Ctrl P - The Data Protection Manager Blog! : Tape Media

Enabling/Disabling co-location of data on Tape

dpm — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:02:00 GMT

With DPM 2007 Feature Pack (KB949779), we have added support for media co-location. With this feature, you can achieve better tape utilization by co-locating data from multiple protection groups with similar retention range. This feature is disabled by default. You can use following PowerShell commands to enable and disable tape co-location.

Enable Tape co-location:

Set-DPMGlobalProperty -DpmServer <DPM Server Name> -OptimizeTapeUsage $true

Disable Tape co-location:

Set-DPMGlobalProperty -DpmServer <DPM Server Name> -OptimizeTapeUsage $false

You can verify the status of tape co-location feature (Enabled/Disabled) from Library Management tab of DPMUI.

The Feature Pack can be downloaded from following locations.

x86: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e9e1fe35-b175-40a8-8378-2f306ccc9e28&DisplayLang=en

x64: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ad5cd1a2-9b87-4a2c-90a2-9dbaf1024310&DisplayLang=en

Madhan S

DPM 2007 Rollup Update -- NOW AVAILABLE

JasonBuffington — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:35:05 GMT

We are very excited to announce that the ‘Rollup Update’ for System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 is now available.

There are new workloads to be protected, as well as new features in this update, including:

Windows Server 2008 support

Run DPM2007 Server on a Windows Server 2008 platform

Protect Windows Server 2008 – including Core systems

Protect Windows Server 2008 System State

Use of RemoteApp to enable DPM administration remotely

While DPM2007 has actually been protecting “Longhorn” since Beta 3, this makes Windows Server 2008 a supported protected workload

Protect SQL Server 2008

Including the ability to restore SQL Server 2005 databases to a SQL Server 2008 server for test migrations and ensuring that after you have updated your environment to SQL Server 2008, you will still be able to recover older SQL 2005 databases, when needed.

While DPM has actually been protecting "Katmai" since customer technology preview 4 (July 2007), this makes SQL Server 2008 a supported protect-able workload

Protect clustered Virtual Server 2005 R2 hosts

DPM 2007 could already protect clustered-Exchange, clustered-SQL Server and clustered-File Services … but clustered virtualization hosts was not initially available in DPM 2007 RTM. Now for those environments that understand that as they rely on virtualization, the virtualization host needs to be highly available – those platforms are protected by DPM, as well.

New media capabilities – added based on feedback from some of our early DPM enterprise customers

Tape media sharing – so that multiple protection groups with similar tape retention periods can now share tapes

Tape library sharing – multiple DPM servers can now share your enterprise tape library silo’s. This one has been running in MSIT for a while.

For more details on what is included in the DPM 2007 “Rollup Update” or in the upcoming Service Pack 1, please check out:

TechNet webcast on “What is coming next for DPM 2007” from April 23, 2008

The DPM 2007 Rollup Update is now available via Microsoft Update, if your DPM server is opt’ed in for updates … or it is downloadable from:

Data Protection Manager 2007 - Rollup Update - x86

Data Protection Manager 2007 - Rollup Update - x64

Microsoft is committed to continuing to make DPM2007 an ideal solution for protecting and recovering your Windows infrastructure. So, stay tuned as we get ready to launch the beta for DPM 2007 Service Pack 1, targeted for later this Summer – including the updates listed above, PLUS protection for Hyper-V, more capabilities around SQL Server databases, new features for protecting SharePoint farms and some other features that we are keeping a surprise for now. As always, you’ll hear about them first here – on the DPM blog site.

-- Balaji Hariharan, Jason Buffington

CLI Script: To recover a DPM replica volume from data stored in tape

dpm — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:39:00 GMT

When a disaster occurs, and you lose your replica volume for any datasource, you could re-seed the replica from the backed-up data you have in tape. This little script initializes replica from a tape recovery point. The parameters have to be customized for your environment first as given below.

Save the attached file as a .ps1 file and invoke through the DPM Management Shell.

- Madhan S

CLI Script: Force mark tape as free

dpm — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:26:00 GMT

This script allows a user to mark any tape as free so that it is available for protection by DPM. Tapes which have unexpired data cannot be marked as free from the GUI but sometimes (esp. while testing) users need to override this behaviour.

Save this script as a .ps1 file and run it. Usage and examples of scripts can be found by calling them with ‘-?’ or ‘-help’ from inside DPM Management Shell.

----------------------------- Start of Script --------------------------------

param ([string] $DPMServerName, [string] $LibraryName, [string[]] $TapeLocationList)

if(("-?","-help") -contains $args[0])
{
    Write-Host "Usage: ForceFree-Tape.ps1 [[-DPMServerName] <Name of the DPM server>] [-LibraryName] <Name of the library> [-TapeLocationList] <Array of tape locations>"
    Write-Host "Example: Force-FreeTape.ps1 -LibraryName "My library" -TapeLocationList Slot-1, Slot-7"
    exit 0
}

if (!$DPMServerName)
{
$DPMServerName = Read-Host "DPM server name: "

    if (!$DPMServerName)
    {
        Write-Error "Dpm server name not specified."
        exit 1
    }
}

if (!$LibraryName)
{
$LibraryName = Read-Host "Library name: "

    if (!$LibraryName)
    {
        Write-Error "Library name not specified."
        exit 1
    }
}

if (!$TapeLocationList)
{
$TapeLocationList = Read-Host "Tape location: "

    if (!$TapeLocationList)
    {
        Write-Error "Tape location not specified."
        exit 1
    }
}

if (!(Connect-DPMServer $DPMServerName))
{
Write-Error "Failed to connect To DPM server $DPMServerName"
exit 1
}

