ST(4D) Devices ST(4D)

st - driver for SCSI tape devices

st@target,lun:l,m,h,c,ubn

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/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 format 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 another 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 will 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 driver 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 will occur to provide reserve/release functionality before the command is issued.

The st driver now supports persistent errors (see mtio(4I) and asynchronous tape operations (see mtio(4I), aioread(3C), and aiowrite(3C)).

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 example, 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.

Note that if the low density format is used, no indication is given that the driver has overridden the format you selected. Other formats issue a warning message to inform you of an overridden format selection. Some devices automatically perform this function and do not require driver support (1/2" reel tape drive, for example).

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.

The st driver has a built-in configuration table for most Sun-supported tape drives. 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 supplied in st.conf as global properties that apply to each node, or as properties that are applicable to one node only. By supplying the information in st.conf, the built-in configuration is overridden and the st driver will 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 specification. Individual elements listed within the specification
    should not be separated by a semicolon. (Refer to driver.conf(5) for
    more information.)




<vid+pid> is the string that is returned by the tape
    device on a SCSI inquiry command. This string may 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 may
    be truncated.




<pretty print> is used to report the device on the
    console. This string may have zero length, in which case the
    <vid+pid> will be 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 may 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/include/sys/mtio.h. For third party tape configuration, the
    following generic types are recommended:









  

    MT_ISQIC
    0x32
  

  

    MT_ISREEL
    0x33
  

  

    MT_ISDAT
    0x34
  

  

    MT_IS8MM
    0x35
  

  

    MT_ISOTHER
    0x36
  

  

    MT_ISTAND25G
    0x37
  

  

    MT_ISDLT
    0x38
  

  

    MT_ISSTK9840
    0x39
  

  

    MT_ISBMDLT1
    0x3A
  

  

    MT_LTO
    0x3B
  








<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 configuration are shown in the following table. Note that 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).









  

    ST_VARIABLE
    0x0001
  

  

    ST_QIC
    0x0002
  

  

    ST_REEL
    0x0004
  

  

    ST_BSF
    0x0008
  

  

    ST_BSR
    0x0010
  

  

    ST_LONG_ERASE
    0x0020
  

  

    ST_AUTODEN_OVERRIDE
    0x0040
  

  

    ST_NOBUF
    0x0080
  

  

    ST_KNOWS_EOD
    0x0200
  

  

    ST_UNLOADABLE
    0x0400
  

  

    ST_SOFT_ERROR_REPORTING
    0x0800
  

  

    ST_LONG_TIMEOUTS
    0x1000
  

  

    ST_NO_RECSIZE_LIMIT
    0x8000
  

  

    ST_MODE_SEL_COMP
    0x10000
  

  

    ST_NO_RESERVE_RELEASE
    0x20000
  

  

    ST_READ_IGNORE_ILI
    0x40000
  

  

    ST_READ_IGNORE_EOFS
    0x80000
  

  

    ST_SHORT_FILEMARKS
    0x100000
  

  

    ST_EJECT_TAPE_ON_CHANGER_FAILURE
    0x200000
  

  

    ST_RETRY_ON_RECOVERED_DEFERRED_ERROR
    0x400000
  

  

    ST_WORMABLE
    0x1000000
  






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 operation (bsr - see mt(1)). If the device does not support bsr,
  the st driver emulates the action by rewinding the tape and using the
  forward space record (fsf) operation to forward the tape to the correct 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
  determining the tape density automatically without issuing a
  "mode-select"/"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 will not complain if the
  st driver is unloaded and loaded again (see modload(8) and
  modunload(8)). That is, the driver will return the correct inquiry
  string.




ST_SOFT_ERROR_REPORTING




The flag indicates the tape device will perform a
  "request sense" or "log sense" command when the device is
  closed. Currently, only Exabyte 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
  will not be broken into smaller blocks can be determined from the mt_bf
  returned from the MTIOCGET ioctl(). This number 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, may need a specific density code for
  selecting 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. Note that when the lower 2
  densities of a drive are identically configured and the upper 2 densities are
  identically 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 will
  return 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 will be set during reads. When this flag is set, short reads
  (requested read size is less than the record size on the tape) will be
  successful and the number of bytes transferred will be equal to the record
  size on the tape. The tape will be 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) will see
  a large performance gain when this flag is set, due to overhead reduction.
  When this flag is not set, short reads will return 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 operations (like MTEOM) which positions the tape at
  end-of-recorded-media will fail 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 default long
  filemarks will be 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:


Sense ASC/ASCQ Description


Key


4 15/01 Mechanical Failure


4 44/00 Internal Target Failure


2 53/00 Media Load or Eject Failed


4 53/00 Media Load or Eject Failed


4 53/01 Unload Tape Failure






ST_RETRY_ON_RECOVERED_DEFERRED_ERROR




If ST_RETRY_ON_RECOVERED_DEFERRED_ERROR flag is
  set, the st driver will retry 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 therefore be between 1 and 4; if less than
    4, the remaining densities will be 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 vendor.




