Over 4 months, I used dump to successfully back-up 5 filesystems in this order / /usr /var /home /usr/local Now, for two weeks, I have gotten no successful backup. "dump" always goes wild on the /var filesystem. With the exception of an Atapi CD, all other such hardware is attached to an Adaptec 2940UW SCSI adapter, including 3 disk drives and 1 old Exabyte 8200 tape drive. All filesystems for linux reside on the same wide scsi disk drive /dev/sdc*. Here is a typical sequence of dump errors.
DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Mon Feb 23 02:24:49 1998 DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: the epoch DUMP: Dumping /dev/sdc12 (/var) to /dev/nst0 DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files] DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories] DUMP: estimated 49296 tape blocks on 0.02 tape(s). DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories] DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files] DUMP: End of tape detected DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [block 8616]: count=1024 DUMP: Closing /dev/nst0 though after "Pass IV" I have also gotten errors like DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories] DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files] DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [block 8624]: count=1024 DUMP: End of tape detected DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [sector 8624]: count=512 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [block 8626]: count=1024 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [sector 8626]: count=512 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [block 8628]: count=1024 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [sector 8628]: count=512 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [block 8630]: count=1024 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [sector 8630]: count=512 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [block 8632]: count=1024 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [sector 8632]: count=512 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [block 8634]: count=1024 DUMP: read error from /dev/sdc12: Input/output error: [sector 8634]: count=512 DUMP: Closing /dev/nst0 And running a dump on just /var I often get the following after "Pass IV" DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files] DUMP: End of tape detected DUMP: Closing /dev/nst0 Here, I used the command /sbin/dump 0Bf 2500000 /dev/nst0 /var Perhaps these errors occur because many programs write to files in /var. An fsck shows a good /var. Some messages in /var/log files, perhaps not co-incident with my dump problem, include Feb 26 00:56:16 rabbit modprobe: can't locate module char-major-14 and Feb 26 00:51:31 rabbit kernel: scsi0: Target 9 underflow - Wanted at least 16384, got 14336, residual SG count 3. Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: scsi0: Target 9 underflow - Wanted at least 16384, got 14336, residual SG count 3. Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: scsi0 channel 0 : resetting for second half of retries. Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: SCSI bus is being reset for host 0 channel 0. Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: aic7xxx: (reset) target/channel 9/0 Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: aic7xxx: (reset_device) target/channel -1/A, active_scb 0 Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: aic7xxx: (match_scb) comparing target/channel -1/A to scb 9/A Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: aic7xxx: (reset_channel) Resetting current channel A Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: aic7xxx: (reset_channel) Channel reset, sequencer restarted Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: aic7xxx: (done_aborted_scbs) Aborting scb 0, TCL=9/0/0 Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: scsi0: Received MSG_WDTR, Target 9, channel A needwdtr(0xffff). Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: scsi0: Target 9, channel A, using 16 bit transfers. Feb 26 00:51:33 rabbit kernel: scsi0: Target 9, channel A, now synchronous at 10.0MHz, offset 8. Feb 26 00:52:01 rabbit kernel: scsi0: Target 9 underflow - Wanted at least 16384, got 14336, residual SG count 3. Feb 26 00:52:02 rabbit last message repeated 2 times Feb 26 00:52:02 rabbit kernel: SCSI disk error : host 0 channel 0 id 9 lun 0 return code = 27070002 Feb 26 00:52:02 rabbit kernel: scsidisk I/O error: dev 08:2c, sector 8640 I would like to backup /var since it does have some administrative and some user files in /var/{named,lib,spool/cron/crontabs} Has anyone some ideas why dump now goes crazy on /var, and should I backup /var? -- Jim Burt, NJ9L, Fairfax, Virginia, USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.mnsinc.com/jameson [EMAIL PROTECTED] "It is not the shortcomings of others, nor what others have done or not done that one should think about, but what one has done or not done oneself." --Dhammapada ["dp" command for quotes from the Dhammapada, in Linux] -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .