Re: Strange error message from Amanda.
Frank Smith wrote:
Well, I stand corrected (and learned something in the process). I
was going to make a comment about this behavior not being adequately
documented, but it looks like it is, although in the dumperapi.txt
file, which I had never looked at. There is a mention of the '?' in
using.txt but it doesn't explain '|' (normal) vs, '?' (strange) vs. ''
(error) as the dumperapi.txt does.
Actually, I looked at the code, the in the code both the 'error'
and 'strange' are flagged with '?'. There is no '' character.
At least, that's what the 2.4.5 sources have:
client-src/sendbackup.c:
757 switch(rp-typ) {
758 case DMP_NORMAL:
759 type = normal;
760 startchr = '|';
761 break;
762 case DMP_STRANGE:
763 type = strange;
764 startchr = '?';
765 break;
766 case DMP_SIZE:
767 type = size;
768 startchr = '|';
769 break;
770 case DMP_ERROR:
771 type = error;
772 startchr = '?';
773 break;
774 default:
775 /*
776 * Should never get here.
777 */
778 type = unknown;
779 startchr = '!';
780 break;
781 }
782 dbprintf((%s: %3d: %7s(%c): %s\n,
783 debug_prefix_time(NULL),
784 rp-srcline,
785 type,
786 startchr,
787 str));
788 fprintf(stderr, %c %s\n, startchr, str);
If the explanation hasn't been included in the general use docs yet
(I'm looking at a 2.4.5 source tree), it should be.
Indeed. And change the dumperapi.txt or change the source so
that they both do/say the same.
--
Paul Bijnens, XplanationTel +32 16 397.511
Technologielaan 21 bus 2, B-3001 Leuven, BELGIUMFax +32 16 397.512
http://www.xplanation.com/ email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
***
* I think I've got the hang of it now: exit, ^D, ^C, ^\, ^Z, ^Q, ^^, *
* F6, quit, ZZ, :q, :q!, M-Z, ^X^C, logoff, logout, close, bye, /bye, *
* stop, end, F3, ~., ^]c, +++ ATH, disconnect, halt, abort, hangup, *
* PF4, F20, ^X^X, :D::D, KJOB, F14-f-e, F8-e, kill -1 $$, shutdown, *
* init 0, kill -9 1, Alt-F4, Ctrl-Alt-Del, AltGr-NumLock, Stop-A, ... *
* ... Are you sure? ... YES ... Phew ... I'm out *
***
Strange error message from Amanda.
This time I've got a really strange error message from an amanda back- up: FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY: epo.dk /var lev 0 STRANGE .. and further down the list: FAILED AND STRANGE DUMP DETAILS: /-- epo.dk /var lev 0 STRANGE sendbackup: start [epo.dk:/var level 0] sendbackup: info BACKUP=/bin/tar sendbackup: info RECOVER_CMD=/usr/bin/gzip -dc |/bin/tar -f... - sendbackup: info COMPRESS_SUFFIX=.gz sendbackup: info end | gtar: ./cache/samba/winbindd_privileged/pipe: socket ignored ? gtar: ./lib/slocate/slocate.db: file changed as we read it | Total bytes written: 545894400 (521MiB, 3.1MiB/s) sendbackup: size 533100 sendbackup: end \ The weird messages do not make any sense what-so-ever. Would someone be kind enough to explain to me what went wrong and whether I have a dependable back-up? Thanks in advance. -- Regards, Erik P. Olsen
Re: Strange error message from Amanda.
Erik P. Olsen wrote: | gtar: ./cache/samba/winbindd_privileged/pipe: socket ignored ? gtar: ./lib/slocate/slocate.db: file changed as we read it | Total bytes written: 545894400 (521MiB, 3.1MiB/s) sendbackup: size 533100 sendbackup: end \ The weird messages do not make any sense what-so-ever. Would someone be kind enough to explain to me what went wrong and whether I have a dependable back-up? No need to worry, Erik, just two files that GNUtar could not read, the first a socket-file, the other one changed while dumping. If you want to get rid of the first msg, exclude the whole samba-cache-dir (you don't need to dump it). For the slocate.db: this file could also be generated from scratch, so maybe you want to simply exclude it. OTOH you could shift your cronjob to make sure that this file doesn't get update while amdump runs. Stefan.
