[comp.unix.wizards] Remote magtape

sow@luthcad.UUCP (04/15/87)

I have some questions about rmt.

In bsd4.2 the maximum blocksize is defined as 10240 bytes, by
historical reasons (PDP). Can I increase the maximum blocksize?

What is the maximum blocksize for rmt on a Sun? I don't want to find
it out the hard way. 

Rmt uses the vax bsd4.2 "tape operations codes" from "sys/mtio.h",
as the communication protocol. Is it common that all systems has
the same operations codes in mtio.h? 

The communication protocol should be separated from the system
dependent mt operation codes.


Sven-Ove Westberg, CAD, University of Lulea, S-951 87 Lulea
Tel:     +46-920-91677  (work)         +46-920-48390  (home)
UUCP:    sow@luthcad.UUCP  or  seismo!mcvax!enea!luthcad!sow
ARPA:    enea!luthcad!sow@seismo.css.gov

roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) (04/24/87)

In article <664@luthcad.UUCP> sow@luthcad.UUCP (Sven-Ove Westberg) writes:
> I have some questions about rmt.

	Since he brought it up, can somebody tell me if rtar has ever been
implemented?  Rdump and rrestore are the only programs I know that use
remote tape drives, but many is the time I wished for rtar.
-- 
Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy
System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016

"you can't spell deoxyribonucleic without unixrno

mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (Michael Khaw) (04/24/87)

In article <2644@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>	Since he brought it up, can somebody tell me if rtar has ever been
>implemented?  Rdump and rrestore are the only programs I know that use
>remote tape drives, but many is the time I wished for rtar.

There is a workaround:

	tar cfB - file | rsh remotehost 'dd of=remote_tape bs=20b'	# write
	rsh remotehost 'dd if=remote_tape bs=20b' | tar xf - 		# read

Note:

	Although man files for tar may claim/imply that 20 blocks is the
	maximum block size for tar, vendors of Sun software routinely
	use 126 blocks for 1/4-inch tar cartridges, and I've seen 126
	blocks used successfully with 9-track mag tapes.

Mike Khaw
-- 
internet:  mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.arpa
usenet:	   {hplabs|sun|ucbvax|decwrl|sri-unix}!mkhaw%teknowledge-vaxc.arpa
USnail:	   Teknowledge Inc, 1850 Embarcadero Rd, POB 10119, Palo Alto, CA 94303

hope@gatech.edu (Theodore Hope @ LEGOLAND) (04/24/87)

In article <2644@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>Rdump and rrestore are the only programs I know that use
>remote tape drives, but many is the time I wished for rtar.

I don't know if you'd consider the following a kludge, but I
use the following to read a tar tape on a remote machine:

   % rsh remote dd of=/dev/rmt8 ibs=10240 | tar xvf -	(tar bs of 20)

An analogous command can be used to write tar on a remote tape.
-- 
Theodore Hope
School of Information & Computer Science, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet: Hope@gatech		ARPA: Hope@Gatech.EDU
uucp:	...!{akgua,decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!hope

dik@mcvax.cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) (04/25/87)

In article <15097@gatech.gatech.edu> hope@gatech.UUCP (Theodore Hope @ LEGOLAND) writes:
 > I don't know if you'd consider the following a kludge, but I
 > use the following to read a tar tape on a remote machine:
 > 
 >    % rsh remote dd of=/dev/rmt8 ibs=10240 | tar xvf -	(tar bs of 20)
 > 
 > An analogous command can be used to write tar on a remote tape.
A problem with this is that you need an account on the machine with the
tape drive.  At our site we have a number of vaxen with different user
groups, but only a few of these vaxen have tapedrives.  This has been
solved, and we now have rtar.  I do not know the status of it.
-- 
dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland
INTERNET   : dik@cwi.nl
BITNET/EARN: dik@mcvax

baccala@USNA.MIL (Brent W Baccala) (04/25/87)

> 	Since he brought it up, can somebody tell me if rtar has ever been
> implemented?  Rdump and rrestore are the only programs I know that use
> remote tape drives, but many is the time I wished for rtar.

