How Backup Uses Barcode Labels with Autochangers

The use of external barcode labels to label media provides two distinct advantages: it significantly speeds up volume inventory and provides improved accuracy for internal volume labels.

With barcode labels, the inventory operation is fast and efficient because you do not have to load the volumes into the device. Instead, the autochanger scans the external barcode labels with an infrared light while the volumes remain in their slots. Performing an inventory with barcode labels greatly reduces the time it takes to locate a volume or determine the contents of a volume.

Barcode labels also provide greater accuracy because the labels are attached to the media prior to being loaded and scanned in the autochanger. After the autochanger scans the barcode label, Backup records and tracks the label in the media database.

Backup only uses barcode labels to inventory volumes. Backup uses the internal volume label (usually created with a label template) to identify the volumes required for backup and recovery. However, Backup displays both the barcode label and the volume label in the pending messages, and the Volumes resource contains both the volume label and its associated barcode label.

You do not have to label existing volumes with barcode labels if they are stored in a vault or offsite for long periods at a time. This is because you do not inventory these volumes often, if ever. However, if you have volumes you use often for recovery or for overwriting with new data, it is beneficial to label them with barcode labels. When your volumes are labeled with barcodes, you save hours of time when you inventory your volumes.

If you decide to use barcode labels on your existing volumes, you must first apply the barcode labels to the existing volumes. Then, load and mount each volume individually so Backup can match the barcode label to the existing volume label.

You can purchase a variety of barcode labels from a third-party vendor. You can choose numeric, alphanumeric, or a special combination of numbers and characters to meet your labeling needs. You can even order barcode labels that match your current volume labeling scheme.

If you label your volumes with the server name and an extension such as 001, order a range of labels starting with server_name.001 and ending with server_name.100. Labeling instructions for barcode labels are usually provided with your autochanger hardware documentation. If you have questions about barcode labels, contact the hardware manufacturer.

Using a consistent labeling scheme helps you better organize and track your volumes. It also aids the inventory process if all the volumes, rather than a limited number of them, use barcode labels.

When Backup relabels volumes automatically, it reuses the original volume label name. You can only change the label name if you relabel the volumes manually. Backup scans the barcode label during the labeling process and updates the media database with the new volume name and its associated barcode label.

If the autochanger inventory becomes outdated, either by rebooting your system or by opening the autochanger door, you can update the information about the autochanger's contents by performing an inventory. The administration program provides a graphical Inventory command; you can also issue the nsrjb -E -I command, as root, at the shell prompt. A reset operation also updates the information about the contents of the autochanger. Regardless of which method you use to update the contents, every slot in the autochanger is initialized.