Create Fbackup_label

[Marcel Boon]

Hi,
I want to create my own fbackup_label, so I can check if I use the right tape.
How can i do it ? I'm using hp-ux 10.20 and 11.00. backup tool: fbackup.

Thx's

Marcel

[Thierry Poels_1]

Hi,
tapes are (unlike Omniback) not labeled with fbackup.
You could however put a little controlfile in your root directory (or wherever you start your backup, so you can retrieve it quickly) containing whatever you want (tape number, date, ...), which you can easily restore to check its contents.

groetjes,
Thierry.

[Marcel Boon]

Hi Thierry,

Tapes are labeled with fbackup, volume header.
Is it possible to manapulate this section on the tape ?

Marcel

[Robin Wakefield]

Marcel,

I create a small file with the label information I wish to write (name, usage count, date written, etc.), then tar it to tape with the norewind device, so that the the fbackup will write after this file. When you wish to restore, just position your tape head after the first file marker using the mt command, again with the norewind device.

Rgds, Robin.

[Thierry Poels_1]

hi,
I don't think the fbackup Volume Header can be customized, sorry.

euh Robin, I don't think the trick with tar (with norewind) + fbackup will work. fbackup ALWAYS rewinds the tape before starting the backup. I would just add the little checkfile to the fbackup graph.

regards,
Thierry.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

When you run 'fbackup' you can create a volume label *file* by using the '-V path' option/argument. This will write the volume header information to path at the end of a successful fbackup session.

The same volume information can be extracted using 'frecover' (-V path). This is very useful when used in the absence of an actual recovery ('-N'), rather only to check the volume label and/or extract an index of the tape's contents ('-I path').

See the man pages (1M) for 'fbackup' and 'frecover' for more details.

...JRF...

[Marcel Boon]

Hi,

Thanks for your responses.

James,

I already read the man page, but is there any possible way to make changes inthe volume header information ?

Marcel

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Marcel:

I don't think you can make changes to the volume header information without the source to 'fbackup'. For what's its worth, you can see the structure definition in:

/usr/include/fbackup.h

Regards!

...JRF...

[Robin Wakefield]

Marcel,

My mistake, I was in dump mode.

Rgds, Robin.

[Marcel Boon]

ok guys,

I think i use the next solution, read the volume header information, with frecover -V and create scirpts to create the information i want.

thx's

Marcel