EXB-8500 support
2007-12-25 7:45:00
> I read in the section 4 man page for 'st' (man 4 st) on a SUN system running> SunOS 4.1.2 that the device names rst8-15 support the Exabyte EXB-8500
> (5 GB) 8mm tape drive. However, for now I need to attach an EXB-8500 to
> (1) A SUN 4/390 running OS 4.1.1 and (2) a SUN 4/390 running OS 4.0.3.
> I am wondering if I'll be able to do that in either Case (1) or (2) above,
> or if I will need to upgrade either or both systems to OS 4.1.2 in order to
> get the most out of the 5GB tape drive? I will summarize the answer.
Thanks to the following who responded:
vest.sdata.no!birger ( Birger Wathne)
arsenic.cray.com!cfoley (Chuck Foley)
perry.berkeley.edu!doug (Doug Neuhauser)
gutschmi@informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de
Energetic.COM!msm (Michael S. Maiten)
uni-paderborn.de!reka
pegasus.rice.edu!pls (Patrick Shopbell)
----------------------------
I decided the best solution was to upgrade both systems to OS 4.1.2 in
order to take advantage of the SUN-provided support for the EXB-8500.
In each case the EXB-8500 is the 2nd tape drive on the system, so I'm
using the "rst9" device name in accordance with the following instructions
contained in the OS 4.1.2 'man 4 st' page:
For helical-scan tape devices (Exabyte):
/dev/rst[0-7]
Standard EXB-8200 (2GB) Format
/dev/rst[8-15]
EXB-8500 (5GB) Format
/dev/rst[16-23]
Compressed Format (EXB-8500 only)
/dev/rst[24-31]
Compressed Format (EXB-8500 only)
/dev/nrst[0-7]
non-rewinding Standard EXB-8200
(2GB)Format
/dev/nrst[8-15]
non-rewinding EXB-8500 (5GB) Format
/dev/nrst[16-23]
non-rewinding Compressed Format (EXB-
8500 only)
/dev/nrst[24-31]
non-rewinding Compressed Format (EXB-
8500 only)
I was also able to read a tape which had previously been written in the
2GB mode. It seems as though the search mode is faster now too.
-----------------------------------------
There is one small point I'm curious about though. A number of people
advised me to look at the file /usr/sys/scsi/targets/st_conf.c to see the
distinct entries for EXB-8200 and EXB-8500 drives in SunOS 4.1.2.
Prior to upgrading I did check that file on another machine, and the entries
were there. (The machine I checked this on happened to be a SUN 670MP which
had been delivered with 4.1.2 preinstalled).
But after I ran 'sunupgrade' (to upgrade from 4.1.1 to 4.1.2) on one of
the machines in question (a SUN 4/390) I could not find a subdirectory
named /usr/sys/scsi ?
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