fbackup warnings

[Brian K. Arnholt]

I have attempted to use 'fbackup' to backup a DLT vs80 drive connected to a C3600, and encountered strange behavior, I have looked through the forum threads on fbackup problems, but most seem to be related to I/O problems, which I don't think this is one, with the exception of fbackup/frecover, the tape drive works fine.

Here are the facts:

1. I can use 'tar' to successful tar files to tape and extract them from tape.
2. For the "fbackup" I am using a brand new DLT tape (no compatability issues) to backup local files to a local tape drive.
3. I receive a "fbackup(3205): WARNING: unable to read a volume header" warning (see session log below), however the backup seems to complete OK. I know that with new tapes, this is a common message, but I still receive it on subsequent fbackup sessions.

Starting interactive backup...
br_backup: Invoking fbackup. See /var/sam/log/br_log for details.
fbackup(1421): no history is available for graph file /etc/sam/br/graphEJAa01775 (below level 0)
fbackup(1004): session begins on Mon Dec 2 09:04:07 2002
fbackup(3205): WARNING: unable to read a volume header
fbackup(3024): writing volume 1 to the output file /dev/rmt/c4t4d0BEST
1: / 2
2: /DATA 4
3: /DATA/pplx 4
4: /DATA/pplx/D2 4
5: /DATA/pplx/D2/LPRMSENS 11
fbackup(1005): run time: 12 seconds
fbackup(3055): total file blocks read for backup: 25
fbackup(3056): total blocks written to output file /dev/rmt/c4t4d0BEST: 57
fbackup(1030): warnings encountered during backup


4. I can actually recover the file(s), however, the frecover session (see below) cycles through several iterations, and it seems on the second iteration, the file is actually recovered.

Starting file recovery...
frecover(2105): did not find expected file marker
frecover(5418): not an fbackup volume; unable to read volume header
frecover(2105): did not find expected file marker
frecover(5412): Do you wish to try to salvage this volume? (^[yY]/^[nN]) y
frecover(5413): attempting to read backup following bad volume header
frecover(1003): backup id does not match expected value
frecover(1061): attempt to continue recovery with new backup id? (^[yY]/^[nN]) y
frecover(1004): backup time does not match expected value
frecover(1062): attempt to continue recovery with new backup time? (^[yY]/^[nN]) y
Starting file recovery...
frecover(2105): did not find expected file marker
frecover(5418): not an fbackup volume; unable to read volume header
frecover(2105): did not find expected file marker
frecover(5412): Do you wish to try to salvage this volume? (^[yY]/^[nN]) y
frecover(5413): attempting to read backup following bad volume header
frecover(1003): backup id does not match expected value
frecover(1061): attempt to continue recovery with new backup id? (^[yY]/^[nN]) y
frecover(1004): backup time does not match expected value
frecover(1062): attempt to continue recovery with new backup time? (^[yY]/^[nN]) y
frecover(5401): Volume 1 completed.
frecover(5404): Press return when the next volume is ready on /dev/rmt/c4t4d0BEST:

[Alex Glennie]

I think you will find this is related to your firmware and it's most likely sat at V50.

If this is the case I'd either upgrade (I'm not sure if a newer version exists) or downgrade to say V32 which is known to work with these devices.

ITRC doc id HTAPEKBRC00010286 details this

[Brian K. Arnholt]

Alex,

I think you got it, I reviewed the document you reference, and it appears thats my problem, but the simple question I have is: how do I upgrade (or downgrade) the firmware? These systems are under HP support, should I contact the Response Center?

[Alex Glennie]

since you have support I don't see why not ... appologies but the h/w side of things is not my strong point but if I find some useful info I'll post it.

[Tom Jackson]

Brian:

Make sure you have the latest patches. Clean your drive. Try a different brand of tape.

You should only get this error when you use a new tape or a tape formatted with another command like tar.

The 3205 warning is informative and shouldn't affect your backup.

hth Tom

[Alex Glennie]

http://www4.itrc.hp.com/service/patch/patchDetail.do?patchid=PF_CBCJ0050&context=firmware:cpu#Installation%20Instructions:

looks like the firmware patch details how to upgrade but not sure if same process is relevant for a downgrade .....

[Brian K. Arnholt]

Tom,

Thanks for the reply, I have tried several brands of tapes, no difference, these are brand new drives and the OS (HP-UX 11.00) is current from Sept 2002 release. I think Alex posted the right reason why I see these, now I need to upgrade the firmware and see if that fixes the problem (I have multiple similar systems that all see the same problem).