tar: 0511-825 The file is too large.

Today I had to tar a directory but I got the following error:

root@gzaix:/ora #tar cvf system.tar system
a system
a system/PRODU
a system/PRODU/afiedt.buf 3 blocks.
a system/PRODU/control01.ctl 17952 blocks.
a system/PRODU/lost+found
a system/PRODU/sysaux01.dbf 4730896 blocks.
a system/PRODU/system01.dbf 1413136 blocks.
[color=red]tar: 0511-825 The file 'system/PRODU/temp01.dbf' is too large.
tar: 0511-825 The file 'system/PRODU/undotbs01.dbf' is too large.[/color]

It turns out that AIX tar has a 2 GB limit to the file size. You will have to install and use tar from the Linux Toolbox:
IBM AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications

Download the RPM, put it to your box and install it:

root@gzaix:/tmp #rpm -Uvh tar-1.14-2.aix5.1.ppc.rpm
tar                         ##################################################
root@gzaix:/tmp #rpm -ql tar-1.14-2       
/opt/freeware/bin/tar
/opt/freeware/info/tar.info.gz
/opt/freeware/share/locale/cs/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/da/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/et/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/fi/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/gl/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/hr/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/hu/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/id/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/it/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/ja/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/ko/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/ms/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/nb/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/nl/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/pl/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/pt/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/ro/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/ru/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/sk/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/sl/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/sv/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/tr/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/opt/freeware/share/locale/zh_TW/LC_MESSAGES/tar.mo
/usr/bin/gtar
/usr/linux/bin/gtar
/usr/linux/bin/tar

Now you just run gtar instead of tar and everything should be ok:

root@gzaix:/ora #gtar cvf system.tar system
system/
system/PRODU/
system/PRODU/afiedt.buf
system/PRODU/control01.ctl
system/PRODU/lost+found/
system/PRODU/sysaux01.dbf
system/PRODU/system01.dbf
system/PRODU/temp01.dbf
system/PRODU/undotbs01.dbf