4 4 3 Beefalo:Media
Media
The term medium describes a data carrier on which backed up data is stored and preserved in case of an emergency. It contains tapes in tape devices, hard disks as changeable at USB connection or virtual media as directories, which are located on permanently connected hard disks. SEP sesam uses only media that are registered in media archives. The first window shows shows a list of media, containing all media prepared for use with SEP sesam.
You can migrate media from the source media pool by clicking the Migrate option.
The media table columns can be arranged in a particular order by dragging & dropping with the left-mouse button on the column header. You can select which columns should be displayed. These settings will be stored in the user's local Java profile. If you right-click a column header, the options such as Label, Barcode, Loader, Write Protection, Media EOL, etc., are shown.
Properties 1
Double-clicking the selected medium opens its properties where you can edit the medium's settings.
- Media pool: Name of the media pool containing this medium (uneditable).
- Write protection: This switch is set by SEP sesam itself and can only be changed manually. When toggled to On, the medium is not used for backups even if EOL is expired.
- Backup day: Date of the backup day (uneditable).
- Locked until: It is automatically set with values from the media pool while the backup procedure is running. It can be adjusted individually.
- Drive: Drive in which the media was last used (uneditable).
- Next media: In a big backup session, more than one medium can be used. This value indicates in what position this medium was used during the backup (uneditable).
- Media type: Media type of the medium, e.g., LTO_Tape (uneditable).
- Loader: Numeric value of the loader, which handles the media pool.
- Slot: Number of the slot in the loader. It is recommended to use archive adjustment.
- Encrypted: States if the medium is encrypted or not (uneditable).
- Change Password: You can change the encryption password for the existing media.
- OK: Save the changed media parameters in the database and return to the start screen.
- Delete Media: Removes the data set from the archive and closes the entry mask.
- Apply: Save of the changed media parameters in the database. Entry mask can be used for further changes.
- Cancel: No action and return to the start screen.
Properties 2
- Label: SEP sesam label of the medium, used for media identification.
- Barcode: Barcode information of the medium.
- Occupancy: Shows the current occupancy of the medium in percentage (uneditable).
- EOM: End Of Medium states if there is still space left on the medium (uneditable).
- Error count: Accumulated count of errors of the medium on the drive.
- Error delta: Displays the difference of errors compared to the last usage.
- Use count: Counts the initialization of the tape (uneditable).
- Last SEP sesam message: The last SEP sesam system message.
- Note: Optionally, add additional comment.
Savesets and Media Actions properties
As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo, the Savesets and Media Actions tables have been enhanced with the new options, e.g., Auto update, Filter, etc.
The Savesets lists all currently saved backups of the medium. You can show or hide columns by right-clicking the column title. The properties displayed are not editable, except for EOL, which can be manually adjusted. Note, however, that this is not recommended as it overwrites the EOL that was defined by the specified retention time in the media pool configuration and started on the date when a saveset is written to the media.
The Media Actions lists all media events, such as media introduction to the SEP sesam environment, initialization for backup, readability check, etc.
Adding a new medium
From Media -> Introduction/New Medium you can insert a new medium into the media-archive.
- Media pool: Name of the media pool to which the medium is added. Select one of the configured media pools.
- Storagepool: If the selected media pool has storage pools assigned to it, you can select it here.
- Drive: Selection of drive in which the media must be initialized (depends on the selected media pool).
- Type, Device, Client, Loader: (uneditable)
- Media type: Selection of media type (pre-selection depends on the drive type).
- Handling of unknown SEP sesam Media: It affects the behavior of SEP sesam if a SEP sesam tape label is detected on the media, but it is not found in the database. This is the case if a tape has been removed or a tape from another SEP sesam installation is present. Empty media or media written by other applications are always re-labeled. However, media that is already in the database will never be relabeled.
- Accept without initialization: Takes over the medium with the given label in the SEP sesam database. If the related media pool does not exist, it will automatically be created.
- Overwrite: Overwrites all media entered to the target media pool that are not recognized by the SEP sesam Server and assigns a new media pool label to them.
- Label number: Treats the media as empty and writes a new label on the tape.
- Automatically assign next number: SEP sesam automatically assigns the label number for the media to be added. By this process, the highest existing numeric value within that media pool is increased by one. This is done by incrementing the highest existing numeric value within that media pool by one.
- Take label from media: Generates the last five digits according to the editable text box.
- Start: Starts the insertion of new media.
- Cancel: Close screen, no insertion.
Note | |
When using unknown SEP sesam media, the user is alerted that SEP sesam media have been entered but is not listed in the SEP sesam database. This can happen if a tape was deleted or if a tape was entered from another SEP sesam installation. Empty tapes or tapes from other programs/applications are always overwritten. Media found in the SEP sesam database will never be overwritten. |
Filtering media
Tip | |
Use the Filter function to search for and select media in a media pool or storage device. Filtering can be done based on EOL, i.e. by specifying the availability of the tape in time. Filtering helps locate and select specific media without browsing the entire media list. |