How to read backup files from Tape drive DLT8000

[rocco]

I have limited Unix experience and I was told to restore a database from tape.

The database backup runs every night... ufsdump 0uf server1:/dev/rmt/0cn /dev/vx/rdsk/backup_file The daily backup is made up of 20 databases for that financial application. (Tapedrive DLT8000 , Solaris 7)

1. I would like to read previous tapes and pick a particular date from the different backups.

2. After picking the date I would like to select 5 databases from the backup done at night.

If this is possible I would greatly appreciate the input from the group... Thank you.

I rewinded the tape by mt rewind
Then I tried mt -f /dev.rmt/0cn fsf 1
The command ran but got no information.

The email of confirmation that I get everyday tells me that the backup was successful.

 

[dandan123]

You can use ufsrestore to check your files, if you have multiple dumps then you will have to check them one by one if you do not know which dump you need.

Take a look at this -

http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/~lessem/psyc5112/usail/man/solaris/ufsrestore.1.html

 

[KenCunningham]

We use ufsdump/ufsrestore very successfully for our Oracle backups. The fsf 1 you mention won't give you any output as such, as it merely fast-forwards the tape to the start of the next logical tape on the physical tape.

As for examining each tape for it's date, wouldn't it be easier if in future you (for example) number each tape and keep a written or electronic record of the date it's used, for reference.

Post back if you need more information.

All I ask of you
Is make my wildest dreams come true

 

[daFranze]

as Ken writes, I add more or less the same: if you are using ufsdump for backups YOU need to take care of the metainformation (dumpdate, tapeid, filenumber), if you are using a BackupUtility (such as Networker, Netbackup, Tivoli etc) THIS tool will take care of this infos.

At my last company we ran some of our backups outside our LAN (Firewall, external Webserver, Mailexchange, etc). We used to write some metainfo as first file eg:

date > /tmp/tapeinfo
echo "Running the following dumps:" >> /tmp/tapeinfo
echo "blahblah" >> /tmp/tapeinfo
dd if=/tmp/tapeinfo of=/dev/rmt/0cbn

ufsdump 0f /dev/rmt/0cbn /myfilesystem1
ufsdump 0f /dev/rmt/0cbn /myfilesystem2

you easyly get infos about the tape contents:
dd if=/dev/rmt/0cbn of=-


Best Regards, Franz
--
UNIX System Manager from Munich, Germany

 

[rocco]

The ufsrestore command and link mention by dandan123 was very usefull and I was able to look at the content of the tape with "ufsrestore t". I also use the "ufsrestore i" commnad and then entered "what" to give me the dump date and time.

Thank you all for the examples given.