Re: Exabyte VXA-2-Packet-Loader: new problem

On Tuesday 15 February 2005 13:00, James D. Freels wrote:
>Recall I had a problem getting this device to work properly when it
>failed to write to the tape.  This problem was correct by a new and
>separate scsi card dedicated to the packet loader.
>
>When I use the older ncr53c7xx driver in Linux, it works OK, but
> does not automatically reload tapes.  Here is my crontab entry:
>
>/usr/sbin/amdump new;/usr/bin/amtape new slot next;/usr/bin/amtape
> new slot next
>
>When I do this at the console, it works fine.  However, as a cron
> job, the amtape commands never work.  It is necessary to issue two
> amtape commands because the first one unloads the tape, but does
> not load the next one as it is supposed to do.  After the first
> command, I get the following error message:
>
>amtape: could not load slot 4: Unloading Data Transfer Element into
>Storage Element 4...mtx: Request Sense: Long Report=yes
>
>After I issue the "amtape new slot next" command again, it loads the
>tape (with the older ncr53c8xx driver).
>
>Then I booted linux with the newer sym53c8xx-2 driver.  The amdump
>command works correctly.  The first amtape command also works and
>unloads the tape as before.  However,when I issue the second amtape
>command, I get the following message to the console:
>
>failed to set sg timeout - Invalid argument
>
>In fact, any mtx command respnds the same way at this point. 
> Checking the /var/log/messages log, I find the following:
>
>Feb 15 12:41:59 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:0: ABORT operation started.
>Feb 15 12:41:59 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:control msgout: 80 6.
>Feb 15 12:41:59 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:0: ABORT operation complete.
>Feb 15 12:42:09 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:0: ABORT operation started.
>Feb 15 12:42:14 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:0: ABORT operation timed-out.
>Feb 15 12:42:14 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:0: DEVICE RESET operation
> started. Feb 15 12:42:19 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:0: DEVICE RESET
> operation timed-out. Feb 15 12:42:19 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:0: BUS
> RESET operation started. Feb 15 12:42:19 fea5 kernel: sym1: SCSI
> BUS reset detected. Feb 15 12:42:19 fea5 kernel: sym1: SCSI BUS has
> been reset. Feb 15 12:42:19 fea5 kernel: sym1:3:0: BUS RESET
> operation complete. Feb 15 12:42:24 fea5 kernel: scsi: device set
> offline - not ready or command retry failed after bus reset: host 1
> channel 0 id 3 lun 0
>
>
>I am wondering if perhaps I need to downgrade the packet-loader
> option from "native" to a compatibility mode to let amanda be
> compatible with this changer ?

If that option is available, it sounds like something thats worth 
trying.

As far as the unload/reload goes, you might try using the double 
ampersand in your scripts as this will do things sequentially, but in 
the event of an error, the script will bail out right there, whereas 
in normal style, the error just falls thru to the next line of the 
script, it helps in troubleshooting, a lot.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
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