Make_tape_recovery : Failed to generate LIF on tape

[Robin King]

Hi People!

I noticed the following error in the recovery.log for our weekly make_tape_recovery.


/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

* Saving the information about archive to
/var/opt/ignite/recovery/previews
* Creating The Tape Archive
* Checking configuration file for Syntax
* Writing boot LIF to tape
657+0 records in
656+1 records out
I/O error
ERROR: /usr/bin/dd if=/var/tmp/uxinstlf.recovery of=/dev/rmt/2mn bs=2k failed
to write LIF onto tape.
ERROR: Failed to generate LIF on tape .



======= 11/30/01 13:03:52 GMT make_tape_recovery completed unsuccessfully

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

I don't understand why it has failed writing the LIF to tape. The I/O error would imply hardware problems, but this has happened twice, failing at the same point, and any other use of the tape drive is fine.

Can anyone shed any light on it?

Thanks

Robin

[Wim Rombauts]

This could also be a tape problem.

Were you using the same tape the two times that the make_tape_recovery failed ? If so, try another tape.

[Robin King]

We work on a 6 week cycle, so they failed on different tapes. The tapes them elves were brand new about 2 months ago, so would only have been used once or twice.

Possible I know, it just seems funny to me that it should write all that data to tape, and fail just writing the tiny bit of LIF.

[Noel Miranda_1]

Hi Robin,

The dd command is trying to dump the 2kb LIF file from /var.

Was /var mounted on these two occasions?

[Darrell Allen]

Hi Robin,

I presume the other use(s) of the tape drive worked on the tape(s) that failed.

Perhaps a mediainit of the tape will help.

Darrell

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

It seems like you have to reinstall the Ignite/UX product. Look at the thread below:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x3b825220af9bd5118ff10090279cd0f9,00.html

HTH,
Vince

[Robin King]

Thanks Vincent. I'll try it and assign points afterwards.

Robin

[Wim Rombauts]

Robin, you could use this as a test : Take the tape that was used when the error occured, put it in the drive and then enter the following command :

/usr/bin/dd if=/stand/vmunix of=/dev/rmt/2m bs=2k.

This is essentially the same operation as ignite is doing, you are onlmy using another file. If this fails(try it two or three times), try it with another tape, or on another device. This way, you could rule out device or media problems. If it works, try to find /var/tmp/uxinstlf.recovery and try to write that file to tape with the same dd command.

[Vincent Farrugia]

Try to install the latest version of it.

http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/download.html

Don't forget the pax patch.

HTH,
Vince