Tape Drive on Red Hat Linux 8.0

[Edwin Ruiz_2]

Hi All,

I want to install an old HP DLT tape drive in my LH4 Server(OS: RedHat Linux 8.0).

I added a SCSI card (AHA-2940) and connected the tape drive with the SCSI
card by some cable. When I restart the server, the system automatically
detect the new hardware (the scsi controller card).

After this, I tried to install mt tape utilities
$ mt -f /dev/st0 status
$ /dev/st0 no such device

The system does not recognize the tape drive. I am wondering anything I
need to do in order for the system to recognize the tape drive.

I am a newbie to linux and I really appreciate your suggestions! Thanks!

[Steven E. Protter]

The good news Edwin is HP makes the drive.

The bad news is it may or may not be supported by Linux.

You best bet is to search the hp support websites by part number and Linux.

If there are Linux drivers, get them, and run the manual installation procedure.

You've of course made sure the SCSI id of the tape drive does not conflict witht he card and the card supports the DLT drive.

Give me a part number and if I have time, I'll conduct a search.

SEP

[Edwin Ruiz_2]

Thanks!
But i have other DLT on Linux Red Hat 7.2 and it si working Fine. It is with RH 8.0 that not Function. The device is a Quantum DLT 7000

[Huc_1 · Accepted solution]

Ruiz,

have a look at the information in dmesg like this

#dmesg | more

in there some where you should have more informations on what scsi device the system see's at boot up time

If you find nothing there you could try

#insmod st

this will invoke module for st (scsi tape ) if you system know about this module

then tey again the command

# mt -f /dev/st0 status

I also have used a DLT7000 on a redhat 7.3 for a while and not problem

Tell s how you are getting along, and if this help you along.


J-P

[Edwin Ruiz_2]

thanks!

I get that messages

[root@salato-apl11 root]# insmod st
Using /lib/modules/2.4.18-14smp/kernel/drivers/scsi/st.o
insmod: a module named st already exists

[root@salato-apl11 root]# mt -f /dev/st0 status
/dev/st0: No such device

can u help me about this?

[Huc_1]

Did you get anymore information from dmesg ?
is you tape seen at boot time this will be recorder in dmesg !

You can also do the command

#cdrecord -scanbus

this will show all the devices (disk and/or tapes) that are seen on the scsi bus.

check both dmesg and cdrecord ... if you do not find anything there then, maybe your tape is not seen at boot time.

Tell us about what you find, well try and help from there

J-P

[Edwin Ruiz_2]

Thanks:

cdrecord -scanbus show no tapes
i cant see nothing about tape on dmesg
When i boot my server i can see on BIOS but linux cant see it.

Do i have to install some driver for that?

Thanks for all

[Stuart Browne]

Ok, as stated earlier the drive it's self should have no issues.

We need to go back to basics here!

Start at BIOS level. Make sure the tape appears when the machine boots, and the SCSI BIOS probe's all the ID's. Double check the ID, and the SCSI termination.

Next, we need to make sure the SCSI controller is recognised, and working under Linux.

Using the 'demsg' command, and /var/log/dmesg, look for references to your AHA2940 Adaptect controller. From memory, it uses the 'aic7xxx' driver.

You may want to check your module listing to make sure it's inserted (lsmod | grep aic).

If it's there, then check '/proc/scsi/scsi', see what's listed in there. It should list the controller, as well as any attached devices.

My guess at this point however is that because it's a new controller, the kernel isn't currently loading the driver for it. A quick check of /etc/sysconfig/hwconf and /etc/modules.conf will confirm this. The modules.conf should have a line similar to 'alias scsi_hostadapter0 aic7xxx' in it.

Kudzu should have picked it up however, unless you disabled it (I know I usually do.. It's a server! You don't want it changing config's on you!). The LH4 does have an Adaptec controller onboard, but if you are using the onboard RAID controllers, it is probably disabled.

[Edwin Ruiz_2]

Thanks for ur information. Thst is th information i have.

1. BIOS detect DLT 7000
2. dmseg show no nothing about AHA2940
3. lsmod|grep aic, show nothing
4. I send /etc/sysconfig/hwconfig archive
5. this is /proc/scsi/scsi content
[root@salato-apl11 scsi]# more scsi
Attached devices:
Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: MegaRAID Model: LD0 RAID5 86825R Rev: D
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02


6. [root@salato-apl11 etc]# more modules.conf
alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
alias eth0 eepro100
alias scsi_hostadapter megaraid
alias scsi_hostadapter1 sym53c8xx


thanks for ur help

[Stuart Browne]

Some things to try:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/kudzu start

This should poke and prod the system, and hopefully find that you've got a new SCSI controller, and tape drive.

If it doesn't, then do the following:

modprobe aic7xxx
modprobe st

If these work, then you need to add the following to /etc/modules.conf:

alias scsi_hostadapter2 aic7xxx

see if that helps.

[Paulo A G Fessel]

Probably you don't know how to remake your ramdisk, so I won't bother you with this suggestion.

Anyway, you can edit /etc/modules and just add the following:

aic7xxx
st

and so these modules will get loaded automagically at boot.

For the device naming - 2.4 has devfs which sometimes mess off with things. The *real* tape device will be probably in a path like

/dev/scsi/host2/bus0/targetX/lun0/tape

where X is the target you assigned to your DLT. Obviously you can ever issue

ln -sf /dev/st0 /dev/scsi/host2/bus0/targetX/lun0/tape

or use the long, obnoxious path.

HTH
Paulo Fessel

[Edwin Ruiz_2]

Thanks for all!

When i run #modprobe aic7xxx, i get this error

[root@salato-apl11 dev]# modprobe aic7xxx
/lib/modules/2.4.18-14smp/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic7xxx.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.18-14smp/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic7xxx.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.18-14smp/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic7xxx.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.18-14smp/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/aic7xxx.o: insmod aic7xxx failed

it is that a HW problem o a Driver problem?

Thanks

[Paulo A G Fessel]

What does "less /proc/scsi/scsi" show?

If it isn't there, then your SCSI adapter has a problem, defintely.

HTH
Paulo Fessel

[Edwin Ruiz_2]

This is that command show

Attached devices:
Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: MegaRAID Model: LD0 RAID5 86825R Rev: D
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02

[Paulo A G Fessel]

So...

...if your card is firmly seated on your server...

...AND you try a modprobe aic7xxx and your card is shown as nonexistent...

...AND /proc/scsi/scsi doesn't show your card...

...then defitely your card has a problem.

Try to reseat it and restart your server. If it stills get undetected, then change your card. If changing your card doesn't help, then change it from slot. If it doesn't help, change your mobo. =:-0

Good luck,
Paulo Fessel

[Edwin Ruiz_2]

Ok Thanks!!!