[Dump-users] questions on using dump

[Kolev, N. <NK...@tr...>]

Hi,

I am a new dump user with some questions.

First some background. We are adding support that would enable our app =
to run on Linux, currently it runs on Solaris. As part of the app's =
operation we have a script that nightly does a full file system dump of =
two directories (which reside on different partitions) onto tape. The =
tape drive we are using is "Quantum ValueLoader SDLT 320", and we use it =
in stacker mode; thus after each backup we "mt -f $TAPE offline" the =
currently loaded tape and the tape drive loads the one in the next slot. =
On Solaris we are using ufsdump/ufsrestore and I am investigating on =
whether we can use dump/restore on Linux (and hoping that we can).

Here's an example of how things are scripted:

for d in $DIRS
  dump 0aqfL ${TAPE_NOREWIND} ${TAPE_LABEL} ${d} >> ${LOGFILE} 2>&1
  if [ $? !=3D "0" ]; then
    exit 1
  fi
done
mt -f ${TAPE} offline

I am using the -a argument because I know that the tape is big enough to =
hold the contents (recursively of course) of both directories thus an =
end of media should never be returned. And we want to dump the first one =
and then dump append the second directory. When I run that the dump of =
the first directory succeeds but of the second one does not. The "mt -f =
${TAPE} offline" also fails because I think the device was still busy (i =
ve seen this as a reason, but am not sure that it is the reason in this =
case). Any suggestions, comments, and recommendations on what I am doing =
wrong and what should I be doing instead?

Backing up /app/scout to tape.
  DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Wed Jun  8 12:31:30 2005
  DUMP: Dumping /dev/sda3 (/app (dir /scout)) to /dev/nst0
  DUMP: Label: SCOUT_BACKUP
  DUMP: Writing 10 Kilobyte records
  DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
  DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
  DUMP: estimated 42518 blocks.
  DUMP: Volume 1 started with block 1 at: Wed Jun  8 12:31:30 2005
  DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
  DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
  DUMP: Closing /dev/nst0
  DUMP: Volume 1 completed at: Wed Jun  8 12:31:45 2005
  DUMP: Volume 1 42510 blocks (41.51MB)
  DUMP: Volume 1 took 0:00:15
  DUMP: Volume 1 transfer rate: 2834 kB/s
  DUMP: 42510 blocks (41.51MB) on 1 volume(s)
  DUMP: finished in 1 seconds, throughput 42510 kBytes/sec
  DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Wed Jun  8 12:31:30 2005
  DUMP: Date this dump completed:  Wed Jun  8 12:31:45 2005
  DUMP: Average transfer rate: 2834 kB/s
  DUMP: DUMP IS DONE
Backing up /app/solid to tape.
  DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Wed Jun  8 12:31:45 2005
  DUMP: Dumping /dev/sda2 (/app/solid) to /dev/nst0
  DUMP: Label: SCOUT_BACKUP
  DUMP: Writing 10 Kilobyte records
  DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
  DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
  DUMP: estimated 80568 blocks.
  DUMP: Volume 1 started with block 1 at: Wed Jun  8 12:32:00 2005
  DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
  DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
  DUMP: write error 68700 blocks into volume 1: Input/output error
  DUMP: Do you want to rewrite this volume? - forced abort
  DUMP: The ENTIRE dump is aborted.
Backup to tape failed.
Switching tapes.
/dev/st0: Device or resource busy

Responses will be enormously appreciated.
Thanks,
Nik