Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 18:45:22 +1100 From: jonathan michaels <jon@caamora.com.au> To: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: SCSI TAPE Drives Message-ID: <19981227184522.C10072@caamora.com.au> In-Reply-To: <19981225093922.Z12346@freebie.lemis.com>; from Greg Lehey on Fri, Dec 25, 1998 at 09:39:22AM %2B1030 References: <01BE2E75.55F73BF0.rlinane@krellonline.com> <19981224122552.F12346@freebie.lemis.com> <3682434A.978957F9@mmrd.com> <19981225093922.Z12346@freebie.lemis.com>
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On Fri, Dec 25, 1998 at 09:39:22AM +1030, Greg Lehey wrote: > On Thursday, 24 December 1998 at 8:36:10 -0500, David W. Alderman wrote: > > Greg Lehey wrote: > > > >> On Wednesday, 23 December 1998 at 13:08:29 -0500, Richard J. Linane wrote: > >>> I am running FreeBSD 2.2.7. > >>> > >>> I have an Adaptec 1520 SCSI CONTROLLER and a TANDBURG TDC 3800 SCSI Tape Drive. > >>> > >>> Both the controller card and the tape drive are sensed and recognized. > >>> And the tape is showing that it is write enabled. > >>> > >>> When I try to list the contents of the tape using the command > >>> > >>> tar t > >>> the system appears to hang. > >>> > >>> A few minutes later I start receiving an error message > >>> > >>> /kernel: st0(aic0:2:0): timed out > >>> > >>> This will continue until I reboot the system. > >>> > >>> I am unable to kill the process > >>> > >>> tar t > >>> > >>> The drive and the card are known to be in good working order. > >>> > >>> I had removed them this morning from a system running SCO UNIX. works well with linux, ms windows nt, novell netware, and with arcserve and arcsolo .. nearly forgot ibm os/2 any version. i've had several tandbergs, tdc3620 (scsi streamer - qic-250) and tdc3820 (scsi streamer - qic-525) i've tried to use my current tdc3820 fro several years with freebsd of all persuations. my use has been problematic at beast and at worst, will it took it out of teh machine and put it its shippin carton. part of teh problem that i have is that i cannot read or write c code, the problems as best as i can surmise is that the tnadberd dosn't supply the inofrmation that freebsd need's in the manner that freebsd expects it. on of teh core team, i forgot his name .. sorry. has, that is uses tandberg tdc4200 .. this is teh 2.5 gb raw 5 gb with onboard hardware compression. he also worked out a fix for tandberg drives and it was incorporated into teh operating system code. problem is that teh 'fix' is tdc4100-tdc4200 specific, teh 36's and 38's are subtly different .. he not having a 38 (36 either) .. sorry i digress. anyway, i've not setup a web server and wil be needing to use my tandberg, so i will digout my own notes realting to how i got mine to work. it revolves around telling freebsd specificallu what teh media capacities are. what is happening to the best of my knowledge is that teh tandberg is autosencing and it keeps this information to itself, reckoning teh os dosent need to know. the tenaberg will handle whatever the os will throw at it .. freebds sorta needs to know and chucks a dummy spit if i cannto get what it wants, whic is why the apparent hang .. if you were to force teh issue it will write but at teh drives lowest capacity, beig qic-80 ( teh dc600a cartridges) what i did was to use sysctl to make teh tandberg 'default' to several read write modes, i seltect teh ones fro whic i had readily available tapes, that being qic-150, qic-250 and qic-525's, i set these as st0.1 ... st0.3. i had worked out how to do this, by hand (i've now forgtten how), and worked out at teh time that including it in teh systes startup script would make teh dive avaiable right from startup (ok, just after bootup). or you could make a script to do a certain kind of backup and include teh relevent mode/density inofrmation ofr the drive right on teh command line. i tried to say this when the question was originally aired, by myself actually some 4 years ago. because i made a pigs breakfast of my explanation, whic i;ve done here, i got laguhed off teh list ..so i kept to myself. after that several people asked the same question and were givent eh tdc 4200 SPECIFIC fixes story .. pity they al had teh down market 36's/38's, don;t get me wrong these are so much better than any of teh colorado or hp or whatever they are called those days and al teh 8 mm and 4 mm's and dat's et all .. sory i'm very one eyed and don't have money to burn on warrenty repairs and unreadable tapes. i'm currently saving up for a second hand tdc4200 (for my webserver). i plan to use my tdc3820 as teh network config and general purpose small (500mb) backup device. sorry, fro teh messy writing, i;m not a good communicator. maybe greg, will flesh out what i have said (in an orderly manner) and give us both an easy way to use a good drive ... grin. unless you do have a specific hardware problem don;'t be put off, what you have sen is standard tandberg drive electronic's confusing freebsd as to what tape write/read density is actually being used. becasue teh tape drive can be told what read and write density to use, all you have t do is to actually tell it, either with a script or from teh commandline direct to mt. or with sysctl or some other vehicle that will tel teh drive what mode to use. as best as i can tell, teh 4100 seris has some sort of native intelligance that reads teh tape and reports back, or has a default mode 0x00 setting, whereas teh 36/38's seris have a blank spot that waits to be told ... teh 3600 are 10 year old (plus) technology and all this auto sencing auto this that and the other things was a dream maybe only in bill gates daydreams .. grin. sorry for teh length and teh confusing way its written, i'm not a computer wiz any more, i'am now a disabled person, this is why the spelling is a bit poor as well. > >> > >> I have one of these drives too, and I've never had any trouble with > >> it. The symptoms look like SCSI chain problems. What else do you > >> have connected? How is it terminated? > > > > The 1520 is a fairly modest SCSI card. Could this have something to do with the > > problem? actually, a aha1520 would be ideal as a teh host adapter for teh tandberg, from memory that is what teh '1520's were designed for, well that and readomly cdrom media. > Not directly, but the driver support is not spectacular either. But i can't argue, nor do i see a need too, teh 1520's were a simple read and write to scsi (one an possibly two) tape devices, nearly forgot cdrom drive weh they first came out .. it was adaptec's responce tot eh 'we would use scsi if their was a cheap scsi host adapter" .. ergo teh aha1520. > as I said, the message implies problems with the SCSI chain. The way > it handles it could theoretically be a problem with the driver. teh description is faily close to what i have seen over the years from several freebsd boxen connected to sever diferent tandbergs .. all acuurate configured, termination active or passive and correctly setup .. blah blaha. all i can say is that freebsd is getting its knickers in a know about data desnity mode teh dive is actually using. if you wouldn't mind sharing you how-to make a tandberg work, specifically if it is a ted3600 or tdc3800, i'm sure i would apreciate teh information. as i said, don;'t be put off my peol ewho havent a cluse nor know what a tandberg looks like let alone how it works ... i origianlly spent some 6 monts in torment over my inability to set a 'simple' scsi tape drive. i was constant;y told my harware was rubbish and or i was so stupid i couldn't even plug in a tape drive . all this was gleaned from my spelling, no one ever asked me. anyway, tak care and as tehy say keep teh faith, yo tandberg is a good drive and freebsd does support it all be it not as automatically as some of teh far less superior. er down market stuff. i'f, when i get my notes found i will post teh script details. umm eamil tehm. warmest regards jonathan -- =============================================================================== Jonathan Michaels PO Box 144, Rosebery, NSW 1445 Australia ===========================================================<jon@caamora.com.au> To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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