About updates the EMM database

After all the media are mounted and the tape headers are read, vmphyinv displays a list of recommended changes. Accept or reject the changes. If you accept the changes, vmphyinv updates the EMM database.

About using the verbose option

Use the vmphyinv -verbose option to display more information about the suggested changes. The -verbose option shows the number of drives available, the contents of each tape, if the media is a catalog tape. (The media format column of the summary contains NetBackup database for NetBackup catalog tapes.)

This verbose information is written to stderr. To save the information, redirect stderr to a file.

About update criteria

For valid media types, vmphyinv performs the following actions:

  • Changes the residence fields and description fields of any NetBackup media record if those fields do not match the media header. The description field is changed only if the media is Symantec Backup Exec media.

  • Conditionally changes the media type of an unassigned NetBackup volume record. The media type is changed only if the new media type belongs to the same family of media types as the old media type. For example, the media type DLT can only be changed to DLT2 or DLT3.

  • Never changes the volume pool, media type, and ADAMM_GUID of an assigned record.

  • Never unassigns an assigned NetBackup volume.

About updating NetBackup media

The vmphyinv utility searches the EMM database. It checks if the media ID from the tape is present in the media ID field of any record in the EMM database. If the media ID exists, vmphyinv updates the NetBackup volume record that corresponds to the media ID. If the media ID does not exist, vmphyinv creates a new NetBackup volume record that corresponds to the NetBackup media.

About updating Backup Exec media

The vmphyinv utility searches the EMM database. It checks if the media GUID from the tape is present in the ADAMM_GUID field of any record in the EMM database. If the media GUID exists, vmphyinv updates the NetBackup record that contains the GUID. If a media GUID does not exist, vmphyinv creates a new NetBackup record that corresponds to the Backup Exec media. vmphyinv may use an existing NetBackup volume record if the record does not correspond to any media in the tape library.

For each NetBackup volume record, vmphyinv does the following:

  • In the NetBackup record, updates the ADAMM_GUID field with the GUID and the Description field with the Backup Exec cartridge label in the tape header.

  • Adds the media ID of the NetBackup record to the EMM database (if not already present). Each record is assigned to NetBackup (if not already assigned) and its state is set to Frozen in the EMM database.

  • Changes the volume pool of the unassigned NetBackup volume records that are associated with Backup Exec media to the Backup Exec pool. If the Backup Exec pool does not exist, vmphyinv creates it.

    Note:

    If a MEDIA_ID_PREFIX entry is not specified in the vm.conf file, NetBackup uses BE as the default prefix for Backup Exec media.
About error cases

The vmphyinv utility may not be able to update the EMM database correctly in the following cases. These cases are reported as errors.

If any of the following cases are encountered, you must intervene to continue:

  • Duplicate media IDs are found.

    Two or more media in the same robot have the same media ID.

  • A NetBackup volume record that belongs to a different robot is found.

    It contains the same media ID as the media ID read from the tape header.

  • The media type, media GUID, or volume pool of an assigned volume record needs to be changed.

  • The bar code of an existing volume record needs to be changed.