commvault.com commvault.com
Question

BigDataApps job present on the tapes - block the media recycling process

  • 5 April 2023
  • 7 replies
  • 207 views
K
Rank
Userlevel 4

Hello Commvault Community,

Looking at this thread, I understand that IndexServer copies for V2 indexing are not recommended to be copied to tape media.

However, what if we have situations where there are certain jobs on the tape that are the only last ones left and block the possibility of recycling this tape media?

 

I checked for this StoragePolicy and these tasks are on both DiskLibrary and TapeLibrary (we care about disposal of these tapes, where the last blocking task is the BigDataApps task).

 

Can we safely delete them, being sure that it will not affect the ability to restore the data?

 

I've also seen entries to do Media Refresh for tapes that also have this problem, but then what?

 

What is the most sensible way out of this situation, right after disabling IndexServer backups to tapes (if I understand correctly, it is recommended to disable it, right?)

 

I have attached some screenshots to help you understand the situation.

 

Thanks for help,
Kamil

11 Attachments

7 replies

Hyder
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +8

@Kamil check out this section, it may answers some questions but you should not delete the tapes, once newer versions of the index copy to tape, the media will automatically be returned to scratch and the older Index Jobs should age off

 

https://documentation.commvault.com/2022e/expert/92408_backupset_level_indexing_index_cache_cleanup.html

Hyder
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +8

Also do you have extended retention on the tape copy? If so this could explain as the index backup is kept for as long as the backup job is retained

K
Rank
Userlevel 4

Hello @Hyder 

No, on tapes this "Retain Until" parameter has already been successfully reached and should be removed. The problem with these index backups on tapes is that these jobs are scattered over different tapes (probably 3/4 of the tape and they are single jobs or a maximum of two jobs per tape).

So what should be done in this case? Will they be deleted on their own or should I remove them manually?

Hyder
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +8

Only until the Data Protection job which is tied to that Index Backup job meets retention

Are sure you don’t have Extended Retention on this Copy?

K
Rank
Userlevel 4

Hello @Hyder 

I checked these jobs again on the secondary copy (for tapes) where Extended Retention is, but for BigDataApps there is no job with Extended Retention.
 

In addition, I checked each JobID separately and the "Retain Until" and "Retained by" columns have N/A, in Job Details the "Job Retention" tab is greyed out. For all these tasks, retention was until around the end of February/2023.
 

I checked the Forecast Retention report and there is no mention of Extended Retention there either and nothing else holds them.
 

BigDataApps is backed up daily, so we need to rule out the possibility that no more backups for V2 indexing have been made.
 

It seems like these jobs are stuck on these tapes and need to be removed manually - can I safely do this from the tapes?

 

Thanks,

Kamil

Hyder
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +8

The index backup (BigDataApps) is tied to the Backup Job, so until that Backup Job ages, the index backup wont, its expected to be this way

K
Rank
Userlevel 4

We decided to wait a while longer and see if they will be marked as Aged and this will allow us to take this tape for recycling.

Thanks for the explanation.

Reply


Terms & ConditionsCookie settings