My Sys. Admin installed a tape drive a couple of months ago but hasn't
gotten around to testing it not performing backups on it so I have taken it
upon myself to attempt to perform backups on the tape drive without the
assistance of the Sys. Admin.

I went through various steps and I have gotten to a point where I can write
to the tape drive (tar -cf /dev/osst0 file) and retrieve files from the tape
drive (tar xvf /dev/osst0 file) but problem is when I attempt to use the
'mt' command to rewind the tape drive or use the 'mt' command to status to
tape drive. I receive an error message of:

/dev/osst0: Inappropriate ioctl for device

The tape drive is being recognized by the server since I can retrieve and
write to the tape drive. How can I achieve the tasks of rewinding and/or
getting a status on the tape drive using the 'mt command or any other
command? I am using RedHat Linux 7.x. Thanks!

Kevin

"kbass" <kbass@midsouth.rr.com> writes:

Try it on one of the other "entry points" of the osst driver for this
physical device:

[pascal@thalassa new]$ ls -l /dev/*osst0*
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 128 2003-03-14 14:08 /dev/nosst0
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 224 2003-03-14 14:08 /dev/nosst0a
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 160 2003-03-14 14:08 /dev/nosst0l
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 192 2003-03-14 14:08 /dev/nosst0m
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 2003-03-14 14:08 /dev/osst0
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 96 2003-03-14 14:08 /dev/osst0a
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 32 2003-03-14 14:08 /dev/osst0l
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 64 2003-03-14 14:08 /dev/osst0m

I would use: mt -f /dev/nosst0


--
__Pascal_Bourguignon__
http://www.informatimago.com/

"Pascal Bourguignon" <spam@thalassa.informatimago.com> wrote in message
news:87vfpgosf2.fsf@thalassa.informatimago.com...
Thanks for the information. I attempted to access the tape drive again but
for some strange reason, I am getting an error message of : 'No such device'
each time that I access the tape drive. I have to figure out that the heck
on going now.

Kevin

"Pascal Bourguignon" <spam@thalassa.informatimago.com> wrote in message
news:87vfpgosf2.fsf@thalassa.informatimago.com...
When doing a ls -lt *osst* within the /dev directory, I get the following:

bash-2.04# ls -lt *osst*
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 nosst0
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 nosst0a
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 nosst0l
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 nosst0m
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 nosst1
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 nosst1a
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 nosst1l
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 nosst1m
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 osst0
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 osst0a
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 osst0l
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 osst0m
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 1 Nov 19 19:29 osst1
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 osst1a
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 osst1l
crw-rw---- 1 root disk 206, 0 Nov 19 19:29 osst1m

Also ... I am unable to access (write and retrieve data) from the tape
drive. What could cause this problem? No action was taken prior to the
results that I perfofmed eariler other than the Sys. Admin rebotting the
server. Thanks!

Kevin

"kbass" <kbass@midsouth.rr.com> writes:

Are you root or in the disk group?
If not, is mt suid or guid?
Is tar still functionning with these access rights?

I don't know about redhat, but it's possible that during reboot, some
script reset the permissions of files such as devices. Then the
administrator should configure stuff in /etc/permissions* instead of
chmod/chown-ing directly in the filesystem.


--
__Pascal_Bourguignon__
http://www.informatimago.com/

"kbass" <kbass@midsouth.rr.com>,
In a message on Wed, 19 Nov 2003 22:27:31 GMT, wrote :

"> My Sys. Admin installed a tape drive a couple of months ago but hasn't
"> gotten around to testing it not performing backups on it so I have taken it
"> upon myself to attempt to perform backups on the tape drive without the
"> assistance of the Sys. Admin.
">
"> I went through various steps and I have gotten to a point where I can write
"> to the tape drive (tar -cf /dev/osst0 file) and retrieve files from the tape
"> drive (tar xvf /dev/osst0 file) but problem is when I attempt to use the
"> 'mt' command to rewind the tape drive or use the 'mt' command to status to
"> tape drive. I receive an error message of:
">
"> /dev/osst0: Inappropriate ioctl for device
">

*Exactly* what was your command line?

Unless you use the /dev/nosst0 device, the tape drive will always rewind
automatically.

But to rewind:

mt -f /dev/osst0 rewind

To get the status:

mt -f /dev/osst0 status

To eject the tape:

mt -f /dev/osst0 offline


"> The tape drive is being recognized by the server since I can retrieve and
"> write to the tape drive. How can I achieve the tasks of rewinding and/or
"> getting a status on the tape drive using the 'mt command or any other
"> command? I am using RedHat Linux 7.x. Thanks!
">
"> Kevin
">
">
">

\/
Robert Heller ||InterNet: heller@cs.umass.edu
http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/~heller || heller@deepsoft.com
http://www.deepsoft.com /\FidoNet: 1:321/153

"Robert Heller" <heller@deepsoft.com> wrote in message
news:60320$3fbc220a$d0c7e1fd$10614@nf2.news-service.com...

My command line argument that was used to produce the error message of
'dev/osst0: Inappropriate ioctl for device' above was: mt -f /dev/osst0
status

I am not sure what is going on but after issuing the a command line of tar
cf /dev/osst0 temp,I received the following message:

tar: /dev/osst0: Cannot open: No such device
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

I am not sure what has changed on the server that the last time that I was
able to access the tape drive but more investigation will have to be done.

"Pascal Bourguignon" <spam@thalassa.informatimago.com> wrote in message
news:87n0arq0dd.fsf@thalassa.informatimago.com...
I have obtained the 'root' password to try to get the tape drive to work.
The 'tar' command is functioning properly.

I am not sure what is going on but after issuing the a command line of tar
cf /dev/osst0 temp,
I received the following message:

tar: /dev/osst0: Cannot open: No such device
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

I am not sure what has changed on the server that the last time that I was
able to access the tape drive but more investigation will have to be done.


Kevin

"kbass" <kbass@midsouth.rr.com> writes:
Perhaps the (physical) device was not available when the system booted
and the device driver could not identify it and attach to it. Then if
the device driver is not a loadable kernel module, you'll have to
reboot. Or it may be enough to reinitialize the device driver,
unloading and reloading it (see lsmod(1), rmmod(1), insmod(1)). Are
all the cables plugged correctly?

What do you see in dmesg(1) or /var/log/messages or /var/log/kernel
about osst?

--
__Pascal_Bourguignon__
http://www.informatimago.com/

"Pascal Bourguignon" <spam@thalassa.informatimago.com> wrote in message
news:87fzgjpod6.fsf@thalassa.informatimago.com...
I removed the modules of st and osst using the rmmod command then reviewed
the module list to see if they were moved. They were gone. I
reloaded/installed them using the insmod and I am now able to access the st0
and osst0 to access the tape drive. I will continue to use the st0 to read
from and write to the tape drive. Thanks again for your assistance. I
guess I can tell the Sys. Admin. how to do it now or maybe I will learn more
and take care job. :-)

Kevin