Tape drive dump fails on AlphaServer 2100

From: Nigel Gall <nigelg_at_ppsl.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 18:35:47 -0400

Hi!

Hardware: AlphaServer 2100
OS : Digital UNIX 3.0b

We are currently unable to perform dumps to 8mm tape drive on hydrogen
since the boot disk has crashed. I'm trying to perform the dump to 3M
D8-112 8mm 112m tapes inserted into the external 8mm tape drive on
methanol. I got some problems, as you can see in the output generated below.

First, here is the script I'm using to perform the dump (output from vi
screen dump):

#! /bin/csh
date
/sbin/dump -0nuc -b 32 -d 540000 -s 367 -f /dev/nrmt0h /;
/sbin/dump -0nuc -b 32 -d 540000 -s 367 -f /dev/nrmt0h /usr;
/sbin/dump -0nuc -b 32 -d 540000 -s 367 -f /dev/nrmt0h /usr5;
/sbin/dump -0nuc -b 32 -d 540000 -s 367 -f /dev/nrmt0h /Docs;
# /usr/sbin/dump 0nucdsf 5400 6000 /dev/nrmt0h /;
# /usr/sbin/dump 0nucdsf 5400 6000 /dev/nrmt0h /usr;
# /usr/sbin/dump 0nucdsf 5400 6000 /dev/nrmt0h /usr5;
# /usr/sbin/dump 0nucdsf 5400 6000 /dev/nrmt0h /Docs;
/usr/bin/mt -f /dev/nrmt0h rewind
date
~
~
~
"month1_bkup" 13 lines, 528 characters

(You can ignore the date commands, since they are used as timestamps for
cronjobs).

Notice that previously the settings for the bits-per-inch (bpi) and size in
feet were 5400 and 6000 respectively. However, as far as I could tell, the
length of the tape media is 112m or 367 feet (it says so on the plastic
label). The manpages for dump says that size (-s parameter) is the length
of the tape measured in feet.

So, I commented out the original dump lines in month1_bkup (which was
giving me a tape write error 409 feet into the tape), and replaced it with
settings of 367 feet for tape length and 540000 bpi.

I also tried to use /sbin/dump (the static files) rather than the
/usr/sbin/dump (shared files) version of dump.

The output is as follows:

# time ./month1_bkup
Tue Jul 21 12:49:03 GMT-0400 1998
dump: Dumping from host thishost.ppsl.com
dump: Date of this level 0 dump: Tue Jul 21 12:49:34 1998 GMT-0400
dump: Date of last level 0 dump: the start of the epoch
dump: Dumping /dev/rrz0a (/) to /dev/nrmt0h
dump: Mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
dump: Mapping (Pass II) [directories]
dump: Estimate: 51411 tape blocks on 0.19 volume(s)
dump: Dumping (Pass III) [directories]
dump: Volume 1, tape # 0001, begins with blocks from i-node 2
dump: Dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
dump: 1.00% done -- finished in 00:01
dump: Actual: 51536 tape blocks on 1 volume(s)
dump: Feet remaining on tape: 298
dump: Volumes used: 1
dump: Level 0 dump on Tue Jul 21 12:49:34 1998 GMT-0400
dump: Dump completed at Tue Jul 21 12:52:11 1998 GMT-0400
dump: Dumping from host thishost.ppsl.com
dump: Date of this level 0 dump: Tue Jul 21 12:52:11 1998 GMT-0400
dump: Date of last level 0 dump: the start of the epoch
dump: Dumping /dev/rrz0g (/usr) to /dev/nrmt0h
dump: Mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
dump: Mapping (Pass II) [directories]
dump: Estimate: 555212 tape blocks on 2.01 volume(s)
dump: Dumping (Pass III) [directories]
dump: Volume 1, tape # 0001, begins with blocks from i-node 2
dump: 0.09% done -- finished in 00:54
dump: Dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
dump: Write error -- wanted to write: 32768, only wrote: -1
slave_work(): write(): I/O error
dump: Write error - /dev/nrmt0h, volume 1, 67 feet -- cannot recover
dump: NEEDS ATTENTION: Do you want to restart this volume?: ("yes" or "no") no
dump: SIGTERM received -- Try rewriting
dump: Unexpected signal -- cannot recover
dump: The ENTIRE dump is aborted
Terminated

real 11m21.88s
user 0m0.65s
sys 0m3.63s
#


Do you have any ideas what I can try next? I suspect we're using incorrect
media, but I have no way of knowing where to look to get this info. The
output of the /usr/sbin/mt -f /dev/rmt0h status command is included below
in case that helps:

# mt -f /dev/rmt0h status

DEVIOGET ELEMENT CONTENTS
---------------- --------
category DEV_TAPE
bus DEV_SCSI
interface SCSI
device TZxx
adpt_num 0
nexus_num 0
bus_num 0
ctlr_num 0
slave_num 40
dev_name tz
unit_num 0
soft_count 0
hard_count 291
stat 0

category_stat 0
                        <unspecified density>

MTIOCGET ELEMENT CONTENTS
---------------- --------
mt_type MT_ISSCSI
mt_dsreg 0
mt_erreg 0
mt_resid 0

#


Looking forward to hearing any ideas you've got.

I also tried using the dump command with default values for the size and
bpi parameters, but it still failed. Does any one know where I can look to
get info on the compatible tapes for my tape drive. Are there standard
tape drives which come with the 2100? My drive is a single volume 8mm
external SCSI drive. I'm looking for the manuals but haven't found them up
to the time I'm writing this message.
Best regards,
Nigel
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|Name : Edmund Nigel Gall Tel: (868) 636 3153 |
|Title : Information Systems Specialist Fax: (868) 679 3770 |
|Company: Process Plant Services Limited |
|Address: Atlantic Avenue, Point Lisas Industrial Estate |
| Point Lisas, Couva, Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. |
+----- mailto:nigelg_at_ppsl.com ------ http://www.ppsl.com -----+
Received on Wed Jul 22 1998 - 21:37:49 NZST

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