Topic: Tape Backup Installation

[Frank]

Do anyone know the installation steps for Adaptec 29160N U160 SCSI controller card and VXA-1 internal tape drive to be added into the e-smith v4.1.2 production server? I am not sure whether the corr. kernel (2.2.16) support both devices. From RedHat forum I found that aic7xxx driver cannot be found in v7.0, which is the exact version being used by esmith 4.1.2. How can I put these devices to work in esmith?

Regards,
Frank

[Lloyd Keen]

Frank,
Try this as root
#modprobe aic7xxx
then do lsmod to see if the module loaded up, if it didn't try
#insmod aic7xxx
If the module loads OK I don't think you have to do anything else provided the tape drive is supported. Just go to the e-smith manager and in the backup section hit the dropdown box and select "configure tape backup" and schedule one to be run in 5 mins time, throw a tape in the drive and wait and see what happens. You could also install Darrell May's "Backup Now" function for testing. To make sure the module loads at boot time insert the following line into /etc/modules.conf
"alias scsi_hostapapter aic7xxx" without the quotes. Here's a link for some more reading http://lhd.datapower.com/db/dispdriver.php3?DISP?65

[Frank]

After perform detail investigations, I found that the default device name was 'nst0' used in '/sbin/esmith/backup' and '/etc/flexbackup.conf' in e-smith v4.1.2. Since the general device name used in common backup software is 'st0' for SCSI tape drive, the problem was solved after changing all 'nts0' to 'st0'. As e-smith advises not to change these configuration files, pls follows the 'Custom template modifications' to do the changes. (http://www.e-smith.org/custom).

First of all, pls follow Darrell May's instruction to add the aic7xxx driver to e-smith as follows:

Basically you need to load 2 modules and make sure other modules are not loading in conflict as the e-smith default is set to use ide-scsi if the scsi controller is not installed at the time e-smith is installed:

aic7xxx = Adaptec scsi controller
st = scsi tape

Start by issuing 'lsmod' to see what modules are loading. Next edit /etc/modules.conf and you should see these two lines:

alias scsi_hostadapter ide-scsi
pre-install ide-scsi modprobe ide-cd

Make a backup copy of /etc/modules.conf and if you have an ide cdrom, edit as follows. If not simply remove the second line:

alias scsi_hostadapter aic7xxx
pre-install aic7xxx modprobe ide-cd

Reboot e-smith and this should autoload the aic7xxx driver anytime a call is made to the scsi tape. Test by simply issuing:

mt -f /dev/st0 status

[Filippo Carletti]

nst0 is the no-rewind on close device and should be used with mt to control tape position.
However it seems that the backup script in e-smith always rewinds the tape, so it should be safe to use st0 instead of nst0.

[Frank]

When the tape drive is set to /dev/nst0, it causes input/out error when writing data to tape. When it is force to set to /dev/st0, writing data to tape is OK but the section of / (file number 1) is overwritten by /boot (file number 2). I suspect that after the dump of '/' to tape, the /dev/st0 is rewind to BOT before start next dump of '/boot' as the Block number is always start at 0, not in a incremental scenario. Does anyone know how to fix it? Note: I have tried to set the tape device to different name but only found /dev/st0 work without I/O error. Thanks in advance

