From: SYSTEM@CLUSTER.POLY-NORTH-LONDON.AC.UK (System Manager)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: HEADERFULL messages when copying 2xRA81 to 1xRF72.
Date: 3 Sep 92 17:15:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Internet

This posting is 169 lines long.

Problems once again! We (We? I mean muggins here) are in the middle of
swapping our old CI based 8000 cluster with RA81 disks for a new 4500 (x4)
RF72 LAVC VMS 5.5-1 cluster. I've got a problem copying some disks with
HEADERFULL messages (detailed below), and basically need to know how to
locate the headers used / headers free values on a disk volume.

Here follows a more detailed synopsis/diary of the problem ...


Step 1. Initialize the disk with the command INIT $1$DIA11: DISK11

Step 2. Back off my old RA81's to my new RF72. I excluded all the top level
        .SYS files in case they interfered with the initialize command
        already executed on the device.

$ set noon
$ mount/NoRebuild $1$dia11 disk11
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, DISK11       mounted on _$1$DIA11: (IDUN1)
$ backup/new_version/ign=(label,inter)/Exclude=[000000]*.sys -
    USERSA:[*...]*.*;*                                         -
    $1$dia11:[*...]*.*;*/Owner=Original
$ dismo $1$dia11
$ set noon
$ mount/NoRebuild $1$dia11 disk11
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, DISK11       mounted on _$1$DIA11: (IDUN1)
$! mount/norebuild 'p2 'p2
$ backup/new_version/ign=(label,inter)/Exclude=[000000]*.sys -
    USERSC:[*...]*.*;*                                         -
    $1$dia11:[*...]*.*;*/Owner=Original
%BACKUP-E-OPENOUT, error opening $1$DIA11:[77SULLIVAN]E.LIS;9 as output
-RMS-E-CRE, ACP file create failed
-SYSTEM-W-HEADERFULL, file header is full
%BACKUP-E-OPENOUT, error opening $1$DIA11:[77SULLIVAN]E.SUL;4 as output
-RMS-E-CRE, ACP file create failed
-SYSTEM-W-HEADERFULL, file header is full
%BACKUP-E-OPENOUT, error opening $1$DIA11:[77SULLIVAN]EHO.DAT;1 as output
-RMS-E-CRE, ACP file create failed
-SYSTEM-W-HEADERFULL, file header is full
   .         .        .
   .         .        .
   .         .        . Etc.

Hmmm. The documentation seems to suggest that the default values are
usually sufficient. My RA81 hasn't been initialised in yonks, so I don't
know if whoever did it put in special /MAXIMUM_FILES or /HEADERS
qualifiers. I think not, as looking at the INDEXF.SYS files on the top
level [000000] of these RA81's gets me the following ...

Directory USERSA:[000000]

INDEXF.SYS;1          69814/69816   20-FEB-1987 15:51:40.94

Total of 1 file, 69814/69816 blocks.

Directory USERSC:[000000]

INDEXF.SYS;1          26107/26109   20-APR-1988 14:12:20.50

Total of 1 file, 26107/26109 blocks.

... There doesn't seem to be any pre-extension of INDEXF.SYS here.
My RF72 (DIA11) has a INDEXF.SYS size of 49188/49188 when it bombs out ,
which is less than the INDEXF.SYS size on USERSA. Why does my RA81 handle
a larger INDEXF.SYS size than my RF72?

Step 3. Check the fragmentation on my RA81's. Looks fine.
        We run DISKIT from UIS and haven't any complaints about it. The
        FRAG report says the disks are in pretty reasonable shape ...

Step 4. Check the RF72's statistics ...

Disk $1$DIA11: (IDUN1), device type RF72, is online, mounted, file-oriented
    device, shareable, available to cluster, error logging is enabled.

    Error count                    0    Operations completed             329590
    Owner process                 ""    Owner UIC                      [SYSTEM]
    Owner process ID        00000000    Dev Prot    S:RWED,O:RWED,G:RWED,W:RWED
    Reference count                1    Default buffer size                 512
    Total blocks             1954050    Sectors per track                    50
    Total cylinders             1861    Tracks per cylinder                  21
    Host name                "IDUN1"    Host type, avail      VAX 4000-500, yes
    Allocation class               1

    Volume label            "DISK11"    Relative volume number                0
    Cluster size                   3    Transaction count                     1
    Free blocks               709050    Maximum files allowed            244256
    Extend quantity                5    Mount count                           5
    Mount status              System    Cache name     "_HSC000$DUA10:XQPCACHE"
    Extent cache size             64    Maximum blocks in extent cache    70905
    File ID cache size            64    Blocks currently in extent cache      0
    Quota cache size               0    Maximum buffers in FCP cache       1246

  Volume status:  subject to mount verification, file high-water marking, write-
      through caching enabled.
  Volume is also mounted on MAIA, LOFN, IDUN, LOFN1.

DIR $1$DIA11:[000000...]/Grand_Total/Size=All

GRAND TOTAL OF 1361 DIRECTORIES, 49116 files, 1179190/1245000 blocks.

<SHOW DEVICE/FULL on one of my RA81's here for comparison>

Disk HSC000$DUA16:, device type RA81, is online, mounted, file-oriented device,
    shareable, available to cluster, error logging is enabled.

    Error count                    0    Operations completed              25150
    Owner process                 ""    Owner UIC                      [SYSTEM]
    Owner process ID        00000000    Dev Prot    S:RWED,O:RWED,G:RWED,W:RWED
    Reference count               15    Default buffer size                 512
    Total blocks              891072    Sectors per track                    51
    Total cylinders             1248    Tracks per cylinder                  14
    Host name               "HSC000"    Host type, avail              HS50, yes

    Volume label            "USERSC"    Relative volume number                0
    Cluster size                   3    Transaction count                    15
    Free blocks               104598    Maximum files allowed            111384
    Extend quantity                5    Mount count                           4
    Mount status              System    Cache name     "_HSC000$DUA10:XQPCACHE"
    Extent cache size             64    Maximum blocks in extent cache    10459
    File ID cache size            64    Blocks currently in extent cache   2460
    Quota cache size             164    Maximum buffers in FCP cache       1246

  Volume status:  subject to mount verification, write-through caching enabled.
  Volume is also mounted on LOFN, MAIA, IDUN.


Step 5. Check to see what happens when I INIT a disk with, say, 240,000
        headers. Yikes!! It preallocates the space in my INDEXF.SYS file!
        Can't afford that much space wasted. That's approx. 25% of my disk!

HHmmm. What's the point in having 244,000 allowable files when the headers
run out? (at 20% of the allowable files value too ). More worrying from my
point of view, is that the disks that have been backed up successfully might
have only one header left free and I wouldn't know about it!

O.K., If I have to tell the disk how many headers to expect I want to be
able to make the best guess possible based on current usage. I will also
want to keep an eye on it as the disk starts to fill up to make sure that I
can Initialize it again over a weekend with a greater /HEADERS value when I
get forewarned about this so as not to upset the users.

Question : How can I find out how many file headers I have USED/FREE on a
           disk?

Postscript : I have been talking to DEC CSC in the UK and they basically
said 'tough luck - guess the headers and do a backup/init/restore when you
think you may have a problem'. Mind you, this was after getting me a patch
that they thought would fix it - F11X$01_U1055. I applied that and it
didn't make any difference.


Any suggestions, requests for more info', or good whisky recommendations
gratefully received.

Regards,

Brian.
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