I have had a ticket open since September with Symantec and apparently there is a bug with Backup Exec 2012 that is still under investigation. I believe it first started with Service Pack 2, however it may have started before then.
Here is a brief description of the problem:
I have four partitions setup. One partition for general NDMP backups, one for Duplications, one for Enterprise Vault and one for Exchange. We like to segregate our Exchange and EV backups from normal project data. We are using a Quantum Scalar i80 tape library and take backups from a NetApp appliance. We have Cisco Nexus 5500 switches connecting the media server (Windows 2008 physical server with BE2012 installed), the NetApp SAN with two heads, and the three tape libraries.
When backups run the first tape is always picked from the correct partition, however when all three tape drives are in use there is no guarantee the media server will pick a tape from the correct partition even though they are setup that way. Sometimes I have tapes in the 'duplicate' partition used even though there are no jobs directed at that partition. Is anyone else experiencing this issue? I would find it hard to believe I am the only one.
I would like to revert to the previous version of BE, however I know if I run into any issues there support will just tell me to upgrade to the newest version.
I have uploaded extensive debug logs and have troubleshooted this issue extensively. I even stood up a brand new media server and the issue persisted. Here is the response that I finally received from Symantec Support:
Hello Cori,
My name is Ian Wilson, and I am the member of the Backup Exec backline team that has taken ownership of your case. I am normally available between 7:30am to 4:00pm Pacific for appointments and call backs.
The issue you are experiencing is currently under investigation, and only has the inconsistent workaround that you were already given. I have added all of the logging information that you have collected to the known issue that our engineering team is investigating. I am the highest level of Backup Exec support, and will work directly with our engineering team until your issue is resolved. Unfortunately I do not have a timeline that I can provide as to when this issue will be resolved.
What you can expect from this point is that your case will remain open, and in my name until a public fix is available for your issue. As this issue will require a product fix it may be sometime before you receive another update from me. Please be assured that as soon as our engineering team has an update on this issue I will provide that to you.
I do fully understand the annoyance that this issue presents for not only the backups, but the exporting of the proper tapes. You will need to manually track this for the time being to ensure proper tape rotation. Your continued patience with this issue is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ian Wilson
Senior Technical Support Engineer
Backup Exec Technical Support, Symantec Corporation
www.Symantec.com