svcadm(8)을 검색하려면 섹션에서 8 을 선택하고, 맨 페이지 이름에 svcadm을 입력하고 검색을 누른다.
st(4d)
st(4D) Device Drivers & /dev files st(4D)
NAME
st - driver for SCSI tape devices
SYNOPSIS
st@target,lun:l,m,h,c,ubn
DESCRIPTION
The st device driver provides a standard interface to various SCSI tape
devices. See mtio(4I) for details.
To determine if the st device driver supports your tape device, SPARC
users should enter the following on a command line:
% strings /kernel/drv/sparcv9/st | grep -i <tape device name>
x86 users can do the following to determine if the st device driver
supports a particular tape device:
% strings /kernel/drv/amd64/st | grep -i <tape device name>
The driver can be opened with either rewind on close or no rewind on
close options. It can also be opened with the O_NDELAY (see open(2))
option when there is no tape inserted in the drive. A maximum of four
tape formats per device are supported (see FILES below). The tape for‐
mat is specified using the device name. (Tape format is also referred
to as tape density).
Following are a list of SCSI commands that can be executed while an‐
other host reserves the tape drive. The commands are:
SCMD_TEST_UNIT_READY
SCMD_REQUEST_SENSE
SCMD_READ_BLKLIM
SCMD_INQUIRY
SCMD_RESERVE
SCMD_RELEASE
SCMD_DOORLOCK
SCMD_REPORT_DENSITIES
SCMD_LOG_SENSE_G1
SCMD_PERSISTENT_RESERVE_IN
SCMD_PERSISTENT_RESERVE_OUT
SCMD_REPORT_LUNS
In multi-initiator environments, the driver does not reserve the tape
drive if above commands are issued. For other SCSI commands, the driver
reserves the tape drive and releases the drive at close if it has been
reserved. Refer to the MTIOCRESERVE and MTIOCRELEASE ioctls in mtio(4I)
for information about how to allow a tape drive to remain reserved upon
close. See the flag options below for information about disabling this
feature.
If a SCSI-3 persistent reservation is done through the driver, the dri‐
ver disables all existing SCSI-2 reservations.
If the tape drive is opened in O_NDELAY mode, no reservation occurs
during the open, as per the POSIX standard (see standards(7)). However,
if a command not found in the above list is used, a reservation occurs
to provide reserve/release functionality before the command is issued.
Persistent Errors and Asynchronous Tape Operation
The st driver now supports persistent errors (see mtio(4I)) and asyn‐
chronous tape operations (see mtio(4I), aioread(3C), and aiowrite(3C)).
Read Operation
If the driver is opened for reading in a different format than the tape
is written in, the driver overrides the user-selected format. For exam‐
ple, if a 1/4" cartridge tape is written in QIC-24 format and opened
for reading in QIC-150, the driver detects a read failure on the first
read and automatically switches to QIC-24 to read the data.
If the low density format is used, no indication is given that the dri‐
ver has overridden the format you selected. Other formats issue a warn‐
ing message to inform you of an overridden format selection. Some de‐
vices automatically perform this function and do not require driver
support (1/2" reel tape drive, for example).
Write Operation
Writing from the beginning of tape is performed in the user-specified
format. The original tape format is used for appending onto previously
written tapes.
Data Protection
Drives that support SCSI T10 standard Logical Block Protection have a
minor node that have the letter d after the device number. If these
nodes are opened this enables this protection. This sets the drive to
check per block CRCs that are added to each block as they are written
and again when those blocks are read back. The host also checks and
compare the CRCs before returning them to the reading application to
ensure there has been no data corruption.
Tape Configuration
The st driver has a built-in configuration table for most tape drives
supported by Oracle. For those tape drives that are not in the table,
the st driver tries to read the configuration from the tape drive
through optional SCSI-3 commands. To support the addition of third
party tape devices which are not in the built-in configuration table or
not able to report their configuration, device information can be sup‐
plied in st.conf as global properties that apply to each node, or as
properties that are applicable to one node only. By supplying the in‐
formation in st.conf, the built-in configuration is overridden and the
st driver does not query the configuration from tape drives. The st
driver looks for the property called tape-config-list. The value of
this property is a list of triplets, where each triplet consists of
three strings.
