paul@prcrs.prc.com (Paul Hite) (06/20/91)
There have been some articles detailing problems with other backup programs
like cpio or tar. I guess it's time for an fbackup horror story:-) At least
I can offer some light along with the heat.
We lost a file system known as "/usr/src". Here is an excerpt from the index
of a level 3 fbackup tape:
# 1 /usr/spool/xnews/training/9 <LINK> # 1 /usr/spool/xnews/X/1
# 1 /usr/src/local/cts
# 1 /usr/src/local/cts/RCS
# 1 /usr/src/local/cts/RCS/callsa,v
# 1 /usr/src/local/cts/TODO
# 1 /usr/src/local/cts/callsa
# 1 /v/sabaseline/NOTFROZEN/dest.stell_6_3_sa1/install/usr/prc/lib/conf
This backup was completely contained on a single tape. To restore the files
I tried:
Script started on Wed Jun 19 11:52:05 1991
# frecover -x -v -s -i /usr/src
frecover(5401): Volume 1 completed.
frecover(5428): Do you wish to continue? [yes no] no
frecover(4301): /usr/src not on backup media
When frecover posed the "continue?" question, it had read the entire tape.
I replied "no" and it then rewound the tape. Now attempt two:
# frecover -x -s -v -i /usr/src/local/cts
-r-xr-xr-x nes sysadm /usr/src/local/cts/RCS/callsa,v
-rw-r--r-- nes sysadm /usr/src/local/cts/TODO
-r-xr-xr-x nes sysadm /usr/src/local/cts/callsa
#
script done on Wed Jun 19 13:15:47 1991
Here frecover found the files! After the last file was restored and well
before the eot, frecover correctly decided that it was finished and silently
rewound the tape.
With the first attempt (which involved a directory not present on the backup
tape) frecover never found any files, never appeared to recognize when it went
too far on the tape, and seemed to believe that a second tape might be needed.
All of this originally lead me to believe that there was something seriously
wrong with the backup tape.
The concept that a directory specified to frecover *must* be present on the
media is news to me. I have reread the man page carefully. Anyway, I
studied the index files and carefully constructed frecover command lines
that used only directories that were present on the media. This cleared up
most of my problems.
Of course, there were still coredumps, error messages, and other bizarre
results that I can't explain. So what's a sysadmin to do?
Paul Hite PRC Realty Systems McLean,Va paul@prcrs.prc.com (703) 556-2243
"We are trying to bring up an Air Traffic Control display on an X window
terminal and there seems to be some problems." -- from comp.windows.xjwright@cfht.hawaii.edu (Jim Wright) (06/20/91)
paul@prcrs.prc.com (Paul Hite) writes: >There have been some articles detailing problems with other backup programs >like cpio or tar. I guess it's time for an fbackup horror story:-) [ ... ] >So what's a sysadmin to do? Use [r]dump and [r]restore. The interactive option to restore has saved me more than a few times. It's absence from HP's list of recommended backup programs should not discourage you. -- Jim Wright jwright@cfht.hawaii.edu Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corp.