fbackup fails with : WRITE ERROR while writing data record, at media record

[moonchild]

I have an L2000 running 11.11 with an HP DLT 8000 tape drive.

-- Information Tool Log for SCSI Tape on path 0/0/1/0.6.0 --

Log creation time: Wed Mar 21 17:07:04 2007

Hardware path: 0/0/1/0.6.0


Device Qualifier: QUANTUMDLT8000
Product ID: DLT8000 Hardware Path: 0/0/1/0.6.0
Device Type: SCSI Tape Logical Unit Number: 0
Vendor: QUANTUM Product Rev Level: 0259
Firmware Major Version: 89 Firmware Minor Version: 0
Read Errors Corrected: 0
Read Errors Uncorrected:141
Write Errors Corrected: 0
Write Errors Uncorrected:3
Tape Motion Hours: 185
Power On Hours: 19681
Read Compression Ratio: 1.0 : 1
Write Compression Ratio: 3.12 : 1
Compression Status: Enabled
Drive Status: Good

the sam br_log:

br_backup: Invoking fbackup. See /var/sam/log/br_log for details.
fbackup(1421): no history is available for graph file /etc/sam/br/graph.full (below level 0)
fbackup(1004): session begins on Wed Mar 21 14:32:33 2007
fbackup(3205): WARNING: unable to read a volume header
fbackup(3024): writing volume 1 to the output file /dev/rmt/0m
1: / 16
2: /.ICEauthority 1
3: /.TTauthority 1
4: /.Xauthority 1
5: /.dt 16
6: /.dt/Desktop 1
7: /.dt/Trash 1
8: /.dt/appmanager 1
9: /.dt/errorlog 1
10: /.dt/help 1
11: /.dt/help/root-frno2.fbn-nbf.local-0 1
...
...
6269: /etc/opt/resmon/lbin/krmond 72
6270: /etc/opt/resmon/lbin/lanmond
fbackup(3013): WRITE ERROR while writing data record, at media record 429
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(3310): enter '^[yY]' when volume 1 is ready on /dev/rmt/0m,
or '^[nN]' to discontinue:
fbackup(3004): writer aborting
fbackup(1002): Backup did not complete : Reader or Writer process exit

a previous fbackup failed with same errors at a different media record on a zipped database file. Moving the file out of the filesystem failed fbackup on another file and another record.

We have another DLT8000 that when we replace it the fbackup works fine using same cable and same terminator. so we replaced the tape drive 3 times now and we still get such write errors.

You're help is much appreciated since we're out of ideas.

thanks in advance

[Bill Hassell]

This is a hardware failure -- nothing is wrong with fbackup. What else is on the same I/O card? You have one drive that is good -- do you have another computer to try the failed drives? What about the media? Have you tried new tapes? Is the environment excessively hot or humid?

[Fabian Briseño]

It sounds like a hardware error, did you check var/adm/syslog/syslog.log for errors ?.

Also you could try a remote fbackup that would solve your problem. I think it takes more time to complete a remote fbackup but you could try it.