riddle@woton.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle ) (01/05/88)
Is there any reasonable way to take a tape drive off-line from software
under System V? The hotline says no, but I thought I'd ask the net
anyway. We are running SVR2.1.1 on an AT&T 3B15, if it matters.
We want to do this so we can make sure that our daily backups don't get
overwritten on holidays or when we forget to swap tapes. The backups
are being written with /etc/labelit and cpio. The first solution which
comes to mind is to use the no-rewind version of the tape device
(/dev/rmt/0mn) instead of the auto-rewind version (/dev/rmt/0m), but
apparently that would result in our writing two backups on one tape.
What we really want is something that will cause any subsequent
/etc/labelit to fail until a human pushes some buttons on the tape
drive.
Please send short, sweet answers to me by mail, or post long wizardly
ones directly to this newsgroup. Thanks.
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Shriners Burns Institute.
--- riddle@woton.UUCP {ihnp4,harvard}!ut-sally!im4u!woton!riddle