The formal syntax is:
tape-config-list = <triplet> [, <triplet> *];
where
<triplet> := <vid+pid>, <pretty print>, <data-property-name>
and
<data-property-name> = <version>, <type>, <bsize>,
<options>, <number of densities>,
<density> [, <density>*], <default-density>;
or
<data-property-name> = <version 2>, <type>, <bsize>,
<options>, <number of densities>,
<density> [, <density>*], <default-density>,
<non-motion time-out>, <I/O time-out>,
<rewind time-out>, <space time-out>,
<load time-out>, <unload time-out>,
<erase time-out>;
A semicolon (;) is used to terminate a prototype devinfo node specifi‐
cation. Individual elements listed within the specification should not
be separated by a semicolon. (Refer to driver.conf(5) for more informa‐
tion.)
<vid+pid> is the string that is returned by the tape device on a SCSI
inquiry command. This string can contain any character in the range
0x20-0x7e. Characters such as " (double quote) or ' (single quote),
which are not permitted in property value strings, are represented by
their octal equivalent (for example, \042 and \047). Trailing spaces
can be truncated.
<pretty print> is used to report the device on the console. This string
can have zero length, in which case the <vid+pid> is used to report the
device.
<data-property-name> is the name of the property which contains all the
tape configuration values (such as <type>, <bsize>, etc.) corresponding
for the tape drive for the specified <vid+pid>.
<version> is a version number and should be 1 or 2. In the future,
higher version numbers can be used to allow for changes in the syntax
of the <data-property-name> value list.
<type> is a type field. Valid types are defined in /usr/in‐
clude/sys/mtio.h. For third party tape configuration, the following
generic types are recommended:
tab(); lw(2.75i) lw(2.75i) MT_ISQIC0x32 MT_ISREEL0x33 MT_ISDAT0x34
MT_IS8MM0x35 MT_ISOTHER0x36 MT_ISTAND25G0x37 MT_ISDLT0x38 MT_IS‐
STK98400x39 MT_ISBMDLT10x3A MT_LTO0x3B
<bsize> is the preferred block size of the tape device. The value
should be 0 for variable block size devices.
<options> is a bit pattern representing the devices, as defined in
/usr/include/sys/scsi/targets/stdef.h. Valid flags for tape configura‐
tion are shown in the following table. This table does not list flags
that are non-configurable in st.conf (including ST_KNOWS_MEDIA which
uses the media type reported from the mode select data to select the
correct density code).
tab(); lw(2.75i) lw(2.75i) ST_VARIABLE0x0001 ST_QIC0x0002 ST_REEL0x0004
ST_BSF0x0008 ST_BSR0x0010 ST_LONG_ERASE0x0020 ST_AUTODEN_OVERRIDE0x0040
ST_NOBUF0x0080 ST_KNOWS_EOD0x0200 ST_UNLOADABLE0x0400 ST_SOFT_ERROR_RE‐
PORTING0x0800 ST_LONG_TIMEOUTS0x1000 ST_NO_RECSIZE_LIMIT0x8000
ST_MODE_SEL_COMP0x10000 ST_NO_RESERVE_RELEASE0x20000 ST_READ_IG‐
NORE_ILI0x40000 ST_READ_IGNORE_EOFS0x80000 ST_SHORT_FILEMARKS0x100000
ST_EJECT_TAPE_ON_CHANGER_FAILURE0x200000 ST_RETRY_ON_RECOVERED_DE‐
FERRED_ERROR0x400000 ST_WORMABLE0x1000000
ST_VARIABLE
The flag indicates the tape device supports variable length record
sizes.
ST_QIC
The flag indicates a Quarter Inch Cartridge (QIC) tape device.
ST_REEL
The flag indicates a 1/2−inch reel tape device.
ST_BSF
If flag is set, the device supports backspace over EOF marks (bsf -
see mt(1)).
ST_BSR
If flag is set, the tape device supports the backspace record oper‐
ation (bsr - see mt(1)). If the device does not support bsr, the st
driver emulates the action by rewinding the tape and using the for‐
ward space record (fsf) operation to forward the tape to the cor‐
rect file. The driver then uses forward space record (fsr - see
mt(1)) to forward the tape to the correct record.
