DLT™ TAPE UNIT INSTALLATION
SGI® Systems
IRIX® 5.3 and 6.X
Installation
SGI system must have the appropriate SCSI interface for DLT drive to attached to, i.e., a SCSI singleended DLT drive can be attached only to a SCSI single-ended interface. The same is true for SCSI
differential attachment. The hardware attachment requires the DLT tape peripheral to be attached to the
SCSI interface while the system is powered down. After the DLT tape peripheral has been attached, you
will need to make file modifications and perform certain system operations that allow the DLT tape
peripheral to be recognized.
Perform the installation as follows:
1. Shut down the SGI system and remove ac power from the system. Install the DLT
tape peripheral and connect it to its SCSI controller. Refer to the following
manual for switch and jumper settings and SCSI bus termination:
• DLT1/DLT7 Install and Operations Guide
• Set the DLT SCSI device address to an unassigned ID.
2. Turn power on and boot the system. Log on as root and execute the following
UNIX command to verify the DLT attachment:
hinv -c tape
For a DLT device whose SCSI ID is set to 4 and is attached to the
system's
first host adapter but not system configured, the system response
should
be similar to the following:
Tape drive: unit 4
on SCSI controller 0: unknown
1. If you're operating system is IRIX 5.3, open the /usr/var/sysgen/master.d/scsi
file for editing; for IRIX 6.X, open /var/sysgen/master.d/scsi file for editing. As
appropriate for the currently running operating system version, add the following
to the table of structures. This will enable DLT system recognition: For IRIX 5.3:
/* DLT tape drive */
{DECDLT, TPDLT, "<Vendor length>", 7, "<Vendor ID>", "<DLT tape
unit>",0 , 0, {0, 0, 0, 0 }, MTCAN_BSF | MTCAN_BSR | MTCAN_APPEND
| MTCAN_SPEOD | MTCAN_CHKRDY | MTCAN_VAR | MTCAN_SETSZ | MTCAN_SILI |
MTCAN_SEEK
| MTCAN_SYNC | MTCAN_CHTYPEANY, 20, 8*60, 20*60, 5*60, 16384, 64*1024}
For IRIX 6.X:
/* DLT tape drive */
{DECDLT, TPDLT, "<Vendor length>", 7, "<Vendor ID>", "<DLT tape u
nit>",0 , 0, {0, 0, 0, 0 }, MTCAN_BSF | MTCAN_BSR | MTCAN_APPEND |
MTCAN_SPEOD
| MTCAN_CHKRDY | MTCAN_VAR | MTCAN_SETSZ | MTCAN_SILI | MTCAN_SEEK |
MTCAN_SYNC
| MTCAN_CHTYPEANY, 20, 8*60, 20*60, 5*60, 16384, 64*1024,0 (u_char *)0}
Depending on the DLT tape peripheral you are installing, you will need to make substitutions for <Vendor
length>, <Vendor ID>, and <DLT tape unit> in the above structure. The following table shows the DLT
tape product and the corresponding substitution values:
DLT Tape Product
<Vendor
length>
<Vendor ID>
<DLT tape
unit>
DLT 1 7
Keep in mind that the Vendor ID entries are case sensitive. Refer to the tpsc_types structure in the
/usr/include/sys/tpsc.h file for further information on the above structure entries and to the
/usr/include/sys/mtio.h file for further information on the MTCAN flag definitions.
1. Enter the following command to configure the DLT device into the system:
/etc/autoconfig
BNCHMARK
DLT1
1. Reboot the system.
2. After reboot is complete and you have logged in as root, change directory to /dev.
Enter the following command to establish the DLT device files:
./MAKEDEV
1. Verify the DLT device files by entering the following command:
ls /dev/rmt
For a DLT tape peripheral installed with a SCSI ID of 4, the system
response
should be similar to the following:
tps0d4
tps0d4c
tps0d4nr t ps0d4nrnsvc t ps0d4nrv tps0d4nsvc t ps0d4svc
tps0d4nrc t ps0d4nrs t ps0d4nrvc tps0d4s
tps0d4nrns t ps0d4nrsc t ps0d4ns tps0d4sc t ps0d4vc
t ps0d4nrnsc
t ps0d4nrnsv t ps0d4nrsvc tps0d4nsv t ps0d4sv
tp
s 0d4nrsv
tps0d4nsc t ps0d4stat
t ps0d4v
1. Enter the following command to verify the installation:
mt -t /dev/rmt/tps0d4 status
Note that the device file
tps0d4 is for an installed DLT1 with SCSI ID of 4.
The system response should be similar to the following:
Controller: SCSI
Device: BNCHMARK: DLT1
Status: 0x
20262
Drive type: DLT
Media : READY, writeable, at BOT
DLT Tape Drive Use and IRIX Behavior
During periods of non-use of the DLT tape drive there is a danger of unintended overwriting of previously
written data. Also, rewinding of DLT tape may occur before the next record is read when the intent is to
read the next record at the current tape position. The cause of this behavior is that the IRIX tape driver
unloads from system memory after approximately five minutes of non-use of the tape drive. A reload of the
driver will occur when a command to access the tape drive is requested. During driver reload, certain
initialization tasks occur and one of these tasks is to load a tape cartridge into the drive. For DLT drives,
the response to tape load cartridge command when a tape is already loaded is to rewind the tape. Therefore
after a five minute delay of non-use, the DLT tape drive will rewind before tape data access occurs.
To prevent the tape driver from unloading from memory, edit the /usr/var/sysgen/master.d/tpsc file on an
IRIX 5.3 system. For IRIX 6.X, edit /var/sysgen/master.d/tpsc file. Find the line beginning with oscdR
string and change the string to oscdRN. Save and close the file then reboot the system.
DLT Mini-Library Usage
The SGI IRIX operating system does not support SCSI-2 media changer device commands. Therefore, an
installed DLT7 mini-library can not be utilized in random access mode and can only be accessed in
sequential mode. Refer to the DLT1/DLT7 Install and Operations Guide product manual for detailed
description of these access modes.
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