HP LTO Ultrium 6 Tape Drives Technical

Reference Manual
Volume 2: Software Integration

Abstract
This is one of five volumes that document HP LTO Ultrium 6 tape drives (Fibre Channel and SAS). This volume provides software
integration information. See “Support and other resources” (page 67) for details of the other guides.

HP Part Number: n/a

Published: October 2012
Edition: First
© Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express
warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall
not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
Acknowledgements
Windows is a U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

Warranty
WARRANTY STATEMENT: To obtain a copy of the warranty for this product, see the warranty information website:

http://www.hp.com/go/storagewarranty
Contents
1 Designing backup applications....................................................................7
Optimizing performance...........................................................................................................7
Large data transfer size.........................................................................................................7
Data compression control......................................................................................................7
Non-immediate commands...................................................................................................7
Managing the use of tapes........................................................................................................8
Information in Cartridge Memory...........................................................................................8
Cleaning tape heads............................................................................................................8
Monitoring tape use.............................................................................................................8
TapeAlert............................................................................................................................8
Diagnostic logs....................................................................................................................8
Displaying drive information..................................................................................................9
Drive tests...........................................................................................................................9
Design goals for LTO backup applications....................................................................................9
2 Configuration and initialization..................................................................10
Operating system drivers.........................................................................................................10
Inquiry string recovery........................................................................................................10
Example......................................................................................................................11
Support for additional LUN......................................................................................................11
Enabling additional LUN support.........................................................................................11
Supporting additional LUNs................................................................................................12
3 Use of tapes............................................................................................13
LTO cartridge memory.............................................................................................................13
Identifying tape cartridge types................................................................................................13
Using Cartridge Memory attributes.......................................................................................13
Using MODE SENSE..........................................................................................................13
Tape status and capacity.........................................................................................................13
Finding the remaining capacity............................................................................................14
Interpreting Log Sense data.................................................................................................14
Using the SET CAPACITY command.....................................................................................14
Command descriptor block.............................................................................................15
CDB fields....................................................................................................................15
WORM media.......................................................................................................................15
How WORM media works..................................................................................................15
Changes to SCSI commands...............................................................................................16
New commands...........................................................................................................16
New INQUIRY pages....................................................................................................16
New log pages.............................................................................................................16
New parameters in the DTD Status log page................................................................16
New and changed mode subpages.................................................................................17
New additional sense codes...........................................................................................17
New task management functions.....................................................................................17
Re-writing media labels......................................................................................................17
Allow overwrite of last filemarks before the EOD data set........................................................17
Using CM to check tape integrity.........................................................................................17
Behavior with a missing or inconsistent EOD value.................................................................18
Unique media identifier......................................................................................................18
Barcode support................................................................................................................18
Responding to Cartridge Memory data......................................................................................18
Load count .......................................................................................................................19

Contents 3
 RWW retry counts.............................................................................................................19
Corrective action...........................................................................................................19
4 Factors affecting performance....................................................................20
Ways of optimizing performance..............................................................................................20
Detecting the drive’s speed..................................................................................................20
Ensuring the recommended minimum transfer sizes.................................................................20
Maximum block size......................................................................................................21
Media type identification....................................................................................................21
Using Cartridge Memory instead of tape headers..................................................................21
Using the Performance Log page for diagnosing problems......................................................21
Time-out values.......................................................................................................................21
Notes:..............................................................................................................................21
Recommended support of log pages.........................................................................................22
Factors affecting performance..................................................................................................22
Host-related factors............................................................................................................22
Drive-related factors...........................................................................................................23
Format-related factors.........................................................................................................24
5 Supporting Ultrium features........................................................................25
Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM)....................................................................................................25
Further information.............................................................................................................25
Automation interface...............................................................................................................25
Automation/Device Interface (ADI).......................................................................................25
Automation Control Interface (ACI).......................................................................................26
Modes of usage through ACI..........................................................................................27
Slave to a library controller........................................................................................27
SCSI pass-through mode............................................................................................27
ACI command set..............................................................................................................27
ACI commands that affect drive streaming performance..........................................................27
New features in ACI 4.4.....................................................................................................28
Backward compatibility..................................................................................................28
Encryption support........................................................................................................30
Further details....................................................................................................................31
Supporting the ACI protocol................................................................................................31
Recommended ACI time-out values.......................................................................................31
Treatment of reserved fields.................................................................................................32
Recommended power-up sequence.......................................................................................32
Recommended load-unload configuration..............................................................................33
Recommended Get Drive Status polling frequency..................................................................33
ACI protocol communications retry.......................................................................................33
Upgrading the drive firmware..............................................................................................33
Firmware upgrade via tape.............................................................................................33
Firmware upgrade via the primary host interface...............................................................34
Firmware upgrade via ACI..............................................................................................34
Library firmware upgrade via tape...................................................................................34
Reporting of cartridge types................................................................................................35
ACI 4.3 and earlier.......................................................................................................35
ACI 4.4 mode..............................................................................................................35
Handling irregular cartridges..............................................................................................36
Cleaning cartridge (HP-configured or Universal)................................................................36
Expired cleaning cartridge (HP-configured or Universal).....................................................36
Non-HP Ultrium 1 cleaning cartridge...............................................................................36
Unreadable data cartridge.............................................................................................36
Ultrium 7 and later data cartridges..................................................................................36
Data cartridge with unreadable CM................................................................................37

4 Contents
 Cartridge fails to seat or load.........................................................................................37
Cartridge cannot be loaded...........................................................................................37
Valid firmware upgrade cartridge....................................................................................37
Invalid firmware upgrade cartridge..................................................................................37
Frequently asked questions..................................................................................................38
Cleaning..........................................................................................................................38
Resetting drives..................................................................................................................38
Resetting via the ACI Reset command...............................................................................38
Resetting using the ACI_RST_L line...................................................................................39
Further details....................................................................................................................39
Backup software.....................................................................................................................39
Controlling data compression...................................................................................................39
Other mode page information..................................................................................................39
Accessing Cartridge Memory without threading the tape........................................................39
Buffer size at EW-EOM.......................................................................................................40
Synchronize at EW-EOM.....................................................................................................40
Write delay time................................................................................................................40
Rewind on reset.................................................................................................................40
Partition size......................................................................................................................40
6 Sense keys and codes...............................................................................41
Sense keys—actions to take.....................................................................................................41
Additional sense codes—actions to take....................................................................................43
0h—NO SENSE................................................................................................................44
1h—RECOVERED ERROR....................................................................................................44
2h—NOT READY...............................................................................................................45
3h—MEDIUM ERROR.........................................................................................................46
4h—HW ERROR...............................................................................................................49
5h—ILLEGAL REQUEST.......................................................................................................50
6h—UNIT ATTENTION.......................................................................................................51
7h—DATA PROTECTION....................................................................................................53
8h—BLANK CHECK..........................................................................................................55
Bh—ABORTED COMMAND...............................................................................................55
Dh—VOLUME OVERFLOW.................................................................................................56
7 Exception handling...................................................................................57
Typical escalation procedure....................................................................................................57
Monitoring the condition of the drive and media.........................................................................57
Supporting TapeAlert.........................................................................................................58
Flags...........................................................................................................................58
Designing software to use the TapeAlert log...............................................................................63
TapeAlert Models..............................................................................................................63
TapeAlert polling usage model.......................................................................................63
TapeAlert informational exception usage model................................................................64
Reading the TapeAlert log...................................................................................................64
One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR).......................................................................................65
Supporting OBDR..............................................................................................................65
Responding to the ‘Clean’ LED.................................................................................................65
Providing pass-through mode...................................................................................................65
Requirements for drivers and logical device managers............................................................65
8 Support and other resources......................................................................67
Related documents..................................................................................................................67
Documents specific to HP LTO Ultrium drives..........................................................................67
Documentation map...........................................................................................................67
Drives—general............................................................................................................67

Contents 5
 Installation and configuration..........................................................................................67
Operation....................................................................................................................67
Cartridges....................................................................................................................68
Interface......................................................................................................................68
Maintenance and troubleshooting...................................................................................68
Dealing with errors........................................................................................................68
LTO Ultrium features.......................................................................................................68
General documents and standardization...............................................................................69
Glossary....................................................................................................70
Index.........................................................................................................71

6 Contents
1 Designing backup applications
In today’s computer market, software applications that use tape drives to copy the information
from a computer’s hard disk for safe keeping are readily available for many different operating
systems. Unfortunately, not all these applications take advantage of the advances made in tape
technology over the past few years. This section examines some of the characteristics that a good
backup utility should include.

Optimizing performance
There are some fundamental things that tape management applications should implement when
dealing with Ultrium drives:
• Use large data transfer sizes.
• Control and monitor data compression.
• Ensure directory information is safe and accurate.
• Maximize the use of the tape drive’s internal buffering capability.
Each of these is discussed below.
For more information on optimizing performance, see “Factors affecting performance” (page 20).

Large data transfer size

Applications should use large data transfer sizes to make better use of the Ultrium drive’s internal
buffers. A good goal to set is at least 256 KB each for read or write operation, with an ideal target
of 512 KB:
• For fixed-length block mode reads and writes, provided the block size multiplied by the number
of blocks to be transferred is at least 256 KB, drives will provide peak performance. Small
block sizes (512 bytes) are acceptable so long as they are written and read in fixed-length
block mode using large transfers.
• For variable-length block mode reads and writes, the transfer length should be at least 256 KB.
For FC drives, it is possible to read Report Port Speed Capabilities information and report if a drive
is connected via a sub-optimal interface.
For SAS drives, you can use the Protocol Specific Port log to evaluate if the attach speed is
sub-optimal.

Data compression control

Ultrium drives have built-in hardware data compression. Backup applications should incorporate
features to report the actual compression ratio achieved during backup operations.
The typical compression ratio achieved during backup operations on PC and UNIX networks is
2:1, but this can vary widely depending on the actual data being compressed.
For more information, see “Controlling data compression” (page 39).

Non-immediate commands
Performance can be improved by only using immediate mode WRITE FILEMARKS commands.

NOTE: Using immediate mode with other commands does not improve performance and can
cause problems when writing a driver. The SCSI specification requires that if a command is issued
with the IMMEDIATE bit set to 0, the drive must flush its data buffer before it carries out the operation.
This takes time.

Optimizing performance 7
Managing the use of tapes
The Ultrium format enables applications to monitor the performance of tapes closely, to indicate
when tape heads need cleaning, and when a tape should be discarded.
See “Use of tapes” (page 13) for more information.

Information in Cartridge Memory

The LTO Cartridge Memory holds a number of pages of information that contain data about the
tape’s history, such as the amount of data written to and read from the tape, the number of times
a cartridge has been loaded and the tape threaded into a drive, and the number of read or write
errors that have been encountered by drives with this tape. This information can be used to warn
against backing up onto a tape of dubious quality, or one that is reaching the end of its life.

Cleaning tape heads

The ‘Clean’ LED on the front of HP Ultrium drives indicates when a cleaning cartridge should be
used. There are two ways for backup applications to determine when the tape heads need cleaning
and to prompt the user to clean the drive:
• Use TapeAlert—see “Monitoring the condition of the drive and media” (page 57) for details.
• Send a SCSI REQUEST SENSE command to look at the CLN bit in the sense data. If the bit is
set, the drive needs cleaning.

Monitoring tape use

Drives can report the actual amount of data that has been written to the tape, and the amount of
available space on the tape. From this information, applications for Ultrium drives can be designed
to calculate the percentage of tape used, and give the user feedback on the actual progress of the
backup operation. This is a significant improvement over other technologies, such as DC6000
QIC products, that require the application to estimate what is going on.
See “Tape Capacity Log Page” under the LOG SENSE command in Chapter 3 of the Host Interface
Guide, Volume 3 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual for more information.
While the reliability of tape products and applications is getting better all the time, problems do
still occur. There are some very simple techniques that could be incorporated by application
developers to simplify the process that a user must go through to resolve problems.
For additional information, see “Exception handling” (page 57).

TapeAlert
The TapeAlert facility in HP Ultrium drives allows applications to help avoid trouble by prompting
the user to take remedial action, or in some cases, through the application automatically performing
remedial actions itself.
For example, if the drive is experiencing trouble writing, the software can prompt the user to clean
the heads, or, if there are several drives or an autoloader, automatically clean the heads without
involving the user.
See “Monitoring the condition of the drive and media” (page 57) for more details.

Diagnostic logs
SCSI tape drives report problems in response to a REQUEST SENSE command from the host. If the
backup application stores this information in a log file, it becomes significantly easier to troubleshoot
problems, because the data can be used to pinpoint what is wrong.

8 Designing backup applications

Displaying drive information
Troubleshooting can also be simplified by giving users the ability to look at the drive’s firmware
revision, and information about the host bus adapter. Drive information can be found by executing
an INQUIRY command, and can then be displayed, or stored in a log file.