ST_LONG_ERASE
The flag indicates the tape device needs a longer time than normal
to erase.
ST_AUTODEN_OVERRIDE
The auto-density override flag. The device is capable of determin‐
ing the tape density automatically without issuing a "mode-se‐
lect"/"mode-sense command."
ST_NOBUF
The flag disables the device's ability to perform buffered writes.
A buffered write occurs when the device acknowledges the completion
of a write request after the data has been written to the device's
buffer, but before all of the data has been written to the tape.
ST_KNOWS_EOD
If flag is set, the device can determine when EOD (End of Data) has
been reached. When this flag is set, the st driver uses fast file
skipping. Otherwise, file skipping happens one file at a time.
ST_UNLOADABLE
The flag indicates the device does not complain if the st driver is
unloaded and loaded again (see modload(8) and modunload(8)). That
is, the driver returns the correct inquiry string.
ST_SOFT_ERROR_REPORTING
The flag indicates the tape device performs a "request sense" or
"log sense" command when the device is closed. Currently, only Ex‐
abyte and DAT drives support this feature.
ST_LONG_TIMEOUTS
The flag indicates the tape device requires timeouts that are five
times longer than usual for normal operation.
ST_NO_RECSIZE_LIMIT
The flag applies to variable-length tape devices. If this flag is
set, the record size is not limited to a 64 Kbyte record size. The
record size is only limited by the smaller of either the record
size supported by the device or the maximum DMA transfer size of
the system. (Refer to Large Record Sizes and WARNINGS.) The maximum
block size that is not be broken into smaller blocks can be deter‐
mined from the mt_bf returned from the MTIOCGET ioctl(). This num‐
ber is the lesser of the upper block limit returned by the drive
from READ BLOCK LIMITS command and the dma-max property set by the
Host Bus Adapter (HBA) to which the drive is attached.
ST_MODE_SEL_COMP
If the ST_MODE_SEL_COMP flag is set, the driver determines which of
the two mode pages the device supports for selecting or deselecting
compression. It first tries the Data Compression mode page (0x0F);
if this fails, it tries the Device Configuration mode page (0x10).
Some devices, however, can need a specific density code for select‐
ing or deselecting compression. Please refer to the device specific
SCSI manual. When the flag is set, compression is enabled only if
the c or u device is used. When the lower 2 densities of a drive
are identically configured and the upper 2 densities are identi‐
cally configured, but the lower and upper differ from each other
and ST_MODE_SEL_COMP is set, the "m" node sets compression on for
the lower density code (for example, 0x42) and the c and u nodes
set compression on for the higher density (for example, 0x43). For
any other device densities, compression is disabled.
ST_NO_RESERVE_RELEASE
The ST_NO_RESERVE_RELEASE flag disables the use of reserve on open
and release on close. If an attempt to use a ioctl of MTRESERVE or
MTRELEASE on a drive with this flag set, it returns an error of
ENOTTY (inappropriate ioctl for device).
ST_READ_IGNORE_ILI
The ST_READ_IGNORE_ILI flag is applicable only to variable block
devices which support the SILI bit option. The ST_READ_IGNORE_ILI
flag indicates that SILI (suppress incorrect length indicator) bit
sets during reads. When this flag is set, short reads (requested
read size is less than the record size on the tape) is successful
and the number of bytes transferred is equal to the record size on
the tape. The tape is positioned at the start of the next record
skipping over the extra data (the remaining data has been has been
lost). Long reads (requested read size is more than the record size
on the tape) sees a large performance gain when this flag is set,
due to overhead reduction. When this flag is not set, short reads
returns an error of ENOMEM.
ST_READ_IGNORE_EOFS
The ST_READ_IGNORE_EOFS flag is applicable only to 1/2" Reel Tape
drives and when performing consecutive reads only. It should not be
used for any other tape command. Usually End-of-recorded-media
(EOM) is indicated by two EOF marks on 1/2" tape and application
cannot read past EOM. When this flag is set, two EOF marks no
longer indicate EOM allowing applications to read past two EOF
marks. In this case it is the responsibility of the application to
detect end-of-recorded-media (EOM). When this flag is set, tape op‐
erations (like MTEOM) which positions the tape at end-of-recorded-
media fails since detection of end-of-recorded-media (EOM) is to be
handled by the application. This flag should be used when backup
applications have embedded double filemarks between files.
