MSL5000 multivolume operation with vdump

[Joseph P. Smith]

Good Morning,

Despite my best efforts to search ITRC and the web, and documetation(but perhaps weak compared to the wizards who inhabit this forum)...

With an MSL5000 SDLT autoloader, how do I indicate/determine/discover that the tape is at the end of one volume and must rewind, unload, place the volume in the slot it came from, grab the next tape, place it in the drive and continue?

Right now, I use MRU commands to initially load, unload, and place a single tape in the slot it came from when the job finishes. Automating with multiple tape volumes has me a stumped, and I doubt anything is automatic.

Basic relevant info ..
- Tru64 5.1b
- MSL 5000 with dual drives
- SDLT 320
- Media Robot Utility V1.7
- vdump Level 0 with Compression, Norewind, noUnload, and update /etc/vdumpdates. Tape drive is highest density with compression.

/sbin/vdump -0 -C -N -U -u
-f /dev/ntape/tape1_d1 [cloned file domain]

Right now all data fits on one tape. However, this may change. Prior to having SDLT, we used two DLT IV drives, each loaded with a tape, simutaneously executing background vdump processes, and put different file systems to each of the tapes.

I prefer to have a single tape or sequentially written tapes, rather than two tapes created asynchronously.

Thanks for help
Joe Smith

[Eric van Dijken]

Why no use a "real" back-up program, like Legato Networker or Amanda (which is free, if money is an issue)?

Those do all the things you say you need.