Conference decwet::networker

NSR doesn't share jukeboxes, it assumes it has
full control of them (don't go messing with them
behind NSR's back, or NSR could end up in a very
confused state).  If you had disabled that
tape drive, then it would not have assumed it
could use the drive.

    
    maybe, then, you can give me an explanation of the  nsrjb -l -n option
    described in the nsrjb(8) man page. It is simply an unusefull option.
    
    Manu.

It will keep NSR in track, but it does not stop NSR
from assuming it can use the device, should it need
it, i.e. what you also needed.  Assuming you knew nothing
else would be happening, then your operation would have
worked ok.  That is possible for some environments, but not
for most.

So the workaround is to use nsrjb -l -n to load your non-NetWorker
tape into the drive, and then use the Media->devices menu to
disable the drive (to NetWorker) for the duration of your external
use.  This will prevent NetWorker from choosing it as a candidate for
activity.

In general, NetWorker is NOT going to be friendly about sharing jukebox
or tape access with any other application.

Kevin

    Thanks Kevin,
    
    This is just the advice I needed. I play with NSR since 1992, so I know
    that NSR does not like sharing a JUKEBOX.
    
    But, we, in the field, are confronted to the promise of our salesmen by
    our customer and we only "try" to "find" an "acceptable" solution for
    both "Mister the customer" and "Mister the digital support" ... :-)
    
    And keep in mind that every solution we implement at the customer site
    which are NOT supported by the official CSC channels is finally falling
    in OUR hands !!! So, it is not by unselfconsciousness  that we propose
    some "strange" solutions... I could have added this paragraph in a lot
    of notes concerning ASE-ADVFS-LSM-NSR integration.
    
    So, I am sorry to exercise some pressure on you, Engineering guys, but
    it is simply in order to stay in the market with the most beautifull
    UNIX integrated cluster solution...
    
    And, also, when we come to you with strange requests, we are only
    waiting for help and not to receive at first the statement : "it is not
    supported" that we already know.
    
    Thanks Kevin, and best regards,
    
    Manu.

    
    
    	I am also looking to perform a vdump using the NSR jukebox, the
    	concern I have is making it automatic. I would like to write
    	a shell script to mount the tape nsrjb and hve NSR ignor it. 
    	Using the nsrjb command is ok, but how do we disble the device 
    	and insure that NSR will not try a nsrjb command between our nsrjb
    	mount command and the disble device command. If nsrjb is busy doing
    	work like loading our tape, other nsrjb commands wait until the
    	previous complete. This could allow a pending NSR nsrjb command to
    	come in and mount a tape before we disable the device. 
    	The worst case I could think is to have a vdump overwrite a NSR 
    	volume losing the data.
    
    	I will try and play with it and see what I can see.
    
    
     

You can use the following script as a basis to disable the drive
from a script, minimizing the window when NSR could access the tape:

#!/bin/sh
#
# First load the tape in the drive.  Obviously, you'll need to 
# customize this for your configuration, and the slot could easily
# be a parameter to the script.
#
nsrjb -l -n -S45
#
# Now, we disable the drive for NetWorker's use.
#
nsradmin -i - <<EOF
. type:NSR device; name:/dev/nrmt0h
update enabled:No
quit
EOF
#