On Thu, Jun 29, 2006 at 09:49:10PM -0500, Frank Smith wrote:
> Jon LaBadie wrote:
> > 
> > If I understand tape spanning correctly, and
> > if we are going direct to tape, which we are, you will need
> > at least 2 x 20GB for the split buffers.  One being filled
> > and another dumping to tape.
> > 
> 
> Does the tape-spanning code in 2.5 no longer require you to have
> a holdingdisk larger than the DLE to work?   If so, what happens
> with a large DLE when the tape catches up to the buffer, does all
> taping stop?  And if the client dumper dies during taping, does
> the taper sit there indefinitely and block the rest of the dumps?
> I'll admit I'm not very familiar with the tape-spanning features,
> so perhaps these are stupid questions.

Not claiming certainty here, but I think there are two fallback
mechanisms to insufficient holding disk.  The first is the split
buffer, a hard disk equivalent to the holding disk that needs
not hold the entire DLE (after all, it is going "direct to tape").
The second fallback is the use of in memory buffers rather than
disk buffers.

About your 'what if' queries, duhh, don't know.

-- 
Jon H. LaBadie                  jon AT jgcomp DOT com
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