FNALD0 VMS BACKUP TAPES

The fnald0 backup tapes have now been labeled and vaulted, and are available for use. At present you can restore the complete project directory, select individual files, or check directory listings for all project directories with a single tape, or for the first tapes from multivolume sets. For second or third tapes from a multivolume set you will have to restore the files onto a VMS machine then copy them to Unix.

(1) Procedure

Find out the number of backup tapes for your project directory from Section (2).
If there is just one tape, check the tape label from Section (3), then proceed to Section (4).
If there are two or three tapes, check the backup listings to find whether the files you want are on the first tape.
The listings are in d0chb:/usr/local/fnald0disks.
(Remember that UNIX is case sensitive)
The listing for PRJ$ROOTnnn (/prj_root/nnn) is pnnn.list,
and for TMP$ROOTnnn (/tmp_root/nnn), tnnn.list.
If you browse through the listing you will see where the second and third tapes start.
If the files you want are on the first tape, proceed as for a single tape. If the files you want are on second or third tapes, restore the files on VMS using the backup tapes and standard VMS backup commands. Then FTP the files from VMS to Unix. There will be a core VMS system for the foreseeable future. Your files will not be abandoned.

(2) Number of tapes for each directory

The following PRJ$ROOT directories have a single tape: 103, 200, 207, 211, 216, 220, 222, 224, 230, 232, 236, 242, 243, 244, 246, 247, 248, 250, 252, 253, 255, 256, 260, 263, 265, 266, 268, 270, 271, 273, 275, 277, 278, 281, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 291, 293, 294, 297, 298, 400, 401, 409, 411, 412, 413, 414, 417, 421, 422, 424, 902.

The following PRJ$ROOT directories have two tapes: 202, 203, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210, 212, 213, 226, 229, 231, 233, 235, 241, 245, 249, 251, 254, 259, 261, 267, 274, 276, 283, 289, 403, 407, 415, 416, 901, 903.

The following PRJ$ROOT directories have three tapes: 215, 219, 221, 240, 269, 292, 402, 406, 420, 423.

The following TMP$ROOT directories have a single tape: 101, 206, 208, 211, 215, 217, 218, 219, 220, 227, 231, 233, 235, 236, 237, 241, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258, 262, 264, 265, 266, 268, 270, 271, 273, 274, 277, 278, 279, 281, 283, 285, 288, 297, 298, 299, 400, 401, 404, 406, 900, 901.

The following TMP$ROOT directories have two tapes: 201, 202, 212, 213, 214,216, 223, 225, 232, 234, 240, 244, 259, 269, 272, 291, 296, 403, 405.

The following TMP$ROOT directories have three tape; 238, 289.

(3) Tape labels

The numbering scheme for vaulted tape(s) for PRJ$ROOTnnn (/prj_root/nnn) is:

vault label external tape label internal label

1st volume COPnnn COPnnn Pnnn

2nd volume COQnnn COPnnn02 Pnnn02

3rd volume CORnnn COPnnn03 Pnnn03

For TMP$ROOTnnn (/tmp_root/nnn), substitute T (U,V) for P (Q,R).

Use the vault label to request a tape mount.

(4) How to extract files

(1) cd into the directory where you want the files restored and setup the products
you will need
cd scratch5
setup ocs
setup vmsbackup

(2) It helps to send the operator advance notice of which tape you will be using.
ocs_message -m Hi, I will be using COPnnn

(3)             Check which tape drives are available, and allocate a drive.
ocs_tape
                You will get a list of drives with names like d02ka1 or d0chb3. Choose one that
                says it is unallocated, e.g. d02ka2
ocs_allocate -T d02ka2

(4)             Request tape COPnnn be mounted readonly in the drive you have allocated
ocs_request -t d02ka2 -v COPnnn -r
                This may take a while - if you have to wait >20 minutes, call the operators at 2746
                 to find out why.

(5)            Check that the right tape has been mounted in the right drive.
ocs_check_tape -t d02ka2 -r -v COPnnn
                You will get a message that tape Pnnn was expected - this is the internal label,
                 and there is no problem.

(6)             Obtain the device driver file for the drive you are using - this is how you will
                  tell vmsbackup which tape to read.
ocs_devfile -t d02ka2
                You will get back an address like /dev/rmt/tps15d2nrnsv.8500.

(7) Run vmsbackup
vmsbackup -xcdev -f /dev/rmt ... 850
See below for other options.

(8) When the job has finished, release the tape drive
ocs_dismount -t d02ka2
ocs_deallocate -t d02ka2

Further documentation on ocs is available in Chapter 16 of the (red) Unix at Fermilab manual.

Further documentation on vmsbackup is available at: http://www.fnal.gov/docs/products/vmsbackup/ You can list the options by typing vmsbackup. xcdev extracts all files, listing files on the screen. If you want to extract a specific file, use
vmsbackup -xcv -f /dev/rmt ...850 "file name"

(5) Problems

Tape jobs are rarely easy. All the vaulted tapes have been verified; this means that they have been read and the data on them has been checked. Unfortunately it does not mean that they will be easy to read on any given drive on any given day.

If you have problems with your tape jobs, try again, and again, preferably on different drives.

If you have tried three or more times and still cannot read the tape, contact

Jean Rhoades (jrhoades@fnal.gov)

We have a second set of tapes at D0, and if necessary we will backup again from Unix.

This page is maintained by Jean Rhoades

Last modified: Wed Sep 27 16:08:33 CDT 2000