st(1M)                                                               st(1M)




 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      st - shared tape administration

 SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]
      st -f device_file [-r] [-s]

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      The st command provides users with a command-line interface to check
      the status of a shared tape device or to reclaim a shared tape device
      from a host system that has failed while holding a reservation on the
      shared tape device.  The st command can also be used for the same
      purpose on shared library robotic devices.  To use the st command you
      must have root user id.

      Please see examples below for usage.

    Options    [Toc]    [Back]
      st recognizes the following options and arguments:

      -f device_file Specifies the tape device file or sctl pass-through
                     device file for the shared tape/library device. This
                     parameter is mandatory and st will report an error if
                     -f device_file is omitted.

      -r             Allows the user to reclaim a shared tape device or
                     shared library robotic device in the case where a host
                     failed while holding a reservation on the shared
                     device.  This option causes a bus device reset to be
                     issued to the device specified by the -f option.

      -s             Prints out the current status of the shared
                     tape/library device specified by the -f option.

 RETURN VALUE    [Toc]    [Back]
      st returns 0 upon successful completion and 1 otherwise.

 EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]
           st -f /dev/scsi/st_device -s

      The following shows three examples of output from the above command.

           Device is reserved by another host    [Toc]    [Back]

      The above output indicates that the shared device is reserved by
      another host and is therefore unavailable at this time.

           Device not ready    [Toc]    [Back]

      The above output indicates that the shared device is not ready for use
      at this time.




 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 1 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003






 st(1M)                                                               st(1M)




           Device is OK and available    [Toc]    [Back]

      The above output indicates that the shared device is ready for use at
      this time.

      To reclaim a shared tape/library device from a failed host, the
      following command can be used:

           st -f /dev/scsi/st_device -r

 WARNINGS    [Toc]    [Back]
      The -r option must be used with care. When reclaiming devices, it must
      be ensured that the host from which the device is being reclaimed has
      in fact failed, as data may be lost as the result of reclaiming a
      device that is currently in use by another host.

 DEPENDENCIES    [Toc]    [Back]
      The sctl SCSI pass-through driver must be configured in the kernel
      before this command can be used to administer the shared tape device.
      See scsi_ctl(7).

 AUTHOR    [Toc]    [Back]
      st was developed by Hewlett-Packard.

 SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]
      mt(1), scsi(7), scsi_ctl(7).


 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 2 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003