how to check the Tape drives working condition by using command.

[senthil_kumar_1]

Hi

I am using hpux 10.20, 11.00 and 11.11.

We can view the Tape drives availability thru "ioscan" command.

How to check whether Tape Drive are working fine?

Is there any command available to check the Working condition of the Tape Drive?

[Patrick Wallek]

The true test is to see if you can write to and read from the tape drives.

Put a tape in the drive and use something like tar or fbackup to write to the tape. The try restoring what you just wrote. If that works, you can feel pretty good that your tape drives are functional.

[Durvesh Mendhekar]

Hi Senthil,

If the command ioscan -funC tape is showing CLAIMED then you can consider it as device is fine but concerning about it working you can check it by inserting a tape and taking a test backup.

Regards
Durvesh

[senthil_kumar_1]

Hi

I issued following command to check the tape drives availability.

root@aa128116:/root > ioscan -funC tape
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
=====================================================================
tape 1 0/6/0/0.1.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE QUANTUM DLT7000
/dev/rmt/1m /dev/rmt/1mnb /dev/rmt/c4t1d0BESTn
/dev/rmt/1mb /dev/rmt/c4t1d0BEST /dev/rmt/c4t1d0BESTnb
/dev/rmt/1mn /dev/rmt/c4t1d0BESTb



I am seeing six names for one tape device for example:

/dev/rmt/1m

/dev/rmt/1mb

/dev/rmt/1mn

/dev/rmt/1mnb

/dev/rmt/c4t1d0BEST

/dev/rmt/c4t1d0BESTb

/dev/rmt/c4t1d0BESTn

/dev/rmt/c4t1d0BESTnb


In above sixe file, which file that we have to use.

Pls clarify me.

[Sunny123_1]

Hi

You can use one of the above .But by default you use /dev/rmt/1mn or /dev/rmt/1m


Regards
Sunny

[senthil_kumar_1]

Hi

In of my hpux server, Hardware Type of Tape device is "NO_HW". what does it mean.

Ex:

lndsll03:/homeroot->ioscan -funC tape
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
========================================================================
tape 1 0/4/1/1.1.0.255.0.0.1 stape NO_HW DEVICE HP Ultrium 3-SCSI
tape 2 0/4/1/1.1.0.255.0.0.2 stape NO_HW DEVICE HP Ultrium 3-SCSI


Pls clarify.

[senthil_kumar_1]

Sorry it is "S/W state" but not "Hardware Type".

[Sunny123_1 · Accepted solution]

Hi

No_hw state means that it is not connected to your system.

Regards
Sunny

[Bill Hassell]

There is no way to check a tape drive's working condition without putting a tape in the drive, writing something to it such as a small tar file and then rewinding and reading the table of contents.

ioscan simply identifies the drive. NO_HW means that at some time in the past, there was a tape drive connected to that hardware path, but it has been removed or powered off.

You can use the mt command to read the status:

mt -t /dev/rmt/1m status

NOTE: older versions of HP-UX do not have the status command. See your man page for mt on each system.

The names of the tape device files reflect their default behavior. Use the command:

lssf /dev/rmt/*

to decode the capabilities. Use the device file that meets your needs.

[Suraj K Sankari]

Hi,
Here is the software state of ioscan

Software state The result of software binding.
CLAIMED -:- software bound successfully
UNCLAIMED -:- no associated software found
DIFF_HW -:- software found does not match the associated software
NO_HW -:- the hardware at this address is no longer responding
ERROR -:- the hardware at this address is responding but is in an error state
SCAN -:- node locked, try again later


Suraj

[Sajjad Sahir]

Dear Senthil

If u would like to know tape is working or not u should have to take a test backup on tape. This is way to check the tape working condition.

thanks and regards

Sajjad Sahir

[Kranti Mahmud]

Hi Senthil,

tape 1 0/4/1/1.1.0.255.0.0.1 stape NO_HW DEVICE HP Ultrium 3-SCSI
tape 2 0/4/1/1.1.0.255.0.0.2 stape NO_HW DEVICE HP Ultrium 3-SCSI

means...there is no HW attahced through SCSI in this server.
If it is connected, the status will be CLAIMED.

For more info for your thread, check the following threads:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1128494

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1324378

Rgds-Kranti

[Jitesh purohit_1]

Hi Senthil

Are you using any Backup Software like

1) HPDP
2) veritas

You can check uma command in HPDP to check the status of the tape drive..

Thanks
Jitesh

[subodhbagade]

Hi,

please try following steps:--

(1)ioscan -fnC tape to check the tape path .. (..it should be /dev/rmt/xmn)

(2)# mt -f /dev/rmt/0mn status ( to check the status of tape)

(3)#mt -f /dev/rmt/xmn rewind ( To rewind the tape )

(4) Try to take the test backup using fbackup as

fbackup -i /tmp/test -f /dev/rmt/0mn ( Taking the bkp of /tmp/test on tape

(5)frecover -f /dev/rmt/0mn -x -v -i /usr ( Restore on /usr and verify the data )

(6) if you are able to recover the backed up data then tape is proper.

Regards,
Subodh.

[Michael Steele_2]

Bill is right, subdoh is right, the rest don't always give enough.

mt -t /dev/rmt/0m stat