Dud tapes

[Dan Langille]

> On May 7, 2015, at 6:03 PM, Dan Langille <dan at langille.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>> On May 1, 2015, at 9:41 AM, Dan Langille <dan at langille.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> I'm using Bacula 7.0.5 on FreeBSD 10.1 (bacula-dir) and FreeBSD 9.3 (bacula-sd).
>> 
>> Sometimes I get dud tapes.  Or at least, tapes my tape drive does not like.
>> 
>> For example:
>> 
>> ###
>> 01-May 09:39 crey-sd JobId 205441: End of Volume "FAI022" at 11:11326 on device "DTL03" (/dev/nsa0). Write of 64512 bytes got 49152.
>> 01-May 09:39 crey-sd JobId 205441: Error: Error writing final EOF to tape. This Volume may not be readable.
>> tape_dev.c:941 ioctl MTWEOF error on "DTL03" (/dev/nsa0). ERR=Input/output error.
>> 01-May 09:39 crey-sd JobId 205441: End of medium on Volume "FAI022" Bytes=10,784,406,528 Blocks=167,168 at 01-May-2015 09:39.
>> 01-May 09:39 crey-sd JobId 205441: 3307 Issuing autochanger "unload slot 2, drive 0" command.
>> ###
>> 
>> See also, this from /var/log/messages:
>> 
>> ###
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 01 00
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error)
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0x28b4b
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 02 00
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error)
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0x28b4b
>> May  1 09:39:01 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 01 00
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error)
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0x11fb
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 02 00
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error)
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0x11fb
>> May  1 09:42:41 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted
>> ###
>> 
>> In this case, I will mark the tape as DISABLED and once it is past it's recycling date, I will retire the tape.
>> 
>> Best practice might be to rerun the backup, but this backup is also on disk.
>> 
>> What do you usually do with tapes such as this?  Is this tape or hardware?
> 
> I took one of these tapes and tried:
> 
> $ sudo tar -cf /dev/sa0 *
> tar: Write error
> 
> It produced these errors:
> 
> May  7 21:37:10 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 02 00
> May  7 21:37:10 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
> May  7 21:37:10 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
> May  7 21:37:10 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error)
> May  7 21:37:10 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0xbac9
> May  7 21:37:10 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted
> May  7 21:37:10 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): failed to write terminating filemark(s)
> 
> Is this a hardware problem?  A tape problem?

The problem occurred today on another tape after writing just 313 MB:

May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 01 00
May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error)
May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0x1228
May 12 08:28:21 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted
May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): WRITE FILEMARKS(6). CDB: 10 00 00 00 02 00
May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): SCSI sense: MEDIUM ERROR asc:c,0 (Write error)
May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Command Specific Info: 0x1228
May 12 08:28:22 knew kernel: (sa0:sym0:0:1:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted

The tape before this took 111 GB, the tape after, took 791 MB (and then the backup completed).

What do these errors mean? Does it indicate a dead tape?

—
Dan Langille
http://langille.org/





-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 971 bytes
Desc: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail
URL: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-scsi/attachments/20150512/38a868b1/attachment.sig>