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Tape library and drives are shown as separate devices

KB ID: 1842
Product: Veeam Backup & Replication | 9.5 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12.1 | 12.2
Published: 2013-12-05
Last Modified: 2023-06-01
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Challenge

Tape library and drives are shown as separate devices in console or loading tape into TapeDrive0 moves the tape into TapeDrive1 etc.
tape library with no drives
Shown here, the Tape Library has no Tape Drive listed
Tape drive seperate shown acting as if it is a tape library with its own tape drive
Shown here, the Tape Drive is separate from the Tape Library.

Cause

  • The tape library is not reporting the tape drive serial number.
  • The tape library has one or more unpopulated tape drive bays.

Solution

Registry Value will override automatic detection
Use of this registry value will override all automatic detection built-in to Veeam Backup & Replication. All future changes to tape drive and changer relationships will have to be manually accounted for by updating this registry value.

The following registry value may be added on the Veeam Backup Server to manually map the tape drive(s) to the tape library.

Key Location: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication\
Value Name: TapeDevices
Value Type: Multi-String Value (REG_MULTI_SZ)
Value Data: 
TapeServerName
Changer#=Tape#:ElementAddress

Collecting Information to populate Value Data:

The Value data consists of two lines. The first declares which tape server should be affected, and the second declares the identifier for the Tape Library and associated Tape Drive(s).

Line 1:

Use the tape server's name shown in the Veeam Backup & Replication Console under Tape Infrastructure > Servers.

tape server name
Line 2:
  1. Connect to the Tape Server where the Tape Library and Drives are attached.
  2. Open an Administrative Command Prompt
  3. Change directory to a temporary folder (e.g., cd C:\Temp\)
  4. Run the following command to dump information from the Veeam Tape Service.
    The command will complete silently, leaving in the folder a file named "dumpinformation.xml"

For Veeam Backup & Replication 11a and older use:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Veeam\Backup Tape\VeeamTapeSvc.exe" -dump
For Veeam Backup & Replication 12 and higher use: 
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Veeam\Backup Tape\VeeamTapeSvc.exe" --dump > dumpinformation.xml
  1. Open "dumpinformation.xml" in an XML editor. (alternatively, open the file in a web browser)
  2. Using the info at the end of the file,  identify the following information:
    • DeviceName for the changer
    • DeviceName of the drive(s)
    • Respective ElementAddress of the drive(s) associated with the Changer
      Use the SerialNumber value(s) to correlate the ElementAddress

    See the example below:
Example of relating serial numbers to element ID
Note how Tape1 has a SerialNumber of DF50A00001 and a drive can be seen associated with the changer that has the same SerialNumber.
Below the tape drive SerialNumber in the Changer section is shown the ElementAddress.
 
This screenshot is of the dumpinformation.xml file opened in Internet Explorer, and some XML attributes may be displayed in a different order than how they are written in the file.
If no ElementAddress is listed for devices in the dumpinformation.xml, please collect logs and create a support case for assistance.
  1. Using the examples above, the resulting "Value data" would be:
VeeamTapeServer
Changer0=Tape1:0,Tape2:1
Screenshot of example in registry editor
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