# Help on SCSI Tape Drive

## mrmetry

Oh mighty Linux gods please take pity on this poor wretch....

Can anyone point me to some definitive instructions on setting up a scsi tape drive in Gentoo? I'm about modprobed, lsmod-ed, /dev/st0 out.

 :Crying or Very sad: 

Don

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## jpl888

Have you any idea how you would like the drive setup?

i.e. What program do you want to use the tape drive with?

I myself bought a proprietry solution called Tapeware.

All you have to worry about then is making sure the correct modules are loaded.

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## mrmetry

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I was trying to view tape contects via KDat and/or tar.

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## jpl888

No worries, what kind of drive is it?

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## mrmetry

Archive Python

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## jpl888

So presumeably you have the right kernel support/modules compiled for the SCSI card it is attached to, SCSI tape support, SCSI generic support and Probe all LUNS just for good measure?

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## mrmetry

lsmod output:

Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted

ide-floppy             12704   0  (autoclean)

sd_mod                 11788   0  (autoclean) (unused)

sr_mod                 14616   0  (autoclean) (unused)

scsi_mod               88164   2  (autoclean) [sd_mod sr_mod]

ymfpci                 41960   0

ac97_codec             11668   0  [ymfpci]

soundcore               3588   2  [ymfpci]

3c59x                  25296   1

ieee1394              181316   0

input                   3264   0  (unused)

uhci                   25276   0  (unused)

usbcore                58156   1  [uhci]

I seem to remember sg_mod being loaded before last reboot.

lspci output:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)

0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)

0000:00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)

0000:00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)

0000:00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)

0000:00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)

0000:00:0c.0 Multimedia audio controller: Yamaha Corporation YMF-724 (rev 04)

0000:00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 24)

0000:00:10.0 SCSI storage controller: BusLogic BT-946C (BA80C30) [MultiMaster 10]

0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X (rev 5c)

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## jpl888

Ok you have your Buslogic SCSI card/controller listed is lspci but there is no module there for it in lsmod.

Does that mean you have it compiled directly into the kernel as you have a SCSI disk on the same card that has the system on it or you don't have it compiled at all?

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## mrmetry

I believe I compiled it in the kernel via make menuconfig ??  :Smile: 

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## jpl888

You should also have sg and st in the lsmod output (SCSI Generic and SCSI Tape)

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## jpl888

Try "modprobe buslogic", anything?

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## mrmetry

Can't locate module buslogic or Buslogic

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## jpl888

"make menuconfig"

Goto "Device Drivers", "SCSI device support", make sure "SCSI Tape" and "SCSI Generic" have "M" in, make sure "Probe all LUNs" has "*" in, goto SCSI Low-level drivers and put an "M" in "Buslogic SCSI support".

compile the kernel and copy it to the boot partition, reboot and try "modprobe buslogic" again.

Any joy?

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## mrmetry

Again, thanks for the reply and help. As soon as I complete that I'll post back here. Being a newbie at the ripe old age of two weeks I appreciate your patience.

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## jpl888

Again no worries, I'm trying to give something back to the Gentoo community as I'm not a programmer and I use it quite alot now. I think helping a newbie get confidence in Gentoo and the excellent community it has is a good way of doing that.

Today Gentoo tomorrow the world, and other megalomaniac type stuff, Gentoo is about empowerment.

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## mrmetry

Indeed !!

 :Smile: 

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## mrmetry

Ok, recompiled. modprobe BusLogic returned nothing to the screen while modprobe buslogic returned the "can't locate module." So, am I to assume the BusLogic module is indeed loaded?

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## jpl888

Sorry yes my mistake it is BusLogic and not buslogic.

You should then be able to load sg and st.

"modprobe sg"

"modprobe st"

Do that and then show us the output from lsmod again and I think you will be ready to use some program with it.

