User guide

Installing a DLT, SDLT, VS, LTO, or DAT Tape Drive Into a Linux Operating System
6464215-01, Rev B
January 2006
stinit and stinit.def 18
stinit and stinit.def 0
stinit automatically initializes SCSI tape drive modes at system startup or
reboot by sending
ioctl commands to the drive. The commands are defined in
the
stinit.def definitions text file. The text file is indexed using the inquiry data
returned by the drive (manufacturer, device, and revision). See Tape Device
and Parameter Definitions for more information about the stinit.def file.
After a new installation of the Linux operating system or a new installation of
mt-st, an stinit.def file may not exist. You can create an stinit.def file by using the
following sample file:
/usr/share/doc/mt-st-<version>/stinit.def.examples
If you modify stinit.def, you can re-initialize the SCSI tape drive modes by
rebooting the server or executing the following command:
# stinit or # stinit -f <pathname>/stinit.def
where pathname is the path where stinit.def file is stored.
By default,
stinit searches your present working directory to find the stinit.def
file. If stinit cannot find stinit.def in the working directory, it searches /etc/
stinit.def
.
For more information on
stinit, see the stinit(8) man page.
Tape Device and
Parameter Definitions
0
The stinit.def file contains definitions of tape devices and their corresponding
initialization parameters.
Some of the parameter conventions are listed in the following table:
The following example shows a single entry of a tape device in the
stinit.def
file:
# The XY dat
manufacturer=XY-COMPANY model = "UVW DRIVE" {
scsi2logical=1 # Common definitions for all modes
can-bsr can-partitions auto-lock
# Definition of modes
Item Definition
{ } Parameter definitions are delimited by { }.
name = value Definitions consist of pairs where name = value. The value
is either a numeric parameter, a string not containing
blanks, or a string enclosed within quotation marks.
If
= value is omitted, a value of “1” is assigned.
# If the # character appears in an input line, stinit deletes
from the buffer everything following the
# character up
to the next carriage return. This enables you to make
comments in the
stinit.def file.