fbackup.

[Ron Irving]

We run fbackup monthly for our database. Looking at /var/sam/log/br_log, I noticed it has failed with exit code=4 for the last several months. The backup runs like it always does, taking approximatly 1 1/2 hours. Any ideas, oh wise ones?

ron

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi Ron:

A return value of four <4> from 'fbackup' simply means "warnings" were encountered during the session. Usually this is either (1) the use of a new tape (where the warning would be that fbackup wasn't able to read a volume header on the tape from the last use of the tape by fbackup); or (2) retries for inuse files (whether retried successfully or not).

By default, "inuse" files are retried 5-times (see 'man fbackup'). "Inuse" simply means that the timestamp of a file has changed from the time fbackup started to copy it until it was finished. That is, the file has changed during the backup interval.

The link below, offers two solutions for handling fbackup's returncode of <4> when executing fbackup under SAM:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,1150,0x157537f45ef7d4118fef0090279cd0f9,00.html

Regards!

...JRF...

[Thierry Poels_1]

hmmmz, after serveral MONTHS you noticed that your backups have a bad exit code???
I hope your boss isn't reading this ;) A backup should be considered a critical part of a system. Backups should be tested regularly, logfiles checked daily, although it's possible you will never need it. A good backup is priceless. If your system fails, and a full system restore is required, that stupid, cheap backup tape might be worth millions.
just my 2 cents,
Thierry.

[jedd]

hi guys, i'm reading this one as i'm having the same problem with the backup
i followed the link that was suggested, for the fbackup problem, but it seems like the patch didn't help at all. i'm in the process of doing backups and make_recovery tapes for all of our HP boxes. if anybody has any ideas out there, it will be great.
i'm getting the same error with volume header and error=4 during backups from SAM

[boley janowski]

try running your fbackup from the command line and watch you output, this way when you get the warnings you will see when it happens and where its at, as i recall you get the same info from sam but your a little freer from the command line, most likely the errors your getting is because something or someone has a lock/useing a file and fbackup cant look at it. try this:

fbackup -v -0 -g /tmp/graph-file -I /tmp/log-file -f /dev/rmt/0m

in the graph-file specify the what you want (i) and nont want (e):

i /
i /home
e /u01
ect ...

[Ron Irving]

Thanks, James...it would appear you're the winner of the points for this round.
As for you, Thierry, (is that a real name?) Perhaps you should get your facts straight before lecturing complete strangers. The fact of the matter is...well, 2 facts actually...I'm relatively new to the HP-UX world of UNIX. So new that I inherited this system just a few weeks ago. Hmmm...where were you just a few weeks ago? Did I inherit it from you?? NO POINTS!!! (moron)

[Thierry Poels_1]

hmm, sorry for stepping on your toes.
Where did I go wrong? I'm sure every (serious) sysadmin would agree with what I wrote.
And how do you want me to know that you're new to HP-UX, or that you just inherited the system, from the little info you gave us.
Everybody here's trying to help one another by giving correct or incorrect, smart or dumb answers; be selective and pick the good ones.
BTW Thierry is my real name, and somehow I think you would feel a little bit more relaxed if you would have inherited a system from me.
regards,
The Moron.
(you have the option award "N/A" instead of giving no points, that's better for your statistics)

[B. Boxma]

10 points for Thierry!
And Thierry, I know at least 2 persons with that name if that makes you more comfortable..
And now, back to work (my boss may be reading this) (;

[Bill Thorsteinson]

I run full daily backups on a development system with
idle Oracle instances running. Most nights we get an error on one control file or another. These are small databases with no activity.

It is important to shutdown the database instance
before backing up the database files.

I'll soon be switching to hot backups and dropping the database data directories from the nightly backup.

If you can do a hot backup to disk, then only the backup directory nees to be backuped up to tape. It requires twice the disk space unless you compress the backup files. Backup the controlfile to trace and force a logfile rotation at the end of the backup, and the backup can
be used to create a copy of the database for reporting
and or testing.

[Thierry Poels_1]

Thanks B.B. ;)

[Mark Vollmers]

Ron-

Do you run the fbackup command from the prompt or do you have SAM set up an automated backup? We run ours through SAM and root gets mail listing all the errors (like x file was open and not backed up or that it was tested three times before successful). This might help show if there is an actual error (file not backing up) vs. just a warning.

Mark

[Patrick Wallek]

Ron,

I agree 100% with what Thierry and others said regarding your response to him. That was completely uncalled for, as are personal attacks against people that participate on this forum.

We are all here volunteering our time to try and help everyone else out. I would be very careful about such responses in the future, or your might find yourself not getting any responses to your questions.