topic Re: regarding tape backup in Operating System - OpenVMS

regarding tape backup

nipun_2 — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:24:19 GMT

Hi,
I am trying to backup data to a tape (SDLT 160/320).

I did the following steps

$init tp0 disk2 (where tp0 is a logical pointing to the tape device)

$mount /foreign tp0
$backup /image disk2 tp0:sc4238_1.sav /label=disk2 /block =65500

Now this operation....ran overnight however when I arrived the next day it gave the following message

%BACKUP-I-RESUME, resuming operation on volume 2
%MOUNT-I-OPRQST, medium is offline
%MOUNT-I-OPRQST, Please mount volume DISK02 in device _SC4264$MKC500:
BACKUP requests: Saveset SC4238_1.SAV, Volume number 02, write ENABLED
%MOUNT-I-NOOPR, no operator available to service request

This is where I put in a new tape (which was not initialized)

%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, DISK02 mounted on _SC4264$MKC500:
%BACKUP-W-MOUNTERR, volume 2 on _SC4264$MKC500 was not mounted because its label does not match one requested
specify option (QUIT,NEW tape or OVERWRITE tape);new (this is the option I choose)

%BACKUP-W-MOUNTERR,volume 2 on _SC4264$MKC500 was not mounted because its label does not match the one requested

This message as well the obove option kept on repeating and finally it went to command prompt.

My conclusion:
I believe now I will have to start the entire backup operation again and this time I will have to intialize couple of tapes with name

"disk2"

so

$init tp0 disk2

and keep them ready so that when it asks for another tape I just put in a new one with name disk2

Let me know your thoughts and comments on this

It would be best if I get all the data on one tape. I thought I will because I have total of
286749488 blocks of disk space (combined volume set consisting of three hard drives)

Out of which roughly 20 GB is free. My tape is SDLT 160/320 GB tape so I am not sure why everything didn't get saved to a single tape ?

Please let me know how I can approach the problem

Ideally I would like to (in order of preference

1) Continue from the current backup operation
2) If I have to start again put the data on a single tape
3) If I need multiple tapes - anyway to get an idea when to put in the next tape

Let me know if you require more information

Re: regarding tape backup

nipun_2 — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:24:54 GMT

I forgot to add

I have OPenVMS 7.3-2

Re: regarding tape backup

Art Wiens — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:28:58 GMT

If I remember correctly, I believe the NEW response really means - "oops, I put the wrong tape in, I'll go get a NEW one".

Reply with OVERWRITE, it should continue using the second tape you put in.

Art

Re: regarding tape backup

nipun_2 — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:34:44 GMT

Hi I tried that as well and it gave the following

BACKUP-W-MOUNTERR, volume 2 on _SC4264$MKC500 was not mounted because its label does not match the one requested
specify option (QUIT,NEW tape or OVERWRITE tape) OVERWRITE
%BACKUP-F-POSITERR,error positioning TP0:[]SC4238_1.SAV;
-SYSTEM-F-MEDOFL, medium is offline
$INIT TP0 DISK2
%SYSTEM-F-DEVMOUNT, device is already mounted
$

Re: regarding tape backup

Peter Zeiszler — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:35:26 GMT

Try using the /media=compaction when you init the tape and in the backup command.

Use Overwrite when you are asked for a second tape.

Re: regarding tape backup

Jim_McKinney — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:42:58 GMT

> %BACKUP-F-POSITERR,error positioning TP0:[]SC4238_1.SAV;
> -SYSTEM-F-MEDOFL, medium is offline
> $INIT TP0 DISK2
> %SYSTEM-F-DEVMOUNT, device is already mounted

The positition error is indicative of a hardware failure - or perhaps a reaction to to an incorrect media format (compaction?). The already mounted message is indicating that the process running BACKUP still has control of the drive. You'll need to initialize any tapes that you intend to use prior to starting the BACKUP (I presume that you don't have a 2nd drive to use for an ad-hoc initialization).

