tape device

[hangyu]

I try to tar something to tape drive , ( tar -cvf /dev/st0 /tmp/* ) , but found that the files didn't copy to the tape , but only copy it to the file /dev/st0 , ( now the file /dev/st0 is large in size ) , I also use "dmesg |grep tape" but didn't have any output , can advise where is the path of the tape drive ? thx

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

Shalom,

Fire up sam

Kernel

Make sure the stape driver is installed.

If not, you'll need to install it and this will require a system boot

SEP

[Steven E. Protter]

Disregard last post.

My mind and fingers were in HP-UX mode.

run hwbrowser

See if the device is present. Device information should be available

lspci

SEP

[hangyu]

thx replies,

I can use it three months ago , it works fine , I am not sure whether any driver has problem , I tried "/sbin/lspci |grep tape" , but can't find anything . can advise how to check the status of the tape ? thx

[Ivan Ferreira]

Recently, I had a customer in which the tape device dissapeared for some reason, a simple:

cd /dev
rm st0
./MAKEDEV st0

Solved the problem. You may try that.

[hangyu]

thx reply,

I tried MAKEDEV st0 , it seems have created st0 under /dev , then I try to tar file to the tape , it pop the below message and then hang , can advise what is wrong ? thx

$tar -cvf /dev/st0 /tmp/*
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
tmp/ora_s.txt
tar: /dev/st0: Wrote only 0 of 10240 bytes
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

[Stuart Browne]

Do you have a 'SEQUENTIAL ACCESS' device listed in '/proc/scsi/scsi'?

If you 'lsmod', do you see the 'st' module?

In boot-up POST, do you see the tape drive listed?

[hangyu]

1) Yes, it is presence

Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 06 Lun: 00
Vendor: ARCHIVE Model: Python 06408-XXX Rev: 9100
Type: Sequential-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03

2)
#/sbin/lsmod |grep st
st 31524 0
scsi_mod 115756 6 [iscsi_sfnet sg st aacraid aic7xxx sd_mod]

3) I couldn't reboot the server in a short period of time , is there any method to check except reboot it ? thx

[hangyu]

can advise how can I check the status of the tape ? thx

[hangyu]

I checked the tape status , it seems normal , can advise why I still can't use it ? thx

#mt -f /dev/st0 status
SCSI 2 tape drive:
File number=0, block number=0, partition=0.
Tape block size 0 bytes. Density code 0x26 (DDS-4 or QIC-4GB).
Soft error count since last status=0
General status bits on (41010000):
BOT ONLINE IM_REP_EN

[Matti_Kurkela]

Something may be wrong with the tape device file.

What does "ls -l /dev/st0" display?

It should be something like:
crw-rw---- 1 root root 9, 0 2007-03-20 17:40 /dev/st0

The permissions and group may be different, but the numbers like "9, 0" should be there.
The first letter of the line should definitely be "c".

Please run "cat /proc/devices" and confirm that there is a line
9 st
in the "Character devices" group. If the number is different, the first (=major) number of the device should match that.

[hangyu]

thx reply,

I have new founding , this time when I tar file to it , it pop the below , it seems the SCSI has problem , is it possible to restart all SCSI devices

parity error detected in Data-in phase SEQADDR(0x1aa) SCSIRATE(0x93) .

[Matti_Kurkela]

That might be a bad cable, loose connector or other hardware problem. If so, the restart probably will not help.

If your system disks are not connected on the same type of SCSI controller as the tape drive, you could unload and reload the SCSI controller driver. This should completely reset the SCSI controller.

To do this, you must know the name of your SCSI controller driver module.
The commands are:
rmmod
modprobe

[hangyu]

thx reply ,

if remove the SCSI driver , will it affect other device that is also connected to the SCSI ( the HD is also connected to SCSI now ) ? thx