On Wednesday 19 May 2004 17:16, Joe Harpole wrote:
>I am getting a lot of return code 2 from tar and amanda tells me the
> dump failed.
>
>      /db01 lev 0 FAILED [/usr/local/bin/tar returned 2]
>
>Looking at the log either the file changed while being backed up or
> was deleted after the list of files was built. The log shows the
> typical tar messages like:
>      gtar: Read error at byte 0, reading 512 bytes, in file
>./app/oracle/admin/crmprod/bdump/alert_crmprod.log: No such device
> or address

Since oracle is a database, did you stop it before backing it up?  
Trying to backup a live database often leads to confusing results.  
Most db programs have a method to 'snapshot' them so that the 
etoppage time can be minimized, and then the snapshot is backed up.

>      gtar: ./BusinessWare/instance7/BW31/data/chanserv1_v3.dat:
> file changed as we read it
>
>      | Total bytes written: 3064913920
>
>      ? gtar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

This also is entirely possible.  And usually the data recorded by 
amanda is simply a bit newer than it was when the estimate phase was 
run early in the amanda run.

>
>      /db01       0 FAILED ---------------------------------------
>
>How can I tell if I actually wrote data to the tape for this file
> system? (Remember I'm an amanda NEWBIE so be kind.)

If this one failed entirely, maybe the live database had a lock on it?
Just guessing of course.  I have a similar situation here, in that if 
autofs is running, it has a lock on the /misc directory, and about 3 
Gb worth of stuff I have stashed there just disappears when that 
happens.

The general solution to live database problems is to wrap amdump up in 
a script that shuts the database down, issues the snapshot command, 
restarts the database and then starts amdump.  The disklist entry 
then doesn't contain the database, but the snapshot image of it, 
which will be stable and can be backed up just fine.

Mind you I don't have any experience doing that here, but this advice 
has been often offered on this list from others.

You said the amanda version was 2.5.0 in a previous msg,  I've been 
told this is a different alpha test animal, and normal users should 
be using 2.4.4p2 or 2.4.5b1, both of which are available from 
Jean-Louis M's site at umontreal.edu.  That link is near the bottom 
of the regular amanda.org page.  The problem with that is that in 
order to arrive at a compatible './configure' set of options, you 
have to look over some of the debug logs, which will contain the 
configuration option list used when it was built, and duplicate that 
when configuring the more stable versions.

Personally, I use a script to do the configure and make, which has 
been posted here so many times it may be starting to get burned into 
some screens, so a quick check of the last 2-3 weeks worth of this 
list should kick out a copy.

>
>Joe Harpole, Unix System Administrator
>IBM Global Services
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-- 
Cheers, Gene
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