Volume 2 of the mod.sources archives contains "rtar", which is
described as "diffs to tar to sue a remote system's tape drives".
I can't remember what system(s) it's for, since its been a long time
since I looked at it...

			- BRENT W. BACCALA -
			Computer Aided Design/Interactive Graphics
			U.S. Naval Academy
			Annapolis, MD

			<decvax!brl-smoke!usna!baccala>
			<seismo!usna!baccala>
			<baccala@usna.arpa>

kurt@hi.uucp (Kurt Zeilenga) (04/26/87)

Hope@gatech.UUCP (Theodore Hope @ LEGOLAND) writes:
 >In article <2644@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
 >>Rdump and rrestore are the only programs I know that use
 >>remote tape drives, but many is the time I wished for rtar.
 >
 >I don't know if you'd consider the following a kludge, but I

Not a kludge, this is even documented (in my SUN 3.3 manual).

 >use the following to read a tar tape on a remote machine:
 >
 >   % rsh remote dd of=/dev/rmt8 ibs=10240 | tar xvf -	(tar bs of 20)

When running tar with input being a pipe, it is usually a good idea
to add a "B" flag, read the manual for more info...

I use:

% rsh remote -n dd of=/dev/rmt0 bs=20b | tar xvBfb - 20 <files>

-- 
	Kurt Zeilenga	(zeilenga@hc.dspo.gov)

lamy@utegc.UUCP (04/26/87)

In article <15097@gatech.gatech.edu> hope@gatech.UUCP (Theodore Hope @ LEGOLAND) writes:
>I don't know if you'd consider the following a kludge, but I
>use the following to read a tar tape on a remote machine:
>
>   % rsh remote dd of=/dev/rmt8 ibs=10240 | tar xvf -	(tar bs of 20)

It's not a kludge, it's documented in the Sun man page :-).  Writing is a
bit harder, though, if you want to be able to do a 'tar r', since (quite
logically) tar r does not make sense on standard output.

4.3 tar handles remote drives, so I fished it out and compiled it and friends
on a Sun, but alas, no luck. 'tar r' works fine locally on the 4.3 BSD Vax,
but not from the Sun, where the subsequent archives don't show up in a tar t.
Looked in the source, and the rmt stuff looks perfectly orthodox.  We only
have one machine running 4.3, so I could not try from a remote one...

Also, I often find myself doing a big find -prune ... followed by a session
of purification with a text editor, in order to get a reasonable list of files
to put on tape.  In the absence of 'tar r', using xargs to handle a huge list
of arguments is out of the question, and the only tar I know that can read
standard input for its list of files is John Gilmore's etar, but that one
does not support on the fly change of directories, and does not follow
symbolic links.  Am I missing something?

Ah well.  I cross-posted to comp.unix.questions and redirected follow-ups
there.

Jean-Francois Lamy                           lamy@ai.toronto.edu (CSNet, UUCP)
AI Group, Dept of Computer Science,          lamy@ai.toronto.cdn (EAN)
University of Toronto, Ont, Canada M5S 1A4   lamy@ai.utoronto    (Bitnet)

rbj@icst-cmr.arpa (Root Boy Jim) (04/27/87)

   It's not a kludge, it's documented in the Sun man page :-).  Writing is a
   bit harder, though, if you want to be able to do a 'tar r', since (quite
   logically) tar r does not make sense on standard output.

Possibly, but `tar c' does. See the example (option f) in the man page.

   AI Group, Dept of Computer Science,          lamy@ai.toronto.cdn (EAN)
   University of Toronto, Ont, Canada M5S 1A4   lamy@ai.utoronto    (Bitnet)


	(Root Boy) Jim "Just Say Yes" Cottrell	<rbj@icst-cmr.arpa>
	Life is a POPULARITY CONTEST! I'm REFRESHINGLY CANDID!!