fbackup exits on big files

[Klaus Frank]

Hi to all who read this
I wonder if someone of you can find the key to this problem:
system: S9000 C3000 / unix 10.20
tape devive: HP C5683A (40GB)

whenever I try to backup one particular fs (hfs) the fbackup process exits on different points of the procedure. i.e. one time only some houndred files get backed up the next time (=immediate restart without any changes on the fs !!) some thousand files will pass !
I figured out that the process in almost each case fails when a big file (10 - 20MB) is about to be saved and was preceded by a small one (50 - 100kB).

So far I did some patching but that didn't help much. I also tried out many option on the config file but didn't realy know what parm. to set to what value.
The strange situation is that all other fs (even nfs) with similar structures go well !
I tested all defaults in /dev/rmt and even created a c3t2d0eBEST !

now does anybody have a good idea
(points guaranteed :-)

Klaus

[Sachin Patel]

Hi Klaus,
I have bakup large file systems without any problems.

What are the options you are using?

I use
#fbackup -ovu -i /data -f /dev/dsk/?????

where /data is 100gb file system.

[W. Michael King]

Just a thought. You have run a fsck on the filesystem and it's ok right?

[W. Michael King]

Oh and are using a '-0' (zero) on the command line, indicating a full backup?

[Klaus Frank]

thank you sachin and Robert for your quick respond.
Here is what I use:
fbackup -0 -v -n -i /3d_data [-c configfile ] -f /dev/rmt/0m (or 0mb)

I fsckd the filesystem before. The mysterious thing is that one branch of /3d_data goes well while the second half don't (this half bears most of the bigger files )

Thanks so far. I'll meet the weekend now. Talk to you again on monday.
Klaus

[Martin Johnson]

Are the files being accessed while the fbackup is running? fbackup will usually skip a file that is being accessed, but sometimes when access is done while the file is in the process of being backed up, it can cause problems.

[Michael Tully]

Hi,

What are the error codes being reported by 'fbackup'?

Use this below to decipher the codes.

# strings /usr/lib/nls/C/fbackup.cat

Cheers
~Michael~

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi

Have you tried to back up this filesystem (to the same device) with some other utility (tar for example), just to test that it is not some strange hardware (or filesystem) error .

[Klaus Frank]

Hallo again

thanks for your attnetion. Here is what you asked for.

1. The filesystem is not accessed to while the backup is in progress.

2. The error codes always look like this:
# fbackup -0 -v -i /3d_data -f /dev/rmt/0m

fbackup(3045): WRITE ERROR while writing data record, at media record 7017
fbackup(3102): attempting to make this volume salvagable
fbackup(3123): could not read the previous checkpoint record
fbackup(3105): writing 2 EOFs and rewinding the tape
fbackup(3106): please mount a good tape
fbackup(3316): enter 'yes' when volume 1 is ready on /dev/rmt/0m,
or 'no' to discontinue:

In this particular case only 201 files have been stored. A listing of the directory of concern showed me that file No. 201 has 68870 bytes while the next file has a size of 12461768 bytes !
An immediate retry using:
fbackup -0 -v -i /3d_data -f /dev/rmt/0mb
broke at file No 1515 with the same messages. Filesize at this instant was 3132195 bytes.
I use brand new hp DDS4 C5718A tapes!

3. tar is always working fine on that device until EOT. So I don't think something is wrong with the hardware.