Drive tests
A basic read/write test should be included in a backup application to check the integrity of the
hardware. This should also allow the user to scan the SCSI bus and to solve problems concerning
the device setup and configuration.

Design goals for LTO backup applications

• Use large SCSI read/write transfer sizes (256 KB is recommended).
• Incorporate data compression control and report the compression ratios achieved.
• Consider where to store directory information depending on the nature of the application.
• Only use immediate WRITE FILEMARK commands, but avoid using other commands in
immediate mode.
• Use Cartridge Memory information to measure tape quality before backing up starts.
• Use the TapeAlert log to prompt the user to take remedial action to avoid problems.
• Use “cleaning required” indicators in the software to either prompt the user or enable the
library to use a cleaning cartridge to clean the drive heads.
• Allow users to set custom cleaning schedules.
• Use log files to store Inquiry and Sense Key/Error Code information about error conditions.
• Allow users to access drive firmware revision and HBA characteristic information
• Include the capability to download firmware.
• Incorporate simple diagnostic capabilities, such as Write/Read tests and SCSI device discovery.
• Incorporate online help.

Design goals for LTO backup applications 9

2 Configuration and initialization
This section covers the following topics:
• Operating System drivers
• Inquiry string recovery, finding information about the drive through the INQUIRY command
• Additional LUN support, for operation with an autochanger device
• Fibre Channel support

Operating system drivers

Windows HP have a proprietary driver for Windows 2000 and Windows 2003. It is intended that the
driver is freely licensed to any software partner that requires it.
For the latest driver support for HP tape drives, please visit the following HP web site: http://
www.hp.com/support/ultrium

NetWare HP has worked with Novell to provide driver support for HP’s Ultrium products.
UNIX See the UNIX, Linux and OpenVMS Configuration Guide for details of how to implement
Ultrium support under the popular UNIX flavors.

Inquiry string recovery

HP Ultrium devices should not be recognized solely by the contents of their SCSI Inquiry strings.
In the past, hard-coded recognition of Inquiry strings has meant that software support for follow-on
products from HP has been delayed when, to all intents and purposes, the new product was
practically identical to the previous generation. For Ultrium, it is recommended that software
applications ‘key off’ only the first eight bytes of the Product ID field—the text “ Ultrium”. The
only use for the remainder of the bytes in this field is that they will be visible on-screen during the
boot process of PC systems. As with HP’s DDS products, there will be very little difference between
the first Ultrium drives and succeeding generations in terms of their basic SCSI characteristics; they
will just store more data faster.

Standard INQUIRY Page Data SAS FC

Vendor ID (bytes 8–15) “HP ” “HP ”

Product ID (bytes 16–23) “Ultrium ” “Ultrium ”

Product ID (bytes 24–31) “6-SCSI ” “6-SCSI ”

Product Revision Level (bytes 32–35) CRMV CRMV

Product ID, first 8 bytes

“Ultrium ” This will be the same for all HP Ultrium products, regardless of generation or model.

Product ID, last 8 bytes

1st byte: Generation identifier:

“6” LTO-6 (2.5 TB at 2.5:1 compression)
2nd byte “–” Hyphen separator (ASCII 2Dh)
3rd–6th bytes “SCSI” SCSI protocol, regardless of transport or interface type

10 Configuration and initialization

 Product Revision Level

1st byte Product codename ID:

“J” LTO-6 FC full-height drive
“O” LTO-6 SAS full-height drive
“2” LTO-6 FC half-height drive
“3” LTO-6 SAS half-height drive

2nd byte Release type:

“0”, “1” Development
“2” Formal release
“3”, ... Post-release

3rd byte Minor release level: “0”–“9”, then “A” –”Z”

4th byte Firmware variant:
“D” Standard distribution firmware
“S” HP code in libraries sourced from Oracle
“W” Standard HP automation firmware

Example
If new drive families or variants support features that are not available in previous generation
products, you can detect the existence of these features through the SCSI MODE SENSE and LOG
SENSE commands. Exact details will become available as new products are defined. There is no
need to limit driver or application connectivity to a single HP Ultrium product type.
To determine the drive technology family:
Examine only the first eight bytes of the Product ID field (the text “Ultrium ”).
To determine the Ultrium format generation:
Use one of the following two methods, of which the second is preferred:
• Examine the character in byte 9. A “6” indicates format LTO-6 (3200 GB capacity at 2:1
compression) and so on.
• Preferred method: Use the SCSI REPORT DENSITY SUPPORT command. For an LTO-6 product
with LTO Ultrium 6 media, the following will be returned:

Primary Density Code: 5Ah

Assigning Organization: LTO-CVE Linear Tape Open Compliance and Verification Entity
Density Name: U-616 16 track

Since LTO-6 drives cannot write to Ultrium-3 and Ultrium-4 media, the WRTOK bit will be clear
for this media type.

Support for additional LUN

Enabling additional LUN support
In an ADI automation environment the automation device can configure the ADC-3 logical unit
and SMC logical unit so that they can be accessed via the drive's primary port. Enabling the SMC
logical unit allows the automation device to be addressed via the tape drive's primary interface;
a technique known as bridging. Bridging is described in the ADC-3 T10 standard. The automation
device will usually assign the SMC logical unit to LUN 1. HP Ultrium Fibre Channel drives support
N-Port Identifier Virtualization (NPIV), which allows the automation device to configure the SMC
LUN to appear on a different target device to other drive LUNs.

Support for additional LUN 11

Supporting additional LUNs
When working with a library vendor who is incorporating HP Ultrium drives in products, software
developers should liaise directly with the vendor about the functionality of the hardware available
through the ADI, iADI or ACI port.

12 Configuration and initialization

3 Use of tapes
HP Ultrium user documentation and “Cartridges”, Chapter 9 of the Hardware Integration Guide,
Volume 1 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual, also contain information on cartridges.
Timing considerations are discussed in “Time-out values” (page 21).

LTO cartridge memory

NOTE: “Cartridge Memory” is the Ultrium version of the more general term “Media Auxiliary
Memory” or MAM, covering all media types.
Cartridge Memory has been added to the LTO cartridge for the following reasons:
• It speeds up load and unload times by removing the need to read system areas.
• It speeds up movement around tape by storing the tape directory (physical to logical mapping).
• It increases tape reliability because fewer tape passes are needed.
• It stores diagnostic and log information for tracking purposes.
Most of these uses are invisible to applications and handled internally by the drive. There is potential
for applications to use the “Application Specific Data” area.
For more details, see “Using Cartridge Memory” in “Using Special Features in Libraries”, Chapter
2 of the Hardware Integration Guide, Volume 1 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual.

Identifying tape cartridge types

Using Cartridge Memory attributes
To identify the type of cartridge in the drive, read the Medium Type attribute in Cartridge Memory:

Attribute ID 0408h 00h Read/write (normal) data cartridge

01h Cleaning cartridge
80h WORM cartridge

Using MODE SENSE

Examine the Medium Type field in the Mode Parameter header of the MODE SENSE command
(byte 1 in the 6-byte version, byte 2 in the 10-byte version):

Medium Type 00h Read/write (normal) data cartridge

01h WORM cartridge
80h CD (the drive is in CD-ROM mode)

Tape status and capacity

Following autoload or a LOAD command, the software can determine the state of the tape and its
capacity from the Cartridge Memory and the Tape Capacity Log pages retrieved through the LOG
SENSE command. The information can also be invoked as a console operation at any time to find
the status and condition of the media.

LTO cartridge memory 13

 Tape capacity figures can be used for two purposes:
• To give an application or user an indication of whether the tape has enough capacity for a
proposed backup. When using data compression, however, this is of little value, since the
compression factor cannot be predicted accurately.
• Periodically during a backup to give an approximation of the amount of tape left.

CAUTION: An application should not use the capacity reported in the Tape Capacity log
to fix the backup size. This will result in permanent capacity truncation that could represent a
significant percentage of the available capacity.

Finding the remaining capacity

Examine the Tape Capacity Log to estimate the effective remaining capacity of the tape
(data-compression factors are not considered).

Interpreting Log Sense data

The following points affect the values returned in the data:

Units Capacities are given in megabytes (1,048,576 bytes) of user data and assume no
compression.

General • If data compression is used, the capacities are specified as though the drive is in
pass-through mode. The data compression factor is not considered.
• Regions of tape used by the system, such as EOD areas, are not included in capacities
specified. In other words, values are conservative.
• An allowance for read-after-write retries is made.

Maximum Capacity Maximum capacity values are only valid when the tape has completed a load sequence.
If an immediate mode LOAD is made, LOAD SENSE will not return valid information until
the tape has been successfully loaded and tape motion has ceased.

Remaining Capacity The remaining capacity value is the amount of tape remaining calculated from
EOD.Remaining capacity values are only valid after the successful completion of the
following commands in non-immediate mode:

LOAD LOCATE MODE SELECT READ REWIND

SPACE VERIFY WRITE WRITE FILEMARKS

The values after any subsequent command cannot be relied on unless the command is a
sense type that does not cause any tape motion.

Capacity calculations are based on estimates; reported values can be subject to error in two ways:
• Random errors caused by tolerances in tape length, hub diameter, and so on.
• Systematic errors caused by ignoring system areas, and so on. They ensure the calculated
capacity is actually available to the user. It is usually possible to write considerably more data
than the calculated capacity.

Using the SET CAPACITY command

You can modify the capacity of a tape by changing the logical length of the tape through the SET
CAPACITY command. The primary use envisaged is for testing purposes, although it may also be
used in other circumstances where a shortened tape may be beneficial.

NOTE: All data currently on the tape will be lost following successful execution of this command.
The command is only accepted when the media is positioned at Beginning of Media (BOM).

14 Use of tapes
 With WORM cartridges, the command is only accepted and executed if the cartridge has not been
initialized, that is, it has never been written to. Otherwise the cartridge is rejected with CHECK
CONDITION, sense key of Data Protect and additional sense of 300Ch (WORM media—overwrite
attempted). TapeAlert flags 3Ch (WORM media—overwrite attempted) and 09h (write-protect)
are set.

Command descriptor block

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

0 Operation Code (0Bh)

1 Reserved (0) Immed

2 Reserved (0)

3 (MSB)
Capacity Proportion Value
4 (LSB)

5 Control

CDB fields

Immed 0 Status will not be returned until the SET CAPACITY operation has completed.

1 Status will be returned as soon as the CDB has been parsed.

Capacity Proportion Value The portion of the total volume capacity to be made available for use. The value is
the numerator of a fraction with a denominator of 65,535. The resulting available
capacity will be (total volume capacity) x (capacity proportion value) / 65535.

Note that the LTO-6 format enforces a minimum tape length. A value that would result in a tape
length below this minimum will be silently rounded up to the minimum permitted length.
The following table gives the minimum acceptable Capacity Proportion Values and the approximate
capacity they will give:

Cartridge Min. capacity proportion value Resultant approx. min. capacity Max. capacity

Ultrium 4 1055h 51 GB 800 GB

Ultrium 5 FB3h 92 GB 1500 GB

Ultrium 6 EB8h 184 GB 3200 GB

NOTE: Capacities are approximate and can be affected by defects that reduce the actual capacity
of the tape. Other factors, such as compression and block packing, may also affect capacity.

WORM media
HP Ultrium-6 WORM (Write Once—Read Many) data cartridges have a distinctive two-tone
cartridge color to distinguish them from RW media. They have a unique Cartridge Type stored in
the Cartridge Memory, so that they will be rejected by non-WORM compatible drives. For
automation configurations with auto-eject disabled, the cartridge will not be physically ejected
from the drive but held at the “ready eject” position.
The write-protection tab behaves as on Read/Write (RW) cartridges.

How WORM media works

Drives use the EOPD (End of Protected Data) value to control the use of WORM tapes.

WORM media 15
 EOPD is a logical position on tape that is automatically calculated based on the End of Data (EOD)
value read from the Cartridge Memory (CM) when the cartridge is loaded into the drive. The EOD
value is an “intrinsic” code stored and protected in the Cartridge Memory of each WORM cartridge,
and updated after each write session. The EOPD indicates that data between BOM and this position
cannot be overwritten.
The EOPD value is held within the drive’s memory. It is updated automatically and continuously
as each block of data (typically 64 or 128 KB) is written to tape, so the EOPD value indicates a
logical position immediately after the last block of data written to tape.
When the cartridge is unloaded, the drive updates the EOD value in CM to reflect the end of
successfully written data on the cartridge, and clears the EOPD value stored within the drive. Any
future writes to the cartridge will occur after the location of the EOD, which will become the initial
location for EOPD during the next write operation.

