[flexbackup-help] Intermittent backup failure

[Paul F. <P....@d2...>]

Hi all. I have one particular box that fails to backup every now and
then.=20
It has a Sony DDS3 SCSI tape drive, on an Adaptec SCSI controller.

The problem is that the backup process seems to freeze, and I am unable
to completely kill it.
I have searched the net for days trying to resolve this problem, if you
could be on any assistance, it would me much appreciated.

This is how the processes appears after a failed backup.
--------------------------------------------------------
27242 ?        S      0:00 /bin/sh /sbin/e-smith/backup
27257 ?        S      0:00 /usr/bin/perl -w /usr/bin/flexbackup -fs all
27287 ?        S      0:00 sh -c ((dump -0 -b 32 -a -f - / | gzip -4) |
buffer -m 3m -s 32k -u 100 -t -p 75 -B -o /dev/nst0)
27288 ?        S      0:00 sh -c ((dump -0 -b 32 -a -f - / | gzip -4) |
buffer -m 3m -s 32k -u 100 -t -p 75 -B -o /dev/nst0)
27289 ?        S      0:00 tee -a /var/log/flexbackup/all.0.20031109
27291 ?        S      0:07 buffer -m 3m -s 32k -u 100 -t -p 75 -B -o
/dev/nst0
27294 ?        S      0:01 buffer -m 3m -s 32k -u 100 -t -p 75 -B -o
/dev/nst0

It failed on the 9th after running fine for about two weeks, the
duplicate processes are from the job trying to start the next night.


After killing the buffer process 27294 it appears like this:
------------------------------------------------------------
27294 ?        Z      0:01 [buffer <defunct>]

This makes me think it has something to do with it.
Following is a copy of the logs for the 9th, and my flexbackup.conf
file.
Any help would be appreciated.

Copy of the backup log:
|------------------------------------------------
| Doing level 0 backup of all using dump
| Retensioning tape...
| Rewinding & erasing tape...
| Creating index key 200311090203.00
| Tape #0
| Filesystems =3D / /boot
|------------------------------------------------
At block 1.
|------------------------------------------------
| File number 1, index key 200311090203.00
| Backup of: /
| Date of this level 0 backup: Sun Nov 09 02:03:08 2003
| Date of last level 0 backup: the epoch
|------------------------------------------------
| (dump -0 -b 32 -a -f - / | gzip -4) | buffer -m 3m -s 32k -u 100 -t -p
75 -B \
|  -o /dev/nst0=20
|------------------------------------------------
  DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Sun Nov  9 02:03:08 2003
  DUMP: Dumping /dev/hda3 (/) to standard output
  DUMP: Added inode 8 to exclude list (journal inode)
  DUMP: Added inode 7 to exclude list (resize inode)
  DUMP: Label: /
  DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
  DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
  DUMP: estimated 2318820 tape blocks.
  DUMP: Volume 1 started with block 1 at: Sun Nov  9 02:03:21 2003
  DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
  DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
  DUMP: 22.11% done at 1709 kB/s, finished in 0:17
  DUMP: 41.78% done at 1614 kB/s, finished in 0:13
  DUMP: 54.91% done at 1414 kB/s, finished in 0:12
  DUMP: Broken pipe
  DUMP: The ENTIRE dump is aborted.

---------------
-The conf file-
---------------
$afio_echo_block =3D 'false';

$afio_compress_threshold =3D '3';

$afio_compress_cache_size =3D '2';

$blksize =3D '32';

$mt_var_blksize =3D 'true';

$buffer      =3D 'true'; =20
$buffer_megs =3D '3';    =20
$pad_blocks  =3D 'true'; =20

$compress    =3D 'gzip'; =20
$compr_level =3D '4';    =20

$cpio_format =3D 'newc';

$device	 =3D '/dev/nst0';

$dump_length =3D '0';

$dump_use_dumpdates =3D 'false';

$erase_rewind_only =3D 'true';

$erase_tape_all_level_zero =3D 'true';

$exclude_expr[0] =3D 'news/articles';
$exclude_expr[1] =3D '.*~$'; =20

$remoteshell =3D 'ssh';  =20
$verbose     =3D 'true'; =20
$sparse      =3D 'true'; =20
$indexes     =3D 'true'; =20

$logdir	  =3D "/var/log/flexbackup";  =20
$stampdir =3D "/var/state/flexbackup";=20
$index    =3D "$stampdir/index";      =20
$comp_log =3D "gzip";                 =20
$prefix	  =3D "";			    =20
$sprefix  =3D "";	                    =20
$tmpdir   =3D "/tmp";                 =20

$nocompress_types =3D 'mp3 Z z gz gif zip lha jpeg jpg taz tgz deb rpm
bz2';

$tar_echo_record_num =3D 'false';

$tar_atime_preserve =3D 'true';

$traverse_fs =3D 'false';

$filesystems[0] =3D '/ /boot';

$type =3D 'dump';