ST_SHORT_FILEMARKS
The ST_SHORT_FILEMARKS flag is applicable only to EXABYTE 8mm tape
drives which supports short filemarks. When this flag is set, short
filemarks is used for writing filemarks. Short filemarks could lead
to tape incompatible with some otherwise compatible device. By de‐
fault long filemarks is used for writing filemarks.
ST_EJECT_TAPE_ON_CHANGER_FAILURE
If ST_EJECT_TAPE_ON_CHANGER_FAILURE flag is set, the tape is
ejected automatically if the tape cartridge is trapped in the
medium due to positioning problems of the medium changer.
The following ASC/ASCQ keys are defined to the reasons for causing
tape ejection if ST_EJECT_TAPE_ON_CHANGER_FAILURE option is set to
0x200000:
tab(); lw(0.18i) lw(0.89i) lw(4.44i) lw(0.18i) lw(0.89i) lw(4.44i)
Sense KeyASC/ASCQDescription 415/01Mechanical Failure 444/00Inter‐
nal Target Failure 253/00Media Load or Eject Failed 453/00Media
Load or Eject Failed 453/01Unload Tape Failure
ST_RETRY_ON_RECOVERED_DEFERRED_ERROR
If ST_RETRY_ON_RECOVERED_DEFERRED_ERROR flag is set, the st driver
retries the last write if this cmd caused a check condition with
error code 0x71 and sense code 0x01. Some tape drives, notably the
IBM 3090, require this option.
ST_WORMABLE
When ST_WORMABLE is set, st attempts to detect the presence of WORM
media in the device.
<number of densities> is the number of densities specified. Each tape
drive can support up to four densities. The value entered should there‐
fore be between 1 and 4; if less than 4, the remaining densities are
assigned a value of 0x0.
<density> is a single-byte hexadecimal number. It can either be found
in the device specification manual or be obtained from the device ven‐
dor.
<default-density> has a value between 0 and (<number of densities> -
1).
<non-motion time-out> Time in seconds that the drive should be able to
perform any SCSI command that does not require tape to be moved. This
includes mode sense, mode select, reserve, release, read block limits,
and test unit ready.
<I/O time-out> Time in seconds to perform data transfer I/O to or from
tape including worst case error recovery.
<rewind time-out> Time in seconds to rewind from anywhere on tape to
BOT including worst case recovery forcing buffered write data to tape.
<space time-out> Time in seconds to space to any file, block or end of
data on tape. Including worst case when any form of cataloging is in‐
valid.
<load time-out> Time in seconds to load tape and be ready to transfer
first block. This should include worst case recovery reading tape cata‐
log or drive specific operations done at load.
<unload time-out> Time in seconds to unload tape. Should include worst
case time to write to catalog, unthread, and tape cartridge unloading.
Also should include worst case time for any drive specific operations
that are performed at unload. Should not include rewind time as the
driver rewinds tape before issuing the unload.
<erase time-out> Time in seconds to perform a full (BOT to EOT) erase
of longest medium with worst case error recovery.
Devices that support Data Protection requires a conf file entry to con‐
figure this feature. After the st_dadp_settings= entry is a list of
drives and their configurations. Each list member has the Vendor and
Product in double quotes, a comma, then an CRC algorithm name in double
quotes, a comma, a configuration name to be associated with that type
of drive, which is also double quoted. Each entry is delimited from the
next entry by a comma, and the last entry is terminated with a semi‐
colon.
The currently supported CRC algorithms are sb-2, crc32c, and reed-
solomon.
If you wish to explicitly disable data protection for type of drive you
can use the name DISABLED to prevent Data protection.
If a match is found between an entry in the st_dadp_settings and the
Inquiry information returned from a drive being configured, it looks
for and used the configuration name specified.
Each named configuration has a unique name followed by an equal sign
and four values.
<method> The values that are mode selected to the drive to put it
into Data Protection mode. This entry is followed by a
comma.
<crc-size> The number of bytes required to contain the CRC. This en‐
try is followed by a comma.