Changes to SCSI commands

New commands
• ALLOW OVERWRITE 82h
• CREATE FIRMWARE UPGRADE TAPE FROM FLASH A4h (1F 42h)
• LOCATE 10/16 92h
• SPACE 16 91h

New INQUIRY pages

• Automation Device Serial Number page (B3h)
• Data Transfer Device Element Address page (B4h)
• HP Alternative Inquiry page (CCh)
• HP Unique Inquiry page (D0h)

New log pages

•
•
•
•

New parameters in the DTD Status log page

• 8000h (VU Very High Frequency data)
• 8003h (VU key management error (only available in some variants))
• 8010h (VU extended VHF data)
• 8020h (VU multi-initiator conflict warning (only available in some variants))
•
•

16 Use of tapes
New and changed mode subpages
• Control Data Protection sub-page (0Ah)

New additional sense codes

•

New task management functions

•

Re-writing media labels

If there is no user data on the tape, the media label can be rewritten. The label contains software
application-related information such as a unique identification code and does not contain user
data.
Writing is allowed when the current logical position is at BOT and:
• there are only filemarks between this position and EOD, or
• there are only 1 or 2 sequential records followed by any number of filemarks, but no further
records, between this position and EOD.

Allow overwrite of last filemarks before the EOD data set

At the end of a backup or archive session, many software applications write two filemarks to tape
immediately before the EOD data set is written. These filemarks are logical markers that enable
the application to locate the tape in preparation for subsequent writing or reading operations. At
the start of an appending archive or backup session, it is common for the application to locate the
tape to a logical position immediately preceding the second filemark and to overwrite the second
filemark during the data appending session.
Writes are allowed:
• when the current logical position is at EOD. This means that the drive must have read the EOD
from tape before attempting to overwrite it.
• when there are only filemarks between the current logical position and EOD, and at least one
filemark immediately before the current logical position.

Using CM to check tape integrity

Drives that support WORM cartridges check that the anti-tampering measures have not been
violated before and during media access operations. If a violation is detected, for example, if the
content of the CM does not match the content of the tape, the cartridge is treated as read-only,
and Tape Alert flag 3Bh (WORM medium—integrity check failed) is set.
HP strongly recommends that software applications check for the presence of TapeAlert flag 3Bh
after a tape load and periodically during operation. If the flag is set, the software should alert the
operator and log the incident for audit.
Hosts can use the WTRE bit on the Device Configuration mode page (bit 6, byte 15 of mode page
10h) to control the behavior of the drive when reading WORM media whose WORM integrity is
in doubt and which may have been tampered with. See details of the mode page in Chapter 4 in
the Host Interface Guide, volume 3 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual for more
information.

WORM media 17
Behavior with a missing or inconsistent EOD value
A missing EOD value or one in which the value on tape differs from that in CM can be caused by:
• CM corruption
• deliberate, malicious alteration of the EOD value in the CM
• an interruption of the drive power supply while writing data.
If the CM indicates that the EOD is not valid (for example, if the drive has powered down during
a write), TapeAlert flag 04h (Media) will be set on cartridge load.
The drive behaves as for a RW cartridge with no EOD data set, except that any attempt to overwrite
data will be rejected with CHECK CONDITION, a sense key of Data Protect and additional sense
of 2700h (write-protected). Tape Alert flag 09h (Write-Protect) is set.

Unique media identifier

For added security, HP strongly recommends that applications read and track cartridge manufacturer
and serial number values from the Cartridge Memory using MAM access commands:
• Attribute ID 0x0400: Cartridge manufacturer ID
• Attribute ID 0x0401: Cartridge serial number
Both values should be read and concatenated to ensure that the number is unique.

Barcode support
Ultrium barcode support is required for WORM media so that the application and tape library
can distinguish WORM media from normal RW media or cleaning cartridges.
HP recommends the use of the following barcode formats for Ultrium media:

123456L1 LTO Ultrium 1

123456L2 LTO Ultrium 2
123456L3 LTO Ultrium 3
123456L4 LTO Ultrium 4
123456L5?? LTO Ultrium 5
123456L6?? LTO Ultrium 6
: :
123456LT LTO Ultrium 3 – WORM
123456LU LTO Ultrium 4 – WORM
123456LV?? LTO Ultrium 5 – WORM
123456LW?? LTO Ultrium 6 – WORM
: :

Responding to Cartridge Memory data

NOTE: Software should use the TapeAlert log in preference to the Cartridge Memory to detect
conditions which require the user or host to take preventative action. See “Monitoring the condition
of the drive and media” (page 57).
These guidelines indicate how host applications should make use of the data contained in the
Cartridge Memory during normal operation (that is, when tapes are not permanently write-protected,
not constantly re-formatted).
The console messages triggered by these criteria should clearly indicate a course of action to the
end-user, such as the following:

18 Use of tapes
 1. Clean the tape heads using a cleaning cartridge.
2. Insert a new tape cartridge.
3. Archive the data.

Load count
NOTE: This only applies when non-write-protected cartridges are used.
The load count is the number of times the cartridge has been loaded into a drive and accessed.
Hewlett-Packard recommends a maximum use for a tape of 20,000 passes over any particular
area of the tape. This conservative estimate is also influenced by the quality of the application and
the driver software in being able to maintain streaming, thereby preventing repositioning over the
same area of tape, without data being transferred.

RWW retry counts

Data is read immediately after being written to tape to establish that it has been written correctly.
Increases in RWW retries can be due to four factors:
• Deterioration in the media
• Dirty heads
• Drive malfunction
• The operating environment

Corrective action
The recommended criteria for corrective action are as follows:
RWW Retries > 5% Total data sets written
When using tapes without write-protection, use the Total count.
The corrective action should be as follows:
1. Use another tape and, for a write operation, try repeating the write. For a read operation,
try reading data from the tape.
2. See whether the current RWW value is within the recommended limit.
3. If the values are now within the limit, you can assume that the original tape is nearing the end
of its useful life. Proceed as follows:
• For a write operation, discard the tape and use a new one.
• For a read operation, transfer the data to a new tape.
4. If the value is still outside the limit, clean the tape heads with a cleaning cartridge and try
repeating the operation with the original tape.

Responding to Cartridge Memory data 19

4 Factors affecting performance
This chapter contains techniques and information to help you design software applications so that
they use the tape drive’s potential as efficiently as possible.
• Ways of optimizing performance:
◦ “Ensuring the recommended minimum transfer sizes” (page 20)

◦ “Media type identification” (page 21)

◦ “Using Cartridge Memory instead of tape headers” (page 21)

◦ “Using the Performance Log page for diagnosing problems” (page 21)
• “Time-out values” (page 21), to help you tune timings in backup applications
• “Recommended support of log pages” (page 22)
• “Factors affecting performance” (page 22), relating separately to host, drive and format

Ways of optimizing performance

HP’s Ultrium drives are high-performance products. Application software may require significant
enhancement in order to capitalize on this speed. There are a number of areas to look at and
these are discussed below.
Further details can also be found in the white paper How to Optimize the Performance of HP Utrium
Tape Drives.

Detecting the drive’s speed

Applications should not key off Inquiry strings in order to tell the difference between different speed
drives. It is better to use the Performance Log page see under the LOG SENSE command in Chapter
4, “Commands”, of the Host Interface Guide, Volume 3 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference
Manual.
In the Performance Log page (34h), parameter 04h (Native data rate) gives the native speed of
the drive in units of 100 KB/s. LTO-6 drives give the value 07D0h, indicating 200 MB/s with
Ultrium 6 media or no cartridge loaded. If a previous generation cartridge is loaded, the value
will be lower.

Ensuring the recommended minimum transfer sizes

Use the Data Compression Log page. HP cannot diagnose performance issues without accurate
reporting of the current compression or the average compressibility over a backup session. Make
sure that you report the log page.
Regarding HP’s One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR) feature (see “One-Button Disaster Recovery
(OBDR)” (page 65)), it is important to note that in some situations the SCSI block size may have
to be fixed for a given tape for format reasons. This means that if the host writes 2 KB blocks to
support OBDR, it may have to continue to write 2 KB blocks for the rest of the tape; it depends on
the format compatibility required by the overall system. However as HP Ultrium drives are insensitive
to absolute block size, performance should not suffer, but do ensure that the transfer size is at least
256 KB.

20 Factors affecting performance

Maximum block size
The READ BLOCK LIMITS command indicates that block sizes and variable length transfer sizes
are supported for the following values:
• In non-encrypting mode, between 1 byte and 16,777,215 bytes (16 MB –1).
• In encrypting mode, between 1 byte and 8388608 bytes (8 MB).

Media type identification

HP recommends that you use the REPORT DENSITY SUPPORT command (with the Media bit enabled)
to identify the type of media loaded in the drive.

Using Cartridge Memory instead of tape headers

For optimum performance, it is also important that the host writes application tape header
information to the Cartridge Memory (see “Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM)” (page 25)) rather than
to the actual tape. This allows cartridges to load and unload quickly and prevents excessive media
wear at the beginning of the tape. As the access method to Cartridge Memory data is an open
standard, it also permits other software systems to identify alien media positively in shared storage
environments.

Using the Performance Log page for diagnosing problems

The Performance Log page (34h) contains data that should allow application software to monitor
the data-rate being sent to the drive dynamically. For details, see the LOG SENSE command in
the Host Interface Guide,Volume 3 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual.

Time-out values
SCSI Command Recommended Time-Out Value

Load 10 minutes

Unload 10 minutes

Rewind (full tape length) 10 minutes

SP IN 20 minutes

SP OUT 20 minutes

Space/Locate/CD-ROM Read (10) 20 minutes

Erase (long) 5 hours

Erase (short) 5 minutes

Write*/Write Filemarks 5 minutes

Read 20 minutes

Read/Write Attribute (MAM), with 1 KB of attribute data 1 minute

Non-tape movement (such as TEST UNIT READY, INQUIRY) 1 minute

Firmware Update commands 5 minutes

* If a WRITE command is followed by SECURITY PROTOCOL OUT, data may be flushed from the
temporary buffer to the medium.

Notes:
• These values are for a single SCSI command in non-Immediate mode. As most commands will
be sent in Immediate mode, status will be received by the host typically within 20 ms. In such
Time-out values 21
 cases, the time-out given indicates when the drive will have completed the operation and be
ready for the next tape movement command.
• All of these values may be subject to change.
• There is no retension facility.

Recommended support of log pages

Some of the media-related data items on the log pages are duplicates of data that is available
through the READ ATTRIBUTES command using the Media Auxiliary Memory (MAM) access
specification. We recommend that you use MAM commands as the primary source for such data,
because this access method is portable to tape drives from other vendors, that is, the data is not
in a vendor-unique format.
In the long term, HP intends to expose all tape usage and drive hardware usage information via
the industry-standard MAM-format commands, so it is wise to start to implement this approach
now.
For full details of the Ultrium log pages, see the LOG SENSE command in Chapter 4, “Commands”,
of the Host Interface Guide, Volume 3 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual.

Factors affecting performance

Further details on improving performance can be found in the How to Optimize the Performance
of HP Utrium Tape Drives white paper.

Host-related factors

Performance Factor Detail

Host SCSI performance The execution of each SCSI command involves a number of bus phases, of which the
data phase is only one.The key phases are as follows:
• Intra-command bus-free time
• Arbitration and selection
• Message out
• Command

Host Burst Rate During the data phase of each SCSI command, data is transferred to or from the drive
at the host’s burst rate. If the host’s burst rate is slow, then it takes longer to transfer
the data. Extra time during this phase is simply added to the total command time, and
so it can affect the overall performance.
Even if the burst rate is much faster than that required to maintain streaming, the total
command time may prevent the commands from being issued fast enough.

Example: The SAS link is capable of 6 Gb/s (600 MB/s) whereas the performance of the FC
drive depends on the negotiated link speed of the host/HBA port, any intermediate
switch ports and the drive port. The ports will negotiate to the highest possible mutually
supported speed, ideally 8 Gb/s (800 MB/s) then 4 Gb/s (400 MB/s) or as low as
2 Gb/s (200 MB/s).

Disk Subsystem Performance The speed and configuration of the disks used will have a significant impact on the
backup speed of the whole system.

Recommendation: Using RAID can have a significant effect on the throughput of the whole system, by
the use of interleaved disk reads. Use more spindles where possible or a reasonably
sized RAID system. More disks means more throughput.
Note that the Raid level makes a difference to performance. RAID5 will be slower for
writes (restores) than reads (backups). RAID0 and RAID1 are faster but expensive in
terms of numbers of spindles required and not so tolerant to disk failure (RAID0 is
particularly intolerant).

22 Factors affecting performance

 Performance Factor Detail

File System Efficiency Operating systems vary in the efficiency with which they retrieve files sequentially for
backup applications. Most operating system development effort is put into speeding
up access times within files rather than file seek times.
Consider using staging technology to stage an image before writing to tape, particularly
with many small files, which will impact performance due to file accession.

Hardware Configuration If the disk and tape drives are on separate buses, the effective available bandwidth
can be doubled.