Re: Strange error message from Amanda.
Erik P. Olsen wrote: This time I've got a really strange error message from an amanda back- up: FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY: epo.dk /var lev 0 STRANGE STRANGE means Amanda received unexpected output from the underlying backup program (tar or dump). Whether or not it is something to be concerned about depends on what it is. See below. .. and further down the list: FAILED AND STRANGE DUMP DETAILS: /-- epo.dk /var lev 0 STRANGE sendbackup: start [epo.dk:/var level 0] sendbackup: info BACKUP=/bin/tar sendbackup: info RECOVER_CMD=/usr/bin/gzip -dc |/bin/tar -f... - sendbackup: info COMPRESS_SUFFIX=.gz sendbackup: info end | gtar: ./cache/samba/winbindd_privileged/pipe: socket ignored Tar is warning you that it came across a special file type (a socket) and didn't back it up. You can safely ignore these messages. ? gtar: ./lib/slocate/slocate.db: file changed as we read it This means that a file was changing while it was being backed up, so that your backup of that particular file may or may not be valid. This is a hazard of backing up an active filesystem. In this case, I wouldn't worry about it, since it is just the database used by the locate command and can be recreated manually anyway if needed. Other files that might cause the same message are log files, mail spools, and various lock files. You need to look at them and decide if they can safely be ignored, or if is OK to occasionally miss certain files, or if it is a real problem that would force you to reschedule your backups or find other ways to grab the files in question. | Total bytes written: 545894400 (521MiB, 3.1MiB/s) sendbackup: size 533100 sendbackup: end \ The weird messages do not make any sense what-so-ever. Would someone be kind enough to explain to me what went wrong and whether I have a dependable back-up? In this example your backups are fine, although sometimes it's good to practice a restore just to make sure the backups are good (and include everything you need). Try a recover into a scratch location first so you don't accidentally trash a server. Frank Thanks in advance. -- Frank Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sr. Systems Administrator Voice: 512-374-4673 Hoover's Online Fax: 512-374-4501
Re: Strange error message from Amanda.
Frank Smith wrote: Erik P. Olsen wrote: This time I've got a really strange error message from an amanda back- up: FAILURE AND STRANGE DUMP SUMMARY: epo.dk /var lev 0 STRANGE STRANGE means Amanda received unexpected output from the underlying backup program (tar or dump). Whether or not it is something to be concerned about depends on what it is. See below. .. and further down the list: FAILED AND STRANGE DUMP DETAILS: /-- epo.dk /var lev 0 STRANGE sendbackup: start [epo.dk:/var level 0] sendbackup: info BACKUP=/bin/tar sendbackup: info RECOVER_CMD=/usr/bin/gzip -dc |/bin/tar -f... - sendbackup: info COMPRESS_SUFFIX=.gz sendbackup: info end | gtar: ./cache/samba/winbindd_privileged/pipe: socket ignored Tar is warning you that it came across a special file type (a socket) and didn't back it up. You can safely ignore these messages. Not 100% true actually. Gnutar produces some output on stderr which amanda classifies as normal (can safely be ignored), error (needs to be flagged as error to the user, and implies that this dump is not correct and will not be put on tape if dumping to holdingdisk). And a third category strange: all the other messages not falling in category error or normal. When amanda detects strange or failed lines, it shows them all, including the normal ones. The normal ones are preceded by a pipe symbol as above. The error and strange lines are preceded by a question mark. That means that the above line is not seen as an error. And would that be the only output of tar, amanda would not have bothered you with those details. It is only there to provide some context of the next line (if the error lines need to be interpreted in context, as e.g. samba error message often do, this helps a lot.). ? gtar: ./lib/slocate/slocate.db: file changed as we read it This is the strange line. It is not an error. It is up to you to decide if it is bad or not. Frank can explain that better than me: This means that a file was changing while it was being backed up, so that your backup of that particular file may or may not be valid. This is a hazard of backing up an active filesystem. In this case, I