SUMMARY: how to kill tape drive jobs

From: Rakesh Jain <jain_at_smuhep1.physics.smu.edu>
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 1995 11:41:07 -0500 (CDT)

hi there,

        This is the summary of responses I got. First off all I had already
tried to eject the tapes maually etc., but it does not work. None of the
suggestions worked. I also tried to access the database for information from
DEC, but of no use. I presume that there is a lock set for the tape device in
kernel and it is not released for some reason. I think there must be a way
to delete the lock entry without actually have to shutdoen the machine.
Anyway if anyone has any better idea, I am listening.

Thanks everyone.
Rakesh

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>From what i have seen with unix boxes, it occurs that the tape drive
gets stuck and that the process holding it have it's "parent process
id" to 1. This means that you can't kill that process. The only hope is
to let the process finish.

The stock process is very often related to "remote backup" that uses
special remote program to receive the result of the backup.

i never experienced problem by-passing such limitations this way

<local backup command(output to stdout)> | \
rsh <remote machine> dd of=/dev/rmt1h

Good luck !

Michel Cyr
Michel.Cyr_at_sidoci.qc.ca

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Try to manually unmount the tape by pressing the eject button on the
tapedrive. Then you should be able to kill yor jobs.
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There may be other child processes running/forked out by the parent
process, use 'ps' to find out if it is the case. Kill the child process
first and then the parent process. Not sure if this is the case.

Dustin Fu
xxfdh_at_omega.uta.edu
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        This typically indicates a bug in the tape driver. I know
        that the tapes on DEC 7000 and KZMSA can have this problem.
        The driver is waiting at an uninterruptable priority for
        the tape to complete an operation. For whatever reason,
        the tape either has completed the operation and the driver
        didn't notice or the tape won't ever complete the operation.

        The tape drive is open, so it is genuinely busy and the
        process can't be killed because it is in the a uninterrupt-
        able wait in the kernel.

        This sort of thing isn't supposed to happen which is why
        a driver bug is likely. Check with the CSC or MCS Web
        server to see what patches might be available:

                http://www.service.digital.com
Received on Wed Aug 16 1995 - 18:57:38 NZST

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