TAPE BACKUP COMMAND - TAR for SLES11

SUSE Linux Enterprise Extensions SLES Hardware
1

Hello,

I am trying to take a backup on LTO 4 tape drive using SLES11. The
command usage is “tar -cfz /dev/st0 /tape_test” where tape_test is the
folder I need to backup.
But it is giving following error.
tar: Removing leading /' from member names I searched the net for same error and found it is as a common error. But couldn't find a solution as they were not specific to solve my issue (LTO 4 tape on SLES 11). ex: 'Linux Tar Getting Removing Leading /’ From Member Names When
Executed’
(http://www.wallpaperama.com/forums/linux-tar-getting-removing-leading-from-member-names-when-executed-t711.html)
ex: ‘tar: Removing leading `/’ from member names | Skrakes.com’
(http://www.skrakes.com/2009/09/11/tar-removing-leading-from-member-names)

So I need help on resolving myne.
Thanks in advance.

C. C. Illeperuma

–
ccilleperuma

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2

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That’s not an error… it’s just a message telling you that because
you’re backing up something from the root of the filesystem that in the
backup it’s going to take that off. There is an --absolute-names option
to override this if you REALLY want to, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Good luck.

Want to yell at me in person?
Come to BrainShare 2011 in October: http://tinyurl.com/brainshare2011
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3

Thanks ab. But when I try to confirm the backup it gives an error.

Code:

sapprdsvr:~ # mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
sapprdsvr:~ # tar -cfz /dev/st0 /tape_test/
tar: Removing leading `/’ from member names
sapprdsvr:~ # mt -f /dev/st0 status
drive type = Generic SCSI-2 tape
drive status = 1174405120
sense key error = 0
residue count = 0
file number = 0
block number = 0
Tape block size 0 bytes. Density code 0x46 (unknown).
Soft error count since last status=0
General status bits on (41010000):
BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN
sapprdsvr:~ # mt -f /dev/st0 tell
mt: /dev/st0: Input/output error
sapprdsvr:~ # mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
sapprdsvr:~ # mt -f /dev/st0 status
drive type = Generic SCSI-2 tape
drive status = 1174405120
sense key error = 0
residue count = 0
file number = 0
block number = 0
Tape block size 0 bytes. Density code 0x46 (unknown).
Soft error count since last status=0
General status bits on (41010000):
BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN
sapprdsvr:~ # mt -f /dev/st0 tell
mt: /dev/st0: Input/output error
sapprdsvr:~ # tar -tzf /dev/st0
tar (child): /dev/st0: Cannot read: Input/output error
tar (child): At beginning of tape, quitting now
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now

gzip: stdin: unexpected end of file
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
sapprdsvr:~ # cd /
sapprdsvr:/ # tar -xzf /dev/st0 tape_test/
tar (child): /dev/st0: Cannot read: Input/output error
tar (child): At beginning of tape, quitting now
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now

gzip: stdin: unexpected end of file
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

Is this because of mismatch block size? If so, How to overcome?
Else, please guide me to troubleshoot it..

Adding system log for more details..

Code:

