Solaris : Controlling tape device/drive using mt command

Posted on in Categories News last updated March 22, 2005

1) Rewinding a tape
# mt –f /dev/rmt/0 rewind

2) Display the status of a tape drive
# mt –f /dev/rmt/0 status
It displays information as tape is loaded, offline, total files, blocks etc.

3) Retensioning a tape
# mt –f /dev/rmt/0 retension

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

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4 comment

  2. I want to configure a Dell RD1000 tape drive on
    solaris10 server and I do the following:

    1-First I found the drive name by using command:
    #iostat -En
    and this is the output:

    c2t0d0 Soft Errors: 1 Hard Errors: 0 Transport Errors: 0
    Vendor: DELL Product: RD1000 Revision: 0053 Serial No:
    Size: 0.00GB
    Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
    Illegal Request: 1 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0

    2-I try the mt command on this device as follow:

    #mt -f /dev/dsk/c2t0d0 and the output is :No such device

    when I try #mt -f /dev/dsk/c2t0d0p0 the output is :Device is busy

    3-I try to check which process has locked the Tape drive by using:

    # fuser -u /dev/dsk/c2t0d0p0 I found the process is “Vold”

    4-I stop the volume management process by using:

    # /etc/init.d/volmgt stop

    and i checked again:

    # mt -f /dev/dsk/c2t0d0p0 status

    mt: Inappropriate ioctl for device

    Notes: I used “tapes” command and still “/dev/rmt” empty

    Any respond ASAP will be really appreciated.
    You can respond me on my e-mail: [email protected]

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  3. When you insert the tape in the tape drive and execute the below command, output should be like as shown below or else reboot the system using reconfiguration option..

    # reboot -- -r

    OR

    # touch /reconfigure
# init 6
# iostat -En

    Outputs:

    c0t0d0          Soft Errors: 0 Hard Errors: 0 Transport Errors: 0
Vendor: IBM      Product: DDRS34560SUN4.2G Revision: S98E Serial No: 2V4549
Size: 4.29GB
Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
Illegal Request: 0 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0
c0t1d0          Soft Errors: 0 Hard Errors: 0 Transport Errors: 0
Vendor: IBM      Product: DDRS34560SUN4.2G Revision: S98E Serial No: 369317
Size: 4.29GB
Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
Illegal Request: 0 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0
c0t6d0          Soft Errors: 0 Hard Errors: 0 Transport Errors: 0
Vendor: Compaq   Product: 12X CD-ROM DRV   Revision: 3136 Serial No: 11/08
                                                                          9
Size: 18446744073.71GB
Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
Illegal Request: 0 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0
rmt/2           Soft Errors: 0 Hard Errors: 0 Transport Errors: 0
Vendor: EXABYTE  Product: EXB-8505SMBANSH2 Revision: 0098 Serial No:
    Reply Report comment

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