Hi, all
Thank you for all who responded. I really appreciate your help.
I got various responses from the mailing list. Most say it's a hardware
problem, either tape drive or media (tape itself). Some pointed out that
vdump failed when it tried another tape operation. I ran /usr/field/tapex,
and my tape drive didn't pass the exercise. So, I replaced the tape drive,
and everything went well. I dont know how long it will go this time. I
also sent error log to Compaq, but haven't heard back from them.
I attached some responses I received below.
Ying Xu
ITSS - System Management
email:ying.xu_at_telecheck.com
phone: 713-331-6503
------------------------
Hi,
In this case the error is actually from vdump. If you run it in the
background and it want to send some operator requests (like asking for the
next volume in a multivol tape set or asking to retry a tape operation as
in your case) it bombs with the error you see.
The "fix" is to run the vdump jobs in an interactive terminal.
Cheers
Joe
------------------------
There is a utility program called "tapex" that lives in /usr/field if you
have installed the "System Exercisers" optional software subset. Read the
reference page (which will be on your system if you installed the software)
and use the "-E" switch (test EVERYTHING) to exercise the tape drive. If
it passes, you've got bad media. If it fails, you've got a bad tape drive.
Note that running things like dump and vdump from shell scripts does not
work very well if any errors occur.
But trust the message -- you got an I/O error on the rmt1 device. The fact
you recently replaced it doesn't mean the replacement is good, and this is
an error type that can be caused by bad media (tapes). The tapes are also
a part of the hardware.
Tom
--------------------------
I've received this error when the backup required more than one tape. vdump
was trying to send a message requesting a tape mount but no terminal is
associated with this process.
----------------------------
Sounds like a hardware problem. Get DECEvent, which will give you a more
descriptive translation of binary.errlog. Also, disregard the typewriter
message - it's just something to do with scripting.
HTH,
Alex Gorbachev
Intelligent Systems Services Inc.
www.iss-integration.com
-------------------------
I was told by Compaq support, when I had this same problem, that vdump
does not support copying multiple file systems to a tape. If you are
copying just one file system you will be prompted for a second tape.
Also, you cant run this from cron, because there is no process to send
the tape request. You have to run the job interactive.
----------------------------
It could also be the media you're using. See if the errors
have followed a particular piece of media. If so, replace
it and see if things improve. Since you're getting real
errors, you may be able to take the SCSI Sense Data from
the error log entry and ask the vendor whether it indicates
a media or drive problem.
Received on Fri Feb 18 2000 - 16:58:53 NZDT