Yes, I think it is.   I was merely pointing out what happened because of
the change in blocksize that I put in place after I'd already made tapes
with a different setup.   It looks to me that without running stinit

I don't remember it exactly, but on the tapes I had both sizes on, the

is actually 512 -- tape couldn't really be read after that.)

                                                       mht

On Friday, Aug 8, 2003, at 13:20 US/Eastern, Yura Pismerov wrote:

Isn't it recommended to keep the default block size 0 (variable length)
in Linux ?


Matt Temple wrote:

This sounds very much like the trouble I cause myself after
changing the block size via "stinit" on my Linux machine.   Shortly

after I did this, I needed to recover a file on a tape that was created before the block size change. I don't remember the error messages, but

Networker clearly couldn't successfully read through the older tapes.
I was (am) left with a "pre blocksize change" and "post blocksize
change"
world.   This is a completely repeatable phenomenon.   Now, if I want
to recover a file from before the blocksize change, I have to reboot
the server without running stinit.   What waould hapen to a tape that
was created with the old regime but had files added during the new
blocksize
regime, I'm not sure.  I'd think that Networker could find an
end-of-tape
marker and start appending.   But scanning the tape might then be
problematic.

This last part is just a guess, but it is consistent with what I
experienced.
Is this any help?

                                                        Matt Temple

On Friday, Aug 8, 2003, at 10:57 US/Eastern, Teresa Biehler wrote:

So, I set the environment variable on the Solaris server to lower the
block size to 128KB so that Windows and UNIX agree.  I added the
following to the top of the networker start up script:

NSR_DEV_BLOCK_SIZE_8MM_AIT_3=128
export NSR_DEV_BLOCK_SIZE_8MM_AIT_3

After making this change, I restarted the server.  I states that the
block size for all the AIT-3 devices is 128KB as expected.  Then I

labeled a new tape, ran a full back up to it - so far so good. When I

ran scanner on the tape, however, I get this:

scanner -v /dev/rmt/5cbn
scanner: Opened /dev/rmt/5cbn for read
scanner: Rewinding...
scanner: Rewinding done
scanner: Reading the label...
scanner: Reading the label done
scanner: SYSTEM error: Tape label read: Bad file number
scanner: SYSTEM error: Tape label read: Bad file number
scanner: scanning for valid records...
scanner: read: -1 bytes : Not enough space
scanner: Opened /dev/rmt/5cbn for read
scanner: read: -1 bytes : Not enough space
.
.
.
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
scanner: read: 0 bytes
.
.
.

Does anyone have any ideas what is going on?

Thanks.
Teresa



-----Original Message-----
From: Ruzza, Claudio [mailto:claudio.ruzza AT HP DOT COM]
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 8:54 AM
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [Networker] setting block size

Teresa,
Needless to say, the variable name should be modified according to
your drives technology.
Example: assuming you have SDLT drives, the variable name will become
NSR_DEV_BLOCK_SIZE_SDLT

In windows 2000 you can set this variable doing some easy steps:
Click right on "My computer" and choose Properties
Choose "Advanced"
Click the "Environment variables" button
Click the button "new" in the lower part of "system variables" pane
In "variable name" enter the name you have "build up" once you have
identified your drive's technology
In "variable value" just enter 128
Click OK and that's all.

Please check that after having set the variable at least one media
initialized by those Server/SN has reaaly labeled at 128K. In case it
doesn't, there are some additional steps to do, involving registry
edit. Check listmail archives, there's a wonderful page about that.

In Solaris and any other UNIX flavour the variable must be set as any
other environment variable. I'm not a UNIX expert, so I can't be more
precise.

Hope it helps

Claudio Ruzza

-----Original Message-----
From: Teresa Biehler [mailto:tpbsys AT RIT DOT EDU]
Sent: venerdЛ 8 agosto 2003 14:05
To: NETWORKER AT LISTMAIL.TEMPLE DOT EDU
Subject: setting block size

I've got a Solaris Networker server and I'm trying to set up a Windows

storage node that will share the same tape library.  So, I
want the each

system to be able to read/write tapes written by the other. Based on

running scanner -v on tapes written by both hosts, I've
determined that

I need to set the block size to 128KB. So, how do I do this? In the

admin guide is says to set the environment variable
NSR_DEV_BLOCK_SIZE_DEVICE_NAME.  Where/how do I do this (for both
Solaris and Windows)?



Thanks!

Teresa


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========================================================
Matthew Temple                Tel:    617/632-2597
Director, Research Computing  Fax:    617/632-4012
Dana-Farber Cancer Inst       mht AT research.dfci.harvard DOT edu
44 Binney Street,  JF 314     http://research.dfci.harvard.edu
Boston, MA 02115              Choice is the Choice!

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--
Yuri Pismerov, Sr. System Administrator,
TUCOWS.COM INC. (416) 535-0123  ext. 1352

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Matthew Temple                Tel:    617/632-2597
Director, Research Computing  Fax:    617/632-4012
Dana-Farber Cancer Inst       mht AT research.dfci.harvard DOT edu
44 Binney Street,  JF 314     http://research.dfci.harvard.edu
Boston, MA 02115              Choice is the Choice!

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