
but yes, you need barcodes on your tapes when using a library. here you go https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/lto-barcode/index.html

L3, L5...L8 is LTO generation. Also don't forget to add a cleaning tape label, so the lib will find it.

in my case (as not better learned before) a made labels prefix PB (proxmox backup), set1 numbered from 101 to 160, set zwei numbered from 201 to 260 etc (yes, this limited to 99 tapes per set, and might be not the best way, for its good, because we rotate the sets manually for offsite location)

any labeling suggestions from professional tape-users are welcome.

 

[proxwolfe]

L3, L5...L8 is LTO generation.

Yes, that's my question:

Will there be an issue, if I use preprinted labels that show an LTO generation different from the tapes I am actually using? I have an LTO5 drive in my library and might later upgrade to LTO6. But the labels I could buy right now say L4 (i.e. LTO4). From what I understand, this is just human readable and not encoded on the label for the machine to read. So the machine would'nt be aware and it should not matter to my library, right?

 

[proxwolfe]

In that case, I will wait and try again, once my labels arrive and report back.

With my own printed labels it now seems to work. Tapes are shown as online and writable. A first backup job succeeded. Probably still makes sense to try and restore...


But I am still wondering about this (because I am sceptical about the longevity of self printed label):

Will there be an issue, if I use preprinted labels that show an LTO generation different from the tapes I am actually using? I have an LTO5 drive in my library and might later upgrade to LTO6. But the labels I could buy right now say L4 (i.e. LTO4). From what I understand, this is just human readable and not encoded on the label for the machine to read. So the machine would'nt be aware and it should not matter to my library, right?

Does anybody know?

I did print L5 on my labels and my library (or rather PBS) does show that the tapes are L5 - but it could know that from the chip that lives inside the cartridge.

 

[flames]

Hi, yes, the LTO generation is also in the code. The barcode content is exactly the same, what is human readable above.
edit: yepp, tried with an qr/bar code app on my phone.

 

[proxwolfe]

the LTO generation is also in the code.

Thanks!