Incidentally what SCSI id do you have the drive on? From my Novell days I was always told that Archive Pythons like to be on ID 6, it wouldn't hurt to do that here either.

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## mrmetry

Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted

st                     27224   0  (unused)

sg                     31356   0  (unused)

BusLogic               84540   0  (unused)

ymfpci                 41960   0

ac97_codec             11668   0  [ymfpci]

soundcore               3588   2  [ymfpci]

3c59x                  25296   1

ieee1394              181316   0

input                   3264   0  (unused)

uhci                   25276   0  (unused)

usbcore                58156   1  [uhci]

When I looked in the SCSI config utility it's ID = 2

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## jpl888

Remember the way you had the scsi modules loaded when you did the first lsmod? i.e. scsi_mod, sr_mod, sd_mod

Well you need those loaded first I think, try modprobing them now but if that doesn't work reboot and do again.

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## mrmetry

The other two modules loaded fine.  Now I'm gettting a "can't locate" on scsi_mod

linuxbox root # modprobe scsi_mod

modprobe: Can't locate module scsi_mod

linuxbox root # modprobe sd_mod

linuxbox root # modprobe sr_mod

linuxbox root # modprobe scsi_mod

modprobe: Can't locate module scsi_mod

linuxbox root # lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted

sr_mod                 14616   0  (unused)

sd_mod                 11756   0  (unused)

st                     27224   0  (unused)

sg                     31356   0  (unused)

BusLogic               84540   0  (unused)

ymfpci                 41960   0

ac97_codec             11668   0  [ymfpci]

soundcore               3588   2  [ymfpci]

3c59x                  25296   1

ieee1394              181316   0

input                   3264   0  (unused)

uhci                   25276   0  (unused)

usbcore                58156   1  [uhci]

linuxbox root #

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## jpl888

You wouldn't have been able to get this far unless you had scsi_mod compiled as a module or compiled into the kernel. So I'm assuming that as part of the kernel recompile I told you to do you or driver dependancy changed SCSI device support from "M" to "*".

If you try using KDat now you might get somewhere, but you will probably have to reboot and load the modules in the correct order.

I have a machine I can get into remotely which will tell us exactly what lsmod should look like but it is getting late and I need some kip otherwise I will start screwing up so I will pick this up again in 10-12 hours.

bye for now.

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## jpl888

Mornin'

Have looked at my customer's machine and it's like this:-

SCSI device support is "*"

legacy /proc/scsi is "*"

SCSI disk support is "*"

SCSI tape support is "*"

SCSI generic support is "*"

Probe all LUNs is "*"

The SCSI driver i.e. in your case BusLogic is "*"

Everything else should be blank.

Recompile the kernel and do the usual stuff to copy to boot and reboot. You should then be able to look in /proc/scsi/scsi and see something referring to your Archive Python. Presumeably then you could access it with Kdat then, but I wouldn't know anything about that.

Enjoy  :Smile: 

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## mrmetry

Mornin' to You. I haven't done the last step that you suggested yet. If an item in the make menuconfig app has an "M" by it, can this be changed to an '"*"  ?

Incidentally, adding those other modules in yesterday afternoon worked. At least I think so.  :Very Happy:   I'm receicing a different error in the KDat app- (error reading magic string) but I'm gonna pop a new tape in shortly and see how it likes that.

I used the mt utility and rewound the tape. Where I was getting really confused earlier was that I thought the device file had to be created first.  When the proper drivers/modules are loaded am I correct in my assumption that the OS handles this function?

Thanks so much for all of your help through this.

Don

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## Drunkula

 *mrmetry wrote:*   

> If an item in the make menuconfig app has an "M" by it, can this be changed to an '"*"  ?
> 
> 

 

Yes I believe this is always true.  However the opposite it not always true (* to M).  Remember, though, if you compile too many items into your kernel it is possible to go beyond the limits of the kernel size which varies by kernel version and platform.

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## mrmetry

Thanks Count Drunkula !

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