Bacula-users

Re: [Bacula-users] Is anyone using >128K blocks with LTO-4 or LTO-5 drives?

2013-09-17 05:38:17
Subject: Re: [Bacula-users] Is anyone using >128K blocks with LTO-4 or LTO-5 drives?
From: Kern Sibbald <kern AT sibbald DOT com>
To: Andreas Koch <koch AT esa.informatik.tu-darmstadt DOT de>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:34:14 +0200
Hello,

It is my opinion, based on information from a Quantum tape
drive engineer and my own experiences with LTO-4 tapes that
you can safely use 256K block sizes.  The Quantum guy
confirmed my belief that at larger block sizes you increase the
risk of tape errors.  Note: this was back in the days of LTO-4 tapes,
thus it may have changed with the introduction of
LTO-5 and LTO-6 drives.

Some users are trying larger block sizes, but I have seen
many reports of excessive errors at block sizes of 512K and
up.

Best regards,
Kern

On 09/16/2013 01:15 PM, Andreas Koch wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On 09/11/2013 04:47 PM, Brian Debelius wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> If so what OS, Kernel, SCSI adapter, and LTO drive are you using?
> Scientific Linux 6.4
> Kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64
> SAS Adapter IBM 6GB SAS HBA 90Y4579 (using the LSI mpt2 driver 16.00.01.00)
> Drive is HP Ultrium 5-SCSI, firmware Z51U
>
>> What does your bacula-sd.conf look like?
> Here is the relevant excerpt:
>
> Device {
>    Name = LTO-5
>    Media Type = LTO-5
>    Archive Device = /dev/nst0
>    AutomaticMount = yes;               # when device opened, read it
>    AlwaysOpen = yes;
>    RemovableMedia = yes;
>    RandomAccess = no;
>    Maximum File Size = 8g;
>    Minimum block size = 131072
>    Maximum block size = 131072
>    Changer Device = /dev/changer
>    AutoChanger = yes
>    Alert Command = "sh -c 'smartctl -H -l error /dev/sg11'"
>    Maximum Spool Size = 3000g
>    Spool Directory = /etc/bacula/spooldisk/BaculaSpool
>    Maximum Network Buffer Size = 65536
> }
>
>> What is your drive block size set to?
> No block size has been set using mt setblk/defblksize. But for the current
> backup tape, the data is:
>
> # mt -f /dev/nst0 status
> SCSI 2 tape drive:
> File number=0, block number=0, partition=0.
> Tape block size 32768 bytes. Density code 0x46 (LTO-4).
> Soft error count since last status=0
> General status bits on (41010000):
>   BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN
>
> # tapeinfo -f /dev/nst0
> Product Type: Tape Drive
> Vendor ID: 'HP      '
> Product ID: 'Ultrium 5-SCSI  '
> Revision: 'Z51U'
> Attached Changer API: No
> SerialNumber: 'HU1324W3HT'
> MinBlock: 1
> MaxBlock: 16777215
> SCSI ID: 3
> SCSI LUN: 0
> Ready: yes
> BufferedMode: yes
> Medium Type: Not Loaded
> Density Code: 0x46
> BlockSize: 32768
> DataCompEnabled: yes
> DataCompCapable: yes
> DataDeCompEnabled: yes
> CompType: 0x1
> DeCompType: 0x1
> BOP: yes
> Block Position: 0
> Partition 0 Remaining Kbytes: 799204
> Partition 0 Size in Kbytes: 799204
> ActivePartition: 0
> EarlyWarningSize: 0
> NumPartitions: 0
> MaxPartitions: 0
>
> Again, the crucial part is that dd can easily handle larger block sizes (we
> tested up to 2 MB). But btape fails with anything larger than 128 KB (see
> log in previous mails).
>
> Best regards,
>    Andreas
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