Initializes a Tape Coordinator process
Synopsis
butc [-tcid tc_number] [-debuglevel trace_level] [-cell cellname] [-help]
Options
-tcid tc_number
Specifies the Tape Coordinator ID (TCID) associated with the Tape Coordinator to be initialized. The issuer of bak commands uses this number
to indicate which Tape Coordinator is to execute a command.
Legal values are the integers from 0 to 1023. The value must match the value assigned to this Tape Coordinator's associated tape drive in the TapeConfig file. If this option is omitted, the default is 0 (zero).
-debuglevel trace_level
Specifies the kinds of messages the Tape Coordinator produces in its monitoring window. The following two values are legal:
· 0 (zero) indicates that the Tape Coordinator prompts the issuer only to place new tapes in the drive; the process does not report on its activities (other than to display some output as necessary for operations it executes). This is the default value.
· 1 indicates that the Tape Coordinator reports on its activities as it restores filesets, in addition to prompting for new tapes as necessary.
-cell cellname
Specifies the cell with respect to which the Tape Coordinator is to run. The Tape Coordinator communicates with the Backup Server in the specified cell.
The Tape Coordinator can manipulate data in only the specified cell. A host entry must already be defined for the Tape Coordinator machine in the Backup Database of the specified cell.
If this option is omitted, the default is the local cell of the issuer of the command.
-help
Prints the online help for this command. All other valid options specified with this option are ignored.
The help and apropos commands available with all command suites are also available with butc. See the bos help and bos apropos pages for examples using these commands.
Description
The butc command starts a Tape Coordinator process on a Tape Coordinator machine (a machine having a tape drive and an associated Tape Coordinator). The
TapeConfig file must reside in the directory named dcelocal/var/dfs/backup on the Tape Coordinator machine, and it must contain a single line specifying information about a
tape drive and its associated Tape Coordinator if the butc process is to start the Tape Coordinator for the drive. A machine to be configured as a Tape Coordinator machine must be a DCE
client. Fewer configuration steps are required if the machine is also some type of DFS server machine. (See Part 1 of the OSF DCE DFS Administration
Guide and Reference for complete details about configuring a Tape Coordinator machine.)
The binary file for the butc process resides in dceshared/bin/butc. Depending on the operations it executes, the butc process that runs as a result of this command contacts the Backup Database (by way of the Backup Server process), the Fileset Location Database (by way of the Fileset Location Server process), or Fileset Server processes.
Enter the butc command in a separate terminal session for each Tape Coordinator (in windowing systems, this generally means a separate window for each Tape Coordinator). Because the Tape Coordinator must run in the foreground, the terminal session where the butc command is issued is unavailable for subsequent commands. Instead, the Tape Coordinator uses it as a dedicated monitoring window on which to display both trace information about filesets it restores and prompts for the insertion of additional tapes into its associated drive. The monitoring window must remain open as long as the Tape Coordinator runs. To stop a Tape Coordinator process, enter an interrupt signal (<Ctrl-c> or its equivalent) in the process's monitoring window.
The butc program also writes output to two ASCII files in the directory dcelocal/var/dfs/backup on the local disk of the Tape Coordinator machine:
TL_device_name
The TL_device_name file (where device_name is the device name of the tape drive with which the process is associated) is a log
file that contains execution information about operations performed by the butc process. The level of detail to which each operation is described depends on the operation.
TE_device_name
The TE_device_name file (where device_name is again the device name of the tape drive with which the process is associated) is
an error file that contains information about problems encountered by the butc process.
The files contain similar information. For example, if you use the bak dump command to dump 100 filesets, the log file lists both the names of filesets that were successfully dumped to tape and the names of filesets that, for some reason, were omitted from the dump; the error file, on the other hand, lists the names of only those filesets that were omitted from the dump.
Each time the butc process is started for a tape drive and Tape Coordinator pair, it automatically creates the two files. It then appends messages to the files as necessary. If the files already exist when the butc process is started, the process moves the current versions to files that end with .old extensions (for example, TL_device_name.old) before creating new versions of the files to which to append messages. The process overwrites current .old files if they exist.
No maintenance is required for the log and error files associated with any tape drive; the files are created automatically each time the butc process for a tape drive and Tape Coordinator pair is started. However, the files should be browsed periodically to ensure that operations such as dumps and restores are completing without problems. For example, if a file cannot be dumped because a necessary Fileset Server or Fileset Location Server is unavailable at the time of the dump, the butc program writes an appropriate message to the log and error files.
Privilege Required
The issuer must have write and execute permissions on the dcelocal/var/dfs/backup directory, the directory in which the butc
process creates its log and error files.
Related Information
Commands: bak(8dfs)
Files: TapeConfig(4dfs)