<data_mod> If the drive requires data to be evenly divisible by spe‐
cific value, usually the power of 2, that power of 2 is
used here. If data size must be evenly divisible by 4,
you would use 2, since 2 to the second power is 4. This
entry is followed by a comma.
<crc_seed> The initial value used to start the CRC calculation.
Each named configuration is completed with a semicolon.
Device Statistics Support
Each device maintains I/O statistics both for the device and for each
partition allocated on that device. For each device/partition, the dri‐
ver accumulates reads, writes, bytes read, and bytes written. The dri‐
ver also takes hi-resolution time stamps at queue entry and exit
points, which facilitates monitoring the residence time and cumulative
residence-length product for each queue.
Each device also has error statistics associated with it. These must
include counters for hard errors, soft errors and transport errors.
Other data can be implemented as required.
IOCTLS
The behavior of SCSI tape positioning ioctls is the same across all de‐
vices which support them. (Refer to mtio(4I).) However, not all devices
support all ioctls. The driver returns an ENOTTY error on unsupported
ioctls.
The retension ioctl only applies to 1/4" cartridge tape devices. It is
used to restore tape tension, thus improving the tape's soft error rate
after extensive start-stop operations or long-term storage.
In order to increase performance of variable-length tape devices (par‐
ticularly when they are used to read/write small record sizes), two op‐
erations in the MTIOCTOP ioctl, MTSRSZ and MTGRSZ, can be used to set
and get fixed record lengths. The ioctl also works with fixed-length
tape drives which allow multiple record sizes. The min/max limits of
record size allowed on a driver are found by using a SCSI-2 READ BLOCK
LIMITS command to the device. If this command fails, the default
min/max record sizes allowed are 1 byte and 63k bytes. An application
that needs to use a different record size opens the device, sets the
size with the MTSRSZ ioctl, and then continues with I/O. The scope of
the change in record size remains until the device is closed. The next
open to the device resets the record size to the default record size
(retrieved from st.conf).
The error status is reset by the MTIOCGET get status ioctl call or by
the next read, write, or other ioctl operation. If no error has oc‐
curred (sense key is 0), the current file and record position is re‐
turned.
ERRORS
EACCES The driver is opened for write access and the tape is write-
protected or the tape unit is reserved by another host.
EBUSY The tape drive is in use by another process. Only one process
can use the tape drive at a time. The driver allows a grace
period for the other process to finish before reporting this
error.
EINVAL The number of bytes read or written is not a multiple of the
physical record size (fixed-length tape devices only).
EIO During opening, the tape device is not ready because either
no tape is in the drive, or the drive is not on-line. Once
open, this error is returned if the requested I/O transfer
could not be completed.
ENOTTY This indicates that the tape device does not support the re‐
quested ioctl function.
ENXIO During opening, the tape device does not exist.
ENOMEM This indicates that the record size on the tape drive is more
than the requested size during read operation.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Using a Global tape-config-list Property
The following is an example of a global tape-config-list property:
tape-config-list =
"Magic DAT", "Magic 4mm Helical Scan", "magic-data",
"Major Appliance", "Major Appliance Tape", "major-tape";
magic-data = 1,0x34,1024,0x1639,4,0,0x8c,0x8c,0x8c,3;
major-tape = 2,0x3c,0,0x18619,4,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,
3,0,0,30,120,0,0,36000;
name="st" class="scsi"
target=0 lun=0;
name="st" class="scsi"
target=1 lun=0;
name="st" class="scsi"
target=2 lun=0;
.
.
.
name="st" class="scsi"
target=6 lun=0;
Example 2 Using a tape-config-list Property
The following is an example of a tape-config-list property applicable
to target 2 only:
name="st" class="scsi"
target=0 lun=0;
name="st" class="scsi"
target=1 lun=0;
name="st" class="scsi"
target=2 lun=0
tape-config-list =
"Magic DAT", "Magic 4mm Helical Scan", "magic-data"
magic-data = 1,0x34,1024,0x1639,4,0,0x8c,0x8c,0x8c,3;
name="st" class="scsi"
target=3 lun=0;
.
.