wouldn't worry about it, since it is just the database used by the locate command and can be recreated manually anyway if needed. Other files that might cause the same message are log files, mail spools, and various lock files. You need to look at them and decide if they can safely be ignored, or if is OK to occasionally miss certain files, or if it is a real problem that would force you to reschedule your backups or find other ways to grab the files in question. | Total bytes written: 545894400 (521MiB, 3.1MiB/s) sendbackup: size 533100 sendbackup: end \ Notice again the normal output line from gnutar: the size line, flagged by amanda with a preceding pipe. -- Paul Bijnens, XplanationTel +32 16 397.511 Technologielaan 21 bus 2, B-3001 Leuven, BELGIUMFax +32 16 397.512 http://www.xplanation.com/ email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** * I think I've got the hang of it now: exit, ^D, ^C, ^\, ^Z, ^Q, F6, * * quit, ZZ, :q, :q!, M-Z, ^X^C, logoff, logout, close, bye, /bye, * * stop, end, F3, ~., ^]c, +++ ATH, disconnect, halt, abort, hangup, * * PF4, F20, ^X^X, :D::D, KJOB, F14-f-e, F8-e, kill -1 $$, shutdown, * * kill -9 1, Alt-F4, Ctrl-Alt-Del, AltGr-NumLock, Stop-A, ...* * ... Are you sure? ... YES ... Phew ... I'm out * ***
Re: Strange error message from Amanda.
On Tue, 2005-11-08 at 22:26 +0100, Paul Bijnens wrote: ? gtar: ./lib/slocate/slocate.db: file changed as we read it This is the strange line. It is not an error. It is up to you to decide if it is bad or not. Thanks for shedding light in the darkness. -- Regards, Erik P. Olsen
Re: Strange error message from Amanda.
On Tue, Nov 08, 2005 at 10:26:07PM +0100, Paul Bijnens wrote: | gtar: ./cache/samba/winbindd_privileged/pipe: socket ignored Tar is warning you that it came across a special file type (a socket) and didn't back it up. You can safely ignore these messages. Not 100% true actually. Gnutar produces some output on stderr which amanda classifies as normal (can safely be ignored), error (needs to be flagged as error to the user, and implies that this dump is not correct and will not be put on tape if dumping to holdingdisk). And a third category strange: all the other messages not falling in category error or normal. When amanda detects strange or failed lines, it shows them all, including the normal ones. The normal ones are preceded by a pipe symbol as above. The error and strange lines are preceded by a question mark. That means that the above line is not seen as an error. And would that be the only output of tar, amanda would not have bothered you with those details. Darn, that's the second thing this old dog learned today. Thanks for the clarification Paul. -- Jon H. LaBadie [EMAIL PROTECTED] JG Computing 4455 Province Line Road(609) 252-0159 Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)
Re: Strange error message from Amanda.
Paul Bijnens wrote: Not 100% true actually. Gnutar produces some output on stderr which amanda classifies as normal (can safely be ignored), error (needs to be flagged as error to the user, and implies that this dump is not correct and will not be put on tape if dumping to holdingdisk). And a third category strange: all the other messages not falling in category error or normal. When amanda detects strange or failed lines, it shows them all, including the normal ones. The normal ones are preceded by a pipe symbol as above. The error and strange lines are preceded by a question mark. That means that the above line is not seen as an error. And would that be the only output of tar, amanda would not have bothered you with those details. It is only there to provide some context of the next line (if the error lines need to be interpreted in context, as e.g. samba error message often do, this helps a lot.). Well, I stand corrected (and learned something in the process). I was going to make a comment about this behavior not being adequately documented, but it looks like it is, although in the dumperapi.txt file, which I had never looked at. There is a mention of the '?' in using.txt but it doesn't explain '|' (normal) vs, '?' (strange) vs. '' (error) as the dumperapi.txt does. If the explanation hasn't been included in the general use docs yet (I'm looking at a 2.4.5 source tree), it should be. Thanks for the enlightenment, Frank -- Frank Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sr. Systems Administrator Voice: 512-374-4673 Hoover's Online Fax: 512-374-4501
