mtx(8)							      System Manager's Manual							    mtx(8)

Name
       mtx - generic magtape exerciser

Syntax
       /usr/field/mtx [ options ] -adev
       /usr/field/mtx [ options ] -sdev
       /usr/field/mtx [ options ] -ldev
       /usr/field/mtx [ options ] -vdev

Description
       The  exerciser will write, read, and validate random data on the specified magnetic tape device from beginning of tape (BOT) to end of tape
       (EOT).  There are four record length modes in which to run the exerciser.  The modes are short (512 bytes), long  (10240  bytes),  variable
       (512-20480 bytes), and all of these three in sequence.

       The exerciser will run until or a kill -15 pid is sent to the process.

       A  logfile  is  made in for you to examine and then remove. If there are errors in the logfile, check the file, where the driver and kernel
       error messages are saved.

       An enhanced tape exerciser called provides more comprehensive tape testing than this exerciser.	Refer to for a complete description.

Options
       The mtx options are:

       -h	 Print help message for the command.

       -ofile	 Save diagnostic output in file.

       -ti	 Run time in minutes (i).  The default is to run until the process receives a or kill -15 pid.

       -rj	 Record length for long-record test.  May range from 1 - 20480; the default is 10240 bytes.

       -fk	 Size of file in records.  The default is -1, go to end-of-tape.

Arguments
       You must specify one of the following function flags and its argument to the exerciser.

       -adev	 Perform short, long, and variable-length record tests on the dev, a raw device name and unit number.  For example, -armt0h.

       -sdev	 Perform short (512-byte) record length test.  The dev argument is a raw device name and unit number.  For example, -srmt0h.

       -ldev	 Perform long (10240-byte) record length test.	The dev argument is a raw device name and unit number.	For example -lrmt0h.

       -vdev	 Perform variable record length test (records vary from 512 bytes to 20480 bytes).  The dev argument is a raw device name and unit
		 number.  For example, -vrmt0h.

Restrictions
       If  there  is  a  need to run a system exerciser over an NFS link or on a diskless system there are some restrictions.  For exercisers that
       need to write into a file system, such as the target file system must be writable by root.  Also the directory, in which any of	the  exer-
       cisers  are  executed,  must be writable by root because temporary files are written into the current directory.  These latter restrictions
       are sometimes difficult to overcome because often NFS file systems are mounted in a way that prevents root from writing into them.  Some of
       the restrictions may be overcome by copying the exerciser to another directory and then executing it.

       The following restrictions apply to the SCSI tape drives.  The Magnetic Tape Exerciser (MTX) runs the tape in start/stop mode; that is, the
       tape does not stream. Therefore, MTX should not run for extended periods of time (two hours maximum run time). In addition,  MTX  does  not
       handle the end of tape properly.

Examples
       This example runs short, long, and variable-length tests on rmt0h until the process receives a or kill -15 pid:
       % /usr/field/mtx -armt0h
       The following example runs a long-record length test on rmt0h for 240 minutes in the background:
       % /usr/field/mtx -lrmt0h -t240 &

See Also
       tapex(8)
       Guide to System Exercisers

																	    mtx(8)