Backup using DAT72 tape

[shabash]

I want to backup multilple mount points on hp DAT72.
i have 2 mount points for backup.
i am using the command

first i use
1.mt -t /dev/rmt/c5t3d0dd5n rew
2.Then i used fbackup -f /dev/rmt/0m -i /GPS

Now my question is
1.if i want to add another mount point can i add in above command with what option???
2.After first backup for example 20gb how i use the command to start the remaining space for backup.
3.How to eject the tape after backup completes.

Any one with exprience??

[OldSchool]

Question 1: if i want to add another mount point can i add in above command with what option???

A) try reading the "man" page for fbackup. Its always a good place to start. If its not installed, one is located here:

http://docs.hp.com/en/B2355-90691/fbackup.1M.html


B) especially note the part where is says

"-i path
path specifies a tree to be included in the backup graph. There is no limit on how many times the -i option can be specified."


C) or consider this option:

"-g graph
graph defines the graph file. The graph file is a text file containing the list of file names of trees to be included or excluded from the backup graph. These trees are interpreted in the same manner as when they are specified with the -i and -e options. Graph file entries consist of a line beginning with either i or e, followed by white space, and then the path name of a tree. Lines not beginning with i or e are treated as an error. There is no default graph file. For example, to back up all of /usr except for the subtree /usr/lib, a file could be created with the following two records:

i /usr
e /usr/lib "

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Question 2: After first backup for example 20gb how i use the command to start the remaining space for backup.

A) the "mt -t /dev/rmt/c5t3d0dd5n rew" may not be required. Even if it is, it could have been done as "mt -t /dev/rmt/0mn rew". If the tape has just been inserted int the drive, then it is already at the begininng and the step can be omitted.

B) If I recall correctly, fbackup will rewind the tape and start at the beginning anyway, which brings us to

C) You don't....you either put everything you want in the one backup or you forget about using the remaining space on the tape.


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Question 3: How to eject the tape after backup completes?

A) Consult "man mt", or here:

http://docs.hp.com/en/B2355-90689/mt.1.html

especially the "offl" option.

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ALSO, NOTE THE FOLLOWING FROM THE FBACKUP MAN PAGE:

fbackup(1M) fbackup(1M)
(TO BE OBSOLETED)

WARNINGS:

The fbackup, frecover, and ftio commands are deprecated for creating new archives. In a future
HP-UX release, creation of new archives with these commands will not be supported. Support will be continued for archive retrieval. Use the standard pax command (portable archive interchange) to create archives.

See pax(1).

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Beat the rush, convert now, or use commercially available tools

[Bill Hassell]

> 1.mt -t /dev/rmt/c5t3d0dd5n rew

Rewind is unnecessary. fbackup will manage all tape positioning.

> 2.Then i used fbackup -f /dev/rmt/0m -i /GPS

This will work fine. You might want to add -v to watch the files being recorded to the tape:

> fbackup -vf /dev/rmt/0m -i /GPS

However, you do not have a config file and therefore the backup will run slow due to small blocks and just a few reader processes. Create this file as /etc/fbackup.cfg:

blocksperrecord 4096
records 64
checkpointfreq 4096
readerprocesses 6
maxretries 5
retrylimit 5000000
maxvoluses 200
filesperfsm 2000

Now run your backup like this:

fbackup -vf /dev/rmt/0m -c /etc/fbackup.cfg -i /GPS

You will see significant improvement in speed.

> if i want to add another mount point can i add in above command with what option???

Just add another -i option (you can add many, many -i options on the same line):

fbackup -vf /dev/rmt/0m -c /etc/fbackup.cfg -i /GPS -i /opt/abc -i /var/tmp

> After first backup for example 20gb how i use the command to start the remaining space for backup.

If you mean that you want to append another backup to the end, fbackup does not allow this. fbackup (like commercial backup programs) writes a complete table of contents at the beginning of the tape.

> How to eject the tape after backup completes.

> mt -t /dev/rmt/c5t3d0dd5n offline

[sarfaraj ahmad]

hi ! you can also take backup from SAM utility.
from here you can add multiple mount points in single attempt and it will be very user friendly.

[OldSchool · Accepted solution]

Bill H > "If you mean that you want to append another backup to the end, fbackup does not allow this. fbackup (like commercial backup programs) writes a complete table of contents at the beginning of the tape."

err....DataProtector (and many other products) will allow multiple backup sessions to append to tape, thus filling it to capacity.

I still recommend that in light of the Obsolesence warning, that the OP either migrate to "pax" or to some other solution, like DP, bacula, amanda, TSM or ???? Convert now, or convert later. And converting later could be painful.

[shabash]

One thing more i want to ask.

Can i overwrite the data???
for example i used it for 20GB then again if i want to overwrite from start so is it possible???

[Bill Hassell]

Yes, you can rewrite the tape with a new backup over and over again.

[Dennis Handly]

>OldSchool: DataProtector (and many other products) will allow multiple backup sessions to append to tape

Yes, and they must keep careful records of what's on the tape. ;-)

[shabash]

After complition of backup how can i check the files copied on tape?

In order to check the contents of files which i copied???

[OldSchool]

"Can i overwrite the data???
for example i used it for 20GB then again if i want to overwrite from start so is it possible???"

Yes. And as noted, that's exactly what fbackup will do every time you write data. It will position to the beginning of tape and write what it needs to write. Any data on the tape will be overwritten

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"After complition of backup how can i check the files copied on tape?

In order to check the contents of files which i copied???"

Either refer to Bill H's previous response:
"> 2.Then i used fbackup -f /dev/rmt/0m -i /GPS

This will work fine. You might want to add -v to watch the files being recorded to the tape:

> fbackup -vf /dev/rmt/0m -i /GPS"

-or-

(once again) refer to the "man" pages. If you don't have them installed, they can also be found here:

http://docs.hp.com/en/hpuxman_pages.html