Console message of backup tape job:
*******************************************
Jul 21 11:57:55 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: flexbackup version 0.9.8
Jul 21 11:57:55 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: /etc/flexbackup.conf syntax OK
Jul 21 11:57:55 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:
Jul 21 11:57:55 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 11:57:56 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Doing level 0 backup of all using dump
Jul 21 11:57:56 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Retensioning tape...
Jul 21 11:57:56 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Rewinding & erasing tape...
Jul 21 11:58:16 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Creating index key 200107211158.16
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Tape #0
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Filesystems = / /boot
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: At block 0.
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | File number 1, index key 200107211158.16
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Backup of: /
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Date of this level 0 backup: Sat Jul 21 11:59:01 2001
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Date of last level 0 backup: the epoch
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | (dump -0 -b 64 -a -f - / | gzip -4) | buffer -m 3m -s 64k -u 100 -t -p 75 -B \
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |  -o /dev/st0
Jul 21 11:59:01 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 11:59:02 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Sat Jul 21 11:59:02 2001
Jul 21 11:59:02 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: the epoch
Jul 21 11:59:02 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Dumping /dev/hdc6 (/) to standard output
Jul 21 11:59:02 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Label: none
Jul 21 11:59:02 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
Jul 21 11:59:25 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
Jul 21 11:59:25 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: estimated 326650 tape blocks.
Jul 21 11:59:25 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Volume 1 started at: Sat Jul 21 11:59:25 2001
Jul 21 11:59:25 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
Jul 21 11:59:38 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Volume 1 completed at: Sat Jul 21 12:03:22 2001
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Volume 1 took 0:03:57
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Volume 1 transfer rate: 1469 KB/s
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: 348344 tape blocks (340.18MB)
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: finished in 237 seconds, throughput 1469 KBytes/sec
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Sat Jul 21 11:59:02 2001
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Date this dump completed:  Sat Jul 21 12:03:22 2001
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Average transfer rate: 1469 KB/s
Jul 21 12:03:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: DUMP IS DONE
Jul 21 12:03:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: Kilobytes Out 102528
Jul 21 12:04:08 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:04:08 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Backup start: Sat Jul 21 11:59:01 2001
Jul 21 12:04:08 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Backup end:   Sat Jul 21 12:04:08 2001
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: At block 0.
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | File number 2, index key 200107211158.16
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Backup of: /boot
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Date of this level 0 backup: Sat Jul 21 12:04:18 2001
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Date of last level 0 backup: the epoch
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | (dump -0 -b 64 -a -f - /boot | gzip -4) | buffer -m 3m -s 64k -u 100 -t -p \
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |  75 -B -o /dev/st0
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Sat Jul 21 12:04:18 2001
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: the epoch
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Dumping /dev/hdc1 (/boot) to standard output
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Label: none
Jul 21 12:04:18 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
Jul 21 12:04:19 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
Jul 21 12:04:19 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: estimated 3066 tape blocks.
Jul 21 12:04:19 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Volume 1 started at: Sat Jul 21 12:04:19 2001
Jul 21 12:04:19 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
Jul 21 12:04:19 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Volume 1 completed at: Sat Jul 21 12:04:22 2001
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Volume 1 took 0:00:03
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Volume 1 transfer rate: 1037 KB/s
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: 3112 tape blocks (3.04MB)
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: finished in 3 seconds, throughput 1037 KBytes/sec
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Sat Jul 21 12:04:18 2001
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Date this dump completed:  Sat Jul 21 12:04:22 2001
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: Average transfer rate: 1037 KB/s
Jul 21 12:04:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:   DUMP: DUMP IS DONE
Jul 21 12:04:30 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: Kilobytes Out 1984
Jul 21 12:05:12 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:05:12 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Backup start: Sat Jul 21 12:04:18 2001
Jul 21 12:05:12 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Backup end:   Sat Jul 21 12:05:12 2001
Jul 21 12:05:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:05:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: At block 0.
Jul 21 12:05:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:05:22 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Rewinding...
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Compressing log (all.0.20010721.gz)
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: | Linking all.latest.gz -> all.0.20010721.gz
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: |------------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: File  Contents    (tape index 200107211158.16)
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: -----------------------------------------------
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: 0  
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: 1   level 0 / Sat Jul 21 11:59:01 2001 dump+gzip from e-smith-S2
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]: 2   level 0 /boot Sat Jul 21 12:04:18 2001 dump+gzip from e-smith-S2
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1848]:
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1955]: Processing event: mysql-delete-dumps
Jul 21 12:05:23 e-smith-S2 e-smith[1955]: Running event handler: /etc/e-smith/events/mysql-delete-dumps/S10mysql-delete-dumped-tables
Jul 21 12:05:52 e-smith-S2 kernel: st0: Default block size set to 64 bytes.
[root@e-smith-S2 /etc]#
[root@e-smith-S2 /etc]# mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
[root@e-smith-S2 /etc]# flexbackup -toc

flexbackup version 0.9.8
/etc/flexbackup.conf syntax OK

|------------------------------------------------
| ERROR: This tape doesn't have an index! (use -erase?)
|------------------------------------------------
[root@e-smith-S2 /etc]# flexbackup -list -num 0

flexbackup version 0.9.8
/etc/flexbackup.conf syntax OK

|------------------------------------------------
| Positioning tape at file number 0
|------------------------------------------------
At block 0.
|------------------------------------------------
| buffer -m 3m -s 64k -u 100 -t -p 75 -B -i /dev/st0 | gzip -dq | restore -t \
|  -v -b 64 -f -
|------------------------------------------------
Verify tape and initialize maps
Dump   date: Sat Jul 21 12:04:18 2001
Dumped from: the epoch
Level 0 dump of /boot on e-smith-S2:/dev/hdc1
Label: none
Extract directories from tape
Initialize symbol table.
dir          2  .
dir         11  ./lost+found
leaf        12  ./e-smith.pcx
leaf        13  ./System.map-2.2.16-22
leaf        14  ./module-info-2.2.16-22
leaf        15  ./vmlinux-2.2.16-22
leaf        16  ./vmlinuz-2.2.16-22
leaf        17  ./vmlinuz
leaf        18  ./System.map
leaf        19  ./module-info
leaf        20  ./boot.b
leaf        21  ./chain.b
leaf        22  ./message
leaf        23  ./os2_d.b
leaf        24  ./initrd-2.2.16-22.img
leaf        26  ./boot.1600
leaf        27  ./map
leaf        25  ./kernel.h
|------------------------------------------------
At block 0.
|------------------------------------------------

[Frank]

I have tested on another e-smith box and found the same problem. Does anyone know  the way to solve it? Thanks in advance

[Frank]

I have tested on several e-smith box and found the same problem. Does anyone know the way to solve it? Thanks in advance.

[Richard]

I have tried following these through but had no luck with an Adaptec AVA-1505a card running 2 HP auto loaders (card was new and loaders scavenged).
I looked on the RedHat 7 hardware compat list for RH 7.0 but this particular card did not show. Anyone had similar experience with this card ?