ontape -r fail

Hi there, we have the following problem with our INFORMIX 7.31. We use ontape to backup our Database. We put in on an nonrewind Tape. We want to backup them, but it doesn't work. Now we put the Data from the Tape on Disk. On the Tape was a 2GB-File, a File with 0 Bytes and than another 2GB-File and so on. The ontape -r give us an fail after 2GB. We can't put in the rest of the data. Can we restore from disk-Files, who we can restore from Tape? Any Help, suggestions are welcome Dirk Hellmann dirkhell@cityweb.de

Although you can back up to a no-rewind device, you can't restore directly from it. This is because ontape incorporates a rewind near the begining of its restore operations. Informix utilities will not read or write a disk file beyond 2GBytes. You can either copy the archive to another tape device with dd or something, or spool it out to raw disk, where the 2GByte limit will not apply Neil Truby Londis Stores Hampton Hill, UK Dirk Hellmann wrote in message <383F5C80.20E440B3@cityweb.de>... > Hi there, >we have the following problem with our INFORMIX 7.31. We use ontape to >backup our Database. We put in on an nonrewind Tape. We want to backup >them, but it doesn't work. >Now we put the Data from the Tape on Disk. On the Tape was a 2GB-File, a >File with 0 Bytes and than another 2GB-File and so on. >The ontape -r give us an fail after 2GB. We can't put in the rest of the >data. > >Can we restore from disk-Files, who we can restore from Tape? > >Any Help, suggestions are welcome > >Dirk Hellmann >dirkhell@cityweb.de

Dirk Hellmann wrote: > > Hi there, > we have the following problem with our INFORMIX 7.31. We use ontape to > backup our Database. We put in on an nonrewind Tape. We want to backup > them, but it doesn't work. > Now we put the Data from the Tape on Disk. On the Tape was a 2GB-File, a > File with 0 Bytes and than another 2GB-File and so on. > The ontape -r give us an fail after 2GB. We can't put in the rest of the > data. > > Can we restore from disk-Files, who we can restore from Tape? > > Any Help, suggestions are welcome > > Dirk Hellmann > dirkhell@cityweb.de Hi, I guess the easiest way to perform the restore is by changing the TAPEDEV and LTAPEDEV configuration parameters to the "rewindable" tape device instead of the old non-rewindable one. This will work as long as you have copied only one archive to the tapes. Jetzt machen wir einfach deutsch weiter... Wenn Du auf dem Band mehr als eine Sicherung draufgespielt hast, dann ist das natürlich Mist. In diesem Fall müßtest Du erst die einzelnen Sicherungen des Bandes auf andere Bänder kopieren, und dann das rewindable tape device wie oben beschrieben einsetzen. Eine Rücksicherung über Dateien ist ausgeschlossen, aber die Daten bekommst Du ganz sicher zurück. Bis dann erst mal -- Stefan Weideneder Phone: +49 89/3565478-2 --------------- --- Fax: +49 89/3565478-3 ------------- ------ mailto:/stefan@weideneder.de --- -------- http://www.weideneder.de -----

In article <383F5C80.20E440B3@cityweb.de>, Dirk Hellmann <dirkhell@cityweb.de> wrote: > Hi there, > we have the following problem with our INFORMIX 7.31. We use ontape to > backup our Database. We put in on an nonrewind Tape. We want to backup > them, but it doesn't work. > Now we put the Data from the Tape on Disk. On the Tape was a 2GB-File, a > File with 0 Bytes and than another 2GB-File and so on. > The ontape -r give us an fail after 2GB. We can't put in the rest of the > data. > > Can we restore from disk-Files, who we can restore from Tape? First problem, DO NOT USE NOREWIND DEVICES FOR INFORMIX ARCHIVES. It states this in the FM, and there is a reason for it. At restore time ontape opens and closes the tape device several times and expects that each time the file/tape/device/pipe/whatever will rewind to the beginning of the exact same Informix archive. A norewind device will not rewind as expected and the restore will fail. If you now take the archive made on a norewind device and try to restore it will the rewind device it will work fine IFF the archive is the first file on the tape! Otherwise when ontape closes the device after reading the header info the tape will rewind back to the beginning of the first file NOT THE INFORMIX ARCHIVE on file 2 or 3 or ... IFF the archive is smaller than 2GB you can dd the file (make sure the use a value for bs equal to the TAPEBLK entry) to a filesystem file and restore from there. If it is smaller than some unused raw disk partition you can likewise dd the file to the partition and restore from there. Otherwise your only hope of being able to restore is to copy the tape file to another tape drive where it will be the first file. If you have only one tape drive on the system, but have other systems with tape, check with your OS for remote tape copy facilities. If only one drive in house you are hosed unless you can send the tape out to a conversion lab to have it copied. Sometimes RTFM is not a nasty barb, sometimes it's just good advice. Art S. Kagel Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

>First problem, DO NOT USE NOREWIND DEVICES FOR INFORMIX ARCHIVES. Don't quite agree with you here, Art. I think it can be quite a valid technique,and one I have used with some success, provided you're clear that you cannot restore directly from an archive that's not the first file on the tape. For small database servers (particluarly less than 2G), and where restore time is not critical, it can be quitr a convenient way of securing regular back-ups without the need for operator intervention. >... IFF the archive is smaller than >2GB you can dd the file (make sure the use a value for bs equal to the >TAPEBLK entry) to a filesystem file and restore from there People often seem to forget the option of dd'ing to raw disk, where the 2G limit does not apply.