Suddenly amanda won't write to tapes.

This isn't a joe-user install problem, and I'd really appreciate some
serious replies to this.  We've been using amanda for 4 years now, and I
have submitted patches and work on various components of amanda before,
including the cygwin port and a rewrite of the auto-changer scripts.

I've done installations with amanda, and gone through 3 generations of
backup hardware.  This isn't a first-time installation, and its not even an
installation problem.

Build:
        amanda 2.4.4p4 (i'm compiling p4 right now) on solaris 8/x86
        HP 718 autochanger with DLT7000 tape drive
        (using chg-zd-mtx
        
Out of the blue last week, amanda suddenly complained it was out of tapes
mid-week. Unusual.. so I checked and found that it had aborted with a
"short write" on one tape, and then wrote nothing to the remainder of the
tapes in the library but marked them used.

I cleaned up the mess, flushed to tape and then put in the next 7 tapes.
One day, then the same problem.

So I check the tapes and they're happy.  I test writing to and reading from
the tapes and its all good.  I switch to brand new blank tapes, and get the
same problem.  Here's an example:

----- Forwarded message from AMANDA Backup Server <amanda AT svk.isite DOT net> 
-----
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 12:00:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: AMANDA Backup Server <amanda AT svk.isite DOT net>
Subject: meer.net AMANDA MAIL REPORT FOR October 25, 2004

These dumps were to tapes svk11, svk12, svk13.
*** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: [[label svk14 or new tape not found in rack]].
Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.
Run amflush to flush them to tape.
The next 7 tapes Amanda expects to used are: svk14, svk15, svk16, svk17, svk18, 
svk19, svk20.

FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
  host-xxx1. /cygdrive/c lev 0 FAILED 20041012 [too many taper retries]
  host-xxx1. /cygdrive/c lev 0 FAILED [out of tape]
  xxx-cms2.s /cygdrive/d lev 1 STRANGE
  smaug.svk. /amandadump lev 1 FAILED [can't dump no-hold disk in degraded mode]
  xxx-cms2.s /cygdrive/c lev 4 FAILED [no more holding disk space]
        ...etc more out of holding disk space...


STATISTICS:
                          Total       Full      Daily
                        --------   --------   --------
Estimate Time (hrs:min)    1:45
Run Time (hrs:min)        11:55
Dump Time (hrs:min)        0:03       0:00       0:03
Output Size (meg)           1.7        0.0        1.7
Original Size (meg)         1.7        0.0        1.7
Avg Compressed Size (%)     --         --         --    (level:#disks ...)
Filesystems Dumped           16          0         16   (1:16)
Avg Dump Rate (k/s)         9.6        --         9.6

Tape Time (hrs:min)        0:00       0:00       0:00
Tape Size (meg)             0.0        0.0        0.0
Tape Used (%)               0.0        0.0        0.0
Filesystems Taped             0          0          0
Avg Tp Write Rate (k/s)     --         --         -- 

USAGE BY TAPE:
  Label       Time      Size      %    Nb
  svk11       0:00       0.0    0.0     0
  svk12       0:00       0.0    0.0     0
  svk13       0:00       0.0    0.0     0


NOTES:
  planner: smaug.svk.isite.net /amandadump 20041025 0 [dump larger than tape, 
76255197 KB, full dump delayed]
  taper: tape svk11 kb 34357664 fm 1 writing file: short write
  taper: retrying host-xxx1.svk.isite.net:/cygdrive/c.0 on new tape: [writing 
file: short write]
  taper: tape svk12 kb 34352000 fm 1 writing file: short write
  taper: retrying host-xxx1.svk.isite.net:/cygdrive/c.0 on new tape: [writing 
file: short write]
  taper: tape svk13 kb 34414784 fm 1 writing file: short write
  driver: going into degraded mode because of tape error.

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Joe Rhett
Senior Geek
Meer.net