Re: 3581 Tape drive question

[Larry Bolhuis <lbolhuis@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Ignoring your original question about sequential mode and 
OPTION(*UNLOAD), how does the customer expect to restore from those 
tapes if the DC burns down, gets flooded, etc? I can see stocking the 
tape drive for the week but SOMEBODY has to pull the tape out each 
morning and put it someplace else. Off site is best, fireproof (DATA 
rated wise) vault at a minimum. I have had customers as well that 
thought this was a good idea but one comment to the President that all 
his backups were sitting within 4 ft of his server for an entire week. 
His comment: "Then I can save a bunch of money on my car insurance... 
oops I mean tape supply by just backing up once a week and have nearly 
the same protection can't I?" Yup.....

Sure Sure the DC doesn't often burn down and most (99%?) of the time 
data has to be restored due to finger checks, UTS and PICNIC errors but 
on Wednesday you still gotta go to the tape drive and put the Tuesday 
tape back because it got ejected! Having to get it out of the vault 
first is pretty trivial.

- Larry

pnelson@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Good morning,
>
> I can't seem to find an answer anywhere else, so I thought I'd try here. My
> client has a 3581 tape drive, and wants to automate his daily backups. He
> wants to load up 5 tapes on Monday, and not come back to it until after the
> Friday backup is done. The entire system will fit on one cartridge.
>
> The question is this: How can I tell the tape drive to pull in the next
> tape and make it ready after the previous tape has unloaded? I know I used
> to do this with a 3570, but can't find the documentation on how to do this
> with a 3580.
>
> Thanks
> --
>
> Paul Nelson
> Arbor Solutions, Inc.
> 708-670-6978  Cell
> pnelson@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>