Recommendation: Use one HBA for disks, and put the tape drive on a separate bus. It makes sense to
split heavily used FC cards across separate PCI busses so that they do not contend for
PCI bus bandwidth. The more PCI busses the better.

Host CPU Speed Faster hosts can typically transfer data quicker.

Recommendation: Use as fast a processor as possible for the backup system.

Network Transfer Time If backup involves transferring data over the network, network performance is often a
major bottleneck.

Recommendation: • Try not to put Ethernet in the way of data transfer unless staging technology is being
used; aggregation of multiple Ethernet clients remains a good strategy to delivering
on drive performance.
• Even with Gbit Ethernet, the effective throughput is less than that of an LTO Ultrium
6 drive, so either use carefully designed topologies, or stage an image first and
use locally attached tape, otherwise the Ethernet itself can become the bottleneck.
Gbit Ethernet can be used in a carefully designed topology. Alternatively, stage an
image first and then use locally attached tape for the backup.

Write Commands Do not interleave write commands with other commands, such as READ POSITION
and LOG SENSE. Do not, for example, attempt to read the TapeAlert log page during
a long write.

Drive-related factors

Performance Factor Detail

Transfer Mode The transfer mode can be fixed or variable, selectable through the MODE SELECT
command.
Fixed Mode: The transfer size is equal to the (block) size multiplied by the number of
records (blocks) in the transfer.

Recommendation: A good transfer size to aim at is 256 KB (128 KB minimum). For an application that
uses 512-byte records, each fixed-mode transfer should transfer 512 records. Higher
transfer sizes are also recommended for higher compression ratios.
Variable Mode: Only one block is transferred at a time. The size of the block determines
the size of the transfer. Ideally the application should aim to use 256 KB blocks.

Records (Block) Size The size of the transfer impacts the performance, rather than the size of the record
(blocks) in the transfer.

Recommendation: As above, aim to use 256 KB transfers. Higher transfer sizes are also recommended
for higher compression ratios.
Note that the maximum block size allowed depends on the Encryption mode:
• In non-encrypting mode, the maximum is 16 MB –1.
• In encrypting mode, the maximum is 8 MB.

Transfer Size Transfer size is the amount of data transferred for a single command, whether the
drive is in fixed or variable block mode.

Factors affecting performance 23

 Performance Factor Detail

In both fixed and variable modes, the drive works best if it receives a large amount
of data for each command, so a large transfer size for write commands is
recommended.
At small block size, the transfer rate is substantially degraded. This is because the
drive controller and the host spend too much time handling SCSI overhead instead of
writing data to tape, resulting in stream-fails. The block size at which this happens
varies between drives, but generally the faster the drive, the larger the block size
needed to stream.

Recommendation: Use 256 KB transfers as a minimum. Higher transfer sizes are also recommended for
higher compression ratios.

Transfer Direction There are some noticeable performance differences between reads and writes, caused
by the extra device CPU time needed by the drive to read data sets from the media.

Recommendation: Use large transfer sizes; the drive is less likely to stream-read small transfer sizes than
it will when writing transfers of the same sizes.

Format-related factors

Performance Factor Detail

Tapemarks Tape marks (filemarks) have many different uses to give a logical structure to data on a
tape. The SCSI Standard specifies certain actions that the drive must take when it is told
to write a filemark.
If the drive is told to write a filemark when the Immediate bit is not set, the standard
insists that the drive must flush all data to tape. If used unnecessarily this will adversely
affect performance and waste tape capacity.

Recommendation: Write filemarks as rarely as is reasonable for your application.

24 Factors affecting performance

5 Supporting Ultrium features
This section covers the following features of HP Ultrium drives:
• “Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM)” (page 25)
• “Automation interface” (page 25)
• “Cleaning” (page 38)
• “Resetting drives” (page 38)
• “Backup software” (page 39)
• “Controlling data compression” (page 39)
• “Other mode page information” (page 39)

Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM)

LTO Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM) is EEPROM memory that is embedded in every LTO Ultrium tape
cartridge. It is non-volatile and is contactless in that it is read by RF coupling rather than electrical
contact.

Further information
• For suggestions of how to make use of cartridge memory in libraries, see “Using Cartridge
Memory” in “Using Special Features in Libraries”, Chapter 2 of the Hardware Integration
Guide, Volume 1 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual.

Automation interface
An automation controller can connect to the tape drive through a serial RS-422 port or an Ethernet
port. The serial RS422 port supports both the Automation Drive Interface (ADI) transport protocol
(ADT-2) and an HP proprietary Automation Control Interface (ACI) protocol. The Ethernet automation
port supports the Internet Automation/Drive Interface (iADT) transport protocol. The serial RS-422
automation interface defaults to the ACI protocol and will only transition to ADT-2 when the
automation controller initiates an ADT-2 login exchange.

NOTE: The same connector is used for both interfaces; for convenience, it is referred to as the
ADI Connector in this manual.

Automation/Device Interface (ADI)

There are two elements to the Automation/Device Interface (ADI):
• ADI Transport Protocol (ADT-2)—a standard protocol for communication between a SCSI
automation device and a SCSI data transfer device, such as a tape drive.
The ADT-2 protocol allows conforming ADI SCSI devices to inter-operate. The objectives of
ADT-2 are:
◦ To provide a low-cost interconnect method between an automation device and the data
transfer devices that reside within the media changer.
◦ To standardize this interface so that different disk drives, tape drives, optical media drives,
and other SCSI devices may be added to conforming media changers without requiring
modifications to generic system hardware.
◦ To provide for the addition of special features and functions through the use of
vendor-specific options.

Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM) 25

 The interface protocol includes provision for the connection of two SCSI ports. One of these
ports is intended to be attached to a media changer device and may operate either as a SCSI
initiator port or a SCSI initiator/target port. The other port is intended to be attached to a
data transport type device (tape drive) and may operate as either a SCSI target port or SCSI
initiator/target port. No provision is made for connection of more than two ports.
• ADI Commands (ADC-3)—an extension to the SCSI command set for communication with
application clients through the ADI.
The objectives of ADC-3 are:
◦ To permit an application client to communicate over a SCSI service delivery subsystem,
with a logical unit that declares itself to be an ADI device in the Peripheral Device Type
field of the standard INQUIRY data.
◦ To define commands unique to the ADI device type.

◦ To define commands and parameters to manage the operation of the ADI device type
and the operation of logical units of other specific device types that are present in the
same device as the ADI logical unit.
For details of HP’s implementation of these standards, see the LTO-6 HP ADI Firmware Integration
Guide. The T10 standards referenced by this guide are as follows:
• ADT-2: ANSI INCITS 472–2011
• ADC-3: T10/1895-D Revision 05

Automation Control Interface (ACI)

The Automation Control Interface (ACI) protocol allows the activities of the drive to be coordinated
within a library. The protocol has been designed so that it can be made into a standard feature
of tape drives. It provides a rich and extensible functionality to allow automation manufactures to
add value in their application of it.
The interface is a serial bus with additional control lines, designed to connect the Ultrium tape
drive to an automation controller in a tape library. Each tape drive position has a separate ACI
connection allowing communication to the drive via its RS 422 serial port.
The ACI protocol provides the following fundamental functions:
• Coordinating the automation controller and the tape drive for Load and Unload operations
• Allowing the automation controller to retrieve information from the tape drive
• Setting tape drive configuration information
In addition, the following functions may be supported depending on the way that the tape library
is configured:
• Providing upload and download of firmware images
• Providing access to Cartridge Memory contents
• Providing a protocol for passing SCSI commands to the tape drive over the interface.
The ACI protocol allows for “packetized” SCSI commands to be sent from the attached controller
and submitted to the tape drive as if they have been received on the drive’s own SCSI bus. For
example, the ACI protocol allows the sending of load/unload commands from a specially defined
automation command set to cause drive action. This ability enables the attached controller to access
and control the drive in exactly the same way as it would over the SCSI bus.

NOTE: Ultrium SCSI Parallel drives implement a limited subset of the SCSI commands, including
INQUIRY, LOG SENSE, LOG SELECT and MODE SENSE.

26 Supporting Ultrium features

 The following notes should be regarded as supplementing the ACI protocol specification rather
than replacing them. Please refer to the specification for further implementation details. These notes
refer to the “standard” automation drive variant. Different behavior may be exhibited in certain
areas for specific OEM variants as requested by OEMs.

Modes of usage through ACI

Slave to a library controller
The ACI can receive commands such as LOAD and UNLOAD from a specially defined automation
command set to control the action of the drive.
Most tape libraries need to have a means of communication between controller and tape drives,
to enable correct synchronization of mechanical operations between drive and picker arm. For
instance, in a soft load capable device such as an Ultrium drive, the picker must let go of the
cartridge at the moment that the drive starts to pull it into the drive, if it is configured for that type
of operation.
This degree of control over synchronization cannot be achieved though the host’s backup software;
it must be controlled directly by the library controller. Most tape libraries work this way today. The
process is transparent to the backup software.

SCSI pass-through mode

The ACI protocol allows the transfer of “packetized” SCSI commands from an attached controller
and submit them to the tape drive as if they have been received on the drive’s own SCSI bus. This
enables the attached controller to access and control the drive in exactly the same way as it would
via the SCSI bus.

ACI command set

The following ACI commands are supported on HP Ultrium drives:

Mandatory Commands Optional Commands

00h Get Drive Info 40h Send SCSI Command

01h Load 42h Send Firmware Image

02h Unload 43h Get Firmware Segment

03h Get Drive Status 49h Get Buffer Size

04h Set Drive Configuration 4Ah Send Firmware Segment

05h Get Drive Configuration 4Bh Set Time

06h Reset 4Ch Get Time

07h Set Baud Rate

08h No Op

09h Get Error Info

0Ah Acknowledge Attention

ACI commands that affect drive streaming performance

Commands that alter the state of the drive in some way will affect the performance of the drive
when stream reading or writing. It is recommended that no command within the following set are

Automation interface 27
 sent to the drive while the drive is writing or reading as it would affect the data throughput to or
from the drive:
• Load
• Unload
• Send Firmware Image
• Send Firmware Segment
• Reset
• Set Drive Configuration—if the host (SCSI or FC) is reconfigured
• Send SCSI with the following opcodes:

Log Select Mode Sense Read Attribute

Mode Select Request Sense Write Attribute

New features in ACI 4.4

The following sections describe the differences between revision 4.3 of the ACI specification, and
revision 4.4, used in HP LTO Ultrium 6 tape drives.
The main additions to ACI 4.3 revision are:
• An revision-dependent reporting scheme for ACI has been adopted to provide support for
Ultrium 6 media. See“Reporting of cartridge types” (page 35).

Backward compatibility
To provide backward compatibility with ACI 4.0, Fibre Channel drives initialize in ACI 4.1
compatibility mode and SAS drives initialize to ACI 4.2 compatibility mode. This means drives
with ACI 4.0, ACI 4.1 or ACI 4.2 can be replaced with drives with ACI 4.4, without the need to
replace or update the automation controller firmware.
• In ACI 4.0 compatibility mode the drive will accept Set Drive Configuration CMD_DATA in
ACI 4.0 format and will respond to Get Drive Status and Get Drive Configuration with ACI
4.0 RDATA.
• In ACI 4.1 compatibility mode the tape drive will accept Set Drive Configuration in ACI 4.1
format and will respond to Get Drive Status and Get Drive Configuration with ACI 4.1 RDATA.
• In ACI 4.2 compatibility mode the tape drive will accept Set Drive Configuration in ACI 4.2
format and will respond to Get Drive Status and Get Drive Configuration with ACI 4.2 RDATA.
An ACI compatibility mode does not restrict the use of ACI 4.3 commands or the use of new fields
to earlier ACI version commands, and will respond with the appropriate ACI 4.3 RDATA in these
cases.
• A Fibre Channel tape drive will remain in ACI 4.1 compatibility mode until it receives a valid
ACI 4.2/4.3/4.4 format Set Drive Configuration command with the ACI Major/Minor Version
fields set to a new and valid ACI version (which is 42h). It will then respond with the

28 Supporting Ultrium features

 appropriate ACI version RDATA. The drive will return to ACI 4.1 compatibility mode in the
following circumstances:
◦ If the drive receives a valid ACI 4.1 format Set Drive Configuration command.

