Re: [Networker] Linux and stinit.def file?

On Tue, Dec 31, 2002 at 05:27:44PM -0500, George Sinclair wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Does anyone know anything about the /etc/stinit.def file under Linux?
> We're running a storage node (6.1.1) on a Red Hat Linux box (Red Hat
> 7.3). This host is managing an LTO tape library from Storagetek. I don't
> see such a file under /etc, but in re-reading the installation guide for
> 6.1 Linux, I see the following under chapter 3:
>
> Our primary server is running 6.1.1 under Solaris, BUT because our
> storage node is running under Linux, perhaps we SHOULD have such a file?
> If so, what entry would be appropriate for a Storagetek L80 with 4 LTO
> Ultrium drives? I checked the appendix A, but I don't see an example for
> an LTO entry. Any ideas what such an entry should look like?

This is the /etc/stinit.def file I setup for the IBM LTO 3600-R20 tape
lib we have here. Read stinit(8) for more info about the format of the
file.

  manufacturer=IBM model="ULTRIUM-TD1" {
  scsi2logical=1 can-bsr auto-lock
  mode1 blocksize=0
  }

I also added "post-install st /sbin/stinit" to the /etc/modules.conf
file so that when the st.o module loads it initializes everything
properly. (You don't want this in your rc.local file unless you're
using a kernel with the st.o built in.)

I had to do this because our Red Hat Linux 7.3 storage node with
Networker 6.1.x and 6.2.x was seeing:

  04/30/02 19:42:10 nsrd: media notice: LTO Ultrium tape AD9310L1 on
                    /dev/nst1 is full
  04/30/02 19:42:10 nsrd: media notice: LTO Ultrium tape AD9310L1 used
                    111 GB of 100 GB capacity
  04/30/02 19:44:02 nsrd: media notice: Volume "AD9310L1" on device
                    "/dev/nst1": Cannot decode block. Verify the
                    device configuration. Tape positioning by record is
                    disabled.
  04/30/02 19:47:00 nsrd: media info: verification of volume "AD9310L1",
                    volid 3452248065 succeeded.

The problem is (iirc) that Networker gets the block sizes to use for
reading and writing from two different places. For writting it was
using the block size defined by the LTO drive NSR device resource (64
KB) and for reading it was picking up the OS defined values. This
caused the above log entries to show up during the media verification
or during a restore operation.

After setting up the stinit.conf file the decode block errors went
away after the tape was recycled once.

--
  Scott Russell (lnxgeek AT us.ibm DOT com)
  Linux Technology Center, System Admin, RHCE.
  Dial 877-735-8200 then ask for 919-543-9289 (TTY)

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