ryeandi
asked on
cron file copy to tape
hi experts,
let me start off by saying i'm fairly new to scripting so please excuse any dumb questions i might ask. i would like to create a script that copies all the files in a date-named directory. this script will be called on a daily basis by cron. so, for example, i have a directory named 031022 with 152 files in it. i'd like to append this directory, complete with files, to a tape with preceeding day's files/directories on it. the little scripting i have done has not made reference to devices. my first question is how do you reverence the tape drive? can you treate it just like any directory on the hard drive? could i for example do the following:
cd the_tape_drive
mkdir 031022
cp /home/mydirectory/* the_tape_drive/031022
i have the distinct feeling that it could not be this easy.
i'll probably have more questions later.
thanks,
rye
let me start off by saying i'm fairly new to scripting so please excuse any dumb questions i might ask. i would like to create a script that copies all the files in a date-named directory. this script will be called on a daily basis by cron. so, for example, i have a directory named 031022 with 152 files in it. i'd like to append this directory, complete with files, to a tape with preceeding day's files/directories on it. the little scripting i have done has not made reference to devices. my first question is how do you reverence the tape drive? can you treate it just like any directory on the hard drive? could i for example do the following:
cd the_tape_drive
mkdir 031022
cp /home/mydirectory/* the_tape_drive/031022
i have the distinct feeling that it could not be this easy.
i'll probably have more questions later.
thanks,
rye
ok, I think I understand what your are trying to do:
if you want to copy files from /home/mydirectory to /the_tape_backup-dir/03102
then backup /the_tape_drive/031022 to tape (it cost you extra HD space!)
you can do:
cd /home/mydirectory
mkdir /the_tape_backup-dir/03102
tar cf - . | (cd /the_tape_backup-dir/03102
tar cf /dev/nrmt4 /the_tape_backup-dir/03102
PS: you can not do mkdir to a tape device !!!!
if you want to copy files from /home/mydirectory to /the_tape_backup-dir/03102
then backup /the_tape_drive/031022 to tape (it cost you extra HD space!)
you can do:
cd /home/mydirectory
mkdir /the_tape_backup-dir/03102
tar cf - . | (cd /the_tape_backup-dir/03102
tar cf /dev/nrmt4 /the_tape_backup-dir/03102
PS: you can not do mkdir to a tape device !!!!
ASKER
yuzh, so basically what you're saying is create an archive of the files in the dated directory and append each to the tape?
so basically like this?
##first date on the tape
cd /home/mydirectory/031022 #directory has already been created by another script
tar -cf 031022.tar *
tar -cf /dev/???? /home/mydirectory/031022/0
##following days until tape is full
cd /home/mydirectory/yymmdd
tar -cf yymmdd.tar *
tar -rf /dev/???? /home/mydirectory/yymmdd/y
so basically like this?
##first date on the tape
cd /home/mydirectory/031022 #directory has already been created by another script
tar -cf 031022.tar *
tar -cf /dev/???? /home/mydirectory/031022/0
##following days until tape is full
cd /home/mydirectory/yymmdd
tar -cf yymmdd.tar *
tar -rf /dev/???? /home/mydirectory/yymmdd/y
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
thanks for the help, i still have a couple of questions.
i was planning on using:
mt -f /dev/???? eod #will this work?
then:
tar -rf /dev/???? /home/mydirectory/yymmdd/y
what is the reason i would need to keep an index?
also, i'm confused about the ???? in the above example. this machine kind of fell on my lap. there seems to be 2 removable media devices. one is a zip drive and the other is a hp superstore dat24 tape drive. i'm planning on doing the backups to this tape drive. when i look at /dev i see a ton of entries. how do i know what device file is the one that points to the driver for this drive?
i was planning on using:
mt -f /dev/???? eod #will this work?
then:
tar -rf /dev/???? /home/mydirectory/yymmdd/y
what is the reason i would need to keep an index?
also, i'm confused about the ???? in the above example. this machine kind of fell on my lap. there seems to be 2 removable media devices. one is a zip drive and the other is a hp superstore dat24 tape drive. i'm planning on doing the backups to this tape drive. when i look at /dev i see a ton of entries. how do i know what device file is the one that points to the driver for this drive?
"what is the reason i would need to keep an index?"
Tape is a sequential storage device. keep an index file (text file) to, help
you locate your backup files in the tape, when you use no-rewind tape
device.
man mt
to learn more about the tape operations.
To find out the exactly tape device name, you can try
ls -al /dev/*mt*
ls -al /dev/*st*
Have a look at the following pages to learn more about tape devices:
http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-07/guru_01.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/SCSI-2.4-HOWTO/dnames.html
Good luck!
ASKER
when i do a "ls -al /dev/*mt*" i get the following:
rmt16
rmt8
when i do a "ls -al /dev/*st*" i get the following:
nst0 - nst7
st0 - st7
how do i know which one of these refers to the actual tape drive i'll be backing up to?
does it matter?
rmt16
rmt8
when i do a "ls -al /dev/*st*" i get the following:
nst0 - nst7
st0 - st7
how do i know which one of these refers to the actual tape drive i'll be backing up to?
does it matter?
/dev/st0 \device\tape0, rewind
/dev/nst0 \device\tape0, no-rewind
Put a blank tape into the tape drive:
try:
mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
see if any light on in the tape drive
or
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
then try to use tar to copt some file to the tape drive
eg:
copt test dir to tape:
tar cvf /dev/nst0 testdir
rewind the tape
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
verify what's on the tape
tar tvf /dev/nst0
/dev/nst0 \device\tape0, no-rewind
Put a blank tape into the tape drive:
try:
mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
see if any light on in the tape drive
or
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
then try to use tar to copt some file to the tape drive
eg:
copt test dir to tape:
tar cvf /dev/nst0 testdir
rewind the tape
mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
verify what's on the tape
tar tvf /dev/nst0
Please read the following page for the tape operations:
http://www.ociw.edu/lco/computer_info/DAT.html
http://www.ociw.edu/lco/computer_info/DAT.html
ASKER
thanks for all the help. sorry about the late awarding of points. i've been having drive troubles and was waiting to see if the above worked. the troubles didn't get fixed but i didn't want to make you wait any longer. thanks a lot.
rye
rye
For linux, you can use, tar, cpio, dump, command to backup your files to the tape.
eg.
you can create a lable file, and put it to the tape
touch 031022
tar cf /dev/nrmt4 031022 /home/mydirectory/
rm 031022
replace /dev/nrmt4 with the real no-rewind tape device name on your system
the tape opeartion command is "mt"
man mt
to learn more
Also have a look at:
http://www.linux-mag.com/1999-07/guru_01.html
http://oldlook.experts-exchange.com/questions/20097570/backup-to-a-tape.html
http://oldlook.experts-exchange.com/questions/20126439/Cron-and-Tar-backup-Easy-Question.html
http://oldlook.experts-exchange.com/questions/10131894/dump-2-or-more-filesystems-to-1-tape.html
http://oldlook.experts-exchange.com/questions/20662120/Full-system-Backup.html