$library = Get-DPMLibrary $DPMServerName | where {$_.UserFriendlyName -eq $LibraryName}

if (!$library)
{
Write-Error "Failed to find library with user friendly name $LibraryName"
exit 1
}

foreach ($media in @(Get-Tape -DPMLibrary $library))
{
    if ($TapeLocationList -contains $media.Location)
    {
        if ($media -is [Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.LibraryManagement.ArchiveMedia])
        {
            foreach ($rp in @(Get-RecoveryPoint -Tape $media))
            {
                Get-RecoveryPoint -Datasource $rp.Datasource | Out-Null

                Write-Verbose "Removing recovery point created at $($rp.RepresentedPointInTime) for tape in $($media.Location)."
                Remove-RecoveryPoint -RecoveryPoint $rp -ForceDeletion -Confirm:$false
            }

            Write-Verbose "Setting tape in $($media.Location) as free."
            Set-Tape -Tape $media -Free
        }
        else
        {
            Write-Error "The tape in $($media.Location) is a cleaner tape."
        }
    }
}

----------------------------- End of Script ---------------------------------

- Mohit Chakraborty

CLI Script: Manual detailed inventory of unknown tapes

dpm — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:11:00 GMT

The following script runs detailed inventory on all unknown tapes in all the libraries attached to the specified DPM server. Save this script as a .ps1 file and run it. Usage and examples of scripts can be found by calling them with ‘-?’ or ‘-help’ from inside DPM Management Shell.

This is for manually running the detailed inventory job. Btw, for running the inventory on a regular scheduled basis, then use Get/Set-MaintenanceJobStartTime and DPM will automatically run the inventory at the specified time.

-------------------------------- Start of Script ----------------------------------------

param ([string] $DPMServerName)

if(("-?","-help") -contains $args[0])
{
    Write-Host "Description: This script runs detailed inventory on all unknown tapes in all the libraries attached to the specified DPM server."
    Write-Host "Usage: Inventory-UnknownTapes.ps1 [-DPMServerName] <Name of the DPM server>"
    Write-Host "Example: Inventory-UnknownTapes.ps1 mohitc02"

exit 0
}

if (!$DPMServerName)
{
$DPMServerName = Read-Host "DPM server name"

    if (!$DPMServerName)
    {
        Write-Error "Dpm server name not specified."
        exit 1
    }
}

if (!(Connect-DPMServer $DPMServerName))
{
Write-Error "Failed to connect To DPM server $DPMServerName"
exit 1
}

$libraryList = Get-DPMLibrary -DPMServerName $DPMServerName

foreach ($library in $libraryList)
{
$unknownTapeList = @(Get-Tape -DPMLibrary $library | ? {$_ -is [Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.LibraryManagement.ArchiveMedia] -and $_.OmidState -eq "Unknown"})

    if ($unknownTapeList.Length -gt 0)
    {
        Write-Host "Starting detailed inventory on $($library.UserFriendlyName) for $($unknownTapeList.Length) tape(s)."
        Start-DPMLibraryInventory -DPMLibrary $library -DetailedInventory -Tape $unknownTapeList
    }
}

----------------------------------- End of Script ---------------------------------------

- Mohit Chakraborty

DPM Installation: Configuring Libraries

dpm — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:41:00 GMT

Configuring Tape Libraries (Continued from previous post)

Last week’s DPM snip covered basic configuration of tape libraries and also mentioned if drives from a tape library are listed as stand-alone tape drives, or if a stand-alone tape drive displays incorrectly as a drive in a tape library, you need to remap the tape drive information. There are other possibilities for tape libraries being displayed incorrectly which are covered below.

If the correct driver is not installed when a tape library is connected to the DPM server it’s possible the tape library will not function correctly or is displayed incorrectly when viewing the Libraries tab under Management on your DPM Administrator Console. In some cases you will notice the tape library is displayed as a “Standalone Drive” instead of a “Library” with its available tape slots.

If you experience this behavior it is likely due to one of the following:

§ An older Windows compatible driver that was included with Windows 2003 was installed. Install the latest driver for the tape drive and medium changer or installed the drivers that were tested with DPM 2007 and signed by Microsoft.

§ This model of tape library is not supported by DPM. Find out if this specific model of tape library has gone through the Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager Tape Library Compatibility Test (DPMLibraryTest.msi). Details for this compatibility test are available on the DPM Beta connect site.

If you have the latest driver available from the OEM you should troubleshoot this issue like any other Windows device that is not recognized correctly in Device Manager.

If you open Device Manager you may notice the Medium Changer is not recognized and the tape drive may view as a different model than expected. You can leverage the Setupapi.log to locate the PNP ID, inf and driver that was selected and verify if any unexpected errors occurred during the installation process for the devices.

Once the correct drivers for the Tape drive and Medium Changer are installed, or identified another root cause for Windows not recognizing the devices, you can open Device Manager and should notice the devices displayed correctly.

Once Windows identifies the devices correctly you can open the DPM Administrator Console, select "Management" then click the "Libraries" tab. Select the device that is displaying the "Standalone Drive" and select "Rescan" in the Action Pane. Once the rescan completes the tape library with medium changer should be displayed correctly.

- Tom O’Malley