Problem with ontape
Heinz Weitkamp
Subject: Problem to make a full level 0 backup of my Database with
ontape -s.
I use Informix Dynamic Server Version 7.31 on a Linux Suse 10
distribution.
I want to make a level 0 backup on a tape on Server test4.
Here`s an extract of my onconfig file:
TAPEDEV /dev/st0 #Tape device path
TAPEBLK 128 #Tape block size (Kbytes)
TAPESIZE 20000000 #Maximum amount of data to put on tape (Kbytes)
The Read/Write Permissions for ontape:
-rwsr-sr-x 1 root informix 1330659 Nov 7 16:08 ontape*
When i was trying to run ontape -s -L 0 i receive the following
message after pressing return to continue:
Could not write archive tape.
And then after a few seconds there is an abnormal system hang-up and i
must restart the system.
I tried this on several Linux Suse 10 Servern, with different tapes and
with different tape units.
It`s every time the same problem: I receive the message "could not
write archive tape" and a few moments later the system hang-up.
After this i try to do a remote backup from test1 (another Linux Server
with tihe same IDS and SUSE Version as test4)
to test4 and i adjust the onconfig file like this:
TAPEDEV test4:/dev/st0 #Tape device path
With this configuration it works, but the tape unit is still at the
Linux Suse System (which is here test4).
Why works it when i approach the system remote from remote and why i
receive an system hang-up end when i try the same thing directly on the
Linux Suse Distribution ?
(With tar i can write to tape without any trouble.)
Any suggestion is welcomed.
Heinz
--
WESTFLEISCH eG * Hauptsitz: Brockhoffstr. 11, 48143 Münster
Amtsgericht Münster: Gen.-Reg. 307
Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender: Heinz Westkämper
Vorstand: Dirk Niederstucke, Peter Piekenbrock, Josef Lehmenkühler, Dr.
Bernd Cordes, Dr. Helfried Giesen
Hinweise: Es können nur Mails bis 30 MB empfangen werden.
PowerPoint-Dateien müssen in eine ZIP-Datei gepackt werden.
--------------------------------------------------
TBP
Why have this sort of permissions?? Apart from the security aspect, it is not like a plain tape device which is what TAPEDEV really
expects.
Try changing the permissions to something that a tape device has :
ls -l /dev/rmt
total 0
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x013000 Jan 30 2006 0m
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x013080 May 4 2005 0mb
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x013040 Mar 25 2008 0mn
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x0130c0 May 4 2005 0mnb
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x013000 Jan 30 2006 c1t3d0BEST
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x013080 May 4 2005 c1t3d0BESTb
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x013040 Mar 25 2008 c1t3d0BESTn
crw-rw-rw- 2 bin bin 205 0x0130c0 May 4 2005 c1t3d0BESTnb
crw-rw-rw- 1 bin bin 205 0x013001 May 4 2005 c1t3d0DDS
crw-rw-rw- 1 bin bin 205 0x013081 May 4 2005 c1t3d0DDSb
crw-rw-rw- 1 bin bin 205 0x013041 May 4 2005 c1t3d0DDSn
crw-rw-rw- 1 bin bin 205 0x0130c1 May 4 2005 c1t3d0DDSnb
Not sure when you say "System hangs" you mean IDS or Suse.
If it is Suse then ... problem is with Suse.
Everett Mills
Those are the permissions on the ontape executable. They are right.
Don't change them.
What are the permissions on your tape device, /dev/st0? They need to be
666 (rw-rw-rw-).
--EEM
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TBP
<snip>
>
>> Why have this sort of permissions?? Apart from the security aspect, it
> is
>> not like a plain tape device which is what TAPEDEV really
>> expects.
>
> Those are the permissions on the ontape executable. They are right.
> Don't change them.
>
> What are the permissions on your tape device, /dev/st0? They need to be
> 666 (rw-rw-rw-).
>
> --EEM
Of course you are right :o) I read it too quick and thought he was referring to the TAPEDEV.
Too much snow!
Wikking
Any system error messages? Can you do a simple cat dev|tail to see if
it reads the device from the command line - write some data to it
manually too and see if you get it all back.
