AA ya akhis/ukthis…Recently been having tonnes of issues with some of our clients backing up on tape back up and surprisingly all in the same month.
Biggest issue is with a client who’z tape backup hasn’t been working for last three weeks and they are at a point to drop the account with us. They have an Iomega backup system with tapware on 2000 server…backup happens at midnight, schedule full for every working day. Basically backup completes at 60% and then stops. Any help/suggestion would be appreciated.
We are also changing the backup system, need your opinion on any other possible ways apart from, online which need lots $$$ and NAS storage which is also not an option due to storage needin to be taken offsite for security reasons.
Space doesn't seem to be a problem as far as storage is concerned.
The trouble is full back takes up quite a bit of time and teh backup's on the main DC server. Its abit impossibe working it during main working hours. The error log gives me timeout errors.
KS, is it the Iomega Rev drive?
I would suggest getting a fast tape drive and get one of the more popular backup software like ArcServe or Veritas. There's a lot more options with those and much better error logs for troubleshooting.
Backup is sensitive, till something goes wrong it doesn't take priority, but when something does go wrong then sh** hits the ceiling (fan and all) and then we kick ourselves as to why we didn't spend that extra thousand.
Let me know if you have more questions.
Tofi:We originally had Veritas, which was giving same problems, Installed Tapeware, which worked ok for 6 months…now same problem. The Tape drive was changed under warranty 2 months ago. I guess faster tapedrive is an option…teh only thing is suggetsing more $$$.
Try increasing the backup jobs in increments. You need to figure out if its the server that are being backed up that are timing out or the tape drive itself. When u replaced the drive did u plug the new one into the save server/SCSI controller? Maybe its a bad controller and that's where the timeouts are happening. If you are in the NY are let me know. 2 heads (and 4 eyes) are better than 1. :)
They want a full backup every day. I will check the scsii controller, later this afternoon. One thing I noticed was, the tapes changing routine has been mixed up due to a long weekend holiday. It would be great to get your help, problem is im in otherside of the world.
Do some testing with the tape drive, put it on a different server, do test backups of 5-10 gb of the same production servers; keep track of transfer rates; keep a log of all the tests for later analysis.
PM me with some explaination of your problem. Mention OS, drive's firmware level, driver revision, SCSI/FC connection? etc etc.
Legato NetWorker is the best product in the market by all benchmark standards. You might need NDMP or DDS solution for smokin' fast backups and recoveries.
^ Sorry Auntie, hey tell u what....give good ole unc one for us.
Thanks Tofibaba and everyone, went in Sat morning after hours and checked Fridays backup, work fine on a fresh tape. I m assuming a tape had been missed on a particular schedule.
weally and don’t call it bad thought 
