Problem

Receiving status code 84 when performing a backup. The policy has been setup to use a Storage Unit Group with one or more Disk Storage Units (DSU) or Disk Staging Storage Units (DSSU).

Solution
When creating a Storage Unit Group with one or more DSU/DSSU, the priority list will not function the same as when multiple Media Manager Storage Units are configured.

The functionality of a Storage Unit Group is to first select the storage unit that is defined at the top of the list. If that storage unit is busy or not available then the next storage unit defined in the list is used. If that one is busy or unavailable, then the next one is used and so on. If no storage units on the list are available, the backup will fail with a Status 219 (No Storage Units Available). For example, in Figure 1 (below) the Storage Unit Group was setup with dell345535-8mm at the top of the list. If it is busy or not available then the policy will try to use the next one on the list, dsu-a. This is the normal operating behavior, but there is one caveat to this behavior. Please see the additional information (below) for this caveat. Figure 1

In Figure 2, the Storage Unit Group has been setup with 2 DSU or DSSU. Figure 2

The first storage unit on the list is a Disk Storage Unit named "dsu-a". If the dsu-a becomes full during the course of a backup, the job will NOT hunt down to the next storage unit on the list (test-dsu), so the job will fail with Status Code 84 (Media Write Error). The partial backup image will be deleted from dsu-a and space will be made available. If/when the job retries, it will start selecting storage units from the top of the Storage Unit Group list and will re-select the same storage unit "dsu-a" and the job will again fill the disk and fail with a Status 84. NetBackup does not check how much space is available. NetBackup just checks to see if it is available, and if so, attempts to write the data. Additional Information If the hard drive or location that was defined in the Storage Unit Group is removed from the system, then the job will fail with a status code 35, cannot make the required directory.

The Caveat There is one situation where this configuration will work. In the configuration of the DSU or DSSU there is a parameter called "Maximum concurrent jobs". See Figure 3. If the DSU or DSSU is actively backing up its "maximum concurrent jobs", then it is considered "busy", and a storage unit election will then select the next storage unit defined on the list.

Figure 3