Backup jobs targeting the same Robotic Library will not start to run until the Oracle backup job has finished

Problem

Oracle agent backup job targeting a Robotic Library will prevent other backup jobs targeting the same Robotic Library from running until the Oracle backup job has finished.
All jobs affected will start running the moment the Oracle job has finished.
Already running jobs are not affected.
No other target devices (disk, deduplication) are affected by this behaviour.
 

Error Message

Backup jobs targeting the same Robotic Library affected by this behaviour will show the following job status:
    Ready; No writeable idle devices are available

Cause

The Oracle agent has the capability of running Multiple Data Stream backups, and because that value can be specified on a per job basis (including when running a DBA-initiated job), Backup Exec cannot know in advance how many tape drives might be required. Therefore all tape drives have been reserved for the duration of the Oracle backup job.

Solution

This behaviour is by design

Different suggestions if this behaviour has a negative impact:

• Schedule the Oracle backup job targeting the Robotic Library to run at the end of the backup window which will ensure that other jobs targeting the same Tape Library have already run.
• Target the Oracle backup job to a specific tape drive and other jobs to other tape drives or a drive pool, instead of targeting all of the jobs to the Robotic Library. Please be aware that if a specific tape drive goes offline, the jobs targeted to that specific tape drive will not run.
• Increase the Oracle Multiple Data Stream option so that the Oracle backup job runs slightly quicker, if the Software / Hardware supports it, which will decrease the time of the reservation.
  Please see the Admin Guide for more information and requirements for this feature.
• Target the Oracle job to a different target device and then duplicate the data afterwards to tape.