--
}(:
Ian Michael Gumby
But all of this begs the question... why not upgrade to 11?
LIGHT SCANS
Everyone here is correct. I especially agree with upgrading to
Informix 11.5. But I'm guessing that you cannot do that right now. I
am also guessing that you are on a 32-bit system. If that is true,
watch out for the 2 Gb limit. If I remember correctly you can backup
to a tape more than 2 Gb but that will give you false hope because you
cannot restore it. So your TAPESIZE should be 2000000 (kb). It
actually might be a few bytes more or less so test your restores!
Also as a general security measure I recommend "-rw-rw----" permission
on all informix chunks and ontape files. Besides, later versions of
Informix will require it. As to your tape device you should set its
block size to something like 1024 and then make TAPEBLK the same. The
tape device hardware settings are showed with commands like "lscfg",
"lsattr" and "lsdev" (but Linux may be different). Some system
administrators will argue that setting the hardware block size to 0 is
better because the machine will figure out what is best. I have found
that this can cause Informix backups to fail. I would also make the
tape device's hardware compression be set to TRUE.
And last but not least, Linux may require a fully specified hostname
and tape path (device path and name) inside Informix's ONCONFIG file.
So in your "test4" ONCONFIG file put "TAPEDEV test4:/dev/st0"
-L.S.
Everett Mills
> -----Original Message-----
> From: informix-l...@iiug.org [mailto:informix-list-
> bou...@iiug.org] On Behalf Of LIGHT SCANS
> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 2:19 PM
> To: inform...@iiug.org
> Subject: Re: Problem with ontape
>
> Hello Heinz,
>
> Everyone here is correct. I especially agree with upgrading to
> Informix 11.5. But I'm guessing that you cannot do that right now. I
> am also guessing that you are on a 32-bit system. If that is true,
> watch out for the 2 Gb limit. If I remember correctly you can backup
> to a tape more than 2 Gb but that will give you false hope because you
> cannot restore it.
The 2GB limit doesn't apply to tape drives. If you back up 60GB to tape
from a 32bit system, you can restore it. Backing up to a file is a
different matter and the 2GB limit definitely applies for 32 bit 7.31
systems.
--EEM
So your TAPESIZE should be 2000000 (kb). It
> actually might be a few bytes more or less so test your restores!
> Also as a general security measure I recommend "-rw-rw----" permission
> on all informix chunks and ontape files. Besides, later versions of
> Informix will require it. As to your tape device you should set its
> block size to something like 1024 and then make TAPEBLK the same. The
> tape device hardware settings are showed with commands like "lscfg",
> "lsattr" and "lsdev" (but Linux may be different). Some system
> administrators will argue that setting the hardware block size to 0 is
> better because the machine will figure out what is best. I have found
> that this can cause Informix backups to fail. I would also make the
> tape device's hardware compression be set to TRUE.
>
> And last but not least, Linux may require a fully specified hostname
> and tape path (device path and name) inside Informix's ONCONFIG file.
> So in your "test4" ONCONFIG file put "TAPEDEV test4:/dev/st0"
>
> -L.S.
Tsutomu
Too late ?
How about decrease TAPEBLK ?
ie)
Change TAPEBLK 128 to 16 or 32.
Regards.
-- Tsutomu Ogiwara from Tokyo Japan.
> Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 16:56:18 +0100
> From: Heinz.W...@westfleisch.de
> To: inform...@iiug.org
> Subject: Problem with ontape
> WESTFLEISCH eG * Hauptsitz: Brockhoffstr. 11, 48143 Münster
> Amtsgericht Münster: Gen.-Reg. 307
>
> Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender: Heinz Westkämper
> Vorstand: Dirk Niederstucke, Peter Piekenbrock, Josef Lehmenkühler, Dr.
> Bernd Cordes, Dr. Helfried Giesen
>
> Hinweise: Es können nur Mails bis 30 MB empfangen werden.
> PowerPoint-Dateien müssen in eine ZIP-Datei gepackt werden.
> --------------------------------------------------
> Informix-list mailing list
> Inform...@iiug.org
> http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list
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