Use these procedures to save and restore Linux files between a Linux logical partition
that uses IBM® i resources
and a shared tape drive.
Ensure that your Linux data is in the file
server.
Linux typically
treats tape as a character device that it can quickly read
from or write to in long streams of data, but cannot quickly access
to find specific data. By contrast, Linux treats a disk or
CD as a block device that it can read from or write to quickly
at any point on the device, making it suitable for the mount command.
Complete the following steps to save and restore Linux files between a logical
partition that uses IBM i resources
and a shared tape drive:
- Type the following command: tar
-b 40 -c -f /dev/st0 files Use the following
descriptions to help you understand the arguments of this command:
- tar is the command name (the contraction of "tape
archive").
- -b 40 is the block size in sectors. This argument
specifies that Linux is
to write the archive stream in blocks of 40 sectors (20 KB). If you
do not specify a value for this argument, the default value is 20
sectors (10 KB), which does not perform as well over virtual tape
as does a value of 40.
- -c is the command action to create. This argument
specifies that the tar command creates a new
archive or overwrites an old one (as opposed to restoring files from
an archive or adding individual files to an existing archive).
- -f /dev/st0 is the virtual tape device and number. This
argument specifies that the command uses virtual tape 0 on the server. After
the tar command runs, the tape device is closed
and the tape is rewound. To save more than one archive on the tape,
you must keep the tape from rewinding after each use, and you must
position the tape to the next file marker. To do this, specify the nst0 (nonrewinding
virtual tape) device instead of st0.
- files are the names of the files and directories
that you plan to save.
You have now saved Linux data from a logical
partition that uses IBM i resources
to the shared tape drive.
- Type the following command: tar -b 40 -x -f /dev/st0 files The -x (extract) argument replaces the -c (create)
argument in the tar command used in step 1. You have now restored Linux data from the shared
tape drive to a logical partition that is sharing resources.
