topic Re: how to use streamer in StoreEver Tape Storage

how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:18:22 GMT

Hi all,
We bought new streamer HP Storage Works Ultrium 9200 with 4 cassettes. Before i saved my backups on my disk arrays. And i dont know how to use streamer and record my database backups to my cassettes.
What kind of drivers i should install to my HP-UX 11.3?
Are there softs or utilities which manage streamer and all process?

regards,
Rustam

Re: how to use streamer

Sudhakar Subramaniam — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:13:59 GMT

HI,
You can get more info from below link.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Home.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=4150338&submit.y=6&submit.x=6〈=en&cc=us

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:20:26 GMT

Hi Sudhakar,
I read some article from link you showed me. But i even havent installed yet and cant run streamer. Does this streamer supports RMAN utility from Oracle DB?

Regards,
Rustam

Re: how to use streamer

Torsten. — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:34:56 GMT

So you have an ultrium 920 tape drive?

You need to configure the "stape" driver into the kernel, then you can see the device as "CLAIMED" and you can use it (e.g. with tar/pax or a backup utility).

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:29:42 GMT

>>>So you have an ultrium 920 tape drive?

yes, i do.

>>>You need to configure the "stape" driver into the kernel, then you can see the device as "CLAIMED" and you can use it (e.g. with tar/pax or a backup utility).

I sign in to kweb, then went to kernel configuration. Found stape. Should i just do 'load configuration'? i brought screen from that page.

Regards,
Rustam

Re: how to use streamer

Torsten. — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 06:13:14 GMT

Looks like the driver is already configured. Is the tape drive now CLAIMED in ioscan?

Now you can use it.

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:11:02 GMT

I checked through the command ioscan -f ( result in attached file). In column 'Class' i couldnt find 'type' and in column 'Driver' couldnt find 'stape'. So it means streamer doesnt installed properly? Though there is one strange value

unknown -1 0/0/2/0.0.1 UNCLAIMED UNKNOWN OO Device Driver

what is it?

Re: how to use streamer

Torsten. — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:19:11 GMT

I don't know what server you have, but the UNKNOWN device is probably for USB mass storage (vMedia/USB DVD), so you need to include this driver to get it CLAIMED.

This is not related to the tape.

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:58:10 GMT

Hi Torsten,

My server is ia64 hp server rx6600. Yeah, you are right that on this server i have DVD Rom.

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:35:27 GMT

Hi all,

I read HP manual 'hp ultrium drives
technical reference manual generation 2 SCSI and FC drives'. There are these steps:
1. Determining the SCSI ID
% /sbin/ioscan -f
but i couldnt find my tape in outlook. I thought maybe coz of long list i confused and didnt see tape. Then run
% /sbin/ioscan -f | grep "Ultrium"
anywhere didnt find driver for tape.
start step 2
2. If you cannot find the Ultrium drive, this may be because the kernel does not
contain the correct driver. Use the System Administration Manager (sam) to
add stape to the kernel:

To add stape to the kernel using sam:
1. % sam
2. Select the following:
Kernel Configuration
Drivers
3. Highlight the stape driver. If the driver has not been added to the kernel,
both Current State and Pending State will read â Outâ .
4. Select the following:
Actions
Add Driver to Kernel
The Pending State will now read â Inâ .
5. To add the new driver to the kernel, select:
Actions
Create a New Kernel
6. The stape driver will now be added to the kernel and then the system will
reboot.

In second item i dont see 'Driver' in Kernel Configuration. There are: Tunables, Moduls, Alarms and so on.. I went to Modules and found stape. Should i modify?
I didnt do other item from 2 until 6.
What should i do now? How can i load driver again?

Regards,
Rustam

Re: how to use streamer

Torsten. — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:43:32 GMT

The ioscan you posted previously doesn't show the tape at all.

So you either have a problem with the drive itself (bad?) or the cables/terminators (bent pin?).

Check the hardware.

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:13:13 GMT

Hi Torsten,
You are right. Problem was with cable. Now ioscan -f shows me my tape
# ioscan -f | grep "Ultrium"
tape 0 0/2/1/0.0.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE HP Ultrium 3-SCSI

So, is there book\manual how to use it? direct link to hp doc i mean.
I wanted to know how can i determine device file fr my tape? i check /dev and saw rmt and rtape, which one is mine?

I just rewind and check streamer and tape. I have card Ultrium 800 GB* data cartridges and found compatibility for them.
Tape drive model: Ultrium 920
read/write
(C7973A)
nl
write once/read
many (C7973W

Does it mean that i can write once to my cartridge? so i cant write some test files?

