Unexpected field value in snapshot file
This article is a part of the Troubleshooting collection.
Problem
amdump fails with e.g.,
planner: disk HOSTNAME:/path, estimate of level NNN failed: -1.
and an examination of the relevant sendsize log reveals
tar: Unexpected field value in snapshot file
yet the estimate of the level 0 succeeded.
Solution
There are two possible causes for this problem.
If you are using a version of Amanda prior to 2.5.0p2 with GNU tar 1.15.91 or later, then this is due to a format change in tar that is not recognized by Amanda. Either upgrade Amanda to 2.5.0p2 or later, or downgrade tar.
This error may also be caused by corrupt tar incremental snapshot files; in this case, removing the suspect file (without the .new suffix) will correct the error.
Links
- http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg35326.html
- http://forums.zmanda.com/archive/index.php/t-299.html
- http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?18487 (possible source of snapshot corruption)