Tape Drive Problem

[Yrrk]

I see this in errpt and i'm not sure what to do next. How do i determine the problem with the drive?

root@ps-bs-p615-03:/$ errpt
IDENTIFIER TIMESTAMP  T C RESOURCE_NAME  DESCRIPTION
4865FA9B   0921033706 P H rmt0           TAPE OPERATION ERROR
DE9A52D1   0921033706 I S rmt0           DEVICE DUMP RETRIEVED
root@ps-bs-p615-03:/$ errpt -aj 4865FA9B
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LABEL:          TAPE_ERR1
IDENTIFIER:     4865FA9B

Date/Time:       Thu Sep 21 03:37:53 PDT
Sequence Number: 518033
Machine Id:      ------------
Node Id:         ps-bs-p615-03
Class:           H
Type:            PERM
Resource Name:   rmt0
Resource Class:  tape
Resource Type:   3580
Location:        U0.1-P1-I5/Z1-A4
VPD:
        Manufacturer................IBM
        Machine Type and Model......ULT3580-TD1
        Serial Number...............-----------
        Device Specific.(FW)........36U3

Description
TAPE OPERATION ERROR

Probable Causes
TAPE

User Causes
MEDIA DEFECTIVE
DIRTY READ/WRITE HEAD

        Recommended Actions
        FOR REMOVABLE MEDIA, CHANGE MEDIA AND RETRY
        PERFORM PROBLEM DETERMINATION PROCEDURES

Detail Data
SENSE DATA
0604 0000 0100 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0102 0000 7000 0300 0000 001C 0000 0000 5300 0600 3120 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0400 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 
root@ps-bs-p615-03:/$ errpt -aj DE9A52D1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LABEL:          DEV_DUMP_RETRIEVED
IDENTIFIER:     DE9A52D1

Date/Time:       Thu Sep 21 03:37:53 PDT
Sequence Number: 518032
Machine Id:      ------------
Node Id:         ps-bs-p615-03
Class:           S
Type:            INFO
Resource Name:   rmt0

Description
DEVICE DUMP RETRIEVED

Probable Causes
TAPE DRIVE

Failure Causes
TAPE DRIVE

        Recommended Actions
        CONTACT APPROPRIATE SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

Detail Data
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Device dump saved as /var/adm/ras/Atape.rmt0.dump2 
root@ps-bs-p615-03:/$

 

[p5wizard]

Try running a cleaning cartridge through the drive?

Or if you are sure the drive has been cleaned recently, you may have a defective data cartridge.

Description
TAPE OPERATION ERROR

Probable Causes
TAPE

User Causes
MEDIA DEFECTIVE
DIRTY READ/WRITE HEAD

HTH,

p5wizard

 

[mbourne2006]

Yikes - drive firmware is along way behind. I should go through a library/drive/rmu firmware update, and check level of Atape.driver too. Firmware & device drivers play a key role in problem management & resolution

Kind Regards,
Matthew Bourne
"Find a job you love and never do a day's work in your life.

 

[Yrrk]

What do you do when these types of errors indicate something more vague like "tape device error"?

 

[DukeSSD]

Tapr err 1 is probably a bad cartridge, clean the drive and try again, if you see te same try another cartridge.

 

[mbourne2006]

Sorry Yrrk - I've re-read my post and it's not as clear as I would have liked...

IMHO only - tape drive firmware & device driver levels play a key role in troubleshooting tape_err_x problems, because it is the firmware & driver combination that translates the messages from the hardware into error codes that AIX presents to the user. It might be that a more up-to-date version of the firmware/driver combination would translate exactly the same set of events as either a different tape_err_x or as something that does not need to be flagged.

My advice - update the drive firmware (and probably required to update library & rmu firmware), check that Atape.driver is up to date, then try to recreate the problem. If there is a SAN in the middle then check the switches too

I hope that helps ...

Kind Regards,
Matthew Bourne
"Find a job you love and never do a day's work in your life.