Consider the following practices when you select bar codes for volumes:

• bar codes usually appear on the labels that are attached to the outside of tape volumes.

• The maximum bar code length that NetBackup supports depends on the type of robot.

• Always follow the robotic library vendor's recommendations when purchasing bar code labels for use with NetBackup.

  Ensure that the bar codes have the correct number of characters.

• bar codes can represent any combination of alpha and numeric characters, but different robots support different lengths of bar codes.

  See the robot vendor's documentation to determine the requirements for a specific robot type.

• Use bar codes without spaces (at the beginning, at the end, or between any characters).

  Otherwise, the robot or NetBackup may not read them correctly.

• Volumes in an API robot have a real or a logical bar code.

  This volume identifier is used as the NetBackup media ID. This volume identifier is the volume serial number in ACS, TLH, and TLM robots.

• For API robots, the bar code for a volume must be identical to the NetBackup media ID.

  Match bar codes to media IDs by getting custom labels in the same series as the media IDs. For example, to match a set of media IDs from AA0000 to ZZ9999, get bar code labels in that series.

• When a robotic library can contain more than one media type, assign specific characters in the bar code to different media types. Do so by using media ID generation rules.

  Also, use bar codes to differentiate between data tapes and cleaning tapes or to differentiate between volume pools.