I have a possible tape handling problem using 2.6.0b2. I have upgraded
one client and the amanda server to version 2.6.0b2. The tape server was
previously running 2.5.2p1 and the client previously 2.4.5. I had done
one test restore without a problem so was about to start rolling out to
other clients when I had a need to restore a complete partition on the
test client. It failed.

Working with 2.6.0b2 on both client and server, and using amrecover to
recover an entire filesystem, Amrecover gave me an error messagebr>
EOF, check amidxtaped.<timestamp>.debug file on banks.
amrecover: short block 0 bytes
UNKNOWN file
amrecover: Can't read file header
extract_list - child returned non-zero status: 1

The indicated debug file on the server doesn't appear to contain any
errorsbr>
1204551144.430504: amidxtaped: pid 1762 ruid 11 euid 11: start at Mon
Mar 3 13:32:24 2008
1204551144.430593: amidxtaped: amidxtaped: version 2.6.0b2
1204551144.430642: amidxtaped: > SECURITY USER root
1204551144.430654: amidxtaped: check_security_buffer(buffer='SECURITY
USER root')
1204551144.430681: amidxtaped: (sockaddr_in *)0xbfbc8fe4 = { 2, 518,
128.240.150.174 }
1204551144.435371: amidxtaped: > CONFIG=ncl
1204551144.435404: amidxtaped: > LABEL=banks03
1204551144.435418: amidxtaped: append_to_tapelist(tapelist=(nil),
label='banks03', , file=-1, isafile=0)
1204551144.435432: amidxtaped: > FSF=1
1204551144.435447: amidxtaped: > HEADER
1204551144.435458: amidxtaped: > DEVICE=changer
1204551144.435470: amidxtaped: > HOST=^bayldon.ncl.ac.uk$
1204551144.435481: amidxtaped: > DISK=^/work$
1204551144.435493: amidxtaped: > DATESTAMP=20080229
1204551144.435505: amidxtaped: > END
&quot;/var/amanda/ncl/amanda.conf&quot;, line 58: warning: Keyword rawtapedev is
deprecated.
1204551144.437378: amidxtaped: pid 1762 ruid 11 euid 11: rename at Mon
Mar 3 13:32:24 2008
1204551144.440497: amidxtaped: NOTE: running as 'operator', which the
client user, not the dumpuser ('operator'); forging on anyway
1204551144.440517: amidxtaped: Restoring from changer, checking labels
1204551144.440535: amidxtaped: Locking devices
1204551144.440702: amidxtaped: Sending output to file descriptor 1
1204551147.643239: amidxtaped: changer_query: changer return was 8 1
1204551147.643283: amidxtaped: changer_query: searchable = 0
1204551147.643297: amidxtaped: changer_find: looking for banks03 changer
is searchable = 0
"/dev/nst0&quot; uses deprecated device naming convention;
using "tape:/dev/nst0&quot; instead.
amidxtaped: slot 3: time 20080229235001 label banks03 (exact label
match)
&quot;/dev/nst0" uses deprecated device naming convention;
using "tape:/dev/nst0&quot; instead.
Scanning volume banks03 (slot 3)
1204551219.775512: amidxtaped: search_a_tape: desired_tape=0x804de90
label=banks03
1204551219.775536: amidxtaped: tape: numfiles = 0
1204551219.775546: amidxtaped: current tapefile_idx = -1

1204551219.786165: amidxtaped: Restoration finished
1204551219.786207: amidxtaped: pid 1762 finish time Mon Mar 3 13:33:39
2008

Nothing was added to the hardware log concerning tape errors.

After this, I tried to use the 2.6.0b2 version of amrestore directly on
the server to extract a dump image. I just used "amrestore /dev/nst0
bayldon&quot; to attempt to get all dump images for this host (there is in
fact only one). This file was restored, but amrestore moved on down the
tape to check for other matching dump images and got an error after file
number 2br>
amrestore: 2: skipping FILE: date 20080229235001 host berwick.ncl.ac.uk
disk /export/db/web-cs1 lev 1 comp .gz program /bin/gtar
Could not seek device /dev/nst0 to file 3.

The same restore command with amanda 2.5.2p1 restores the file I wanted
once again, but continues through to the end of the tape before
finishing withbr>
amrestore: missing file header block
amrestore: error reading file header: Input/output error
amrestore: could not fsf /dev/nst0: Input/output error

Where can I best look for more information to find out what is going
wrong?

Chris Ritson (Computing Officer and School Safety Officer)

Room 707, Claremont Tower, EMAIL: C.R.Ritson%40ncl.ac.uk">C.R.Ritsonncl.ac.uk
School of Computing Science, PHONE: +44 191 222 8175
Newcastle University, FAX : +44 191 222 8232
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU. WEB : http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/