Asset ID:	1-71-1009236.1
Update Date:	2011-05-10
Keywords:

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Solution Type  Technical Instruction Sure

Solution  1009236.1 :   Tape Drives: st.conf Modifications Are Unnecessary for Oracle/STK Tape Products  


PreviouslyPublishedAs
212780

Applies to:

Sun Storage DDS-3 Tape Drive
Sun Storage DDS-4 Tape Drive
Sun StorageTek 9840B Tape Drive
Sun Storage DAT 72 Tape Drive
Sun SPARCstorage DLT4000 Tape Drive
All Platforms
Checked for relevance on 10-May-2011.

Goal

This document provides information about the proper and correct use of the st.conf file for Oracle/STK tape drives.

Solution

Steps to Follow
Sun tape drives are natively supported by the Solaris[TM] Operating System (Solaris OS) st driver. The capability to properly recognize and operate tape drives is an inherent functionality of the Solaris OS, thereby eliminating any general need for st.conf modification. This support is visible to the end-user with the use of the mt command.
Do not make modifications to, or entries in, the st.conf file unless you want to work around an st driver/tape drive bug, or when you are using Storage Area Manager File System (SAMFS).  Within st.conf, required fields and syntax are critically important, with mistakes leading to performance, compatibility, and capacity issues.

* For bug workarounds, acceptable st.conf entries will be provided by Oracle Corp.

* For SAMFS, st.conf entries are provided with the application;   future SAMFS releases will not require st.conf modification.

Determining Tape Drive Support
------------------------------
Note: refer to the "mt" man page for additional information.

1. Load a tape cartridge into the tape drive and wait for the drive to load.

2. Enter "mt -f /dev/rmt/n status"  where "n" is the number of the tape drive (0 thru 'n'):

  Example (Supported Device):
    # mt -f /dev/rmt/0 status
    HP Ultrium LTO 2 tape drive:
        sense key(0x0)= No Additional Sense   residual= 0   retries= 0
        file no= 0   block no=
    #

  Example (Unsupported Device):
    # mt -f /dev/rmt/0 stat
    Vendor 'HP      ' Product 'Ultrium 2-SCSI ' tape drive:
        sense key(0x6)= Unit Attention   residual= 0   retries= 0
        file no= 0   block no= 0
    #

Applicable Solaris Releases and Associated st Patch IDs
-------------------------------------------------------
Applying the latest release of the patches (listed in this section) to the Solaris OS will provide native support for the majority of tape technologies available on the market, and includes tape technologies available from Oracle Corp:

    Solaris 7 OS - 107460-xx Click Here
    Solaris 8 OS - 108725-xx Click Here
    Solaris 9 OS - 113277-xx Click Here



st.conf, st, tape, tape drive, tape library, DLT, SDLT, LTO, LTO1, LTO2, 4mm, DAT, DAT72
Previously Published As 77027



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