Media management – HP Data Protector Express Basic-Software User Manual
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Binding the loader to its physical devices. This ensures that the devices are associated with the
library in the Data Protector Express catalog.
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Updating the status for each element in the loader. Barcodes are read at this time, and are
associated with each element regardless of status (i.e. both Invalid and Valid elements get a
barcode shown in the loader status pane).
Initialization occurs when the library driver starts (at service startup or when the driver is manually
started), when the user selects the Initialize command on the loader object or when Data Protector
Express detects that a user has changed the state of the loader (either by opening the front door or by
using the front panel).
During initialization, the library will attempt to perform barcode based identification of media. If a match
is found, the loader will set that element’s status to Probably Valid. This means that if a user is using
barcodes with their tape library, they will almost never need to run an identification job.
When the job loads the tape it makes sure that the tape is really what the catalog says it is and, if
necessary, updates the catalog to indicate what is really there. If the tape is, in fact, not usable because
of the supplied media rules, the tape is re-stowed and another media is tried.
TIP:
An Identify job will always physically mount media, and reassociate media to barcodes. This provides a
mechanism for users to update barcodes on their media, should they ever need to. It also handles the case
where barcodes are added to media after they have been used without barcodes.
Media Management
One benefit of using Data Protector Express with tape libraries is the ease with which you can schedule
different backups for different days of the week/month/year. There are no specific media tasks that must
be carried out before you run a backup job. As long as the library has valid media loaded in it, Data
Protector Express will automatically use it automatically.
NOTE:
Media is invalid if it has been used by another backup product, is dirty or has been corrupted, or simply
has not been identified.
Similarly, if you are restoring data from media that is already within the Data Protector Express catalog,
there are no media management tasks. However, if you are restoring media from a different domain, you
must first import it so that Data Protector Express can add the media to the database and associate all
data objects on the tape with that media.
For a detailed description of all media management jobs, please refer to
User’s Guide
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