◦ An ACI 4.2 or ACI 4.3 format Set Drive Configuration command with the ACI
Major/Minor Version fields set to 41h.
◦ The tape drive is reset. Fibre Channel tape drives do not support ACI 4.0 compatibility
mode, so they will only accept ACI version 4.1 and later commands.
• An SAS tape drive will remain in ACI 4.2 compatibility mode until it receives a valid ACI
4.2/4.3/4.4 format Set Drive Configuration command with the ACI Major/Minor Version
fields set to a new and valid ACI version (which is 43h or 44h).
It will then respond with the appropriate ACI version RDATA. The drive will return to ACI 4.2
compatibility mode in the following circumstances:
◦ If it receives an ACI 4.2 or ACI 4.3 format Set Drive Configuration command with the
ACI Major/Minor Version fields set to 42h.
◦ If the drive is reset. SAS tape drives do not support ACI 4.0 or ACI 4.1 compatibility
mode, so they will only accept ACI version 4.2 and later commands.
HP LTO tape drives support all ACI versions later than their default ACI compatibility mode version.
For example, Fibre Channel drives default to ACI 4.1 compatibility mode but also support ACI
version 4.2, ACI version 4.3 and ACI 4.4, which can be selected using the appropriate format
ACI Set Drive Configuration command.
Notes:
An HP LTO tape drive supports a two-step initialization sequence. The first step behaves as described
above; the drive goes through the first step of the initialization sequence and then begins to send
the <ENQ> character at 10-second intervals. The drive sends the <ENQ> character within 500
ms of the power-on, drive reset, ACI reset or completion of firmware upgrade.
Once the drive sends the first <ENQ> character, it will begin the second step of initialization. This
may take several minutes to complete as it includes rewinding the tape and, optionally, unthreading
it, if the drive contains a seated cartridge with threaded media.
During the second step of initialization, the drive will respond to all ACI commands, except Get
Drive Info, Get Error Info and some Send SCSI commands with BUSY status. The drive will respond
normally to the Get Error Info command. It will respond normally to the Get Drive Info command
except that every byte of the Manufacturing Data Code and Serial Number fields will contain the
value FFh. During initialization the drive supports SCSI commands as in the following table. It
responds with BUSY status to commands that are unsupported:

SCSI command Supported during initialization

INQUIRY Yes

LOG SELECT No

LOG SENSE Yes

MODE SELECT No

MODE SENSE No

READ ATTRIBUTE No

RECEIVE DIAGNOSTIC REPORT No

REQUEST SENSE Yes

Automation interface 29
 SCSI command Supported during initialization

REPORT DENSITY REPORT No

REPORTS LUNS Yes

SEND DIAGNOSTIC No

TEST UNIT READY Yes

WRITE ATTRIBUTE No

When the drive has completed the second step of initialization, it will respond normally to all
supported commands, and it will report the correct Manufacturing Date Code and Serial Number
in the corresponding fields of the Get Drive Info RDATA.
HP recommend that automation controllers use the Get Drive Status command to detect the
completion of the second step of tape drive initialization. After the drive sends the first <ENQ>
character and until it completes the second step of initialization, it will respond to a Get Drive
Status command with BUSY status. After the drive has completed the second step of initialization,
it will respond normally to the Get Drive Status command.

Encryption support
For FC drives, the RDATA returned is in the following format:

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

0 Prevent
Vendor Cartridge nl

Write Ready Ready Cartridge Ready

nl nl

Media nl nl nl nl nl

Unique Present nl

Protect Eject Access Load Load

Removal

1 Cartridge Type Compression Tape Activity

2 Drive Media Clean Clean Clean

nl nl

Tape Alert Rsvd nl

Cleaning nl nl

Error Error Expired Required Needed

3 Port 0
nl

Port 0 Topology Port 0 Speed

Active

4 Port 1
nl

Port 1 Topology Port 1 Speed

Active

5 Reserved Encryption Status WORM

For SAS drives, the RDATA returned by the Get Drive Status command contains an Encryption
Status field:

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

0 Prevent
Vendor Cartridge nl

Write Ready Ready Cartridge Ready

nl nl

Media nl nl nl nl nl

Unique Present nl

Protect Eject Access Load Load

Removal

1 Cartridge Type Compression Tape Activity

2 Drive Media Clean Clean Clean

nl nl

Tape Alert Rsvd nl

Cleaning nl nl

Error Error Expired Required Needed

3–4 Reserved

5 Reserved Encryption Status WORM

30 Supporting Ultrium features

 The Encryption Status bits indicate the current encryption/decryption status of the SSC device
server:

Value Meaning

00b The device server is currently not performing encrypting or decrypting operations.

01b The device server is currently performing encrypting or decrypting operations.

10b, 11b Reserved.

Further details
For more information about ACI, see the ACI Specification supplied by HP.

Supporting the ACI protocol

Software vendors implementing support for attached library devices will need to work closely with
the library vendor concerned. See HP’s Ultrium Automation Cookbook for more details.

Recommended ACI time-out values

ACI commands fall into three broad classes:
• Commands that the drive executes immediately
• Commands that the drive queues but which it can execute concurrently with auto-mode reads
and writes (in other words, streaming operation)
• Commands that the drive queues but which interrupt streaming operation.
The response time to an ACI command will depend on the type of ACI command and the activity
status of the drive at the time the command is received.
Note that the drive does not support ACI command queuing. However, under exception conditions,
command queuing may occur, say if the automation controller had timed-out the tape drive’s
response to a command and either resent the command or sent another command. In these
circumstances, the drive will not ignore the overlapped commands but will respond to every
command package it had received.
An example of when this may occur if the host issued a long SCSI ERASE command to the drive
and the automation controller issued an UNLOAD command, then the drive would not respond to
the UNLOAD command until the long erase had completed. If the automation controller timed out
the drive’s response to the UNLOAD command and re-sends the command or sends another
command, then it needs to be able to handle the response to the original UNLOAD command as
well as to the subsequent commands.
The following tables list the recommended ACI command time-outs for queued and non-queued
commands.
Table 1 Non-queued ACI commands
ACI Command Recommended time-out value

Get Drive Info 5s

Get Drive Status 5s

Get Drive Configuration 5s

Get Error Info 5s

Get Buffer Size 5s

No Op 5s

Acknowledge Attention 5s

Automation interface 31
 Table 2 Queued ACI commands
ACI Command Recommended time-out value

ACI Load—immediate 5s

ACI Load—non-immediate (drive idle, unloaded) 300s

ACI Unload—immediate 5s

ACI Unload—non-immediate (tape loaded, at EOM, drive 300s or 9000s depending on implementation strategy
idle)

Set Drive Configuration (tape loaded, at EOM, SCSI 300s or 9000s depending on implementation strategy
unload)

ACI Reset—ACI bus 5s

ACI Reset—drive 5s

Set Baud Rate 5s

Treatment of reserved fields

To ensure forwards compatibility with future versions of the ACI, automation controller firmware
should set any command fields labelled as ‘Reserved’ to zero. Likewise, automation controller
firmware should mask off any response fields labelled as ‘Reserved’ during the processing of tape
drive responses. This will allow older versions of automation controller firmware to operate
successfully with newer versions of tape drive firmware.

Recommended power-up sequence

After power-up, HP recommends that the automation controller wait until it has received at least
one ASCII <ENQ> character from the tape drive before attempting a command-response transaction.
HP Ultrium tape drives use a two-step power-up sequence and the drive sends <ENQ> to signal
the transition between the steps. The drive sends the first <ENQ> within 500 milliseconds of exiting
the reset state after receiving power. Note that the default baud rate at power-up is 9600.
Consider sending Get Drive Info as the first command, either packetized or primitive. This retrieves
a variety of useful identifying information identifying the tape drive, including the version of the
ACI protocol that the tape drive supports.
During the second step of the power-up sequence, the tape drive will respond with BUSY status to
all ACI commands except Get Drive Info and Get Error Info. The amount of time taken by this
second step will vary widely depending on three factors:
• The presence or absence of a cartridge in the tape drive
• The position of the media if a cartridge is present
• The ability of the tape drive to access the cartridge memory if a cartridge is present
HP recommends that the automation controller polls using the Get Drive Status command to monitor
the completion of the power-up sequence. When the tape drive returns GOOD status to a Get
Drive Status command, it has completed the power-up sequence.
If operating with a tape drive that supports ACI V4.1 and higher, HP recommends that the
automation controller synchronizes the tape drive’s time stamping clock to its own using the Set
Time command once the tape drive has completed the power-up sequence.
In some circumstances when responding to the first Get Drive Info command, the tape drive will
fill every byte in the Manufacturing Date Code and Serial Number fields with FFh. The tape drive
behaves this way when it receives the Get Drive Info command during the second step of the
power-up sequence because it cannot access the EEPROM that stores this information at that time.
The automation controller may retrieve the correct value for these fields with a second Get Drive
Info command sent after the power-up sequence completes.

32 Supporting Ultrium features

 Once the power-up sequence completes, the automation controller can configure the tape drive
using the Set Drive Configuration command. Each time a Set Drive Configuration command is sent,
it is recommended that a Get Drive Configuration command is sent to double-check that the drive
is configured correctly.
It is recommended that the Get Buffer Size command is sent to drive as part of the power-up
sequence to determine the maximum burst buffer size and maximum receive/transmit package
buffer sizes.
If a baud rate other than the default is to be used, then it is recommended that this is set during
the power-up sequence using the Set Baud Rate command.

Recommended load-unload configuration

The Set Drive Configuration command provides access to several features that alter the tape drive’s
behavior when loading or unloading cartridges. These give a large amount of flexibility in designing
an automation controller.
HP’s experience suggests that certain configurations result in significantly fewer difficulties when
integrating the HP Ultrium tape drive.
HP recommends configuration with the Auto-Eject feature disabled. If Auto-Eject is enabled, the
drive will eject a cartridge in a variety of cases not directly controlled by the automation controller.
These include receiving a SCSI LOAD/UNLOAD command with the Load bit set to 0, various load
failures (regardless of the method of instigating the load), completion of the image verification step
when upgrading the tape drive’s micro-code using a firmware upgrade cartridge, and completion
of a head-cleaning cycle when using a cleaning cartridge. These ejects can result in both the
automation controller and the tape drive losing track of the location of the cartridge.
HP recommends configuration of the upgrade protect features to enabled. (the Upgrade Protect
bit of the Set Drive Configuration command is set to 1). This will ensure that if a firmware upgrade
cartridge is loaded inadvertently, the drive’s micro-code will not be upgraded unnecessarily.
If requested, HP will alter the default settings for Auto-Eject, Auto-Load, Auto-Thread, Clean Protect,
and Upgrade Protect features in your particular variant of the firmware.

Recommended Get Drive Status polling frequency

HP recommends that the polling frequency of a Get Drive Status command should be in the range
2–5s, particularly during cartridge loading and unloading. This frequency should be sufficient to
capture state changes in the drive while not adding significant processing overhead to the drive
or automation controller.

ACI protocol communications retry

The ACI protocol specifies a comprehensive packet retry mechanism. Under certain timing conditions,
especially for automation controllers that use a single microprocessor and multiplex the ACI
communications from one tape drive to another, the automation controller can receive a response
packet from the tape drive that it does not need. When this situation arises, the automation controller
should send a positive acknowledgement control character, <ACK>, to the tape drive and discard
the packet. Since the tape drive receives the <ACK>, it will not re-send the packet.

Upgrading the drive firmware

There are three methods of updating the firmware in the tape drive:

Firmware upgrade via tape

It is expected that firmware upgrades via tape will be done under the control of the library controller
and the Operator Control Panel and independently of the host interface.
If the Upgrade Protect bit is set to 1 in the Set Drive Configuration command (which is
recommended), the tape can be loaded into the drive in the usual manner, except that the ACI

Automation interface 33
 Load command must be sent to the drive and the Upgrade bit and Thread bit in byte 1 of the Load
command must be set to 1.
If the Immediate Response bit in the ACI Load command is not set to 1 and the firmware upgrade
failed (say due to an invalid image on the tape), the ACI Load command will report a CHECK
CONDITION with appropriate sense key and additional sense.
If the Immediate Response bit is set to 1 and the firmware upgrade fails, the automation controller
can detect the failure by noting that the Tape Activity field in the Get Drive Status response returns
to Idle and the tape drive does not enter its ACI initialization procedure.
• While the drive is preparing to upgrade the firmware, it will report Tape Activity = “Code
Update in Progress”.
• While it is actually upgrading the firmware, the drive will not respond to ACI commands.
• After the firmware upgrade has completed the drive will reset and send out an ENQ byte over
ACI.
After performing a firmware upgrade via tape it is recommended that the library controller checks
that an ENQ byte is sent by the drive after it power-cycles at the end of the firmware upgrade
process and that the normal power-up ACI command sequence is followed to ensure that the drive
is configured correctly and to verify the firmware version and ACI version.

Firmware upgrade via the primary host interface

The library controller will not have direct visibility if a firmware upgrade of the tape drive is initiated
via SCSI, hence it is recommended that the controller monitors for the that a firmware upgrade is
taking place or has taken place.
• While the firmware image is being sent to the drive via SCSI, the drive responds to ACI
commands with status BUSY.
• When the drive is actually upgrading the firmware, it will not respond to ACI commands.
• When the firmware download is complete, the drive will reset itself and send an ENQ control
character.
It is recommended that the same ACI command sequence be followed as if the drive had been
power-cycled to ensure that the drive is configured correctly and to verify the firmware version and
ACI protocol version.

