UNIX Configuration Guide:
Verifying the Installation

Overview

As part of the installation process, you will have installed the appropriate device driver for your UNIX system and created device files to communicate with the tape drive. This section describes how you can verify that the installation has been performed correctly. The procedure has three steps:

1. Write test data to a tape.
2. Read the test data from the tape.
3. Compare the data read from the tape with the original data on disk.

Verifying the Installation

1. Test the SCSI connection to the tape drive by doing a rewind operation:

• Remove tape cartridge, if there is already one in the drive.

• Insert a tape cartridge.

• Rewind the tape using the command line:

  % mt -t <archive name> rewind
  
  or for SCO UNIX:

  % tape -a /dev/rStpX rewind

• If you do not see the Tape light flash as the tape rewinds, the hardware installation may be faulty. Check the troubleshooting section for help in identifying the problem.

2. Write a sample file to tape, using tar:

% cd /
% tar cvf <archive name> <file>

The options for tar have the following meanings:

The arguments follow the cvf options in the command line. Their values depend on the operating system; suggested values are given in System-Specific Arguments below. The arguments are as follows:

Note: Make sure you prefix the filename with "." when you back it up to tape. If you do not, the restore operation in step 3 will overwrite the original copy on disk.

3. Read the file back from tape:

% cd /tmp
% tar xvf <archive name>

The x option to tar here means "extract from the archive."

Use the same value for the <archive name> argument as in step 2.

4. Compare the original with this retrieved file:

% cmp <original file> /tmp/<retrieved file>

This step compares the retrieved file and the original file byte by byte. If they are the same, there should be no output. This verifies that the installation is correct.

The arguments are as follows:

Example:

Suppose you are verifying the installation of an HP DDS-format tape drive on an HP-UX 10.x system. The procedure would be as follows. See System-Specific Arguments below for the choice of <archive name> and <file> arguments:

1. Change directory to root:
     % cd /

2. Back up /stand/vmunix to tape:
     % tar cvf /dev/rmt/0m ./stand/vmunix
   Note the prefix of "." to the filename.
   
3. Change to the temporary directory:
     % cd /tmp

4. Extract the file from the tape:
     % tar xvf /dev/rmt/0m

5. Compare the original with the restored version:
     % cmp /stand/vmunix /tmp/stand/vmunix

   Note that the original filename is not prefixed with '.'.

System-Specific Arguments

The following table lists suggested values for the arguments <archive name> and <file> in the verification procedure described above:

*For Sun Solaris 2, determine the archive name by typing:

  % ls -l /dev/rmt/*m | grep "st@X"

where X is the SCSI ID.

Identify the line for the tape drive. For example, if the drive was at SCSI ID 2, look for the line containing "st@2,0"'. This might be as follows (but on a single line):

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 63 Mar 1 00:00 /dev/rmt/0m

../../devices/sbus@1f,0/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/st@2,0:m

Here you could use /dev/rmt/0m (shown in bold above) as the archive name.