How to get the tape working - 20/40 dat

[Gwendeline]

dmesg | grep -B 5 -A 5 -i "scsi"
Linux IP multicast router 0.06 plus PIM-SM
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
Freeing initrd memory: 297k freed
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
scsi0 : Adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI HBA DRIVER, Rev 6.2.8

aic7899: Ultra160 Wide Channel A, SCSI Id=7, 32/253 SCBs

scsi1 : Adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI HBA DRIVER, Rev 6.2.8

aic7899: Ultra160 Wide Channel B, SCSI Id=7, 32/253 SCBs

blk: queue dfda1c18, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
HP CISS Driver (v 2.4.42)
cciss: Device 0x46 has been found at bus 5 dev 2 func 0
cciss: using DAC cycles


[root@localhost root]# lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
ide-cd 35772 0 (autoclean)
cdrom 34176 0 (autoclean) [ide-cd]
parport_pc 19204 1 (autoclean)
lp 9188 0 (autoclean)
parport 39072 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
nfsd 81104 8 (autoclean)
lockd 59536 1 (autoclean) [nfsd]
sunrpc 87516 1 (autoclean) [nfsd lockd]
autofs 13684 0 (autoclean) (unused)
tg3 52904 1
keybdev 2976 0 (unused)
mousedev 5656 1
hid 22308 0 (unused)
input 6208 0 [keybdev mousedev hid]
usb-ohci 22216 0 (unused)
usbcore 82592 1 [hid usb-ohci]
ext3 73376 3
jbd 56336 3 [ext3]
cciss 44420 4
aic7xxx 142548 0 (unused)
sd_mod 13452 0 (unused)
scsi_mod 110488 2 [cciss aic7xxx sd_mod]


[root@localhost root]# insmod 'tape module'
insmod: tape module: no module by that name found

[Steven E. Protter]

looks to me like you have a scsi id conflict or a bad cable.

eyeball time.

SEP

[Gwendeline]

Can you please guide me how to confirm the problem ? I'm very new in linux.

[Stuart Browne]

When your machine boots up, the SCSI BIOS' will show what is connected to them.

Did you se eyour tape drive show up at this stage?

Oh, and the module you need for your tape is 'st' (scsi tape). If the kernel sees a tape attached to your SCSI bus during boot-up, it should automatically insert it anyway.

So steps to fix.. First things first, the SCSI BIOS. Does it see your tape. What ID is it at?

If it does, reboot. If it's not, check cabling, and termination on the tape device.

Check the contents of /proc/scsi/scsi, see if a 'Sequential Access' device is listed there. If it is, then your tape should be working.

[Martin P.J. Zinser]

Hello,

another easy way to check if the device is
seen on the bus is to run cdrecord -scanbus.

Greetings, Martin

[Jeffrey Pogodzinski]

Someone solved this problem for me by...

Assuming that your are using the 5i+ or another array controller that uses cciss, put the following script (in a file called compaq_cciss_scsi) in /etc/rc.d/init.d:

for x in /proc/driver/cciss/cciss[0-9]*
do
echo "engage scsi" > $x
done

The echo command will engage the cciss scsi support and the script will keep the setup going across reboots.

[Gwendeline]

I have upgraded from red hat 9 to fedora ( rh 10 ) when i boot up when it come to the part where it scan for scsi devices . it give error :
No scsi boot device found
SCSI BIOS not installed.

[Gwendeline]

cdrecord -clone 2.0.1a19 (1686-redhat-linux-gnu)
cdrecord : no such file or directory , cannot open ' dev/pg*'. Cannot open SCSI driver.
cdrecord: For possible target try 'cdrecord -scanbus' make sure you are root
cdrecord: for posible transport specifiers try 'cdresord dev=help'



i can't find the file in init.d

[Gwendeline]

>insmod st
/lib/modules/2.4.22-1.2115.nptl/kernel/drivers/scsi/st.o

what does this mean?

[Alexander Chuzhoy]

In modulary kernel you have the ability to load modules without recompile the kernel.
Thus the command 'insmod st' means load the modules name st, while the second line shows the full path to the loaded module...

[Brice_3]

Redhat use kudzu to detect hardware. So, you can use command:

kudzu -p

to rescan the hardware to see if you can find the tape drive, it also shows you the module loaded for that device.

if st module is not loaded for the tape drive, you can use either insmod or modeprobe -a to insert st module.

[Martin P.J. Zinser]

Hello Moke,

after the insmod st you should now have activated the scsi tape support on your system.
Also the cdrecord command I suggested was
"cdrecord -scanbus" to actually see what is on the SCSI bus. (Actually cdrecord suggested as much in the error you posted ;-)

Greetings, Martin

[Gwendeline]

This time when i did a insmod st
result :

/lib/modules/2.4.22-1.2115.nptl/kernel/driver/scsi/st.o

Does this mean that I have the tape drive?

Then how do I do a backup ? in Fedora ?

[Brice_3]

To verify the tape drive status, you can use command:
#mt -f /dev/st0 status

You can use mt command to rewind, forward, erase tape, etc. See mt man page. Probably you also want to use:

#mt -f /dev/st0 datacompression 1
(enable hardware compression)
#mt -f /dev/st0 setblk 10240
(set block size 10K, since most of backup commands use default block size 10K)

Then you can use tar, cpio or dd to backup. Notice the difference between st* and nst*, when you use st* (such as st0, st1, etc), it will rewind the tape automaticly while nst* devices does not.

[Gwendeline]

nothing happen . after I issue these command . it is as if the tape drive is not there .

#mt -f /dev/st0 datacompression 1
(enable hardware compression)
#mt -f /dev/st0 setblk 10240
(set block size 10K, since most of backup commands use default block size 10K)

Sorry for late reply .

[Stuart Browne]

You stated that the BIOS didn't see any devices attached to the SCSI chain.

It appears to be a cabling issue. The system can't find the device, not just the Operating System (Linux).

Verify that the SCSI Tape drive is correctly plugged in, and ensure that when the system boots up (before the OS) that the tape drive is recognised.

Once this occurs, then everything else should fall into place.

[Gwendeline]

I have check the cable. But still the same . Do I need to install the drive for this Dat 20/40 for Fedore Core 1 ?

[Stuart Browne]

Once again, if it's not showing up in the BOOT process, then the entire system can't see it, and no driver will help you.

There *IS NO DRIVER* required beyond what you've already got (the 'st' module).

Until the SCSI BIOS at boot can see the tape drive attached to one of it's bus', then there's nothing in Linux you can do to rectify the problem.

If you've already gone through and checked the cabling, you should easily be able to tell us the following details:

What SCSI controller is the Tape drive connected to?

Which SCCI Bus is the tape drive connected too?

What is the SCSI ID of the tape drive?

Does the tape drive have power?

[Gwendeline]

- There is power on the tape drive.

Ad for the othere information I will need to check .But how do i ?

- How to determine which SCSI BUS ?

- How can I get the SCSI ID ?

[Stuart Browne · Accepted solution]

When you boot the system up, in the POST section, it will initilize all of the SCSI controllers you have in the system.

As each one does this, it will come up and say what devices are connected to what bus' at what ID's.

This should provide you with all the answers you need.

If it doesn't show up, then you still have a cabling issue.

[Gwendeline]

The problem was caused by the loose cable at the tape drive end .

I reconnect the scsi cable . did a restart and

SCSI 1:A:6 SDT->10000
/dev/st0


Now I have to figure out how to do a schedule backup

Thanks !