Patch-ID# 112067-02
Keywords: dlt, dlt8000, quantum, tape drive, firmware, error 174,
Synopsis: Hardware, DLT8000 Tape Drive, Firmware Download Program, V87
Date: Dec/19/2003


Install Requirements: Additional instructions may be listed below                      
                      
Solaris Release: 8

SunOS Release: 5.8

Unbundled Product: DLT8000 Firmware

Unbundled Release: N/A

Xref: 

Topic: 

Relevant Architectures: sparc

BugId's fixed with this patch: 4659443

Changes incorporated in this version: 4659443
NOTE: 

- Uprev`ed tape drive firmware to V87
- Uprev`ed tload to version 4.1

Patches accumulated and obsoleted by this patch: 

Patches which conflict with this patch: 

Patches required with this patch: 

Obsoleted by: 

Files included with this patch: 

D8S_V87.img
README.112067-02
tload_4.1

Problem Description:

A highly intermittant error is reported by NetBackUp 
during backup with the DLT8000 tape drive installed in Sun Storedge L25, L100, 
and L1000 libraries .  The application will report 'error 174' with the 
associated message, '1 byte written'.  The drive reports the incorrect bytes 
written.

Patch Installation Instructions:
----------------------------
 
None.

Special Install Instructions:
----------------------------------------------------
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contents
--------    
A.0  Firmware File Names, Changes, & Utility Descriptions
B.O  Precautionary Statements
C.O  Patch Installation and Utility Usage Intructions
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A.0  Firmware File Names & Utility Descriptions
-----------------------------------------------
 A.1 D8S_V87.img       --> Firmware binary image D7S_V109.img (1,187,840 bytes) 
 A.2 tload_4.1         --> The firmware download utility (58,436 bytes)
 A.3 README.112067-02  --> This file (14,725 bytes)
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A.4 Firmware Changes
 
Release Notes for revision changes from V80 to V87
===================================================
Last Release Revision: V80
 
Release Revision V83
A.4.1 Problem Description: When a Hard Write Error occurs, a subsequent command 
may endwith a SCSI Check Condition with a 0B/44/89 which indicates an internal 
error condition.  Root Cause: The 0B/44/89 sense data is an indirect result of 
aborting the processes associated with buffered data not yet written to tape. 
If a SCSI command is received by the drive and this command is terminated with
another SCSI Check Condition before the previous abort process is completed, 
the drive will then check the next command with a 
Corrective Action: The command reporting Check Condition for a Hard Write Error
now disconnects and waits for abort processing to complete before reselecting 
and sending status.
 
Release Revision V85						 
A.4.2 Enhancement: Added a low power mode used while waiting in the unlocked 
state for the door to be opened. If after 10 minutes the door has not been 
opened, the door will lock and the current holding the tension on the tape will 
be reduced. After entering this state, the eject button, SCSI unload, or 
library unload must take place to remove the cartridge. A SCSI load or library
load will load the cartridge and remove the drive from the low power state.
 
A.4.3 Problem Description: After the first un-buffered write command, all 
subsequent write commands would be in buffered mode.
Root Cause: When optimizations were made to improve the write performance, 
un-buffered write mode was broken.
Corrective Action: Do not allow the drive to enter optimized write mode when 
set to un-buffered mode.
 
A.4.4 Problem Description: A space forward after a hard write error could take 
many hours to complete.
Root Cause: The space was starting from beginning of tape.
Corrective Action: Retain the track number after the write error so it may be 
used on a Space retry.
 
A.4.5 Enhancement: To prevent the library port commands from filling the ring 
buffer, the 
information is only retained if it is different from the previous request.
 
Release Revision V87
A.4.5 Problem Description: A particular software application can report a 
generic medium error (Error 174) when writing highly compressible data into the
EOM area of tape. The drive correctly reports EOM/Early Warning/LEOT was 
encountered but incorrectly reports a residual of the block size minus one. All
data is actually written to tape and the bug is in the reported residual.
Root Cause: There is an implicit assumption in LEOT PBN check that physical 
blocks are in PBN order. With envelopes and block interleaving this assumption 
is not valid. If an envelope straddles the LEOT position, it may have blocks 
that are early in user-order being written after LEOT along with blocks that 
are later in user-order being written before LEOT. 
Corrective Action: The LEOT checker now uses the same PBN for every physical 
block in the envelope. The PBN used is the highest PBN encountered in the 
previous envelope. The envelope that actually straddles the LEOT position never
reports EOM. Instead, EOM is reported when any block of the next envelope is 
examined.
 
