TAR per frame means each TIFF file is written as a separate TAR file onto tape. This is a practice in the entertainment industry.

Now, the default tape device (/dev/st0 on Linux) rewinds after each command. Trying to read consecutive files, and rewinding between each read, adds a lot of time.

It's possible to specify a no-rewind tape device which doesn't rewind after each command. The device name is different on every Unix but on Linux it's /dev/nst0. (the "n" stands for no-rewind. The "st" stands for SCSI tape.)

Here is a loop to read a file and then advance to the next This command will extract the entirety of the TAR per frame tape.

This just in:

USENIX is pleased to announce open public access to all its conference
proceedings.

This significant decision will allow universal access to some of the
most important technical research in advanced computing. In making this
move USENIX is setting the standard for open access to information, an
essential part of its mission.

USENIX could not achieve such goals without the support and dedication
of its membership. We urge you to encourage others to join USENIX.
Membership helps us present over 20 influential conferences each year
and offer open access to the technical information presented there.

Here is a pair of ssh "for" loops to backup all the crontabs on my Linux and HP-UX systems to my admin host:

for f in `cat ~/linux_hostnames.txt `
do
echo backing up $f; ssh $f 'sudo tar cvf - /var/spool/cron/' > $f.tar
done

for f in `cat ~/hpux_hostnames.txt `
do
echo backing up $f; ssh $f 'sudo tar cvf - /var/spool/cron/crontabs' > $f.tar
done

Let me know if this is useful to you.

Best,
Aleksey

The syntax is:

zip output_archive_name input_file_name

Examples:

zip new_archive_name existing_file_name

will compress existing_file_aname into new_archive_name.zip

zip new_archive_name directory_name

will create new_archive_name.zip

I wrote this script to insert a timestamp into the pipeline. I call it "teetime" after /usr/bin/tee.

It can make vmstat more informative, for example:

vmstat 1 | teetime


14Feb2008-18:21:51 procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- ----cpu----
14Feb2008-18:21:51 r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa
14Feb2008-18:21:51 1 0 160 15796 41996 255964 0 0 0 0 1035 88 0 0 100 0
14Feb2008-18:21:52 0 0 160 15796 41996 255964 0 0 0 208 1049 99 0 0 99 0