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Controlling a Tape Drive

by Jeff Hunter, Sr. Database Administrator

Controlling the Tape Drive

Rewind the tape

# mt -f /dev/rmt/0 rewind

Advance the tape to the 5th EOF marker on the tape without rewinding the tape

# mt -f /dev/rmt/0n fsf 5

Look at the current file on the tape without rewinding the tape

# tar tvf /dev/rmt/0n

Get current file from the tape without rewinding the tape

# tar xvf /dev/rmt/0n

Put all of the files in the current directory to the tape without rewinding the tape

# cd /u06/app/oradata/SIEBEL
# tar cvf /dev/rmt/0n *

Controlling the Tape Drive Remotely

NOTE: Make sure the remote machine has a valid entry in its .rhosts file.

From the TARGET machine (i.e. APPDEV):

# rsh sblprod dd if=/dev/rmt/0n ibs=64k | tar xvf -

# rsh sblprod mt -f /dev/rmt/0n fsf 5

# rsh sblprod mt -f /dev/rmt/0 rewind

# rsh sblprod tar tvf /dev/rmt/0n

While loop to Restore Files from Tape

  while (true)
  do
    rsh sblprod dd if=/dev/rmt/0n ibs=64k | tar xvf -
  done