===================================================
 
B.0  Precautionary Statements
-----------------------------
 
**WARNING:****WARNING:****WARNING:****WARNING:****WARNING:****WARNING:**
 
B.1 The system MUST BE IDLE during the firmware download process!  No 
    other programs should be running while this utility is being used.  
    Failure to do so may cause the devices being upgraded to fail or 
    the system to crash.
 
    Any other computers sharing the same I/O bus as the host system
    must be either disconnected or offline.
 
B.2 If any upgrade failures occur, do not continue upgrading devices.
    For example, loss of power during download will result in damaged
    peripherals and require replacement.
 
    If any failures occur, please collect the following log file:
    "/var/adm/messages", and an explorer dump.  Please forward these 
    files to your service provider for analysis. 
 
B.3 This package will only function on Sun L1000, L25, and L100 
    Sun StorEdge libraries with Quantum DLT8000 SCSI Tape Drives installed
 
B.4 Please READ instructions below completely BEFORE starting download 
    procedure.  Follow the procedures carefully.  You may program 
    multiple drives at the same time, however, you may not exit the
    utility until all drives have completed the download process. 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
C.O  Patch Installation and Utility Usage Intructions
-----------------------------------------------------
 
C.1 General guidelines for upgrading: 
 
        EJECT MEDIA FROM DEVICE TO BE UPGRADED.  Download utility will
        eject media from the device if it is found to be loaded.  Do
        NOT attempt to force media back into the drive.  Media present
        in a device having firmware downloaded to the device may result
        in data loss from media or damage to device.
 
        STOP ALL APPLICATIONS. The system must be idle during the
        firmware upgrade process.
 
        DISCONNECT or take OFFLINE any other computers sharing the same
        I/O bus as the host.
 
        UPGRADE the tape device.  Follow the given instructions in
        the procedure section below.
 
        In case of any disruption or unforeseen events happening on the 
        relevant bus during the firmware download process, it may be 
        that the upgraded device becomes non-functional.  In this event,
        it will be necessary to replace the device. This would happen 
        as a result of an incomplete or corrupted firmware file being 
        downloaded.  Loss of power during the upgrade process would also
        damage the device.
 
**NOTE**    If you cannot upgrade devices due to software application
            interference, try booting off of the Solaris release CD.
 
**NOTE**    After the firmware download is completed, it may be necessary
            to power cycle the device to ensure fully resetting the device.
            In turn, this may also require a successive reboot of the host
            system to ensure all functionality is restored.
 
 
C.2 Procedure for Tape Firmware Download: 
 
The procedure to be used for upgrading the device's firmware is explained
below.  Upgrade time will be approximately 3-5 minutes for each device.  You 
must have root/super-user privileges in order to perform this operation.
 
a). Unpack the patch (through tar) into any directory, e.g. /var/spool/patch
    (Note, if the patch ends in a ".Z" suffix, you will need to first
    uncompress it.)  Example:
	# uncompress <filename.tar.Z>
        # tar xvf <filename.tar>
 
b). In the patch directory, as root, type the "tload_4.1" command:
        # ./tload_4.1 D8S_V87.img 
 
c). Select the tape device to be upgraded (see example below).
 
**NOTE**    This upgrade can result in error messages in the console 
            window and/or the terminal "tload_4.1" window.  It is normal
            for a SCSI bus reset message to appear in the console
            window for each device that is upgraded.
 
d). Ensure that the device to be upgraded is the correct one and answer
    the question: 
        Do you want to download firmware to this tape device [N]?
    with a 'y' for yes or anything else for no.  Default answer is no.
 
e). After each device has been upgraded, the displayed tape device
    list will be refreshed.  Device(s) upgraded should reflect having
    the new code level, "0257", in the "Rev" field (see example below).
 
f). If there is an additional device to be upgraded (same device type
    and desire to upgrade to the latest firmware), select that device
    as previously done in C.2.c). & C.2.d). above.  Continue in this 
    fashion until all desired devices have been upgraded.
 
g). Quit the "tload_4.1" program by typing '0' (see example below).
 
