--On Tuesday, December 02, 2003 12:35:06 -0500 Josiah Ritchie <jritchie AT 
bible DOT edu> wrote:

> Jon LaBadie scripted ::
> 
>> Unless that is a changer you pretty much have it.  Write some
>> write a tar archive to the tape and be sure you can recover it.
>> Then write multiple archives to the tape using the "no rewind"
>> version of the tape device.  Use mt to see if you can position
>> at a specific archive and recover just the one.
>> 
>> You might want to use dd with a blocksize of 32K to be sure
>> the default amanda block size works ok.  Similarly you might
>> want to explore the mt commands to set compression on/off,
>> block size, check status, set defaults, ...
>> 
>> If it is a changer, also explore the mtx command.
> 
> It isn't a changer so I can skip the mtx curve. :-) I'll probably need to get
> into that later though cause I'll eventually need one.
> 
> I can't play around on this server too much for fear of messing things up. 
> Can I
> pass some commands by you guys for sanity checking?
> 
> mt -f /dev/st0 status # works fine (If I know what I'm reading)
> mt -f /dev/st0 retension # works
> mt -f /dev/st0 erase # works I need to remember a & at the end next time, ssh
> won't background it for some odd reason. (^z bg)
> 
> tar -cf /dev/st0 /etc #? records /etc to tape in /dev/st0

Also make sure you can then
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
tar -xf /dev/st0  (first make sure you are using GNU tar and are in
a temp directory so you don't clobber your /etc)

As Jon pointed out, you need to make sure you can use the proper
non-rewinding device:

mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
tar -cv /dev/nst0 /some/dir
tar -cf /dev/nst0 /another dir
mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
tar -tf /dev/nst0      (should list /some/dir)
mt -f /dev/nst0 fsf 1  (moves to beginning of next file)
tar -tf /dev/nst0      (should list /another/dir
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind

If you're planning on using tar for backups:

tar --version

Make sure it is at least 1.13.19, I think 1.13.25 is the current
version. Older versions will appear to back up fine but you will
have problems restoring properly.

> 
> JSR/



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