using mc command to move media from/to drives slots for MSL 8096

[sujit kumar singh]

Hi

I have an MSL8096 with 4 Drives and all the drives are presented to an rx6600 server, HP-UX 11.23.

All the 4 Drives as well as the changer are visible as CLAIMED in the ioscan as run on the server
the device files are as:

for changer:
/dev/rac/c44t0d1
/dev/rscsi/c44t0d1 and the

The TL Drives have the 4 Different Device Files.
I just wanted to know if i can use the mc command to move the media from tape drives to slots or vice versa.

referring to the mc command i can see

-r DS -- report
-c DS -- if movement is possible
-sD1 -dS10 --- to move from Drive1 to Slot10
mc -p device_file_name -- For the Pass through device files.

mc wothout any options shows me possible options of mc command
but any option as i would give to mc command shows me as 'no such file or directory"
Please suggest, what is teh correct way to use mc on 11.23
regards
sujit

[Suraj K Sankari · Accepted solution]

Hi Sujit,
I got this 2 command from net see this.

To move media from an embedded drive to slot 5 and then move media from slot 2 to an embedded drive.
mc -s D1 -d S5 -s S2 -d D1
To check if a move from a Data Transfer element to a Storage element is possible.
mc -c DS

Suraj

[sujit kumar singh]

Hi Suraj,
'
the man pages also show this.
but i need to know as mc -r DS -- shpuld show some O/p similar to this.


mc -r DS

The following shows an example of output from the above command. The
output indicates that there is an item of media in slot 2 (ST_slot_2),
an item of media in the embedded drive (DT_slot_1), and all the other
slots are empty.

DT_slot_1 FULL

ST_slot_1 EMPTY

ST_slot_2 FULL

ST_slot_3 EMPTY

ST_slot_4 EMPTY

ST_slot_5 EMPTY

ST_slot_6 EMPTY


referring to the man page.

but as i give mc -r DS on the system, instead showing O/P like this i am getting error message as
# mc -r DS
ERROR: No such file or directory
#

if this runs properly i should be able to see the 4 Drives and 96 slots as on the MSL 8096 FC attahcd Tape Library.

but i am not getting such O/P.

i perhaps need to know if there is some more configuration required? i am not too sure either.

regards
sujit

[Duncan Edmonstone]

sujit,

You also need to tell it the address of the changer... so either:

mc -r DS -p /dev/rac/c44t0d1

or for multiple commands set the environment variable LIBRARY before calling mc:

export LIBRARY=/dev/rac/c44t0d1
mc -r DS
mc -s D1 -d S10

I also always make sure I combine these with the mt command to make sure a tape drive is rewound and offline before attempting to take it out of a drive.

So before attempting to take a tape out of a drive uisng mc, I'd always issue:

mt -f /dev/rmt/2mn offl

I'm always scared if I don't do that, that the robotics will "rip" the tape out of the drive.... in truth I think firmware in most libraries will insure this doesn't happen, but I always think "better safe than sorry"

HTH

Duncan

[sujit kumar singh]

Thanks Duncan and Suraj,

i shall try the LIBRARY variable setting as suggested by you , then also try specifying the -p /dev/rac/c44t0d1 which is the changer, and shall let you know the findings.

Thanks again!

[TTr]

> ERROR: No such file or directory

It looks like the mc command does not know which device to use for the library changer. You can specify that by
use -p /dev/rac/c44t0d1
or set the LIBRARY variable as mentioned
or create the default changer device for mc, /dev/scsi/3. Create a symbolic link from /dev/scsi/3 pointing to /dev/rac/c44t0d1

> Duncan: I'm always scared if I don't do that, that the robotics will "rip" the tape out of the drive.... in truth I think firmware in most libraries will insure this doesn't happen, but I always think "better safe than sorry"

That can not happen. If you think about an external standalone tape drive, when a tape is loaded in the drive, it sits farther in inside the drive and the changer can not grab it. When it is unloaded it moves out and sticks out from the front of the drive and that's when the grabber can get it. But an offl command never hurts, it can prevent errors and can notify you in case of catch of a break-down of a drive and/or tape.

[Duncan Edmonstone]

TTr,

>> That can not happen. If you think about an external standalone tape drive, when a tape is loaded in the drive, it sits farther in inside the drive and the changer can not grab it. When it is unloaded it moves out and sticks out from the front of the drive and that's when the grabber can get it. But an offl command never hurts, it can prevent errors and can notify you in case of catch of a break-down of a drive and/or tape.

That might be the case for DDS/DAT tapes, but generally not for DLT or LTO tape drives in libraries... again I doubt its a real problem, but I like to wear a belt *and* braces (suspenders for you yanks)

HTH

Duncan