Re: regarding tape backup

nipun_2 — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:45:41 GMT

Yes I only have a single tape drive

Re: regarding tape backup

Karl Rohwedder — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 12:45:11 GMT

It is normally not nec. to pre-INIT all the tapes needed in a BACKUP operation.
But perhaps you are using different types of tapes, e.g. DDS-2,DDS-3...
I assume (not tried), that BACKUP uses the properties of the 1st tape regarding density... to INIT the next tapes thus leading to an error.
If you do not have empty tapes to continue with, you may use the quailfier /IGNORE=LABEL on the BACKUP command to instruct BACKUP to just overwrite the next tape (leaving the responsibility to insert a correct tape to you).

regards Kalle

Re: regarding tape backup

Ian Miller. — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:04:02 GMT

anything in the error log?

$ ANAL/ERROR/ELV TRANSLATE ERRLOG.SYS/OUT=E.LIS
The usual /SINCE and /BEFORE qualifiers can be used - See help for details.

Re: regarding tape backup

nipun_2 — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 17:27:22 GMT

Hi Ian,
Thanks for the reply

So I restarted the backup process by initialising two tapes before hand

and using

$backup /image disk2 tp0:sc4238_1.sav /ignore=label /rewind /block =65500

In between it stopped the backup operation and asked for a new tape so I inserted tape 2

It again stopped and has asked for a new tape.

In this case I don't have any more initialized tapes. In this scenario do I have to restart the backup operation or I simply quit the current operation (what command to use) and then start from this point on with a new tape and maybe using /since qualifier ??

One more question...
If I just get a new tape (un initialized tape) and simply continue the process as above can it work ?

Re: regarding tape backup

Ian Miller. — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 03:51:41 GMT

load new tape and BACKUP will notice and discover the tape label is not what it is expecting (parhaps because its a new tape with no label). You respond OVERWRITE to the request from BACKUP and on it goes - works for me.

Remember that BACKUP adds some overhead so the amount of data to be written to tape is more than the number of blocks in use. Also the figure of 320 assumes 2:1 compression which does not necessarily happen.

Re: regarding tape backup

Jan van den Ende — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 04:25:22 GMT

Ni[un,

at the risk of stating the obvious:
_HOW_ do you tell BACKUP that it may use the next tape?

The question for some action comes as a REQUEST with a number; answer it with
$ REPLY /TO= "OVEWRWRITE"

It has always worked for us..

hth

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

Re: regarding tape backup

Jan van den Ende — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 04:45:34 GMT

Nipun,

at the risk of stating the obvious:
_HOW_ do you tell BACKUP that it may use the next tape?

The question for some action comes as a REQUEST with a number; answer it with
$ REPLY /TO= "OVERWRITE"

It has always worked for us..

hth

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

Re: regarding tape backup

Petr Spisek — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 07:53:02 GMT

Hi,
I think that the answer "NEW" could help too (as NEW_TAPE - second, not first).
You can prepare a second tape before this backup too (with the same label). And you'll happy with continue of backup.
Petr

Re: regarding tape backup

Wim Van den Wyngaert — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 08:34:23 GMT

If you use a tape with backup /rewind the initialization depends on :
1) new tapes : as selected on the drive
2) used tapes : as selected by the previous drive that used the tape.

So a tape used on a tz88 is used as a tz88 whatever the drive until it's initialized with INIT/DENS=DLT8000 (or whatever).

My advise : each tape used for your SDLT must be INIT with the highest density before any (re)usage.

BTW : do not forget /group=0/block=32|64K
BTW : I think compaction is enherited in the same way but can be overruled with /med=compact

Wim

Re: regarding tape backup

Antoniov. — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 09:01:36 GMT

Hi,
if my memory is still good, /IGNORE=LABEL should overlay the label check. However this qualifier can be dangerous, because you could insert a wrong tape.
In my mind you can use REPLY/TO command whenever you need it.
Why you don't use /MEDIA=COMPACT qualifier to compress data?

Antonio
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