What happened if the tape becomes full?

[samsam001]

Hi,

Here is the script:
#!/bin/sh
# This script is for backing up the Collab Suite and uses 8 tapes
# reclaim some disk space first
find /u04/backups/CollabSuite/* -type f -name "*.gz" -mtime +5 -exec rm -rf {} \; 2>/dev/null
echo "Begin tape backup........................................"
date
/sbin/vdump -DNuf /dev/tape/tape5c /u04/backups/CollabSuite
date
# Now, we shuffle the tape
MRU_ROBOT=/dev/changer/mc1
export MRU_ROBOT
echo "Backup has been put on to the tape loaded on drive 1"
echo "Checking the drives and slots after the backup, before reshuffling..."
robot show drives
robot show slots
robot move slot 50 slot 29
robot move slot 51 slot 50
robot move slot 52 slot 51
robot move slot 53 slot 52
robot move slot 54 slot 53
robot move slot 55 slot 54
robot move slot 56 slot 55
robot unload drive 1 slot 56
robot load drive 1 slot 29
echo "Checking the drives and slots after reshuffling..."
echo "The tape used for the backup should now be loaded on slot 56"
robot show drives
robot show slots
date
echo "End of tape backup......................................"

One thing I don't understand is that in the first 3 lines of the script, it used /dev/tape/tape5c to backup the directory. What happened if the tape becomes full?

Thanks

[Rob Leadbeater]

The vdump command will prompt the user running the script to change the tape.

It doesn't look as though anything will automatically change the tape for you, which I'm guessing is what you want to happen...

Cheers,

Rob

[Ivan Ferreira]

This is a simple backup script, and vdump won't be able to handle a tape full, you must manually, or through another script, load the tape once it becomes full and you are prompted to change the tape.

What is script does is just rotate the tapes after the backup.

[Brendan Murphy_5]

This script is written, is to specifically write to one tape only. They make sure of this by rotating the current backup tape into slot 29. I assume that slot 30 is always empty. If you're worried about tape overruns, then leave some spare backup tapes in slots 30 & 31. Now if the backup runs beyond a single tape then the tape library mechanism will automagically move to the next tape slot in the library. This tape will then be used to continue the backup, and so on. You need to be carefull to ensure that only tapes that you happy to be overwritten are available in sequential slots follwing slot 29. Also you'll have to be certain that you check the logs each day to ensure you know when a tape overrun has occured & label up the spare tapes appropriately.

Regards

Brendan