Sep 21 09:27:28 sapprdsvr sshd[18114]: Accepted keyboard-interactive/pam for root from 192.168.51.75 port 49470 ssh2
Sep 21 09:27:47 sapprdsvr kernel: [835191.723871] st0: Sense Key : Illegal Request [current]
Sep 21 09:27:47 sapprdsvr kernel: [835191.723886] st0: Add. Sense: Invalid field in cdb
Sep 21 09:30:01 sapprdsvr /usr/sbin/cron[18152]: (root) CMD ([ -x /usr/lib64/sa/sa1 ] && exec /usr/lib64/sa/sa1 -S ALL 1 1)
Sep 21 09:31:44 sapprdsvr kernel: [835429.015562] st0: Sense Key : Illegal Request [current]
Sep 21 09:31:44 sapprdsvr kernel: [835429.015577] st0: Add. Sense: Invalid field in cdb
Sep 21 09:32:03 sapprdsvr kernel: [835448.319419] st0: Sense Key : Illegal Request [current]
Sep 21 09:32:03 sapprdsvr kernel: [835448.319433] st0: Add. Sense: Invalid field in cdb
Sep 21 09:40:01 sapprdsvr /usr/sbin/cron[18195]: (root) CMD ([ -x /usr/lib64/sa/sa1 ] && exec /usr/lib64/sa/sa1 -S ALL 1 1)
Sep 21 09:40:33 sapprdsvr gnome-session[18224]: WARNING: GSIdleMonitor: IDLETIME counter not found
Sep 21 09:40:33 sapprdsvr gnome-session[18224]: WARNING: Owner of /tmp/orbit-gdm is not the current user
Sep 21 09:40:34 sapprdsvr pulseaudio[18252]: module.c: module-hal-detect is deprecated: Please use module-udev-detect instead of module-hal-detect!
Sep 21 09:40:34 sapprdsvr gdm-simple-greeter[18247]: GLib-GObject-CRITICAL: g_param_spec_flags: assertion G_TYPE_IS_FLAGS (flags_type)' failed Sep 21 09:40:34 sapprdsvr gdm-simple-greeter[18247]: GLib-GObject-CRITICAL: g_object_class_install_property: assertion G_IS_PARAM_SPEC (pspec)’ failed
Sep 21 09:40:38 sapprdsvr gdm-session-worker[18248]: WARNING: gdm_session_settings_load: lang = (null)
Sep 21 09:40:42 sapprdsvr gnome-session[18260]: WARNING: GSIdleMonitor: IDLETIME counter not found
Sep 21 09:40:43 sapprdsvr gnome-keyring-daemon[18349]: adding removable location: volume_label_Feb_2011_LTO_GM at /media/Feb_2011_LTO_GM_
Sep 21 09:40:43 sapprdsvr pulseaudio[18412]: pid.c: Stale PID file, overwriting.
Sep 21 09:40:43 sapprdsvr pulseaudio[18412]: module.c: module-hal-detect is deprecated: Please use module-udev-detect instead of module-hal-detect!

Thanks,

C. C. Illeperuma

–
ccilleperuma

ccilleperuma’s Profile: http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=97239
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4

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Your errors make me think your tape drive is not happy. I assume the
tar commands work with regular (non-tape) files… correct? If so, fix
your tape. Having never really worked with one I can’t help with that.

Good luck.

Want to yell at me in person?
Come to BrainShare 2011 in October: http://tinyurl.com/brainshare2011
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5

Thanks ab,

Is there anyone who can guide me to solve this?

Regards,

C. C. Illeperuma

–
ccilleperuma

ccilleperuma’s Profile: http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=97239
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6

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:26:02 GMT
ccilleperuma ccilleperuma@no-mx.forums.novell.com wrote:
[color=blue]

Thanks ab,

Is there anyone who can guide me to solve this?

Regards,

C. C. Illeperuma

[/color]
Hi
Do you have a tape cleaner cartridge, suggest you run that. Are the
tapes old/new?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.4 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.37.6-0.7-desktop
up 8 days 14:41, 3 users, load average: 0.23, 0.20, 0.15
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - Driver Version: 280.13

7

I cleaned the tape drive, but the issue is still the same.
Tapes are all new.
Can you please share the tape backup restore command here?

C. C. Illeperuma

–
ccilleperuma

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8

On Fri, 23 Sep 2011 06:26:02 GMT
ccilleperuma ccilleperuma@no-mx.forums.novell.com wrote:
[color=blue]

I cleaned the tape drive, but the issue is still the same.
Tapes are all new.
Can you please share the tape backup restore command here?

C. C. Illeperuma

[/color]
Hi
As ab pointed out it maybe the tape drive on the way out.

(Needs to go find a SCSI card and tape drive in storage…)

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.4 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.37.6-0.7-desktop
up 16:37, 3 users, load average: 0.12, 0.13, 0.14
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - Driver Version: 280.13

9

Thanks malcolmlewis,

I found the issue. It was not with Tape drive hardware, but with my
command.
All ok when I go to a location where I extract the files from tape “tar
-xzf /dev/st0”
Before I was trying to give the restoration file name after the above
command.

ccilleperuma

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ccilleperuma

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