Firmware upgrade via ACI

Two methods exist for updating firmware via ACI:
• Using the Send Firmware Image command. The automation controller sends the firmware
image in one data burst outside a normal packet.
• Using the Send Firmware Segment command. The automation controller sends the firmware
image in multiple packets.
HP intends to make the Send Firmware Image command obsolete in a future version of the ACI.
Please use the Send Firmware Segment command in all new development. See the ACI specification
for further details of both commands.
When the firmware download is complete, the drive will reset itself and send an ENQ control
character. It is recommended that the same ACI command sequence be followed as if the drive
had been power-cycled to ensure that the drive is configured correctly and to verify the firmware
version and ACI version.

Library firmware upgrade via tape

The ACI specification allows for upgrading the automation controller firmware via tape. This
functionality is not supported in current releases of drive firmware and will be added at a later
date subject to customer needs.

34 Supporting Ultrium features

Reporting of cartridge types
In order to support legacy tape type reporting while allowing support of Ultrium 6 media, an ACI
mode-dependent scheme is used to report tape types in the returned Get Drive Status data.

ACI 4.3 and earlier

In Legacy ACI mode (ACI 4.3 and earlier) the legacy ‘Tape type’ reporting scheme will be used:

‘Tape Type’ Meaning

00h No cartridge, or The tape drive does not contain a seated cartridge or it contains
unknown cartridge a seated cartridge of unknown type.1

01h Generation 1 The tape drive contains a seated Ultrium 1 data cartridge.

02h Generation 2 The tape drive contains a seated Ultrium 2 data cartridge.

03h Generation 3 The tape drive contains a seated Ultrium 3 data cartridge.

04h Generation 4 The tape drive contains a seated Ultrium 4 data cartridge.

05h Generation 5 The tape drive contains a seated Ultrium 5 data cartridge.

06h Cleaning The tape drive contains a seated cleaning cartridge.

07h Firmware upgrade The tape drive contains a seated firmware upgrade cartridge.

1
With Auto-Eject off, cartridge type equal to zero with Ready Eject on implies an unknown cartridge
type.

NOTE: In legacy mode, an Ultrium 6 cartridge will be reported as a Tape Type of zero.

ACI 4.4 mode

In ACI 4.4 Mode the following scheme is used to allow support for Ultrium 6 media:

Tape Type Meaning

00h No cartridge or The tape drive does not contain a seated cartridge or it contains
unknown cartridge a seated cartridge of unknown type.1

01h Unsupported cartridge Unsupported cartridge type, for LTO-6 this would be LTO-1,
type LTO-2, LTO-3.

02h Reserved

03h (Current Drive The tape drive contains a seated Current Drive Generation –
Generation – 2) 2 data cartridge. For an LTO-6 drive, this is an LTO-4 data
cartridge.

04h (Current Drive The tape drive contains a seated Current Drive Generation –
Generation – 1) 1 data cartridge. For an LTO-6 drive, this is an LTO-5 data
cartridge.

05h Current Drive The tape drive contains a seated Current Drive Generation
Generation data cartridge. For an LTO-6 drive, this is an LTO-6 data
cartridge.

06h Cleaning The tape drive contains a seated cleaning cartridge.

07h Firmware upgrade The tape drive contains a seated firmware upgrade cartridge.

1
With Auto-Eject off, cartridge type equal to zero with Ready Eject on implies an unknown cartridge
type.

Automation interface 35
Handling irregular cartridges
The purpose of this section is to indicate what can be seen over the ACI protocol if the host issues
a MOVE MEDIUM command to the library when an irregular cartridge (such as a cleaning cartridge,
expired cleaning cartridge, Ultrium 4 cartridge, or defective data cartridge) is in the storage
element.
The following descriptions assume that the auto-eject bit in the Set Drive Configuration command
has been set to 0 so that the cartridge will not be ejected from the drive unless an ACI Unload
command is issued with the Eject bit set to 1.

Cleaning cartridge (HP-configured or Universal)

When a valid cleaning cartridge (one that has not expired) is loaded, behavior depends on the
Clean Protect bit of the Set Drive Configuration command.

Clean Protect = 1 If the Clean Protect bit is set to 1, the drive will not thread the tape or clean the drive until an
ACI Load command with the Clean bit set to 1 is sent to the drive. If the Load command is
sent without the Clean bit set the drive will return a CHECK CONDITION. Also, if the “cleaning
cartridge” is not in fact a cleaning cartridge, the Load command with the Clean bit set to 1
will produce a CHECK CONDITION.
Clean Protect = 0 If the Clean Protect bit in the Set Drive Configuration command is set to 0, the drive will thread
the tape and clean the drive when a cleaning tape is loaded.
When the cleaning cartridge is seated in the drive, the ‘cartridge type’ field in the Get Drive
Status RDATA will be set to 06h (cleaning).
While the drive is cleaning, the Cleaning bit in the Get Drive Status RDATA will be set to 1
and the Tape Activity field will be set to Ah (cleaning).
When cleaning has finished, if Auto-Eject is disabled, the cartridge will be in the ready eject
position with the Cartridge Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, and Ready Load bits set to 1,
Cartridge Type = ‘Cleaning’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’. The cartridge can now be unloaded
from the drive.

Expired cleaning cartridge (HP-configured or Universal)

If an expired cleaning cartridge is loaded into the drive, the cartridge will be placed in the ready
eject position with the Cartridge Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error,
TapeAlert, and Clean Expired bits set to 1, Cartridge Type = ‘Cleaning’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’.
TapeAlert flag 22h will be set.

Non-HP Ultrium 1 cleaning cartridge

If a non-HP Ultrium 1 cleaning cartridge is loaded into the drive, the cartridge will not be recognized
as a supported cartridge. The cartridge will be placed in the ready eject position with the Cartridge
Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error, and TapeAlert bits set to 1, Cartridge
Type = ‘Unknown’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’. TapeAlert flag 17h will be set.

Unreadable data cartridge

If a data cartridge is loaded that cannot be read, the cartridge will be placed at the ready-to-eject
position with the Cartridge Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error, and
TapeAlert bits set to 1, Cartridge Type = ‘Unknown’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’. TapeAlert flag
05h will be set.

Ultrium 7 and later data cartridges

If an Ultrium 7 or later data cartridge is loaded into the drive, the drive will recognize the cartridge
as a non-supported cartridge. The cartridge will be placed at the ready-to-eject position with the
Cartridge Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error, and TapeAlert bits set to
1, Cartridge Type = ‘Unknown’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’. TapeAlert flag 0Ch will be set.

36 Supporting Ultrium features

Data cartridge with unreadable CM
If the Cartridge Memory cannot be read, the drive assumes that the cartridge is not supported. If
the cartridge is loaded into the drive, it will be placed at the ready-to-eject point with the Cartridge
Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error, and TapeAlert bits set to 1, Cartridge
Type = ‘Unknown’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’. TapeAlert flag 0Fh will be set.

Cartridge fails to seat or load

If a cartridge fails to seat or load, it will be placed at the ready-to-eject position with the Cartridge
Present, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error, and TapeAlert bits set to 1, Tape Activity = ‘Idle’.
TapeAlert flag 04h will be set. If the cartridge type is recognized, this will be indicated in the
Cartridge Type field, otherwise the field will indicate Cartridge Type = ‘Unknown’.

Cartridge cannot be loaded

HP recommends that GOOD status is not returned to the host for the MOVE MEDIUM command
until the library controller has seen the Cartridge Load bit in the Get Drive Status RDATA set to 1.
If the library controller does not see this bit set, HP recommends invoking an appropriate load
re-try algorithm. After re-trying the load, if this bit is still not set to 1, assume that there is a problem
with the cartridge. HP recommends that the library controller responds to the MOVE MEDIUM
command with CHECK CONDITION, a sense key of Not Ready and additional sense of 5300
(media load or eject failure), and then moves the cartridge back to the source element. If the Drive
Error bit is set to 1 in the Get Drive Status RDATA, appropriate actions should be taken.

Valid firmware upgrade cartridge

If a firmware upgrade cartridge with a valid firmware image is loaded, and neither the library
controller nor the host knows that the cartridge is a firmware upgrade cartridge, what occurs
depends on the Upgrade Protect bit in the Set Drive Configuration command.

Upgrade Protect = 1 If the Upgrade Protect bit in the Set Drive Configuration command is set to 1, it is assumed
that the Upgrade bit in the Load command will be zero and no firmware upgrade will be
performed. The cartridge will be placed at the ready-to-eject position with the Cartridge
Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error, and TapeAlert bits set to 1,
Cartridge Type = ‘Firmware Upgrade’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’. TapeAlert flag 10h will
be set.
Upgrade Protect = 0 If the Upgrade Protect bit in the Set Drive Configuration command is 0, a firmware upgrade
will be performed on the drive. While the drive is preparing to upgrade the firmware, it will
report Tape Activity = “Code Update in Progress”. When actually upgrading the firmware
the drive will not respond to ACI commands. After the firmware upgrade has completed the
drive will reset and send out an ENQ byte over ACI.It is recommended that the library
controller follows the normal power-up ACI command sequence after receiving the ENQ byte
to ensure that the drive is configured correctly and to verify the firmware version and ACI
version.

Invalid firmware upgrade cartridge

If a firmware upgrade cartridge with an invalid firmware image is loaded, and neither the library
controller nor the host knows that the cartridge is a firmware upgrade cartridge, again what occurs
depends on the Upgrade Protect bit in the Set Drive Configuration command.

Upgrade Protect = 1 If the Upgrade Protect bit in the Set Drive Configuration command is set to 1, it is assumed
that the Upgrade bit in the Load command will be zero and no firmware upgrade will be
performed on the drive. The cartridge will be placed at the ready-to-eject position with the
Cartridge Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error, and TapeAlert
bits set to 1, Cartridge Type = ‘Firmware Upgrade’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’. TapeAlert
flag 10h will be set.
Upgrade Protect = 0 If the Upgrade Protect bit in the Set Drive Configuration command is set to 0, the firmware
upgrade process will start and the drive will thread the tape and read the image. During
this time, the drive will report Tape Activity = “Code Update in Progress”. When the image
has been read the drive will check whether the image is valid. As in this case the image

Automation interface 37
 is not valid, the drive will place the drive at the ready-to-eject position with the Cartridge
Present, Write Protect, Ready Eject, Ready Load, Media Error, and TapeAlert bits set to
1, Cartridge Type = ‘Firmware Upgrade’, and Tape Activity = ‘Idle’. TapeAlert flags 10h
and 22h will be set. The drive will not send out an ENQ byte and will not reset.

Frequently asked questions

ACI protocol allows activities of the drive to be co-ordinated within a library. It provides several
modes for operating HP Ultrium drives within tape libraries. In addition, the Cartridge Memory
can, at the very minimum, provide an ‘electronic barcode’ facility to allow media tracking. HP is
working with all the major tape library vendors to ensure that the full potential of these features
are realized, and recognizes that ISV software support is a key part of this process. Here are
answers to some frequently asked questions:
Is there separate firmware for drives intended to go into libraries?
Specific variants of the firmware for automation drives enable the automation interface, which is
not enabled in standalone drives. Otherwise the code is similar. A variant can only be downloaded
if it matches the variant in the drive.

Cleaning
The tape drive tells the automation controller that a cleaning tape needs to be used through two
bits in the ACI Get Drive Status command. The Cleaning Needed bit indicates deterioration in the
write or read margin of the drive and hence it is recommended that a cleaning cartridge is inserted
into the drive at the earliest opportunity. Following a successful clean, the Cleaning Needed bit
will be cleared. The Cleaning Required bit indicates that the drive is unable to read or write unless
the drive is first cleaned with a cleaning tape. It is recommended that a cleaning cartridge is loaded
into the drive immediately. Following a successful clean, the Cleaning Required bit will be cleared.
Under normal circumstances, cleaning cartridges can be used for 50 cleanings.

Resetting drives
The tape drive can be reset by the automation controller via the ACI Reset command or, in ACI
mode, by pulling the ACI_RST_L line low (see “Rear Panel and Connectors”, Chapter 7 of the
Hardware Integration Guide, Volume 1 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual).

Resetting via the ACI Reset command

Two levels of reset via the Automation Interface are provided, namely ACI Reset and Drive Reset.
The former resets the Automation Interface port and all SCSI parallel/Fibre Channel ports. The
latter is equivalent to a power-on reset. Either reset method will interrupt the interface between the
drive and host, with the Drive Reset potentially resulting in no End of Data written to tape.
It is therefore strongly recommended that an ACI reset command is not sent unless all other recovery
methods have failed. Note that certain ACI commands (see “Queued ACI commands” (page 32))
can be queued behind outstanding SCSI commands giving the impression that the drive has stopped
responding over the Automation Interface bus. (All command packages will be still be ack’ed even
though the command will be queued.)
Following an ACI Reset command with reset control set to Drive Reset or after pulling the ACI_RST_L
line low, the drive will behave as if it has powered up and will go off bus and lose all ACI protocol
configurations.
A SCSI Task Management Function will not affect the Automation Interface.

