System and method for archive verification

1. An appliance for archive verification, comprising:

a network interface operable to interface with a network and receive data from the network;

a processor coupled to the network interface; and

a computer readable media storing computer instructions executable by the processor to:

store a verification policy specifying archive verification parameters, wherein at least one archive verification parameter specifies an interval of time between verifying a media in a media library;

periodically determine how much time has elapsed since a specified media in the media library has been verified;

compare the elapsed time to the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

determine whether the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

load the specified media into a drive of the media library based on a determination that the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

send a first set of one or more commands to the drive to instruct the drive to read the specified media in accordance with the one or more commands;

send a second set of one or more commands to the drive to collect error data logged by the drive when reading the specified media, the error data comprising an indication of read errors logged by the drive;

receive the error data from the drive and associate the error data with the specified media; and

apply one or more rules specified in the verification policy to the error data to determine readability of data previously backed up on the specified media, wherein applying the one or more rules specified in the verification policy to the error data to determine the readability of the specified media comprises comparing a number of read errors to a threshold specified in the verification policy.

2. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the specified media is a tape cartridge.

3. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein sending the first set of one or more commands to the drive comprises

sending a Read command to the drive and wherein the computer instructions further comprise instruction executable to send a Read Attribute command to the drive to request data stored in a medium auxiliary memory of the specified media.

4. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein sending the first set of one or more commands to the drive comprises

sending a Verify command to the drive and wherein the computer instructions further comprise instruction executable to send a Read Attribute command to the drive to request data stored in a medium auxiliary memory of the specified media.

5. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein sending the second set of one or more commands comprises sending a LS command to the drive to request a log page containing the error data.

6. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the drive is dedicated to archive verification.

7. A method of archive verification, comprising:

at an appliance for archive verification, comprising:

a network interface operable to interface with a network and receive data from the network;

a processor coupled to the network interface; and

a computer readable media storing computer instructions, wherein the computer instructions are executable by the processor to perform the steps of:

storing a verification policy specifying archive verification parameters, wherein at least one archive verification parameter specifies an interval of time between verifying a media in a media library;

periodically determining how much time has elapsed since a specified media in the media library has been verified;

comparing the elapsed time to the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

determining whether the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

loading the specified media into a drive of the media library based on a determination that the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

sending a first set of one or more commands to the drive instructing the drive to read the specified media in accordance with the one or more commands;

sending a second set of one or more commands to the drive to collect error data logged by the drive when reading the specified media, the error data comprising an indication of read errors logged by the drive;

receiving the error data from the drive and associating the error data with the specified media; and

apply one or more rules specified in the verification policy to the error data to determine the readability of data previously backed up on the specified media, wherein applying the one or more rules specified in the verification policy to the error data to determine the readability of the specified media comprises comparing a number of read errors to a threshold specified in the verification policy.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the specified media is a tape cartridge.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein sending the first set of one or more commands to the drive comprises

sending a Read command to the drive and the method further comprises send a Read Attribute command to the drive to request data stored in a medium auxiliary memory of the specified media.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein sending the first set of one or more commands to the drive comprises

sending a Verify command to the drive and the method further comprises send a Read Attribute command to the drive to request data stored in a medium auxiliary memory of the specified media.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein sending the second set of one more commands comprises sending a LS command to the drive to request a log page containing the error date.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the drive is dedicated to archive verification.

13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining that the specified media is exhibiting decreased reliability; and

issuing an alert based on the decreased reliability.

14. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining that the specified media is exhibiting decreased reliability; and

transferring the data from the specified media to a different media based on the decreased reliability.

