Backup Manual, Library Staff Manuals, Boreham Library, UA Fort Smith

Backup

Boreham Library Staff Manuals

Backup Manual

version 2007.07.25.a

Note: minor changes in menus and wording may occur with each upgrade. Just read the menu carefully and select the correct item wherever it is.

ABSOLUTELY VITAL:
Each tape MUST be completed and verified, and a new tape initialized, before another unattended backup can be made. The ONLY exception requires you to specifically tell the system to skip the verification for this one tape. If this is not done properly, no further unattended backups will be made.

Unattended Backup Every Day and After Holidays
If the Unattended Backup Fails
Manual Backup
Manual Backup Failure
Cleaning the Tape Drive to be done weekly

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Replacement of Tapes

Tapes should be replaced after 50 uses or once a year. We use a rotating group of 14 tapes (2 weeks worth), labeled by the day of the week for week 1 and week 2.

Unattended Procedure Every Day

Holidays Note:

After the backup for the last working day before a holiday, there is nobody to replace the tape, so all following days of the holiday period will show a NOT DONE message. This is normal.

Be sure the last backup was COMPLETE and VERIFIED
Ignore the missing days
continue for the next valid backup day

Normal procedure:

Select A > ADDITIONAL System Functions

Select B > BACKUP database to tape

The screen says "Setting up system files for backup."

The INNOPAC Backup Program screen appears with a menu:

Select U > UNATTENDED backup

A menu appears:

Select V > VIEW unattended backup log

The Unattended Backup Log screen appears.

The first line should read something like this:

1 > W 11-26 8:20 1620 Full Wednesday 040804 COMPLETED, VERIFIED.

IF the last day was a working day.

Alternatively, the line may read ERROR if the library was closed on that day (or two days, or over a holiday of several days). As long as the line below it for the last working day says COMPLETED, VERIFIED, consider it the normal backup and proceed normally.

If the top or last working day file does not say COMPLETED, VERIFIED then there is a problem.

If the backup verification is NOT successful, or the backup was not done for some reason (the tape was not initialized, power failure, bad tape, etc.), the failure must be dealt with before proceeding.

Press Q to Quit.

The Unattended Backup Menu appears again.

Remove the tape by pushing the one button on the front of the tape drive.
It often takes several minutes for the tape to eject. Pressing the button repeated may slow down the process by restarting it. If the tape does not eject in 5 minutes, press the button again.

Mark the date and your initials on the postit note on the tape liner (or add one if necessary), so that the note is visible when the box is closed. Insert the tape in the box, and put the box in the cabinet above the INNOPAC server in the proper day order.

Do not remove older postit notes. They allow the tape to be dated for number of uses, so a replacement time may be determined.

Get the tape for the current day and insert it, white tab on the outside, into the tape drive. When it is almost entirely in, the drive mechanism seizes it and pulls it in the rest of the way.

At the Unattended Backup Menu, select I > INITIALIZE tape(s)

The Initialization Screen appears.

Type F for full backup. There will be a delay while the tape drive prepares.
We do a FULL backup EVERY time.

The Current Tape Information screen appears. There may be a previous backup already on the tape; ignore that.

Select I > INITIALIZE to prepare the tape to receive a new backup.

Type the day and the date, and FULL BACKUP to provide a unique name. Press ENTER at the end.

Answer Y to initialize the tape now.

The line disappears, there is a delay, then the screen shows the tape is rewinding, then another delay.

The screen shows the initialization was successful, but this is very brief and flashes off quickly.
Then the Tape Initialization menu appears.

Select Q to quit the menu.

The Unattended Backup menu appears.
As a precaution, check the tape to be sure it initialized properly. Select E to Examine the tape.

examine an unattended backup tape screen

Select F for Full Backup.

The results will show, and the Initialized line must say YES.

Note: in this example, the day is Wednesday, not Thursday as in the example earlier. In a real example, the results would show Thursday as done earlier.

Select Q repeatedly to quit all the menus.

What was just done:

The system performs an automatic backup every night of the week, provided that the tape is (1) verified, (2) replaced with a new tape, and (3) the new tape is initialized.

The backup of the full system takes place at 3:00 a.m. each night.
Another backup will not be done until the current backup has been verified as good and another tape initialized,
so the backup from the previous night must be done every day,
preferably before or soon after opening. If the backup was not performed, or the tape does not verify as a good backup, a full backup must be performed manually as soon as possible [see Section II: Manual Backup Procedure].

The "bibtemp" file is used for daily backups, and is not relevant to full backups. It may be cleared whenever the system asks.

If the unattended backup fails:

If the backup did not take place (the backup reports an ERROR in the list) then the system can still do the next backup, provided an initialized tape is in place.

Select the last unverified tape, meaning the one that refuses to be verified, as if you were going to verify it.

Select the choice "Skip Verification".

In this example, the backup was done normally. If it failed to run, it might say ERROR, FAILED, or another message instead of this.

Remove the tape with the error.

Check the unattended backup log screen to see that the last completed backup now has "SKIPPED VERIFY" after COMPLETED on the line.

Mark it with a postit note that states the date and that there was an error. Set that aside and bring it to the attention of the Technical Services Librarian by email.

Run a manual backup with a fresh tape, and then initialize a new tape for the next night and put it in the drive to be ready.

The backups should now continue normally at the next regular time, provided a properly initialized tape is in place.

Manual Backup Procedure

In the event of an unattended backup failure, a manual backup must be done. At least once a week a backup tape should be done manually in order to have a tape to take off the library site as a precaution. Do not use one of the regular sequential tapes to leave the site; make a separate tape instead.

Select A > ADDITIONAL System Functions

Select B > BACKUP database to tape

The INNOPAC Backup Program screen appears:

Remove the unattended backup tape and set it aside in a highly visible position.

Get the tape for the manual backup and insert it, white tab outside, into the tape drive. When it is almost entirely in, the drive mechanism seizes it and pulls it in the rest of the way.

Select F > Full backup

There is a pause while the control program acknowledges the backup procedure.

At the prompt, provided the correct tape is in the drive, press C to continue.

Follow the prompts and complete the backup and verification. The backup must be verified to be sure that the recording on the tape is a good copy.

Label the tape with the date and time.

The bibtemp file may be cleared; just answer Y for yes.

IMPORTANT: be sure to load the NEXT regular unattended backup tape back into the drive for the nightly backup.

Manual backup: What was just done:

The system performs an (automatic) unattended backup every night of the week, provided that the tape is (1) verified, (2) replaced with a new tape, and (3) the new tape is initialized.

The manual backup, however, is done in addition to or instead of the unattended backup. It will not show up on the unattended backup list for that reason.

The control program must stop, and all updates to files other than the bibtemp file will be stopped while the backup is running. Once the backup is completed, the system will consult the bibtemp file and update the records normally and continue from there. This means that functions such as the "instant" changes in records will not be visible for the short time the backup is running, but will appear shortly after the backup is completed.
It is NOT necessary to stop using the system for other purposes while running a manual backup, but a slight delay may be noticed in some functions.

If the manual backup fails:

Print the screen(s) with the errors noted. This can be a clue as to what kind of error might be involved.

Follow the manual backup procedure with another tape. If that fails, call Innovative.

Cleaning the tape drive:

This should be done once a week.

Remove the standard tape from the drive.
Insert the cleaning tape.
The drive should sense the cleaning tape and clean itself, then eject the cleaning tape. This will take a few moments.

If it does not eject at then end of cleaning, use the eject button.

Replace the standard tape and proceed with the normal backup methods.