SAM and fkackup

[junlin shen]

fbacup job through sam and cronjob fails.
rc code in /var/sa/log/br_log =4, sometimes =2, mail from root is as following:
Output from fbackup:

br_backup: Invoking fbackup. See /var/sam/log/br_log for details.
fbackup(1004): session begins on Tue Sep 26 16:05:03 2000
fbackup(3203): volume 1 has been used -1 time(s)
fbackup(3024): writing volume 1 to the output file /dev/rmt/0m
fbackup(3007): WARNING: File number 74495 (/var/adm/syslog/syslog.log)
was active during attempt number 1
fbackup(1301): resuming at file 74495
fbackup(3009): WARNING: File number 75203 (/var/run/apache/prod/log/access_log)
was not successfully backed up
fbackup(3055): total file blocks read for backup: 4360399
fbackup(3056): total blocks written to output file /dev/rmt/0m: 4513591
fbackup(1030): warnings encountered during backup


anyone has idea to work around with two open files? the 2nd file access_log is apache log file.

[Stefan Farrelly · Accepted solution]

You shouldnt be too worried about WARNING messages from fbackup due to files currently in use (which lots of system files could be at the time of backup) or files which are changing when trying to backup (again, lots of system files being modified during the backup). If you get a return code of 4 then this means the backup worked aok but had warnings. Nothing to worry about.
We get the same thing here with our backups and we only worry if the return code is non zero and not 4. You occasional return code of 2 is a worry - not one we usually see here, I think it indicates a problem with your tape and/or tape drive which you should worry about as it indicates a backup failure.

The only way to avoid these warning messages is to not backup the files in question (eg. all system logfiles). You can exclude them from your backup.

[John Palmer]

As your problem files are logs, you can probably ignore the warnings as their contents are not essential if you had to recover.

The only other way to ensure a fully consistent backup is to shutdown all your offending applications while the backup is in progress.

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

The fbackup error 4 is not a problem, just down load some patches that will correct this. Those files were still open and active that is why they were not backed up. The exit status of 4 is nothing to worry about.

http://my1.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,1150,0xf8a783667c40d4118feb0090279cd0f9,00.html

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

fbackup is designed to work around open files. /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log is always open and commonly fbackup "complains" about it if it is included in your graphs. You can ignore these warnings for log files since you wouldn;t ever restore these anyway. Otherwise, exclude such log files in your fbackup graphs (see man fbackup).

...JRF...

...JRF...

[junlin shen]

thank you all for so fast reply. i do understand what you talk about. but the problem is that i do have to backup the access_log file which is used for someone's web traffic analysis. i dont worry too much about syslog.log

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

HERE IS AN EXTRACT FROM THE "KBRC00000427" DOCUMENTS
============================================
fbackup/frecover exit codes and error messages DocId:KBRC00000427 Updated: 1/7/00 7:46:40 AM
PROBLEM Fbackup/Frecover fails with error message XXXX, what does this mean?
How does it correlate to exit code Y?

RESOLUTION
Fbackup/Frecover Exit Codes fbackup returns one of the following supported values:
0 upon normal completion.
1 if it is interrupted but allowed to save its state for possible restart.
2 fbackup(err message #)error conditions detected operation incomplete.
4 fbackup(err message #) warning conditions detected operation may have completed.

There is a file listing "standard" exit codes, in /usr/include/sysexits.h; however, very few programs actually *use* those codes. A value of "0" always means "success", but any other value means an error of some kind, and any specific meaning has to be gleaned from code documentation.

[Stefan Farrelly]

If you have to backup that logfile and want to stop the Warning message for it then exclude the logfile from your backup, but when the backup starts copy this file to a location which you do backup. That way it will backup a clean 'snapshot' of the log without any warning messages for it.

[junlin shen]

thank you all.
i think i am going to take stephan's and make a clear copy at the time.