15. A software product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a set of computer instructions, the set of computer instructions comprising computer instructions executable to:

store a verification policy specifying archive verification parameters, wherein at least one archive verification parameter specifies an interval of time between verifying a media in a media library;

periodically determine how much time has elapsed since a specified media in the media library has been verified;

compare the elapsed time to the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

determine whether the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

load the specified media into a drive of the media library based on a determination that the elapsed time is equal to or greater than the interval of time specified by the verification policy;

send a first set of one or more commands to the drive instructing the drive to read the specified media in accordance with the one or more commands;

send a second set of one or more commands to the drive to collect error data logged by the drive when reading the specified media, the error data comprising an indication of read errors logged by the drive;

receive the error data from the drive and associate the error data with the specified media; and

apply one or more rules specified in the verification policy to the error data to determine a readability of data previously backed up on the specified media, wherein applying the one or more rules specified in the verification policy to the error data to determine the readability of the specified media comprises comparing a number of read errors to a threshold specified in the verification policy.

16. The software product of claim 15 , wherein the specified media is a tape cartridge.

17. The software product of claim 15 , sending the first set of one or more commands to the drive comprises

sending a Verify command to the drive and wherein the computer instructions further comprise instruction executable to send a Read Attribute command to the drive to request data stored in a medium auxiliary memory of the specified media.

18. The software product of claim 15 , wherein sending the first set of one or more commands to the drive comprises

sending a Verify command to the drive and wherein the computer instructions further comprise instruction executable to send a Read Attribute command to the drive to request data stored in a medium auxiliary memory of the specified media.

19. The software product of claim 15 , wherein sending the second set of one or more commands comprises sending a LS command to the drive to request a log page containing the error data.

20. The software product of claim 15 , wherein the drive is dedicated to archive verification.

21. The software product of claim 15 , further comprising computer instructions executable to:

determine that the specified media is exhibiting decreased reliability; and

issue an alert based on the decreased reliability.

22. The software product of claim 15 , further comprising computer instructions executable to:

determine that the specified media is exhibiting decreased reliability; and

transfer the data from the specified media to a different media based on the decreased reliability.

23. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the verification policy specifies the interval of time based on a media class.

24. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein older media are verified more often than newer media.

25. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the computer instructions are further executable by the processor to: compare verification data against previous verification data associated with the specified media to determine a degradation of the specified media.

26. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the computer instructions are further executable by the processor to:

identify a section of the media that could not be read based on the data received from the media library.

27. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the computer instructions are further executable by the processor to:

store verification data in a repository;

analyze the stored verification data to determine whether the specified media exhibits an upward trend in a number of errors; and

determine, based on the analysis, whether the specified media is degraded.

28. The method of claim 7 , wherein the verification policy specifies the interval of time based on a media class.

29. The method of claim 7 , wherein older media are verified more often than newer media.

30. The method of claim 7 , further comprising: comparing verification data against previous verification data associated with the specified media to determine a degradation of the specified media.

31. The method of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises

identifying a section of the media that could not be read based on data received from the media library.

32. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

storing verification data in a repository;

analyzing the stored verification data to determine whether the specified media exhibits an upward trend in a number of errors; and

determining, based on the analysis, whether the specified media is degraded.

33. The software product of claim 15 , wherein the verification policy specifies the interval of time based on a media class.

34. The software product of claim 15 , wherein older media are verified more often than newer media.

35. The software product of claim 15 , wherein the computer instructions are executable to: compare verification data against previous verification data associated with the specified media to determine a degradation of the specified media.

36. The software product of claim 15 , wherein the computer instructions are executable to

identify a section of the media that could not be read based on data received from the media library.

37. The software product of claim 15 , wherein the computer instructions are executable to:

store verification data in a repository;

analyze the stored verification data to determine whether the specified media exhibits an upward trend in a number of errors; and

determine, based on the analysis, whether the specified media is degraded.

38. The appliance of claim 1 , wherein the second set of one or more commands are sent to the drive and the one or more rules applied to the error data even if the drive successfully reads the specified media.

39. The software product of claim 15 , wherein the second set of one or more commands are sent to the drive and the one or more rules applied to the error data even if the drive successfully reads the specified media.

40. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second set of one or more commands are sent to the drive even and the one or more rules applied to the error data if the drive successfully reads the specified media.