Regards,
Rustam

Re: how to use streamer

Torsten. — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:34:34 GMT

Try

# ioscan -fnCtape

I don't think the media is a WORM, so you can write many times.

Consider to use tar, pax, cpio or something to backup your data (depends on what you want to backup).

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:02:12 GMT

Thanks Torsten, from both servers i got these results:

# ioscan -fnCtape
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
=====================================================================
tape 0 0/2/1/0.0.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE HP Ultrium 3-SCSI
/dev/rmt/0m /dev/rmt/c0t0d0BEST
/dev/rmt/0mb /dev/rmt/c0t0d0BESTb
/dev/rmt/0mn /dev/rmt/c0t0d0BESTn
/dev/rmt/0mnb /dev/rmt/c0t0d0BESTnb

there are 4 types 'devise file' such as 0m, 0mb, 0mn, 0mnb. Honestly i dont know differ between them. On manual is rmt/0mnb
2. Back up /stand/vmunix to tape:
% tar cvf /dev/rmt/0m ./stand/vmunix

>>I don't think the media is a WORM, so you >>can write many times.

how can i determine does mine WORM or doesnt? i have 10 Data cartridge - 'HP LTO3 Ultrium RW' * Assuming 2:1 Compression.
Does RW mean i can write and read many times?

>>Consider to use tar, pax, cpio or >>something to backup your data (depends on >>what you want to backup).

On my servers run Oracle Database and backups are created with Datapump Utility, not with RMAN. So i have dump files of my database, size app 30Gb (each file). During a day i have to write these dump files (3 dump files from 3 instance) to cartridge and all archive logs from one instance. So which way is secure, faster and easier to these tasks?
By the way, i have never worked with tapes\data cartridges, can i create several directories with data (automatically) or manually?

I also have HP LTO Ultrium Universal Cleaning Cartridge, havent known yet for what i can use it.

Regards,
Rustam

Re: how to use streamer

Torsten. — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:16:16 GMT

Refer to your oracle documentation on how to backup date.

>> Does RW mean i can write and read many times?

Yes.

Regarding cleaning: Insert the cleaning tape if the "clean" LED is on.

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:26:36 GMT

Hi Torsten,

>>Refer to your oracle documentation on how >>to backup date.

I found out that tar and cpio will be ok for my data pumps.

>>Regarding cleaning: Insert the cleaning >>tape if the "clean" LED is on.

Ok, i got it. Thanks.

Look, i follow official documents and make some test backup and extract to/from cartridge.

1. i copy to /tmp test file and then write it to my data cartridge.

# tar cvf /dev/rmt/0mn /tmp/p8202632_10205_WINNT.zip
a /tmp/p8202632_10205_WINNT.zip 2119612 blocks

# mt status
Drive: HP Ultrium 3-SCSI
Format:
Status: [81114400] EOF online compression immediate-report-mode
File: 1
Block: -1
# cd /tmp
2. delete my test file p8202632_10205_WINNT.zip from /tmp. Then would copy from data cartridge to /tmp. But got error, why?
# tar xvf /dev/rmt/0mn
Tar: blocksize = 0; broken pipe?

what was wrong? How can i write and read from data cartridge then? Only way to write big file (which has 10-20-30Gb) to cartridge is to spread big file to multipal files?

Regards,
Rustam

Re: how to use streamer

Torsten. — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:39:01 GMT

You used the norewind special file (0mn), so you need to rewind the tape or eject and load it again.
IMHO it should work then.

Re: how to use streamer

Dennis Handly — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:47:59 GMT

># mt status
>Status: [81114400] EOF online compression
>Then would copy from data cartridge to /tmp. ...
>what was wrong?

As mentioned by "mt status", you are at EOF and you need to rewind the tape so you see "BOT":
mt rew

>Only way to write big file (which has 10-20-30Gb) to cartridge is to spread big file to multiple files?

No, you can use pax(1) instead of tar.

Re: how to use streamer

rustam_2 — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:01:17 GMT

Torsten,
Thank you a lot. Finally i could write and then read my test file to\from cartridge.

But I still dont know, what differ between these files: /dev/rmt/0m /dev/rmt/0mb /dev/rmt/0mn /dev/rmt/0mnb. Couldnt find in official doc. I guess each of them have specific feature during write\read. So i dont know which is to good to use.

Thanks Dennis,
This evening i will read and then try to practice with pax utility.

Regards,
Rustam

Re: how to use streamer

Torsten. — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:05:14 GMT

many related threads are there, for example:

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/System-Administration/0m-vs-0mb/m-p/3098949#M146522