Re: percentage of 8mm backup tape used

From: Bill Verzal (BVerzal_at_KOMATSUNA.COM)
Date: 11/25/03

  • Next message: Alan Vidmar: "Re: SSA Cache Battery" 
    Date:         Tue, 25 Nov 2003 12:32:51 -0600
To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU

    Here is a thought...

    Create a compressed filesystem and dd the tape (or copy the files) to the
    compressed filesystem. I would guess the compression algorithms are
    somewhat similar.

    BV
    --------------------------------------------------------

    "If everything is coming your way, then you are in the wrong lane"

    Bill Verzal
    AIX Administrator, Komatsu America
    (847) 970-3726 - direct
    (847) 970-4184 - fax

    |---------+---------------------------->
    | | Vipin Khushu |
    | | <vkhushu@GUERNSEY|
    | | OP.COM> |
    | | Sent by: IBM AIX |
    | | Discussion List |
    | | <aix-l@Princeton.|
    | | EDU> |
    | | |
    | | |
    | | 11/25/2003 11:38 |
    | | AM |
    | | Please respond to|
    | | IBM AIX |
    | | Discussion List |
    |---------+---------------------------->
    >------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
      | |
      | To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU |
      | cc: |
      | Subject: Re: percentage of 8mm backup tape used |
    >------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

    Thanks. One of these ought to work.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Green, Simon [mailto:Simon.Green@EU.ALTRIA.COM]
    Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 5:32 AM
    To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU
    Subject: Re: percentage of 8mm backup tape used

    One way is if whatever backup command you're using reports how much data
    has
    been written, or has an option to inspect what's on the tape. e.g. "tar
    -tvf /dev/rmt0" output will tell you the size of each file backed up, so
    you
    might knock up a quick script to give you the sum of those. Or you can
    collect that information when the backup is created, which would have the
    advantage of not having to read the whole tape again. That's going to be
    the uncompressed sizes, though.

    Another option might be with "dd if=<your backup file> of=/dev/null
    ibs=<some value>". That'll give you a record count, which has the
    advantage
    of being the compressed size. I don't know if you could run it for an
    entire tape, or whether you'd have to do it for each file on the tape
    individually. You can specify any block size you like, I think: a large
    blocksize will run a bit quicker, but give you less precision.

    Simon Green
    Altria ITSC Europe Ltd

    AIX-L Archive at https://new-lists.princeton.edu/listserv/aix-l.html

    AIX FAQ at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/aix-faq/

    N.B. Unsolicited email from vendors will not be appreciated.
    Please post all follow-ups to the list.

    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Vipin Khushu [mailto:vkhushu@GUERNSEYOP.COM]
    > Sent: 24 November 2003 22:06
    > To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU
    > Subject: percentage of 8mm backup tape used
    >
    >
    > Anybody know of a way to determine what percentage / how much
    > of a tape has
    > been used up during a backup to determine how much more we
    > can throw on to
    > the tape?
    >
    > The media in question is Lexmark (previously IBM) part number 59H2678
    > capacity - 20/40GB (uncompressed / compressed), length - 170M.
    >
    > I looked at the tctl command but nothing stood out.

  • Next message: Alan Vidmar: "Re: SSA Cache Battery"

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: strange backup behavior
      ... But the tape must be being rewound between each BACKUP save operation. ... The procedure loops thru the disks, ... backup command on each disk. ...
      (comp.os.vms)
    • Re: Help Needed: Tape Backup Save Set
      ... > control between multiple invocations of BACKUP. ... >> Now just why in the world would the first backup command dismount the ... And why wouldn't it be at the end of the tape when it is done? ...
      (comp.os.vms)
    • Re: Backup Procedure
      ... Dave Greenwood wrote: ... >> We use the backup procedure below to backup our system and data disks ... The tape should have more than enough ... MOUNTed before the BACKUP command is run, ...
      (comp.os.vms)
    • Re: Backup Procedure
      ... > the qualifiers attached to the target saveset on tape. ... > The second command has a conflict, which I am not sure how backup reacts: ... and similarly for your second BACKUP command. ... In VMS there are alias directories on the system disk. ...
      (comp.os.vms)
    • Re: percentage of 8mm backup tape used
      ... One way is if whatever backup command you're using reports how much data has ... or has an option to inspect what's on the tape. ...
      (AIX-L)