.
name="st" class="scsi"
target=6 lun=0;
Example 3 Using st_dadp_settings
Where d is data Protection enabled, l,m,h,u,c specify the density (low,
medium, high, ultra/compressed), b is the optional BSD behavior (see
mtio(4I)), and n is the optional no rewind behavior, the following ex‐
ample uses st_dadp_settings:
st_dadp_settings=
"aVENDOR aDRIVETYPE", "sb-2", "vendor-drive-sb-2";
vendor-drive-sb-2= 0x02,4,0,-1;
/dev/rmt/[0- 127][d][l,m,h,u,c][b][n]
Large Record Sizes
To support applications such as seismic programs that require large
record sizes, the flag ST_NO_RECSIZE_LIMIT must be set in drive option
in the configuration entry. A SCSI tape drive that needs to transfer
large records should OR this flag with other flags in the options field
in st.conf. (Refer to Tape Configuration.) By default, this flag is set
for the built-in config entries of Archive DAT and Exabyte drives.
If this flag is set, the st driver issues a SCSI-2 READ BLOCK LIMITS
command to the device to determine the maximum record size allowed by
it. If the command fails, st continues to use the maximum record sizes
mentioned in the mtio(4I) manual page.
If the command succeeds, st restricts the maximum transfer size of a
variable-length device to the minimum of that record size and the maxi‐
mum DMA size that the host adapter can handle. Fixed-length devices are
bound by the maximum DMA size allocated by the machine. Tapes created
with a large record size can not be readable by earlier releases or on
other platforms.
(Refer to the WARNINGS section for more information.)
EOT Handling
The Emulex drives have only a physical end of tape (PEOT); thus it is
not possible to write past EOT. All other drives have a logical end of
tape (LEOT) before PEOT to guarantee flushing the data onto the tape.
The amount of storage between LEOT and PEOT varies from less than 1
Mbyte to about 20 Mbyte, depending on the tape drive.
If EOT is encountered while writing an Emulex, no error is reported but
the number of bytes transferred is 0 and no further writing is allowed.
On all other drives, the first write that encounters EOT returns a
short count or 0. If a short count is returned, then the next write re‐
turns 0. After a zero count is returned, the next write returns a full
count or short count. A following write returns 0 again. It is impor‐
tant that the number and size of trailer records be kept as small as
possible to prevent data loss. Therefore, writing after EOT is not rec‐
ommended.
Reading past EOT is transparent to the user. Reading is stopped only by
reading EOFs. For 1/2" reel devices, it is possible to read off the end
of the reel if one reads past the two file marks which mark the end of
recorded media.
FILES
/kernel/drv/st.conf
driver configuration file
/usr/include/sys/mtio.h
structures and definitions for mag tape io control commands
/usr/include/sys/scsi/targets/stdef.h
definitions for SCSI tape drives
/dev/rmt/[0- 127][d][l,m,h,u,c][b][n]
where d is data Protection enabled, l,m,h,u,c specifies the density
(low, medium, high, ultra/compressed), b the optional BSD behavior
(see mtio(4I)), and n the optional no rewind behavior. For example,
/dev/rmt/0lbn specifies unit 0, low density, BSD behavior, and no
rewind.
For 1/2" reel tape devices (HP-88780), the densities are:
tab(); lw(0.79i) lw(4.71i) l800 BPI density m1600 BPI density h6250
BPI density cT{ data compression (not supported on all modules) T}
For 8mm tape devices (Exabyte 8200/8500/8505):
tab(); lw(0.79i) lw(4.71i) lStandard 2 Gbyte format m5 Gbyte format
(8500, 8505 only) h,c5 Gbyte compressed format (8505 only)
For 4mm DAT tape devices (Archive Python):
tab(); lw(0.79i) lw(4.71i) lStandard format m,h,cdata compression
For all QIC (other than QIC-24) tape devices:
tab(); lw(0.79i) lw(4.71i) l,m,h,cT{ density of the tape cartridge
type (not all devices can read and write all formats) T}
For QIC-24 tape devices (Emulex MT−02):
tab(); lw(0.79i) lw(4.71i) lQIC-11 Format m,h,cQIC-24 Format
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for a description of the following attributes:
tab() box; cw(2.75i) |cw(2.75i) lw(2.75i) |lw(2.75i) ATTRIBUTE TYPEAT‐
TRIBUTE VALUE _ ArchitectureSPARC, x86 _ Availabilitysystem/kernel
SEE ALSO
mt(1), open(2), read(2), write(2), aioread(3C), aiowrite(3C),
kstat(3KSTAT), mtio(4I), driver.conf(5), scsi(5), standards(7), mod‐
load(8), modunload(8), ioctl(9E)
DIAGNOSTICS
The st driver diagnostics can be printed to the console or messages
file.