**************************************************************************
 
C.3  EXAMPLE
 
 #
#########################################
#
# Launch Tape Firmware Download Utility
#
#########################################
#
# ./tload_4.1 D8S_V87.IMG
 
ATTACHED DEVICES:
 
Device          Supplier  Product           Rev   Serial Number  Device State
--------------  --------  ----------------  ----  -------------  -------------
1:0ln           QUANTUM   DLT8000    	    0250  CEC18P2278     Available    
2:02n           QUANTUM   DLT8000   	    0250  RBD22P1132     Available    
 
Select Device(s) (ex: 1,3-4) or 0 to quit) [1]: 2
 
02n             QUANTUM   DLT8000   	    0250  RBD22P1132     Selected     
 
Do you want to download firmware to this device [N]? y
 
ATTACHED DEVICES:
 
Device          Supplier  Product           Rev   Serial Number  Device State
--------------  --------  ----------------  ----  -------------  -------------
1:0ln           QUANTUM   DLT8000     	    0250  CEC18P2278     Available
2:02n           QUANTUM   DLT8000     	    0250  RBD22P1132     Downloading
Ejecting Tape out of the Tape Drive
 
Downloading /dev/rmt/02n... please wait.
 
ATTACHED DEVICES:
 
Device          Supplier  Product           Rev   Serial Number  Device State
--------------  --------  ----------------  ----  -------------  -------------
1:01n           QUANTUM   DLT8000     	    0250  CEC18P2278     Available
2:02n           QUANTUM   DLT8000           0250  RBD22P1132     Writing Flash  
 
Select Device(s) (ex: 1,3-4) or 0 to quit) [3]: 0
 
One or more devices has not yet completed flash update and/or download
recovery time.  Devices must not be utilized until after this recovery
period has expired, or permanent damage may result.  This program will
release all devices and terminate in 6 minutes.
 
ATTACHED DEVICES:
 
Device          Supplier  Product           Rev   Serial Number  Device State
--------------  --------  ----------------  ----  -------------  -------------
1:0ln           QUANTUM   DLT8000   	    0250  CEC18P2278     Available 
2:02n           QUANTUM   DLT8000           0257  RBD22P1132     F/W Upgraded 
 
#
#########################################
#
# The example above only upgrades one
# device.  You do not have to exit with
# a "0" and initiate the 'tload_4.1' utility
# again.  You may continue instead and
# directly upgrade the next tape device, 
# following the same steps as before
# for any or all devices, until desired 
# devices have been upgraded
#
# After devices are upgraded, the Rev
# will be 0257
#
# To Quit, enter '0'.  System prompt
# will return.
#
#########################################
#
 
**************************************************************************
C.4  tload_4.1 (ABOUT THE UTILITY):
 
 
   tload_4.1 - Firmware Download utility for tape drives.
 
SYNOPSIS
 
   tload_4.1 [ filename ] [ -v ] 
        filename        firmware/microcode filename
 
DESCRIPTION
 
   tload_4.1 is an firmware download utility for Sun supported tape 
   devices.
 
   If the firmware_file is specified, then it will display the list 
   of tape devices present on the host system and asks the user to 
   select the tape device which is to be upgraded.
 
   If the firmware_file is not specified, then it will display the 
   list of tape devices present on the host system along with their 
   FIRMWARE revision levels.
 
   tload_4.1 will exit upon completion; please do not attempt to halt or 
   stop prior to utility's menu exit option being presented.
 
   The command can be run only as a super-user.
 
DISCLAIMER
 
   This utility is ONLY supported for downloading, to Sun supported
   tape devices, the Sun supported firmware binary (firmware_file)
   which has officially been released via the official Sun Patch 
   Process.  This utility is only supported with the release of
   firmware (binary) bundled with said patch.
 
   Do not attempt to use any other version of 'tload' that may have
   been acquired previously else device damage may occur.  Use only 
   the version provided with this patch, version 4.1 (tload_4.1).
 
   Use of tload_4.1 to load non-Sun supported tape devices is at
   the user's own risk, and is not supported.
 
   Use of tload_4.1 to load Sun supported tape devices with firmware
   NOT bundled with the utility in an officially released Sun Patch 
   is at the user's own risk, and is not supported.
 
PROBLEMS
 
   Any problems regarding this utility by the user following proper 
   procedures should be reported to the user's service provider along
   with the following items:
        1) /var/adm/messages file
        2) explorer dump

README -- Last modified date:  Thursday, March 25, 2004

