Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!rice!sun-spots-request From: Kemp@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun Subject: Re: Exabyte Hangs !!! Keywords: Hardware Message-ID: <890514193105.459473@DOCKMASTER.ARPA> Date: 14 May 89 19:31:00 GMT Sender: usenet@rice.edu Organization: Sun-Spots Lines: 38 Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 7, Issue 297, message 3 of 18 Alan Broder writes that extracting files using tar from an Exabyte tape drive hangs part way through the tape, but that "tar tv" will list the contents of the entire tape. I suspect that it works for listing but not for extracting because extracting (if it's to a local SCSI disk) causes more SCSI bus activity. We have been using Exabytes for about a month now, and I have also had problems with permanent hangs. The installation instructions for our APUNIX software says to disable SCSI disconnects by editing the file /sys/sundev/sc_conf.c: /* scsi disconnect/reconnect global enable flag */ int scsi_disre_enable = 0; The default value of 1 allows SCSI devices to disconnect and reconnect to the SCSI bus. According to the instructions, "You may be able to run with disconnects enabled depending on what other devices you have attached to the SCSI bus." I first tried building the kernel with disconnects disabled, but when the swap partition and everything else are on SCSI disks, the whole system hangs while the tape is rewinding. I then tried enabling disconnects, and got the same symptoms as Alan: the process using the Exabyte would hang permanently, until a reboot. We are now using the lesser of the two evils: temporary hangs with disconnects disabled. This is on a Sun-4 running 4.0.1, which uses what Sun calls the sw ("SCSI-weird") driver. How apropos. Let's hope the new "Corporate SCSI" driver works a little better than this. Dave Kemp P.S. Some Sun-spotter asked something like "How about that cute little Sparcstation-1". All I can say is BLETCH. Frog Design laid an egg on that one. The dimpled front looks just like a big Band-Aid (tm). I don't want a computer that shouts LOOK AT ME - I'M A PIECE OF OFFICE ART! If only they had just shrunk the 3/60 cabinet down to 16"x16", now that would have been a nice, quiet, classic design.