In my RHEL 4 ES server, I have HP StorageWorks DAT 72 SCSI Internal
Tape Drive. How would I see it in /dev directory? Would it be /dev/tape
? or /dev/rft0 or /dev/st0?
Also how would I go about configuring it and using the tape drive?
Please help.
Thanks,
Yasaswi

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["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.linux.hardware.]
On 22 Sep 2005 07:45:37 -0700, yasaswi staggered into the Black Sun and
said:
> In my RHEL 4 ES server, I have HP StorageWorks DAT 72 SCSI Internal
> Tape Drive. How would I see it in /dev directory? Would it be
> /dev/tape ? or /dev/rft0 or /dev/st0?

If this is the only tape on the system, it's /dev/st0 for the rewinding
tape device and /dev/nst0 for the non-rewinding tape device.  You use
the non-rewinding tape device sort of like so:

/sbin/dump -0u -a -f /dev/nst0 /dev/sda1
/sbin/dump -0u -a -f /dev/nst0 /dev/sda2

...writes a full dump of the ext3 filesystems on /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2
to the tape in the non-rewinding tape device.

> Also how would I go about configuring it and using the tape drive?

Configuring it?  You use mt or mtx to do things like set the tape's
block size, enable or disable hardware compression, take tapes offline
or put them online, retension, seek, etcetera.  You typically use a tape
with tar or cpio or BRU or amanda; check the man or info pages for those
programs to see some examples.

--
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin /    mail: TRAP + SPAN don't belong
http://www.brainbench.com     /    "He is a rhythmic movement of the
-----------------------------/      penguins, is Tux." --MegaHAL

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yasaswi wrote:
> In my RHEL 4 ES server, I have HP StorageWorks DAT 72 SCSI Internal
> Tape Drive. How would I see it in /dev directory? Would it be /dev/tape
> ? or /dev/rft0 or /dev/st0?

/dev/st0, although it is common to have a symbolic link from /dev/tape
to /dev/st0.  (This assumes there is no other SCSI tape drive.)  You'll
need to make sure the st.o module is loaded.

> Also how would I go about configuring it and using the tape drive?

What do you mean by "configuring" it?  There shouldn't be any
configuration needed.

To use it, just write to /dev/st0 with tar or any other software of your
choice.  You can use the 'mt' command to control the tape (rewind,
eject, etc.).

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Thanks for your replies. When I do /sbin/lsmod I don't see st.o module.
Where would I get that st.o module?
Thanks,
Yasaswi

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yasaswi wrote:
> Thanks for your replies. When I do /sbin/lsmod I don't see st.o module.
> Where would I get that st.o module?

It's almost certainly included with the distro.  Just load it with
'modprobe st' (as root).

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["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.linux.hardware.]
On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 13:02:19 -0400, John-Paul Stewart staggered into the
Black Sun and said:
> yasaswi wrote: 
> It's almost certainly included with the distro.  Just load it with
> 'modprobe st' (as root).

That shouldn't be necessary if the distro had everything set up sanely
by default.  Usually, there's a line like so in /etc/modules.conf :

alias char-major-9 st

...so every time anything tries to open() a character device with major
number 9, the kernel module loader checks to see if st is loaded.  If it
isn't, st gets modprobed.  This means that st will be loaded
automagically if you do "tar cf /dev/st0 /path/to/stuff" or "mt status
-f /dev/st0" or anything at all with /dev/st* or /dev/nst* .  HTH,

--
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin /    mail: TRAP + SPAN don't belong
http://www.brainbench.com     /    "He is a rhythmic movement of the
-----------------------------/      penguins, is Tux." --MegaHAL

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