NOTE: Following an upgrade of the drive firmware via either tape or SCSI, the drive will be
reset as if it had been powered up.
The implementation details are beyond the scope of this document currently.

38 Supporting Ultrium features

Resetting using the ACI_RST_L line
The behavior when the ACI_RST_L line is activated depends on whether the drive is in ACI or ADI
mode. In ACI mode activating this line will produce a power-on reset. Activating the ACI_RST_L
in ADI mode will simply logout the ADT-2 port.

Further details
• For more details of hardware integration, see Chapter 5, “Automating Drives”, of Hardware
Integration, Volume 1 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual.

Backup software
You need backup application software that supports your Ultrium drive and tape library. For the
latest list of appropriate backup packages, contact your tape library supplier.
Suitable backup applications include driver software that establishes the interface between the
tape drive and the software. Applications usually recognize tape drives by their manufacturers’ ID
string rather than their model number:

LTO-6 SAS drive “HP Ultrium 6-SCSI” (“SCSI” is not a typo!)

LTO-6 FC drive “HP Ultrium 6-SCSI” (“SCSI” is not a typo!)

Controlling data compression

The data compression hardware in HP Ultrium drives can detect whether incoming data is already
compressed and will not attempt to compress it again. The drive can switch dynamically and
automatically between compressing and non-compressing modes, thereby optimizing both
compression ratio performance and data rate. As this mode of behavior is embedded in the Ultrium
format, there is no need for host application software to switch the drive’s data compression on
and off and HP strongly recommends to leave data compression at its default of 1 (on). This is set
in the Select Data Compression Algorithm (SDCA) field of the Device Configuration mode page
(page 10h).
Host applications may read the Data Compression mode page (0Fh) to determine that the drive
is capable of data compression; the DCC bit is set to indicate this. HP recommends that the host
does not attempt to modify either the Data Compression Enable (DCE) or Data Decompression
Enable (DDE) bits.
Interpreting the current compression ratio and reporting it through applications is desirable for
customers so that HP can accurately support customer installations. Without knowing the compression
ratios achieved, it is difficult for support to suggest whether performance achieved is good or
merely tolerable for customers’ data. HP recommends reporting compression and includes example
source code for interpreting this functionality.

Other mode page information

Accessing Cartridge Memory without threading the tape
You can configure Ultrium drives so that when a cartridge is loaded, the Cartridge Memory can
be accessed without threading the tape. This functionality is set with the Autoload field (byte 5,
bits 0–2) in the Control mode page (0Ah). Zero (default) allows the cartridge to load in a
conventional way. 001b or 010b allows the media to be loaded but not threaded, so the drive
can read the Cartridge Memory contents. All other values for this field are reserved.

Backup software 39
Buffer size at EW-EOM
The Buffer Size at EW-EOM field in the Device Configuration Mode page (10h) is set to zero.
HP Ultrium tape drives automatically allow sufficient space between EW-EOM and “physical” EOT
to satisfy backup applications.

Synchronize at EW-EOM
The SEW field (byte 10, bit3) on the Device Configuration mode page (10h) specifies how the
drive behaves when reaching EW-EOM.
The parameter is fully supported. Default 0: the drive continues to buffer data objects after passing
EW-EOM. If you require behavior compatible with earlier drive generations, send a MODE SELECT
command to set this bit to 1.

Write delay time

The Write Delay Time field (bytes 6–7) on the Device Configuration mode page (10h) specifies
the inactivity delay before the drive will automatically flush its data buffer. A value of 0 is an infinite
delay; any other value is the delay in 100ms units.
This parameter is modifiable by a MODE SELECT command. The default value is 12Ch (300d)
which corresponds to 30s.

Rewind on reset
The Rewind on Reset field (byte 15, bits 3–4) on the Device Configuration mode page (10h) allows
the host control over the action taken in the event of a bus reset.
If the field is 00 (default) or 10b the logical position is unchanged following a reset. If the field is
set to 01b the media will be rewound to the logical beginning of media following a bus reset
event.

Partition size
Ultrium formats LTO-1—LTO-4 only support a single partition, and the Medium Partition Mode
page (11h) has no changeable fields. In the Device Configuration mode page (10h) the Active
Partition field must be 0 since multiple partitions are not supported.
Ultrium format LTO-5 allows for the possibility of an additional second partition, and LTO-6 for a
total of four partitions. The Medium Partitions Mode page (11h) will report the current partition
setup and allow the application to reconfigure the partitions. The POFM bit must be set to 1, so a
FORMAT MEDIUM command will be required to modify the partitions after configuring them with
MODE SELECT.

NOTE: If the SET CAPACITY command is used to create logically shortened media, the partition
size is updated to reflect the new capacity.

40 Supporting Ultrium features

6 Sense keys and codes
Sense keys—actions to take
Ultrium drives follow the ANSI definition of sense keys. The following table explains how the drives
interpret sense key descriptions.
As sense keys and additional sense codes are intended to be hierarchical errors, the table
recommends action for the host when a particular sense key is reported.
For more detailed recovery actions, see “Additional sense codes—actions to take” (page 43).

Code Sense Key Interpretation

0h NO SENSE These are informational/positional codes. The additional sense codes are not
generally considered errors; they usually indicate some condition (such as hitting a
filemark). The tape positional codes are mandatory for all sequential access devices.
For additional sense codes, see “0h—NO SENSE” (page 44).

Action: The host will know what to do with this information, depending upon the I/O
operation at the time. Since the drive implements Progress Indication, this sense key
may be returned if the drive is polled while an immediate operation is in progress.
If CHECK CONDITION occurs with this sense key, and the additional sense code
is not recognized by the host, the software should just log the occurrence and
continue. It will not be considered an error. The I/O should have completed without
an error.

1h RECOVERED ERROR These errors have been recovered by the drive. The drive may report any type of
recovered error additional sense code. RECOVERED ERROR is returned if a MODE
SELECT parameter is truncated or if a TapeAlert event is being reported.
RECOVERED ERROR is the lowest priority sense key; it is only reported when the
I/O has completed with no other type of CHECK CONDITION having occurred.
For additional sense codes, see “1h—RECOVERED ERROR” (page 44).

Console Message: None

2h NOT READY This sense key generally means the host will have to wait for the drive to become
READY. Media access is not possible. See “3h—MEDIUM ERROR” (page 46). Also
see the Media Access pre-execution check.

Action: The host needs to take one of the following actions:

• Wait until the drive becomes ready.
• Issue some type of initializing command.
• Perhaps instruct the user to put the drive online.
• The handling of this sense key will depend upon the host’s operating system and
the additional sense code.

Console Message: Drive not ready - media access not possible

3h MEDIUM ERROR This sense key indicates a failure that is probably due to a problem with the tape.
The I/O did not complete. The I/O may have been partially attempted and data
on the tape may have been altered. The drive will have retried an optimal number
of times before reporting this sense key.
For additional sense codes, see “3h—MEDIUM ERROR” (page 46).

Action: Recovery depends on the operating system or application. At the very least, whatever
the additional sense code, the software should log the error, terminate I/O to the
drive, and pass the appropriate error to the calling application.
On read, the driver should discriminate between hard read failures caused by the
media, and those resulting from an inability to decompress data.

Sense keys—actions to take 41

 Code Sense Key Interpretation

Console Message: On write, ASQ 0C00h Write to tape failure

On write attribute, ASQ 1112h Write to CM failure

On read, ASQ 70NNh Decompression exception

On read attribute, ASQ 1112h Reading CM failure

On read (otherwise) Read from tape failure

On space Failed to locate record on

tape

4h HW ERROR This indicates that the current I/O operation has failed due to a hardware failure.The
FRU code in the sense data should indicate which part of the hardware is bad. The
drive should not be used again until corrective action has been taken. Specific
recovery depends on the operating system and application.
For additional sense codes, see “4h—HW ERROR” (page 49).

Action: Whatever the additional sense code, the software should log the error, terminate
the I/O, and report the appropriate error to the calling application. Whether the
drive requires any further corrective action before it can be used again (such as a
reset or manual intervention) depends on the additional sense code.

Console Message: Tape drive hardware failure

5h ILLEGAL REQUEST The last command sent to the drive, or the data sent because of the command, could
not be accepted by the drive because it violated conditions imposed by the drive.
For additional sense codes, see “5h—ILLEGAL REQUEST” (page 50). Also see the
Illegal Command, Illegal Field, Fixed Bit, Reservation and Parameter List pre-execution
checks.

Action: The software can retry the I/O, or else it can terminate the I/O and report an error
to the calling application, particularly if the I/O has been retried a number of times
and continues to fail with the same sense key. The specific retry or recovery strategy
depends on the operating system.

Console Message: Illegal SCSI command requested

6h UNIT ATTENTION The operating conditions of the drive have been changed in some manner that the
host should be aware of. For example, the drive may have gone online or been
reset, the Mode parameters may have been changed, a second host may have
changed the drive’s operating conditions, and so on.
For additional sense codes, see “6h—UNIT ATTENTION” (page 51). Also see the
Unit Attention pre-execution check.

Action: Recovery depends on the device class and the additional sense code. In general,
the software should assume that mode settings and so on have been lost, and so
should re-initialize the drive. The failed command will not have been executed and
should be repeated.
A likely side effect of UNIT ATTENTION is that the logical position will have changed
without any command being issued. As a result of this, it is highly likely that you
will need to restart the backup or restore, or start it from a known logical position
checkpoint.

Console Message: Tape drive operating conditions may have changed

7h DATA PROTECTION This is an error if the I/O operation is attempting to access the media in some
manner and failing because data on the media cannot be accessed (for example,
the tape might be write-protected, or the drive is unable to decrypt data because
the key is incorrect).
For additional sense codes, see “7h—DATA PROTECTION” (page 53).
Also see the Media Write pre-execution check.

42 Sense keys and codes

 Code Sense Key Interpretation

Action: Depends on the operating system. If this sense key occurs with other than an
additional sense code of 2700h, the software should log the error, terminate the
I/O, and then send an error (operating system specific) to the calling application.
Data on the tape will not have been altered.

Console Message: Media write-protected or encrypted

8h BLANK CHECK An attempt was made to read unwritten media. Recovery from this sense key depends
on the operating system. It may be regarded as an error because more data was
expected by the host, or it may be an expected condition.
For additional sense codes, see “8h—BLANK CHECK” (page 55)

Console Message: End-of-Data encountered

Bh ABORTED COMMAND The drive has terminated abnormally. This could be due to a communication problem
in the library or SAS link, or a SCSI command has been received in the wrong
sequence. For more information and a list of additional sense codes, see
“Bh—ABORTED COMMAND” (page 55).
For SAS, an Initiator Reponse Timeout will return this sense with additional sense of
4B06h (initiator response timeout).

Action: Recovery depends on the additional sense code and the operating system. In some
cases, the host may want to retry the current I/O.

Console Message: SCSI protocol problem

Dh VOLUME OVERFLOW Data could not be written to tape because of insufficient space. See the WRITE and
WRITE FILEMARK commands. Recovery from this depends on the device class and
the operating system. It is a “generic” sense key—the host should be able to recover
from it without knowing the additional sense code.
For additional sense codes, see “Dh—VOLUME OVERFLOW” (page 56).

Console Message: Physical End-of-Tape reached, unable to fit remaining

information on tape

Additional sense codes—actions to take

These tables provide information about sense data, so that software can identify which additional
sense codes can be reported under which sense keys. It is important that the operating system
makes all Request Sense data available to applications and, in an interpreted form, to the end-user.
Actions are suggested for software to use when determining the recovery action for different sense
keys and additional sense code and qualifying codes (ASC/ASCQ).
It is strongly recommended that the operating system and/or application use the entire ASC/ASCQ
data to determine the appropriate recovery action.
The tables are in numerical order, not order of priority. That is, they do not suggest which sense
keys should be checked first, nor do they recommend priorities for the devices to report errors.

NOTE: When the sense, additional sense code and qualifying sense keys are listed, the software
may look at all three keys to determine action. The drive should use that exact combination to
report that particular error.
For example, a drive will report that it is not ready when there is no cartridge present by setting
the sense key to NOT READY with additional sense of 0402h (LUN not ready, initializing command
required). No other combination of sense key and additional sense may be used to report that
particular condition.

Additional sense codes—actions to take 43

0h—NO SENSE
The following action applies to most additional sense codes in this group:

Action: For all additional sense codes except 82 82h, the action of the software depends on the current I/O
and what the operating system has been expecting. Recovery depends on the operating system. As a
minimum, the software should pass an error to the calling application indicating the positional mark that
has been encountered. The I/O can be retried if desired.

