Check the Windows event log by opening the Windows Event Viewer. The XenData Archive event log can be found under Applications and Services Logs. Here you will find details about the cause of the start failure.

XenData software has the facility on LTO to automatically make multiple copies of the same data on replicated tape cartridges. One of the replicas can then be exported from the library or drive and kept elsewhere for safe keeping which means your replicas are not using space in your library. Replication is supported with libraries having only one LTO drive but is not available when using only one stand-alone LTO drive. Also, replication is not supported when using Optical Disc Archive (ODA) cartridges.

By default the XenData software reports the free space of the available writable cartridges. To find out how much cache space you have available, right click on the XenData Cache drive, select properties and then the XenData tab, here you will find the cache free space.

By default the XenData software only accepts data if there is a cartridge to write that data to. If you have no writable volumes, because you have run out of blank cartridges or a current writable cartridge is in alert, then you will see no free space. If a current writable cartridge is in alert, you can right click on it in the Archive Management Console and select ‘reset alert’. If that does not work, you can add a new volume. With a new volume added you can continue working. We would suggest at that point you should contact support@xendata.com to investigate why there is an alert volume.

LTO drives from generation 6 onwards implemented a feature called Logical Block Protection. This can be enabled in the XenData Archive Management Console. It causes the XenData software to generate a checksum for every block of data written to LTO and this is compared with a checksum calculated by the drive from the data read by its read-after-write head. This gives an extra level of assurance that data has been correctly written to LTO.

No. Only certified AV software should be used. XenData and AV software both use file system filter driver techniques and it is possible that they can interfere with each other. A list of certified AV software is available on our web site. See link http://www.xendata.com/support-xendata6-server/tech_notes/XTN1201.htm

Yes. Many customers install FileZilla server on the XenData system, and allow FTP clients to write to the Archive.

Yes.

The first step is to stop any archive or restore requests. Once the system is idle and, in the case of a system with a library, all cartridges have been ejected from the drives, power down the server (Note that the XenData software causes cartridges to be ejected from library drives after the drives have been idle for 10 minutes). After the server has powered down, power off the library and any stand-alone LTO/ODA drives.

First power up the LTO or ODA library and any stand-alone LTO or ODA drives. Wait for the LTO or ODA library and drives to become ready. Now power up the XenData server. The XenData service starts automatically. When the XenData service starts, all writable cartridges are checked. After completion of these checks, the system is ready for use.

By default, blank cartridges are automatically added to a Volume Set when the existing writable volume is almost full. The percentage at which it is added can be configured in the Volume Set configuration section of the Archive Management Console. This means the only times you should add one manually is when you first set up the Volume Set or if the current volume is in alert and cannot be reset. We would suggest you do not add multiple volumes, as the system checks writable cartridges on start up and this will increase the system start up time.

Yes, we encourage people to stay up to date with Windows updates. This has no effect on our software.

Yes, the logical drive volume under XenData control is fully compliant with the Windows security model based on Active Directory. It has the same security characteristics as if it were a standard disk drive volume managed by the Windows operating system that you are using.

Overhead on tapes can be considered the difference between the anticipated and actual tape usage while writing a known quantity of data. Or in simpler terms, space that is lost during the write process, generally due to what can be called ‘soft retries’. These are retries that eventually work, rather than giving a hard write failure.

The first step to resolve overhead should be to clean the drives. If this does not resolve it, it may be that a drive is having issues and needs replacing. If you report this to your hardware vendor they will hopefully ask for drive dumps which will show one of the drives is reporting a high number of soft write errors.