ted@blia.BLI.COM (Ted Marshall) (06/16/87)
In article <357bebf7.8be4@apollo.uucp>, jps@apollo.uucp (Jeffrey P. Snover) writes: > ... When the system > rebooted ("tried to reboot" that is) it choked saying > something to the effect that the paging and swapping files > were too fragmented to continue (boom). Wonderful... > So I decided to do a stand alone backup and reorganize > the disk. (Boom) It turns out that it too needs these > files. Stand-Alone Backup includes a cut-down version of the VMS kernal. Thus, it needs swap and paging files. Thus, if SAB is booted from a disk, it better have valid swap and page files (as you discovered). You can always boot SAB from the console medium. In cases where it is not suitable for paging (i.e. TK-50 on a micro-VAX), the unsupported RAM disk driver is included in the kit and so it swaps and pages to memory. Note that this situation creates a nice little zapper: don't boot SAB from a disk that you are then going to restore over. If SAB has to page, it'll do it right over the restored data! (SAB may protect against restoring over its "system" disk, I don't know off hand.) -- Ted Marshall ...!ucbvax!mtxinu!blia!ted <or> mtxinu!blia!ted@Berkeley.EDU Britton Lee, Inc., 14600 Winchester Blvd, Los Gatos, Ca 95030 (408)378-7000 The opinions expressed above are those of the poster and not his employer.
tedcrane@batcomputer.UUCP (06/17/87)
In article <2818@blia.BLI.COM> ted@blia.BLI.COM (Ted Marshall) writes: > >Note that this situation creates a nice little zapper: don't boot SAB from >a disk that you are then going to restore over. If SAB has to page, it'll >do it right over the restored data! (SAB may protect against restoring over >its "system" disk, I don't know off hand.) > Stand-Alone Backup does not warn you if you are attempting to restore over its boot media. We've done that (boot from a disk, then restore onto it) in the past with mixed results. Sometimes, no problem, sometimes, S/A Backup never finishes. It's *NOT* a recommended procedure unless you're in a hurry and don't care about the long term results (for example, you just want one file off a TK50 backup and don't want to wait 20 minutes for it to boot S/A BACKUP off the TK50) - ted crane, alias (tc) tedcrane@squid.tn.cornell.edu BITNET: tedcrane@CRNLTHRY {decvax!ucbvax}!squid.tn.cornell.edu!tedcrane DECnet: GOPHER::THC
jjo@calmasd.GE.COM (Jay Olson) (06/17/87)
In article <2818@blia.BLI.COM> ted@blia.BLI.COM (Ted Marshall) writes: >Stand-Alone Backup includes a cut-down version of the VMS kernal. Thus, it >needs swap and paging files. Thus, if SAB is booted from a disk, it better >have valid swap and page files (as you discovered). Not quite. SYSBOOT tries to find PAGEFILE.SYS and SWAPFILE.SYS in SYS$SYSTEM. If they aren't found, VMS can run just fine, assuming you don't need to page against the paging file and don't swap (as is the case when booting standalone BACKUP). However, if they are found, the usual fragmentation checks are made. >You can always boot SAB from the console medium. In cases where it is not >suitable for paging (i.e. TK-50 on a micro-VAX), the unsupported RAM disk >driver is included in the kit and so it swaps and pages to memory. Sort of. Console standalone backup kits don't have page and swap files. In the case of the TK50, SYSBOOT doesn't even bother to look for a page or swap file. >Note that this situation creates a nice little zapper: don't boot SAB from >a disk that you are then going to restore over. If SAB has to page, it'll >do it right over the restored data! (SAB may protect against restoring over >its "system" disk, I don't know off hand.) Actually, you overwrite BACKUP itself. In the standalone BACKUP environment, there is no paging against the page file, but there is paging against the image being executed. >-- >Ted Marshall ...!ucbvax!mtxinu!blia!ted <or> mtxinu!blia!ted@Berkeley.EDU >Britton Lee, Inc., 14600 Winchester Blvd, Los Gatos, Ca 95030 (408)378-7000 >The opinions expressed above are those of the poster and not his employer. - Jay Olson, a consultant to GE Calma, San Diego, CA. ...sdcsvax!calmasd!jjo jjo@calmasd.GE.COM