My unattended backup to a DAT drive fails with an error code 1

Keywords

BackupEDGE cron edgemenu error 1 error 19 4mm DAT edge.cronset edge.config

Release

BackupEDGE 01.00.0X / BackupEDGE 01.01.0X

Problem

edge: Attempt to access /dev/{tape} failed because...No such device or address

	  Consider:
          	  1) Improper USAGE of the 'f' Option
      	    	  2) Device '/dev/{tape}' NOT TURNED ON
        	  3) Inadequate PERMISSIONS
        	  4) MISSPELLED Device Name '/dev/{tape}'
        	  5) Device '/dev/{tape}' has WRITE PROTECT TAB set
        	  6) Write PERMISSION NOT SET for '/dev/{tape}'

Cause

The error text itself is self-explanatory, but if none of the suggestions would apply, such as a misspelled device name in edge.config or the tape cartridge is write protected or no tape in the tape drive. You may want to consider the tape drive itself. A quirk in the drives firmware may be causing the tape to eject when edge.nightly is called through cron.

Solution

While logged in as root, execute edge.config to configure the data cartridge. Select option 'O' Use Media Labeling and change the option to 'NO'. Save the changes and exit.

Turning off Media Labeling will not cause a read to the tape before an attempt is made to write to the cartridge thus the tape will not be ejected. If media labeling must be used, you may want to configure the device in edge.config as a no-unload device ( ex: nurStp0 ). You may want to verify the entry in your /dev directory to see if it exists. You should also try to write to this device at the command line before configuring it in edge.config ( edge -cvf /dev/nurStp0 /tmp). If the device node is not present you may need to create it through a mknod command ( mknod /dev/nurStp0 c 46 4). It may also be necessary to reconfigure the tape drive through mkdev tape.

Note

If the above gives no relief to the problem, there may be an incorrect entry in edge.cronset. The entry to send diagnostic output should read /dev/null or to another file.

This entry cannot be a device either this error will occur, or BackupEDGE may not even attempt to run.

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