Legato NetWorker ClientPak and Storage Node Installation Guide

Configuring and Operating NetWorker Autochanger Support

NetWorker starts to label the media in the autochanger with the label displayed in the

Starting With attribute. The First Slot and Last Slot attributes determine the range of

slots containing volumes that NetWorker labels.

Consider the following conventions when labelling volumes:

• If you label a specific range of volumes, the name in the Starting With attribute

must match the label template.

• If you label a single volume, you can use any name; it does not have to match the

label template. To label a single volume, put the same value in the First Slot and

Last Slot attributes.

• When a valid NetWorker label already exists on the media that you are trying to

label, NetWorker displays a confirmation message to prevent you from

accidentally relabeling the media.

• When a volume is relabeled, you cannot recover its contents under the previous

label. When you select OK to confirm, the volumes in the slots are loaded, labeled,

and unloaded.

Important: Before reloading an autochanger with new volume, always remove the

existing volumes. This will prevent you from accidentally relabelling the existing

volumes.

For more information on labeling volumes, refer to “Storage Management Operations”

in the Legato NetWorker Administrator’s Guide, UNIX Version.

How NetWorker Uses Barcode Labels with Autochangers

The use of external barcode labels to label media provides two distinct advantages:

• Significantly speeds up volume inventory

• Provides improved accuracy for internal volume labels

With barcode labels, the inventory operation is fast and efficient because the

autochanger does 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, NetWorker records and tracks the label in the media database.

NetWorker only uses barcode labels to inventory volumes. NetWorker uses the

internal volume label (usually created with a label template) to identify the volumes

required for backup and recovery. However, NetWorker 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.