st(1M)st(1M)NAME
st - shared tape administration
SYNOPSIS
device_file
DESCRIPTION
The command provides users with a command-line interface to check the status of a shared tape device or to reclaim a shared tape device
from a host system that has failed while holding a reservation on the shared tape device. The command can also be used for the same pur-
pose on shared library robotic devices. To use the command you must have root user id.
Please see examples below for usage.
Options
recognizes the following options and arguments:
Specifies the tape device file or sctl/esctl pass-through device
file for the shared tape/library device. This parameter is mandatory and will report an error if device_file is omitted.
Allows the user to reclaim a shared tape device or shared
library robotic device in the case where a host failed while holding a reservation on the shared device. This option causes
a bus device reset to be issued to the device specified by the option.
Prints out the current status of the shared tape/library
device specified by the option.
RETURN VALUE
returns 0 upon successful completion and 1 otherwise.
EXAMPLES
The following shows three examples of output from the above command.
The above output indicates that the shared device is reserved by another host and is therefore unavailable at this time.
The above output indicates that the shared device is not ready for use at this time.
The above output indicates that the shared device is ready for use at this time.
To reclaim a shared tape/library device from a failed host, the following command can be used:
WARNINGS
The option must be used with care. When reclaiming devices, it must be ensured that the host from which the device is being reclaimed has
in fact failed, as data may be lost as the result of reclaiming a device that is currently in use by another host.
AUTHOR
was developed by Hewlett-Packard.
SEE ALSO mt(1), scsi(7), scsi_ctl(7).
st(1M)
Check Out this Related Man Page
mt(1) General Commands Manual mt(1)Name
mt - magnetic tape manipulating program
Syntax
mt [-f tapename] command [count]
Description
The command permits the operation of a magnetic tape drive.
Options
The -f flag option uses the specified tape device (next argument) in place of either that tape device defined by your TAPE environment
variable (.login or .profile) or /dev/nrmt0h.
Some operations may be performed multiple times by specifying count. By default, performs the requested operation once.
The command argument defines the operation to be performed. Only as many characters as are required to uniquely identify a command need be
specified.
The following is a list of commands:
bsf Backspace count files.
bsr Backspace count records.
cache Allows to use the cache buffer on a tape drive that has the cache buffer feature.
clhrdsf Clear hardware/software problem. Works with tape drives which use the TMSCP tape controller interface This command is
restricted to root access only.
clserex Clear serious exception. Works with tape drives which use the TMSCP tape controller interface
clsub Clear subsystem. Works with tape drives which use the TMSCP tape controller interface This command is restricted to
root access only.
eof, weof Write count end-of-file marks at the current position on the tape.
eotdis Disable end-of-tape detection. When the end of tape is reached, the tape will run off the reel. Only the superuser
can issue this command. The command remains in effect for the device until end-of-tape detection is enabled with the
eoten command.
eoten Enable end-of-tape detection. When the end-of-tape markers are reached, the tape is halted on the reel, between the
two end-of-tape markers. Only the superuser can issue this command. The command remains in effect for the device
until end-of-tape detection is disabled with the eotdis command. This is the default mode after a system boot.
fsf Forward-space count files.
fsr Forward-space count records.
nocache Disables the use of the cache buffer for any tape drive that has the cache buffer feature.
offline, rewoffl Rewind the tape and place the tape unit off-line.
retension Retensions the tape. Retension means moving the tape one complete pass between EOT and BOT.
rewind Rewind the tape.
status Print status information about the tape unit.
Examples
This example shows how to rewind the tape
mt -f /dev/rmt0l rewind
This example shows how to backspace the tape nmt1h three files:
mt -f /dev/nrmt1h bsf 3
This example shows how to write two end-of-file marks at the current position on tape nmt6h:
mt -f /dev/nrmt6h eof 2
Return Values
In shell scripts, returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s) were successful, 1 if the command was unrecognized, and 2 if an operation
failed.
Files
/dev/rmt?h or /dev/rmt?l
Raw magnetic tape interface with rewind when closed
/dev/nmt?h or /dev/nmt?l
Raw magnetic tape interface with no rewind when closed
See Alsodd(1), tar(1), ioctl(2), mtio(4), tms(4), environ(7)mt(1)