What is the NetWorker volume expiration date?

A NetWorker volume expiration date is set by default at two years from the date that the volume was most recently labelled. The two-year expiration is assigned whether the volume is being labelled for the first time or for the fifth time. Therefore, volume expiration date is not a reliable gauge of the age of a volume.

The volume expiration date can be overridden from the command line in either one of two ways. The first is by invoking the command nsrmm with the -e expiration parameter. The second method applies only to volumes stored in autochangers. If an administrator uses the command line to relabel a tape in an autochanger (the nsrjb program), an expiration date can be specified from the command line.

If a volume receives an explicit expiration date, NetWorker will not write a save set to the volume until it checks that the expiration date (or retention policy) of the save set is less than the expiration date of the volume. If the save sets expiration date (or the clients current retention policy) is greater, NetWorker does not write the save set until an acceptable, receiving volume is mounted.

Volume expiration is not used as a criterion in any other NetWorker volume management operation (such as volume selection for writing or for recycling).