SRM - exer - disk write protected error

[Anton Shterenlikht]

Hi

I use
AlphaServer DS10L 466 MHz Console V7.2-1, Jun 9 2006 15:57:00

When I try to run exer with write action on the SCSI disk I get the following error:

>>>exer -sb 0 -p 1 -a ?r-w-Rc -m dka0
dka0.0.0.17.0 is write protected
file open failed for dka0

packet IOs elapsed idle
size IOs bytes read bytes written /sec bytes/sec seconds secs
0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
>>>

How can make the disk write enabled?

In case it is relevant, here is the fragment of
>>>show config

PCI Hose 00
Bus 00 Slot 07: Acer Labs M1543C
Bridge to Bus 1, ISA
Bus 00 Slot 09: DE500-BA Network Controller
ewa0.0.0.9.0 08-00-2B-87-42-31
Bus 00 Slot 11: DE500-BA Network Controller
ewb0.0.0.11.0 08-00-2B-87-42-4E
Bus 00 Slot 13: Acer Labs M1543C IDE
dqa.0.0.13.0
dqb0.0.1.13.0 CD-224E
Bus 00 Slot 17: NCR 53C895
pka0.7.0.17.0 SCSI Bus ID 7
dka0.0.0.17.0 QUANTUM ATLAS10K3_18

Also, what manual is the best to read for the SRM 7.2-1 commands? The one I've got, Alphaserver DS10L Console Reference, is dated 2000 and has only about a quarter of the SRM commands shown in >>>help.

Thanks
anton

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

The manual
http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/download/srm_reference.pdf

Wim

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

One of the examples is
exer â a â ?r-w-Rcâ dka400

Could it be that you need those quotes ?

Wim

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Mmm. That was not digested well by HP.

Check the examples yourself and see how the quotes are used.

Wim

[Anton Shterenlikht]

thanks, I've seen this manual before, but I was unsure if it is relevant to DS10L because the title lists very different alpha systems.

Anyway, it is precisely from this manual that I borrowed my exer example. It works fine with no quotes for read and compare, the problem arises only when I want to write on disk.

If I do use quotes as in the manual I get strange behaviour:


Testing the System
Testing the Disks (read only)
Testing ew* devices.
System Temperature is 39 degrees C

AlphaServer DS10L 466 MHz Console V7.2-1, Jun 9 2006 15:57:00
>>>
>>>exer -a '?r-w-Rc' dka0
dka0.0.0.17.0 is write protected
file open failed for dka0
>>>exer -a `?r-w-Rc' dka0
_>
_>
_>^C
_>^C
_>^C
_>^C
_>

Note the change of opening bracket in the second example.

^C is me pressing CTRL/C. In the end I have to reset the system via RMC.

thanks
anton

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Sure you used the right quotes ?
I even don't have them both on my keyboard.

Wim

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Most C programs downshift the parameters if they are not quoted. But I'm not sure what kind of Unix like quoting SRM needs.

Wim

[Anton Shterenlikht]

using double quotes "" still gives write protected.
Is there a way a disk can appear write protected to SRM?

anton

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Don't have a system like that with which I can play. Sorry.

Wim

[Steven Schweda]

I don't know how to tell "exer" that it's ok
to write to the disk, but from its use of
quotation marks, it's pretty clear that the
"SRM Console Reference" cited is not to be
trusted.

All the "_>" prompts were caused by unclosed
quotation marks ("`" or "'"). Apparently,
the person/program who/which created the
manual had "smart-quotes" (or some such
feature) enabled, which makes for
better-looking text, but not better-working
commands.

On old MicroVAXes, one needed to run a
separate command to write special data onto a
disk or tape before the diagnostic test
would write to the device. I don't know
what's true here, but, for a start, I'd
discard and forget about the quotation marks.
Worst case: Stick to apostrophes.

> Most C programs downshift the parameters if
> they are not quoted.

Possibly true for the VMS C RTL, but this is
SRM, not VMS. (Note the different letters.)

In my limited experience, I've found that the
SRM documentation tends to be incomplete or
defective much of the time. Sadly, that's
not much help to you. I normally exercise my
SCSI disks on a Solaris (UltraSPARC) system,
using "format".

[R. Verkerk · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Before you can write to a disk using the exerciser under SRM you have to write enable it.

something like:
>>> chmod +wr dka0.0.0.17.0

and than write to it

>>>exer -a wr dka0 &

>>> show_status !! show state of exerciser

>>> kill_diags !! stop exercisers

greetings,

Robert Verkerk

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Steven,

SRM seems unix (and thus C) based if you look at the syntax of the commands. So, I still think some quoting could be needed to prevent the downshift.

Wim

[Anton Shterenlikht]

chmod worked, thanks!

chmod command does figure in my SRM help
>>>help

but is not mentioned at all in
http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/download/srm_reference.pdf

Is there a way to let HP/VMS teams know about these SRM documentation discrepancies?

thanks again
anton

[R. Verkerk]

Hello,

If you do a search in the document it is mentioned with the help function.

This (chmod) is a very dangerous command. You could yust delete al info on a system disk. Oops !!

So it is in the help of the console. I don't think HP will do much about it.

greetings,

Robert Verkerk

[Steven Schweda]

WVdW:

> I still think some quoting could be needed
> to prevent the downshift.

What "downshift"? Only the VMS C RTL does
that, and no one here is dealing with the VMS
C RTL. SRM doesn't do it. UNIX (or anything
UNIX-like) doesn't do it.

In any case, it's nice to know the actual
solution to the problem.

[Anton Shterenlikht]

forgive my ignorance, what's downshift?

[Ian Miller.]

in this case downshift means converting letters to lower case. The CRTL does this for command lines unless quoted. DCL upshifts, upcases, makes upper case, the command line.

english - such a flexible language :-)