help ontape -r failed

Hi, I've heard that it's possible to use ontape with named pipe So I create some directories /saveinfx/pipe/ /saveinfx/base/ Modify my onconfig # System Archive Tape Device TAPEDEV /saveinfx/pipe/pfile # Tape device path TAPEBLK 512 # Tape block size (Kbytes) TAPESIZE 10000384 # Maximum amount of data to put on tape (Kbytes) Then done as informix user some by hand and the rest by script /etc/mknod /saveinfx/pipe/pfile p chmod 660 /saveinfx/pipe/pfile dd if=/saveinfx/pipe/pfile of=/saveinfx/base/myfirstdbsave.dat bs=512k & ontape -s -L 0 Seems to work fine, and i got a "myfirstdbsave.dat" file of a certain size. now trying to do some restore rm /saveinfx/pipe/pfile /etc/mknod /saveinfx/pipe/pfile p chmod 660 /saveinfx/pipe/pfile dd if=/saveinfx/base/myfirstdbsave.dat of=/saveinfx/pipe/pfile bs=512k & ontape -r Please mount tape 1 on /saveinfx/pipe/pfile and press Return to continue ... # I press return here Archive Tape Information Tape type: Archive Backup Tape Online version: Informix Dynamic Server Version 7.30.UC2 Archive date: Sun Jul 18 22:33:40 1999 User id: informix Terminal id: ? Archive level: 0 Tape device: /saveinfx/pipe/pfile Tape blocksize (in k): 512 Tape size (in k): 10000384 Tape number in series: 1 Physical restore failed - function read archive backup failed code -2 errno 22 Program over. Why it doesnt work ???? I'm running Informix Dynamic Server Version 7.30.UC2, on SCO OSR 5.04 box. I know that other tools exists but I'm looking forward for an explanation, because I'll have to maintain some scripts soon for my job. regards jquidort@worldnet.fr

Joel QUIDORT wrote: > > Hi, > > I've heard that it's possible to use ontape with named pipe > > So I create some directories > > /saveinfx/pipe/ > /saveinfx/base/ > > Modify my onconfig > # System Archive Tape Device > TAPEDEV /saveinfx/pipe/pfile # Tape device path > TAPEBLK 512 # Tape block size (Kbytes) > TAPESIZE 10000384 # Maximum amount of data to put on tape > (Kbytes)> > Then done as informix user some by hand and the rest by script > /etc/mknod /saveinfx/pipe/pfile p > chmod 660 /saveinfx/pipe/pfile > dd if=/saveinfx/pipe/pfile of=/saveinfx/base/myfirstdbsave.dat bs=512k & > ontape -s -L 0> > Seems to work fine, and i got a "myfirstdbsave.dat" file of a certain size. > > now trying to do some restore > > rm /saveinfx/pipe/pfile > /etc/mknod /saveinfx/pipe/pfile p > chmod 660 /saveinfx/pipe/pfile > dd if=/saveinfx/base/myfirstdbsave.dat of=/saveinfx/pipe/pfile bs=512k & > > ontape -r> > Please mount tape 1 on /saveinfx/pipe/pfile and press Return to continue ... > # I press return here > > Archive Tape Information > > Tape type: Archive Backup Tape > Online version: Informix Dynamic Server Version 7.30.UC2 > Archive date: Sun Jul 18 22:33:40 1999 > User id: informix > Terminal id: ? > Archive level: 0 > Tape device: /saveinfx/pipe/pfile > Tape blocksize (in k): 512 > Tape size (in k): 10000384 > Tape number in series: 1 > Physical restore failed - function read archive backup failed code -2 errno > 22 > > Program over. > > Why it doesnt work ???? > > I'm running Informix Dynamic Server Version 7.30.UC2, on SCO OSR 5.04 box. > > I know that other tools exists but I'm looking forward for an explanation, > because > I'll have to maintain some scripts soon for my job. Ontape expects to be able to close and reopen the "tape" several times and have it rewind to the beginning each time. The dd you are using does not understand that. For restores pipes are VERY hard to use it would be better to restore directly from the file you created during the backup. Art S. Kagel