--On Sunday, September 01, 2002 16:09:59 +0200 Brian Jonnes <brian AT init.co 
DOT za> wrote:

> ---
> These dumps were to tape DAILY_04.
> The next tape Amanda expects to use is: DAILY_05.
> 
> 
> STATISTICS:
>                           Total       Full      Daily
>                         --------   --------   --------
> Estimate Time (hrs:min)    0:01
> Run Time (hrs:min)         2:46
> Dump Time (hrs:min)        1:46       1:20       0:25
> Output Size (meg)        3940.3     2940.1     1000.2
> Original Size (meg)      6798.4     5010.1     1788.3
> Avg Compressed Size (%)    58.0       58.7       55.9   (level:#disks ...)
> Filesystems Dumped           27         13         14   (1:8 2:4 3:2)
> Avg Dump Rate (k/s)       637.2      626.3      671.6
> ---
> 
> As you can see, the tape was used to the full. Now, on 31/08 I had a 
> failure:
> 
> ---
> These dumps were to tape DAILY_04.
> *** A TAPE ERROR OCCURRED: [[writing filemark: Input/output error]].
> Some dumps may have been left in the holding disk.
> Run amflush to flush them to tape.
> The next tape Amanda expects to use is: DAILY_05.
> 
> FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY:
>   valhalla   /export/mail/pmail.usr lev 0 FAILED [disk /export/mail/pmail.usr 
> offline on valhalla?]
>   valhalla   /export/mail/subs lev 0 FAILED [out of tape]
> ---
> 
> Now from this I'd assume it was trying to write too much data. But looking at 
> the log files, it seems that it only wrote a couple of kb (unfortunately I 
> can't access the server right at the mo'). 
> 
> Where am I going wrong? Are the logs straightforward to interpret (i.e. I add 
> up the kb for the DUMPER lines up until the point of failure)? Can tapes be 
> intermittent?

Just look for the 'taper' line in the daily report, it will tell you
exactly how much it wrote to tape even if it gets an error. I wouldn't
think tapes would be intermittent, but drives can be, especially if the
heads need cleaning.  I guess its possible to have a bad spot on the
tape past the normal size of your backups that would get hit only
when the backup was larger than normal and make it seem intermittent.

Frank


--
Frank Smith                                                fsmith AT hoovers 
DOT com
Systems Administrator                                     Voice: 512-374-4673
Hoover's Online                                             Fax: 512-374-4501