make_tape_recovery and 2GB file size limitation

[Mike Mayer]

I think I know the answer to this one (that I'm outta luck) but thought I'd check anyway. We've got a 4GB Oracle DB file that fails to be written to tape via make_tape_recovery (everything else goes to tape just fine). The error:

WARNING: Skipping file '/users/oracle/oradata/ora/plant.dbf' because it is
larger than 2GB, which is not supported. This file should be
backed-up with your normal system backup -- Value too large to be
stored in data type (errno = 72)
WARNING: list_expander returned a warning,please check the log file.

(I'll guess the list_expander error is related)

Anyway, this is on an HP L1000, HPUX 11.00 (64-bit), largefiles are enabled on this VxFS system. Using IgniteUX B.3.5.89.

Have done a fair amount of research that seems to indicate pax not supporting >2GB files (and that make_tape_recovery uses pax). Nonetheless, want to see if anyone's come up with a workaround.

Thanks,

Mike

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

You are correct in that pax, which is what make_tape_recovery uses, does not support files larger than 2GB. There's no workaround for that.

Now what you could possibly do is make a copy of your 4GB file and then try gzip'ing or compressing it and see if that takes it under the 2GB limit. If so, when you restore from your tape, you just uncompress or gunzip it.

Otherwise, you'll have to create another tape that is an fbackup of your DB file and restore it after you've restored from the make_tape_recovery tape.

[Mike Mayer]

Thank you Patrick, that's what I was afraid of. Luckily in our case, that 4GB file is recreated by Oracle if there's ever a problem so it's not imperative that we actually archive it or back it up - but it did raise a red flag for us. We may in the future still have to deal with 2GB+ files that MUST be backed up or archived. In which case, we'd turn to your gzip/fbackup suggestions.

Of course the rhetorical question is when will HP fix tar/pax/cpio/ftio (or, maybe just make newer versions of them like tar64/pax64/cpio64/ftio64), so they'll support those 2GB+ files. Or, make it so make_tape_recovery uses fbackup instead (which does support 2GB+ file sizes).

Thanks again,

Mike