To become less device dependent and more flexible, Backup Server™ provides a method for determining the tape device characteristics (tape positioning for read, close, append, I/O size, file marks, and ability to overwrite a tape mark) for a dump operation.
When you issue a dump database or dump transaction command, Backup Server checks to see whether the device type of the specified dump device is known (supplied and supported internally) by SQL Server. If the device is not a known type, Backup Server checks the tape configuration file (default location is $SYBASE/backup_tape.cfg) for the device configuration. If the configuration is found, the dump command proceeds.
If the configuration is not found in the tape device configuration file, the dump command fails with the following error message:
Device not found in configuration file. INIT needs to be specified to configure the device.
This means the device needs to be configured. Issue the dump database or dump transaction with init qualifier to configure the device. Using operating system calls, Backup Server attempts to determine the device’s characteristics, and if successful, stores the device characteristics in the tape configuration file.
If Backup Server cannot determine the dump device characteristics, it defaults to one dump per tape. The device can not be used if the configuration fails to write at least one dump file.
Tape configuration by Backup Server applies only to UNIX platforms.
For more information on tape device determination and the tape configuration file, see Chapter 21, “Backing Up and Restoring User Databases,” in the System Administration Guide.