Each diagnostic is dependent on the value of the system variable st_er‐
ror_level. st_error_level can be set in the /etc/system file. The de‐
fault setting for st_error_level is 4 (SCSI_ERR_RETRYABLE) which is
suitable for most configurations since only actual fault diagnostics
are printed. Settings range from values 0 (SCSI_ERR_ALL) which is most
verbose, to 6 (SCSI_ERR_NONE) which is least verbose. See stdef.h for
the full list of error-levels. SCSI_ERR_ALL level the amount of diag‐
nostic information is likely to be excessive and unnecessary.
The st driver diagnostics are described below:
Error for Command: <scsi_cmd_name()> Error Level:<error_class>
Requested Block: <blkno> Error Block: <err_blkno>
Vendor: <name>: Serial Number: <inq_serial>
Sense Key: <es_key> ASC: 0x<es_add_code> (scsi_asc_ascq_name()>), ASCQ:
0x<es_qual_code>, FRU: 0x<ex_fru_code>
where <error_class> can be any one of the following: All, Unknown, In‐
formational, Recovered, Retryable, Fatal.
The command indicated by <scsi_cmd_name> failed. Requested Block repre‐
sents the block where the transfer started. Error Block represents the
block that caused the error. Sense Key, ASC, ASCQ and FRU information
is returned by the target in response to a request sense command. See
SCSI protocol documentation for descriptions of Sense Key, ASC, ASCQ,
FRU.
The st driver attempts to validate entries in the st.conf file. Each
field in the entry is checked for upper and lower limits and invalid
bits set. The fields are named as follows in config string order:
conf version
drive type
block size
options
number of densities
density code
default density
non motion timeout
I/O timeout
space timeout
load timeout
unload timeout
erase timeout
The st.conf diagnostics are described below:
<con-name> <field-in-err> <problem-with-field>
where <con-name> is the name of the config string. Where <field-in-err>
is the field containing invalid entries and where <problem-with-field>
describes the nature of the invalid entry.
Write/read: not modulo <n> block size
The request size for fixed record size devices must be a multiple of
the specified block size.
Recovery by resets failed
After a transport error, the driver attempted to recover by issuing a
device reset and then a bus reset if device reset failed. These recov‐
eries failed.
Periodic head cleaning required
The driver reported that periodic head cleaning is now required. This
diagnostic is generated either due to a threshold number of retries, or
due to the device communicating to the driver that head cleaning is re‐
quired.
Soft error rate (<n>%) during writing/reading was too high
The soft error rate has exceeded the threshold specified by the vendor.
SCSI transport failed: reason 'xxxx': {retrying|giving up}
The Host Bus Adapter (HBA) has failed to transport a command to the
target for the reason stated. The driver either retries the command or,
ultimately, gives up.
Tape not inserted in drive
A media access command was attempted while there was no tape inserted
into the specified drive. In this case, the drive returns sense key of
DRIVE NOT READY.
Transport rejected
The Host Bus Adapter (HBA) driver is not accepting commands after fail‐
ing to successfully transport a scsi packet to the target. The actual
status received by the st driver from the underlying HBA driver was ei‐
ther TRAN_FATAL_ERROR or TRAN_BADPKT.
Retrying command
The st driver failed to complete a command. However the command is
retryable and is retried.
Giving up
The st driver has exhausted retries or otherwise is unable to retry the
command and so is giving up.
No target struct for st%d
The st driver failed to obtain state information because the requested
state structure was not allocated. The specified device was probably
not attached.
File mark detected
The operation detected an end of file mark. (File marks signify the end
of a file on the tape media).
End-of-media detected
The operation reached the end of the tape media.
Exabyte soft error reporting failed.
DAT soft error reporting failed
The st driver was unable to determine if the soft error threshold had
been exceeded because it did not successfully read the data it requires
or did not obtain enough data. This data is retrieved using the log
sense command.
