validation of dumps

[Pekka Nousiainen /DP]

>I'm interested in knowing how many sites validate their dump tapes after
>dumping.

We dump 2 GB on monthly/weekly/daily levels and do not validate the tapes.
I would like to add a readback of the dump header to the operator scripts
(no doubt over much griping from operators).  When I move file systems I
always make 2 tape copies before wiping out the disk.  This has saved me
once, when moving a 1 GB production file system.

Our main concern is the daily backup of a 3 GB database (on raw disks).
If one tape fails, the entire backup is useless.  The backup already takes
2 1/2 hours.  A readback-and-verify is an option but is never used.  Has
anybody figured out a failure rate for reel-to-reel tapes?  I think about
1 tape in 100 does fail on our system.  The machine is a Pyramid 9020 with
a Fujitsu tape drive, the tapes are 3M and others.

Then there is the question of video tapes where I still don't know who's
opinion to believe...

--
peno at kps