Cannot decod block

[sapbrat]

Hello,
I am performing a restore to a test server from a production server on an SAP/Informix on Alphaserver/TRU64.
My onconfig settings for production:
TAPEBLK 256
TAPESIZE 40000000
BAR_MAX_BACKUP 6
The setting for the destination server is similar.

On the restore process the tape with the header is loaded and the server starts the browse process.
Eventually the browse process ends and the following erro is returned:
nsrd: media notice: Volume "002729" on device "rd=explorer:/dev/nrmt3h": Cannot decode block. Verify the device configuration. Tape positioning by record is disabled.
I am using Legato 6.1 with a TL896 autoloader with TZ89 drives.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
sapbrat

 

[Chacalinc]

take a look to the device in the NW administrator (the rd=.. device) in the block size (it is hidden attribute), do they match the production with the test device? (they must be the same, not similar, the same).

cheers.

 

[sapbrat]

Chacalinc,
I am using the same devices for test and production.
I have consistently failed on 3 attempts but not at the same point. I have an 81GB tablespace in which I suspect where the problem occurs. As mentioned,I have 6 sessions with other tablespaces writing to one tape. The 81GB saveset extends to a second and third tape. On the first attempt it failed at approx 4GB,on the second at 2GB,and on the third,at 22GB.
On the first and 2nd tape, I did scan using scan -vvvv and the read error did resurface. On the the third attempt I relabled known good tapes. It did go further on the byte count but failed with the read error and eventually disabled the drive and put the status in "suspect".
Is there a limit on the size of a saveset that is written to multiple tapes?
I was able to restore from production to a test server when the tablespace was at 69GB.
Is there a procedure to configure a backup to use multiple drives?
I also took a look at the device settings in NW Adminstrator but could not find the parameter you are referring to. What field/tab is it located in?
I am starting to be convinced that I have a bad batch of tapes(Fujifilm).

Regards,
sapbrat

 

[605]

The field is actually a HIDDEN attribute for each device.

A tape becomes "suspect" if NW comes up with a read error.

There is no save set limitation.

A backup can use multiple tape drives, but only if you create multiple save streams. Depending on your device's target sessions value, NW will actually send the streams to more devices automatically.