fbackup fail

[Tan Shirley]

Hi,

Any idea why my fbackup fail?

Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 04:00:36 +0800 (sst)
From: root
To: root
Subject: see /var/sam/log/br_log

Full backup failed on oracle : Wed Oct 4 04:00:36 sst 2000 .
For more information, see the log file /var/sam/log/br_log.

Output from fbackup:

br_backup: Invoking fbackup. See /var/sam/log/br_log for details.
fbackup(1004): session begins on Wed Oct 4 :00:02 2000
fbackup(3203): volume 1 has been used 100 time(s)
fbackup(3204): volume used more than maximum, do you want to use this volume any
way?
fbackup(3004): writer aborting
fbackup(1002): Backup did not complete : Reader or Writer process exit

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

As the log indicates, fbackup noted that a tape had been used too many times. The query "do you want to use this volume any
way?" expected a "yes" or "no" response. Failure to provide a string equal to "yes" would cause the termination of fbackup.

...JRF...

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

BTW, its time to retire the tape in question. Also, fbackup initiated by SAM, as yours was, doesn't offer a change for any user interaction. Thus you were stuck from the beginning in the case you just described.

...JRF...

[Manju Kampli]

Tan,

It looks to me that, the tape has been used for 100 times and that is the limit set by fbackup. I measn that the tape has been used enough times, and it is warining that any further use of tape may not guarentee the data on this tape. As precautionary meaure you should recycle that tape and prevent from any further use of the tape.

Since the backup was running in non-interactive mode, and it required some input to be provided for using the tape "yes" or "no", the backup script has done a exit. If you use a new tape the error should disappear.

hope this helps you

[John Palmer]

fbackup has a default value of 100 for 'maxvoluses' which can be changed by supplying a configuration file (-c ).
See man fbackup and also search this forum for some useful information on how to tune fbackup.

The value 100 is reasonable for a DDS type tape because they tend to wear out. It is not reasonable for a DLT tape, HP quote a cartridge life of 500,000 passes!

[Alan Edwards]

If you must reuse the tape just write something to it with tar or cpio, that will erase the fbackup information.