<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 doesn't 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 invalid.




<load time-out> Time in seconds to load tape and be
    ready to transfer first block. This should include worst case recovery
    reading tape catalog 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 preformed at unload. Should not include rewind
    time as the driver rewinds tape before issuing the unload.




<erase time-out> Time in seconds to preform a full
    (BOT to EOT) erase of longest medium with worst case error recovery.








Each device maintains I/O statistics both for the device and for
    each partition allocated on that device. For each device/partition, the
    driver accumulates reads, writes, bytes read, and bytes written. The driver
    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 may be implemented as required.










The behavior of SCSI tape positioning ioctls is the same
    across all devices 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
    (particularly when they are used to read/write small record sizes), two
    operations 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).




Note that 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 occurred (sense key is 0), the current file and record
    position is returned.








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 will allow 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
  requested 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.










Example 1 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 Tape-config-list property applicable to target 2
    only




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;










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)
    man 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
    maximum DMA size that the host adapter can handle. Fixed-length
    devices are bound by the maximum DMA size allocated by the machine.
    Note that tapes created with a large record size may not be readable by
    earlier releases or on other platforms.




(Refer to the WARNINGS section for more information.)








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 will return a short count or 0. If a short count is
    returned, then the next write will return 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 important that the number and size of
    trailer records be kept as small as possible to prevent data loss.
    Therefore, writing after EOT is not recommended.




Reading past EOT is transparent to the user. Reading is
    stopped only by reading EOF's. 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.










/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][l,m,h,u,c][b][n]




where 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:









  

    l
    800 BPI density
  

  

    m
    1600 BPI density
  

  

    h
    6250 BPI density
  

  

    c
    data compression
  

  

     
    (not supported on all modules)
  




For 8mm tape devices (Exabyte 8200/8500/8505):









  

    l
    Standard 2 Gbyte format
  

  

    m
    5 Gbyte format (8500, 8505 only)
  

  

    h,c
    5 Gbyte compressed format (8505 only)
  




For 4mm DAT tape devices (Archive Python):









  

    l
    Standard format
  

  

    m,h,c
    data compression
  




For all QIC (other than QIC-24) tape devices:









  

    l,m,h,c
    density of the tape cartridge type
  

  

    
    (not all devices can read and
  

  

    
    write all formats)
  




For QIC-24 tape devices (Emulex MT−02):









  

    l
    QIC-11 Format
  

  

    m,h,c
    QIC-24 Format
  
















mt(1), open(2), read(2), write(2),
    aioread(3C), aiowrite(3C), kstat(3KSTAT),
    esp(4D), isp(4D), mtio(4I), driver.conf(5),
    scsi(5), standards(7), modload(8), modunload(8),
    ioctl(9E)








The st driver diagnostics may be printed to the console or
    messages file.




Each diagnostic is dependent on the value of the system variable
    st_error_level. st_error_level may be set in the
    /etc/system file. The default 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 diagnostic 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> may be any one of the following:
    "All," "Unknown," "Informational,"
    "Recovered," "Retryable," "Fatal"




The command indicated by <scsi_cmd_name> failed. Requested
    Block represents 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 description 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
    recoveries 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
    required.



  




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 will either retry the command
    or, ultimately, give 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
    failing to successfully transport a scsi packet to the target. The actual
    status received by the st driver from the underlying HBA driver was
    either TRAN_FATAL_ERROR or TRAN_BADPKT.



  




Retrying command










The st driver failed to complete a command. However the
    command is retryable and will be 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 retrieved 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 occurs on an open.



  




Failed to restore the last <file/block> position:
In this state, tape will be loaded at BOT during next open










The st driver could not position to the specified location
    and will revert 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
    device does not have a hardware compression capability.



  




DAT soft error reset failed










After DAT soft error reporting, the counters within the device
    that accumulate 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 errors
    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 may be that the tape
    drive may be set with default or generic driver settings which may not be
    appropriate for the actual type of tape drive being used.



  




st_attach-RESUME: tape failure tape position will be 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 will 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 will contain 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 will be 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
    explanation of the specific usage of this setting.








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 default. (Refer to Large Record Sizes.) Tapes written with
    large block sizes prior to Solaris 2.4 may 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 allows 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.)








Tape devices that do not return a BUSY status during tape
    loading prevent 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 Sun Microsystems.




Tape devices that do not report a blank check error at the end of
    recorded media may cause file positioning operations to fail. Some tape
    drives, for example, mistakenly report media error instead of blank check
    error.







  

    April 9, 2016
    OmniOS