topic Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error in Operating System - OpenVMS

SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Anton Shterenlikht — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 07:05:08 GMT

Hi

I use
AlphaServer DS10L 466 MHz Console V7.2-1, Jun 9 2006 15:57:00

When I try to run exer with write action on the SCSI disk I get the following error:

>>>exer -sb 0 -p 1 -a ?r-w-Rc -m dka0
dka0.0.0.17.0 is write protected
file open failed for dka0

packet IOs elapsed idle
size IOs bytes read bytes written /sec bytes/sec seconds secs
0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
>>>

How can make the disk write enabled?

In case it is relevant, here is the fragment of
>>>show config

PCI Hose 00
Bus 00 Slot 07: Acer Labs M1543C
Bridge to Bus 1, ISA
Bus 00 Slot 09: DE500-BA Network Controller
ewa0.0.0.9.0 08-00-2B-87-42-31
Bus 00 Slot 11: DE500-BA Network Controller
ewb0.0.0.11.0 08-00-2B-87-42-4E
Bus 00 Slot 13: Acer Labs M1543C IDE
dqa.0.0.13.0
dqb0.0.1.13.0 CD-224E
Bus 00 Slot 17: NCR 53C895
pka0.7.0.17.0 SCSI Bus ID 7
dka0.0.0.17.0 QUANTUM ATLAS10K3_18

Also, what manual is the best to read for the SRM 7.2-1 commands? The one I've got, Alphaserver DS10L Console Reference, is dated 2000 and has only about a quarter of the SRM commands shown in >>>help.

Thanks
anton

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Wim Van den Wyngaert — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:38:07 GMT

The manual
http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/download/srm_reference.pdf

Wim

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Wim Van den Wyngaert — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:43:54 GMT

One of the examples is
exer â a â ?r-w-Rcâ dka400

Could it be that you need those quotes ?

Wim

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Wim Van den Wyngaert — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:49:04 GMT

Mmm. That was not digested well by HP.

Check the examples yourself and see how the quotes are used.

Wim

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Anton Shterenlikht — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:11:46 GMT

thanks, I've seen this manual before, but I was unsure if it is relevant to DS10L because the title lists very different alpha systems.

Anyway, it is precisely from this manual that I borrowed my exer example. It works fine with no quotes for read and compare, the problem arises only when I want to write on disk.

If I do use quotes as in the manual I get strange behaviour:

Testing the System
Testing the Disks (read only)
Testing ew* devices.
System Temperature is 39 degrees C

AlphaServer DS10L 466 MHz Console V7.2-1, Jun 9 2006 15:57:00
>>>
>>>exer -a '?r-w-Rc' dka0
dka0.0.0.17.0 is write protected
file open failed for dka0
>>>exer -a `?r-w-Rc' dka0
_>
_>
_>^C
_>^C
_>^C
_>^C
_>

Note the change of opening bracket in the second example.

^C is me pressing CTRL/C. In the end I have to reset the system via RMC.

thanks
anton

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Wim Van den Wyngaert — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:18:53 GMT

Sure you used the right quotes ?
I even don't have them both on my keyboard.

Wim

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Wim Van den Wyngaert — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:24:45 GMT

Most C programs downshift the parameters if they are not quoted. But I'm not sure what kind of Unix like quoting SRM needs.

Wim

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Anton Shterenlikht — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:31:14 GMT

using double quotes "" still gives write protected.
Is there a way a disk can appear write protected to SRM?

anton

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Wim Van den Wyngaert — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 11:22:35 GMT

Don't have a system like that with which I can play. Sorry.

Wim

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Steven Schweda — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:23:38 GMT

I don't know how to tell "exer" that it's ok
to write to the disk, but from its use of
quotation marks, it's pretty clear that the
"SRM Console Reference" cited is not to be
trusted.

All the "_>" prompts were caused by unclosed
quotation marks ("`" or "'"). Apparently,
the person/program who/which created the
manual had "smart-quotes" (or some such
feature) enabled, which makes for
better-looking text, but not better-working
commands.

On old MicroVAXes, one needed to run a
separate command to write special data onto a
disk or tape before the diagnostic test
would write to the device. I don't know
what's true here, but, for a start, I'd
discard and forget about the quotation marks.
Worst case: Stick to apostrophes.

> Most C programs downshift the parameters if
> they are not quoted.

Possibly true for the VMS C RTL, but this is
SRM, not VMS. (Note the different letters.)

In my limited experience, I've found that the
SRM documentation tends to be incomplete or
defective much of the time. Sadly, that's
not much help to you. I normally exercise my
SCSI disks on a Solaris (UltraSPARC) system,
using "format".

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

R. Verkerk — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 02:27:55 GMT

Hello,

Before you can write to a disk using the exerciser under SRM you have to write enable it.

something like:
>>> chmod +wr dka0.0.0.17.0

and than write to it

>>>exer -a wr dka0 &

>>> show_status !! show state of exerciser

>>> kill_diags !! stop exercisers

greetings,

Robert Verkerk

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Wim Van den Wyngaert — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 02:55:21 GMT

Steven,

SRM seems unix (and thus C) based if you look at the syntax of the commands. So, I still think some quoting could be needed to prevent the downshift.

Wim

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Anton Shterenlikht — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 03:49:00 GMT

chmod worked, thanks!

chmod command does figure in my SRM help
>>>help

but is not mentioned at all in
http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/download/srm_reference.pdf

Is there a way to let HP/VMS teams know about these SRM documentation discrepancies?

thanks again
anton

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

R. Verkerk — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 04:26:56 GMT

Hello,

If you do a search in the document it is mentioned with the help function.

This (chmod) is a very dangerous command. You could yust delete al info on a system disk. Oops !!

So it is in the help of the console. I don't think HP will do much about it.

greetings,

Robert Verkerk

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Steven Schweda — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 10:49:59 GMT

WVdW:

> I still think some quoting could be needed
> to prevent the downshift.

What "downshift"? Only the VMS C RTL does
that, and no one here is dealing with the VMS
C RTL. SRM doesn't do it. UNIX (or anything
UNIX-like) doesn't do it.

In any case, it's nice to know the actual
solution to the problem.

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Anton Shterenlikht — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 11:29:24 GMT

forgive my ignorance, what's downshift?

Re: SRM - exer - disk write protected error

Ian Miller. — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 11:43:36 GMT

in this case downshift means converting letters to lower case. The CRTL does this for command lines unless quoted. DCL upshifts, upcases, makes upper case, the command line.

english - such a flexible language :-)