TAR COMMAND

Hi friends,
Please help me....
I am copying the full export in to tape every week.....by following method...
script tothanigai
ls -l *fullexport*
tar cvf /dev/rmt/0 *fullexport*
tar tvf /dev/rmt/0
exit
Everything was fine till last week.
This week the file size is 5.6Gig.....tape capacity is only 5Gig so I am getting
end of file unexpected and error message...
Some people suggested to split the file and copy in two diff tape??????.How no idea
Please help me with step by step commands how to go about...I have to post
the cpoied tapes today itself to our another office in DC.
note:Already my file is compressed ...meaning after compress only it is in 5.6Gig...
I don't have the space to uncompress and gzip the file...So walking on the rope..
Please help.
Thanks.
Thanigai.

Isn't there a way to expire the old backups, that way the backup would copy the new ones on top of the old ones. If you are restricted with the backup resourece, then you might have to come up with a policy on how long would you ever want to keep the backups on tape, before over writing them.


Sam

If I understood your Qtn correctly....We hold the old backup for 2weeks ....It will come back to me after
2 week meaning after 3 weeks we over write on the tape......It is going in cycle.
Every week I post it to them....They hold it for 2 weeks and send back ....I use them to
copy after 1week....like that
The tape it self can hold only 5GIG....
So I have to split and copy them in to tapes...I have plenty of tapes...But all
are 5Gig capacity only.
Thanks.
Thanigai.

You have two basic options to this:

Instead of using tar to copy the .dmp file to tape you could use cpio which will allow you to copy to two or more tapes.

The command for this would be something like :

find fullexport -print | cpio -ovc -O /dev/rmt/0

When the first tape is full, the console will tell you to switch tapes, you can just hit the enter key after the new tape is in to continue.

Or if you are using 8i, you could set up your export job to create two .dmp files, each one being half of your export.

Hope this helps.

Then its good. Now one other question is, did you get to check the man pages of tar, if not I would advice you to check that

here is an option from man pages of tar:

k size
Requires tar to use the size argument as the size of
an archive in kilobytes. This is useful when the
archive is intended for a fixed size device such as
floppy disks. Large files are then split across
volumes if they do not fit in the specified size.


One other thing is that tar is not tollerent with the tape errors. It also would expand holes in files. I would suggest that you venture on using dump, which again similar to tar and much versatile.

Sam

Thanks alot guys....
I have checked the man tar...
My file is in bytes......
cpio I have not tried so far...I shall try..
SAM don't mistake me Using dump?????.
Advice please ...
Thanks.
Thanigai.

"dump" is a command that is similar to tar, but has a better functionality when compared to tar. dump is normally used to bacup and then you use restore to retrive those backups. It would allow you to span your backup to multiple tapes, permissions, ownership and times are preserved, the files with the holes are handled correctly, and last but not the least is that the backups can be performed incrementally.

Use the man pages to learn more about on how to use this dump and restore commands.


Sam

Thanks SAM.
I do.
We do everyday increments and weekend full export...
i have tried even with cpio command it gives error saying
cpio:filename : too large to archive in current mode..
1 error(S)....
I am breaking my head...My manager is asking in every
hour interval...I am keep on saying rearching...
Pl help.
Thanks.
Thanigai.

here is a simple example:

dump 5usdf 60000 6250 /dev/rst0 /work


What they mean are as follows:

5u : Level 5 backup
*s : size which is 60000 or 60 Kilo feet tape length
*d : desity 6250bpi
f : tape device /dev/rst0

and then the file system.
* are optional fields. I know that dump in solaris would prompt you for the tapes until it gets done with the dump.

dump 0uf tape_path file


Hopw this would help you.
Sam