axtell@willow.cray.com (Maureen Axtell) (03/29/91)
I seem to have acquired an Exabyte 8mm tape drive and am having trouble writing to it. I'd like to use it with rbak/wbak. The system is a DN2500 running SR10.3 and the new tape library (/dev/rmts8, /dev/rmts12,etc) are all in place. Maybe I'm just being dense, but I don't understand how to use these with "wbak -to" and "rbak -from" options mentioned in a previous note. Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated. -maureen
thompson@PAN.SSEC.HONEYWELL.COM (John Thompson) (03/29/91)
> I seem to have acquired an Exabyte 8mm tape drive and am having trouble > writing to it. I'd like to use it with rbak/wbak. The system is a > DN2500 running SR10.3 and the new tape library (/dev/rmts8, /dev/rmts12,etc) > are all in place. > Maybe I'm just being dense, but I don't understand how to use these > with "wbak -to" and "rbak -from" options mentioned in a previous note. Contrary to what some people have said, I do not believe that it's possible to use wbak/rbak and the 8mm tape drives -- if you use the standard Apollo utilities. This is assuming you do _NOT_ have Workstation Solutions (or equiv?) software. I have tried several times since I read that you can use the 8mm drives and wbak, and I have nothing but failure to report. I have tried using '-to' and '-stdout'. I have redirected things until I was blue in the face. I have tried using '-dev m0' as someone suggested. Until/unless I hear differently from somebody at HP/Apollo, giving O/S versions, wbak timestamps, and explicit instuctions, I just plain won't believe it! As for the use of '-to', '-from' etc, it's not too difficult. When you use wbak, you can specify ANY ONE OF -dev [c|m|f] -f <num> to put data out to (C)artridge, (M)agtape, or (F)loppy, and a tape-file-number. Any tape-files _after_ the one written are lost, except to the truly dedicated adventurer. -to filename [-r] [-type uasc|unstruct|hdru] to put data out to a filename. Unless you use '-r', the filename cannot exist yet. If you use '-r', the filetype is preserved from the current object. (However, when I did that to /dev/rmts8, I still got a large file that was of type rmt_scsi, instead of having data go to tape.) You can specify a filetype (ascii, unstruct-ascii, or streams-header- undefined) if it's necessary for some other application. -stdout to put the data to stdout. This lets you pipe things around. It seems that most people claim to use this option when going to an 8mm drive. -rem host:dev to send data across a (tcp) network to a device on a remote host. THe help file states that Domain/OS doesn't support this (i.e. the remote host can't be an Apollo). I don't know about that, but /etc/rmt can't handle SCSI 8mm devices, at any rate. When you're doing the rbak of the wbak'ed object, you simply use the inverse -- -dev [c|m|f] -f <num> -from filename -stdin -rem host:dev I have heard/read claims that 'wbak dirname -stdout > /dev/rmts8' works. I have also heard that 'wbak dirname -f 1 -dev m0' works. As I said above, all I get are error messages. IBIWISI! (I'llBelieveItWhenISeeIt) -- jt -- John Thompson Honeywell, SSEC Plymouth, MN 55441 thompson@pan.ssec.honeywell.com Me? Represent Honeywell? You've GOT to be kidding!!!
krowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz) (03/29/91)
I've always found that "wbak -to" and "rbak -from" would not work with device files such as /dev/rmts8 because "wbak" would check the file-type and find that the device file was neither a UASC nor UNSTRUCT file. I always used "wbak -stdout > /dev/rmts8". Or something like that. In practice, I actually use the Workstation Solutions tape libraries so that I can put multiple, labeled files onto a single tape set (ie. "wbak -f 2 //second_disk -dev m") -- David Krowitz krowitz@richter.mit.edu (18.83.0.109) krowitz%richter.mit.edu@eddie.mit.edu krowitz%richter.mit.edu@mitvma.bitnet (in order of decreasing preference)
goldfish@CONCOUR.CS.CONCORDIA.CA (04/02/91)
I don't have an Exabyte on my Apollo, however I do have one on my suns and do my backups with something like: wbak -stdout -all //* | rsh mysun -l backup dd ibs=8k obs=80k of=/dev/exabyte (where "backup" is the user on the target machine who trusts Apollo-root and "/dev/exabyte" is the device for the exabyte) On the Apollo, I would think that: wbak -stdout -all //* | dd ibs=8k obs=80k of=/dev/exabyte would do the trick. (assuming that the SCSI device driver for the Exabyte can talk to the "dd" command -- Paul Goldsmith <goldfish@concour.cs.concordia.ca> (514) 848-3031 (Shirley Maclaine told me there would be LIFETIMES like this)