Log sense parameter code does not make sense
The log sense command retrieves hardware statistics that are stored on
the drive (for example, soft error counts and retries.) If the data re‐
trieved from the drive is invalid, this message is printed and the data
is not used.
Restoring tape position at fileno=%x, blkno=%lx....
The st driver is positioning to the specified file and block. This oc‐
curs on an open.
Failed to restore the last <file/block> position:
In this state, tape is loaded at BOT during next open
The st driver could not position to the specified location and reverts
to the beginning of the tape when the next open is attempted.
Device does not support compression
The compression facility of the device was requested. However the de‐
vice does not have a hardware compression capability.
DAT soft error reset failed
After DAT soft error reporting, the counters within the device that ac‐
cumulate this sense data need to be re-set. This operation failed.
Errors after pkt alloc (b_flags=0x%x, b_error=0x%x)
Memory allocation for a scsi packet failed.
Incorrect length indicator set
The drive reported the length of data requested in a READ operation,
was incorrect. Incorrect Length Indicator (ILI) is a very commonly used
facility in SCSI tape protocol and should not be seen as an error per-
se. Applications typically probe a new tape with a read of any length,
using the returned length to the read system call for future reads.
Along with this operation, an underlying ILI error is received. ILI er‐
rors are therefore informational only and are masked at the default
st_error_level.
Data property (%s) has no value
Data property (%s) incomplete
Version # for data property (%s) greater than 1
These diagnostics indicate problems in retrieving the values of the
various property settings. The st driver is in the process of setting
the property/parameter values for the tape drive using information from
either the built-in table within the driver or from uncommented entries
in the st.conf file. The effect on the system can be that the tape
drive can be set with default or generic driver settings which can not
be appropriate for the actual type of tape drive being used.
st_attach-RESUME: tape failure tape position is lost
On a resume after a power management suspend, the previously known tape
position is no longer valid. This can occur if the tape was changed
while the system was in power management suspend. The operation is not
be retried.
Write Data Buffering has been deprecated. Your applications should
continue to work normally. However, they should be ported to use
Asynchronous I/O.
Indicates that buffering has been removed from Solaris.
Cannot detach: fileno=%x, blkno=%lx
The st driver cannot unload because the tape is not positioned at BOT
(beginning of tape). May indicate hardware problems with the tape
drive.
Variable record length I/O
Fixed record length (%d byte blocks) I/O
Tape-drives can use either Fixed or Variable record length. If the
drive uses Fixed length records, then the built in property table or
the st.conf file contains a non-zero record-length property . Most DAT,
Exabyte and DLT drives support Variable record lengths. Many QIC format
tape drives have historically been of Fixed record length.
Command is retried
un_ncmds: %d can't retry cmd
These diagnostics are only seen with tape drives with the
ST_RETRY_ON_RECOVERED_DEFERRED_ERROR bit set. See stdef.h for explana‐
tion of the specific usage of this setting.
WARNINGS
Effective with Solaris 2.4, the ST_NO_RECSIZE_LIMIT flag is set for the
built-in config entries of the Archive DAT and Exabyte drivers by de‐
fault. (Refer to Large Record Sizes.) Tapes written with large block
sizes prior to Solaris 2.4 can cause some applications to fail if the
number of bytes returned by a read request is less than the requested
block size (for example, asking for 128 Kbytes and receiving less than
64 Kbytes).
The ST_NO_RECSIZE_LIMIT flag can be disabled in the config entry for
the device as a work-around. (Refer to Tape Configuration.) This action
disables the ability to read and write with large block sizes and al‐
lows the reading of tapes written prior to Solaris 2.4 with large block
sizes.
(Refer to mtio(4I) for a description of maximum record sizes.)
BUGS
Tape devices that do not return a BUSY status during tape loading pre‐
vent user commands from being held until the device is ready. The user
must delay issuing any tape operations until the tape device is ready.
This is not a problem for tape devices supplied by Oracle.
Tape devices that do not report a blank check error at the end of
recorded media can cause file positioning operations to fail. Some tape
drives, for example, mistakenly report media error instead of blank
check error.
Oracle Solaris 11.4 15 Mar 2024 st(4D)