Ontape via Cronjob

Aaron Herskowitz

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Sep 22, 1997, 3:00:00 AM9/22/97

to

We run Informix On-Line Dynamic Server 7.22. We currently run archives
via "ontape -s -L 0" *manually* on a daily basis on several servers. I
would like to automate this process so that we can just create a script
with the command, and run it via cron at night (loading a new tape each
day).

I have tested a few ways of doing this, but I get stuck at the:

Please mount tape 1 on /dev/rmt/1 and press Return to continue
...

We have a shell script that does the "ontape -a" that uses a command
line of

(echo "\n"; echo "n\n") | ontape -a

to get past the same message, but for some reason this doesn't work with
"ontape -s".

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please send responses directly
to me at mailto:aa...@intraware.com and I will post a summary.

Thanks,
Aaron
--
Aaron Herskowitz Mailto:aa...@intraware.com
Systems Engineer Voice:510-253-4566
intraware Inc. Fax:510-253-4599
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http://www.intraware.com

Ruediger Papke

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Sep 23, 1997, 3:00:00 AM9/23/97

to Aaron Herskowitz

Short Time -> Short Answer
Please try this script:
ontape -s -L 0 << EOF

EOF

This is a Here-script. The second (empty) line stands for the RETURN
after "Please mount tape ... and press Return to continue...".
Hope this helps.
Best regards
Ruediger

Rs

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Sep 27, 1997, 3:00:00 AM9/27/97

to

Or you can try this :

echo "
" | ontape -s -L 0

The characters after the first " is not just the RETURN key. It is
ctrl-v ( meaning raw character ), and then ctrl-j ( for new line ).
this gives the <RETURN> sequence needed by ontape. it worked for
me all the time.

Ruediger Papke (Ruedige...@t-online.de) wrote:

Nils Myklebust

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Sep 27, 1997, 3:00:00 AM9/27/97

to

Unfortunately you have been given answers that will work most of the
time, but can give you some serious trouble. As far as I know you may
get some growing temporary files and an ontape command that is never
terminated if there ever is a problem with the tape. Se further below.

:Aaron Herskowitz wrote:
...snip...
:> We have a shell script that does the "ontape -a" that uses a command

:> line of
:>
:> (echo "\n"; echo "n\n") | ontape -a
:>
:> to get past the same message, but for some reason this doesn't work with
:> "ontape -s".

Ruedige...@t-online.de (Ruediger Papke) wrote:

:Short Time -> Short Answer

:Please try this script:
:ontape -s -L 0 << EOF
:
:EOF
:
:This is a Here-script. The second (empty) line stands for the RETURN
:after "Please mount tape ... and press Return to continue...".

rs...@bcg.bad.com (Rs) wrote in another responce:

:Or you can try this :

:
:echo "
:" | ontape -s -L 0
:
:The characters after the first " is not just the RETURN key. It is
:ctrl-v ( meaning raw character ), and then ctrl-j ( for new line ).
:this gives the <RETURN> sequence needed by ontape. it worked for
:me all the time.

But in the excelent faq at http://www.iiug.org we find:

8.4 How can I run ontape/tbtape from a cron job?

echo '\n0' | tbtape -s 1 | head -100

The head cuts things off when tbtape gets into the infinite
"insert a tape and press any key to continue" thing. I have found that
normal output is well less than 100 lines. This
trick also seems to kill off the loose tbtape process too - but
I'm not sure why. Of course, YMMV.

By Martin Andrews (and...@ccfadm.eeg.ccf.org)

Note that recent releases of Informix engines have renamed the "tb*"
utilities to "on*"

The faq is allways a smart place to look.

Nils.My...@idg.no
NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway
My opinions are those of my company
The Informix FAQ is at http://www.iiug.org