Code Meaning Comments

00 00 No additional sense The drive has no additional sense information for the host. The flags in the
sense data indicate the reason for failure.

Action: see above

00 01 Filemark detected This indicates one of the following:

• A READ or SPACE command was terminated early because a filemark
was encountered.
• Unsolicited Positional Sense has been set to indicate “at a filemark”.
The Mark bit in the sense data will be set.

Action: see above

00 02 End of Tape detected A media-access command (such as READ, SPACE, WRITE, WRITE
FILEMARKS, and so on) found EOT unexpectedly, or the drive could not
locate to the specified position on tape because it does not exist or the
block count is too great.

Action: see above

00 04 Beginning of Tape detected BOT was encountered during a space command.

00 16 Operation in progress A command is in progress and has not yet completed. This could be
00 18 Erase operation in progress because another host initiated the command, or the command was sent
in immediate mode. The Sense Key Specific Value field in the sense data
00 19 Locate operation in progress will give some indication of how far the operation has progressed.
00 1A Rewind operation in progress

Action: Either wait for the command to complete, or poll again to see how it is
progressing.

5E 01 Idle condition activated by timer The drive has entered power-saving mode. This code is only reported in
response to a REQUEST SENSE command.

82 82 Drive requires cleaning The drive has detected that the heads need to be cleaned to maintain good
operation.

Action: Optionally, log the occurrence for information. It will not be considered
an error and the software will continue.

1h—RECOVERED ERROR
NOTE: Reporting of recovered errors defaults to OFF.

Action: In all cases, action depends on the device class and operating system.

44 Sense keys and codes

 Code Meaning Comments

37 00 Rounded parameter The drive needs to round off the value of a parameter sent by MODE
SELECT because it cannot store it to the degree of accuracy sent by
the command.

5D 00 Failure prediction threshold Failure Prediction thresholds have been exceeded indicating that
exceeded TapeAlert flags have been activated.

Action: Retrieve the TapeAlert log page to find out which flag has been
activated and advise the user accordingly.

5D FF Failure prediction threshold The Informational Exceptions Mode page has been sent with the Test
exceeded (false) field set to 1 and the DExcpt field to 0, causing the drive to generate
a false informational exception condition (a false device failure).

Action: Since the function of the Test field is simply to test that an
informational exception condition will produce a CHECK
CONDITION and that the exception will be reported to the TapeAlert
log, no action is necessary.

2h—NOT READY

Code Meaning Comments

04 00 LUN not ready, no cause to This is set if an unload is executing with immediate report on, or
report initiated through the front panel, or a different host initiated the
command. It is present for the duration of the unload or eject, after
which the additional sense changes to 3A 00h (medium not present)
or 0402h (logical unit not ready, initializing command required).

Action: 1. Issue a message to the console stating that the tape is currently
being unloaded from the drive.
2. Poll the drive until the additional sense changes to 3A 00h or
04 02h.
3. Instruct the user what to do, based on the application and the
previous sequence of commands.
4. Depending on the application, the software may terminate the
current I/O.

04 01 LUN in process of becoming A media access command has been received while a load is
ready occurring with immediate report on, or initiated through the front
panel, or a different host initiated the command.

Action: 1. Effectively poll the drive by re-sending the command until the
media is loaded, when UNIT ATTENTION with additional sense
of 28 00h will be set if the tape was inserted via the front panel.
Otherwise poll the drive (TUR) until GOOD status is reported. At
this point the command can be executed.
2. Report to the console that the drive is in the process of loading
tape.

04 02 LUN not ready, initializing A cartridge is present in the drive but is not logically loaded. A LOAD
command required command is required.

Action: 1. The software must issue a LOAD before media access is permitted.
2. Issue a message to the console to request a user-initiated load,
or to indicate drive status, or both.

04 04 LUN not ready, format in A FORMAT MEDIUM command with the Immed bit set to one is
progress currently executing.

04 07 Command in progress The tape drive is currently executing an immediate mode command
(such as UNLOAD).

04 09 LUN not ready, self-test in The drive is currently in "maintenance" mode (such as running special
progress diagnostic tests).

Additional sense codes—actions to take 45

 Code Meaning Comments

04 0C LUN not accessible, port in The command is not available on the specified logical unit when
unavailable state sent to the drive through the specified port.

04 12 Logical unit offline The command cannot be executed because the specified logical unit
has not yet been configured via the appropriate port.

0B 01 Thermal limit exceeded There has been a failure due to the drive temperature being outside
the acceptable range.

30 03 Cleaning cartridge installed. A medium-access command has been sent to the drive while a
cleaning cartridge was loaded.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O, and return the appropriate error.
2. Send a message to the console indicating that a cleaning
cartridge is in the drive and a cleaning cycle is being performed.
3. Prompt the user to wait for the cartridge to be ejected. In a library,
the cartridge will be ejected when requested by the library or
host. In an internal or external single drive, the cartridge will be
ejected automatically.
4. Prompt the user to proceed with the next application-specific
activity.
5. Log the cleaning cycle in the system log.

3A 00 Medium not present A medium-access command has been received when no cartridge
is in the drive.

Action: As a minimum, issue a message to the console indicating that a drive

is present but no tape is loaded.

3A 04 Medium not present, Media A media access command has been received when the tape has
Auxiliary Memory accessible been loaded but not threaded. This will be reported if the hold bit
of the LOAD CDB was set or the Autoload field in the Control mode
page is non-zero.

3E 00 Logical unit has not This is set during power-up when it is not possible to send
self-configured yet medium-access commands to the drive because mechanism tests are
being executed. When the tests are complete, the additional sense
changes to 3A 00h, 04 01h or 04 02h depending on whether a
cartridge was present at power-on.

Action: 1. Issue a message to the console indicating that the drive is

powering up.
2. Effectively poll the drive until the drive transitions to another state,
at which point either execute the command or terminate the I/O.

3h—MEDIUM ERROR

Code Meaning Comments

00 02 End of Tape detected A media-access command (such as READ, SPACE, WRITE, WRITE
FILEMARKS, and so on) found EOT unexpectedly, or the drive could
not locate to the specified position on tape because it does not exist
or the block count is too great.
The EOM flag will be set.

Action: 1. Recovery action depends on the initiating action. As a minimum,

inform the calling application that either End Of Partition (EOP)
or End Of Medium (EOM) has been encountered. Also display
this information as a console message.
2. Send any residue information to the calling application.

46 Sense keys and codes

Code Meaning Comments

0C 00 Write error The drive has failed to write data or filemarks to tape. This is
probably due to bad media, but may be hardware-related. Residue
information will normally be supplied.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. The software should disable all further transactions to the drive
and mark the drive as ‘bad’.
3. The software should tell the user that a serious fault has been
detected with the drive and advise them to call their technical
support.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

11 00 Unrecovered read error A read operation failed. This is probably due to bad media, but
may be hardware-related.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Send a console message that an unrecovered error on write has
occurred.
3. Determine whether the error is deferred, and report the last
successful operation and the failed operation to the calling
application.
4. Log the error and all recovery actions in the system log.
Recovery action is as follows:
1. Use Log Sense to find the age and state of the tape and the drive.
Based on this, ask the user to clean the drive or replace the tape.
2. If the fault is drive-related, ask the user to retry the operation after
the drive has been cleaned.
3. If the fault is with the media, prompt the user to back up the data
to a new tape, restart the application and discard the current
tape.

11 12 Media Auxiliary Memory read An error has occurred while attempting to write to MAM. The
error cartridge should not be used for further backups but should be able
to be used for restoring data.

14 00 Recorded entity not found A SPACE or LOCATE command failed because of the drive could
not find the target of the operation because of a format violation.

Action: 1. Terminate the I/O and return the appropriate error.

2. Send a message to the console indicating that EOD could not be
found because the tape has a corrupt format.
3. Prompt the user to back up the data to another tape and discard
the current one.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

14 03 End of data not found A read-type operation failed because a format violation related to
a missing EOD data set, or there was an attempt to read a brand
new tape.

Action: 1. Terminate the I/O and return the appropriate error.

2. Send a message to the console indicating that EOD could not be
found because the tape has a corrupt format.
3. Prompt the user to back up the data to another tape and discard
the current one.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

30 00 Incompatible medium installed A write-type operation could not be executed because it is not
supported on the tape type that is loaded.

Action: 1. Terminate the I/O and return the appropriate error.

2. Send a message to the console indicating that writing is not
allowed on the type of tape that is currently loaded.
3. Prompt the user to insert a different tape type.

Additional sense codes—actions to take 47

 Code Meaning Comments

4. Log the incident in the system log.

5. The calling application can retry the operation.

30 01 Cannot read media, unknown A LOCATE or SPACE command has found the tape is in a format
format not supported by the drive.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O, and return the appropriate error.
2. Send a message to the console indicating that the tape is in a
format not supported by the drive.
3. Prompt the user to eject the cartridge and insert a valid one.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

30 02 Cannot read media, incompatible A READ command could not be completed because the logical format
format is not correct.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O, and return the appropriate error.
2. Send a message to the console indicating that the tape is wrongly
formatted.
3. Prompt the user to eject the cartridge and insert a valid one.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

30 04 Cannot write medium The tape’s Cartridge Memory is bad so that the tape is unusable.

30 07 Cleaning failure A cleaning operation was attempted but could not be completed for
some reason.

Action: Use another cleaning cartridge because the current one has expired.

30 0D WORM medium—integrity check The drive has detected an inconsistency when performing an integrity
failed check on a WORM cartridge. The cartridge may have been
tampered with. Data can be read from the cartridge by setting the
WTRE bit in the Device Configuration mode page. The event should
be logged for audit purposes.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O, and return the appropriate error.
2. Send a message to the console indicating that the drive has
detected an inconsistency in the WORM cartridge that indicates
it may have been tampered with.
3. Alert the user that the cartridge may have been tampered with.
4. Log the incident in the system log for audit purposes.
5. Initiate WTRE-controlled EOD with clear warnings to the end-user
that the data may have been tampered with.

31 00 Medium format corrupted Data could not be read because the format on tape is not valid,
although it is in a known format.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O, and return the appropriate error.
2. Send a message to the console indicating that there is a problem
with the format of the tape in the drive.
3. Prompt the user to eject the media and insert a valid Ultrium tape.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

3B 00 Sequential positioning error The drive has failed to read data off tape. There are two possibilities:
• The current command (such as READ, SPACE, REWIND, or
WRITE) failed to complete successfully.
• The logical position has been lost.

Action: 1. Attempt to recover by executing a REWIND command to return

to a known position such as BOT.
2. Space to the position of the last known successful command and
retry the failing command.
3. If this is unsuccessful, terminate the current I/O, and return the
appropriate error.

48 Sense keys and codes

 Code Meaning Comments

4. Prompt the user to back up the data to a new cartridge and

discard the old one.
5. Log the incident in the system log.

50 00 Write append error A write-type command failed because the point at which to append
data was unreadable. This was probably caused by a powerfail,
or Fibre Channel/SAS link reset, preventing the drive from completing
a write operation properly and appending an EOD.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Tell the user that the append point is unreadable.
3. Advise the user to back up the data to new media and reformat
the failing tape.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

52 00 Cartridge fault A command could not be completed because of a fault with the tape
cartridge.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Tell the user that a serious fault has been detected with the tape
cartridge.
3. Advise the user to discard this cartridge and select a new one.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

53 00 Media load or eject failed An attempt to load or eject the tape failed because of a problem
with the tape.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Inform the user that a serious fault has been detected with the
tape cartridge.
3. Advise the user to discard this cartridge and select a new one.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

53 04 Medium thread or unthread The threading or unthreading operation failed.

failure

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Inform the user that a serious fault has been detected with the
tape cartridge.
3. Advise the user to discard this cartridge and select a new one.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

4h—HW ERROR
The following actions apply to most additional sense codes for HW ERROR sense key:

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. The software should disable all further transactions to the drive and mark the drive as ‘bad’.
3. The software should tell the user that a serious fault has been detected with the drive and advise
them to call their technical support.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

Code Meaning Comments

40 XX Diagnostic failure on component A self-test command has detected an error, or a command is

XX prohibited from execution due to failure of a previous diagnostic.
“XX” is a vendor-specific code indicating the failing component.

Action: see above

Additional sense codes—actions to take 49

 Code Meaning Comments

44 00 Internal target failure This code is used to report hardware and firmware related hard
errors that occur when the drive encounters an “impossible”
situation.

Action: see above

53 01 Unload tape failure The tape unload failed because it cannot be physically completed
at this time.

Action: see above

82 83 Bad microcode detected The data transferred to the drive during a firmware upgrade is
corrupt or incompatible with the drive hardware.

Action: see above

5h—ILLEGAL REQUEST
The following actions apply to all additional sense codes in this group:

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Log the incident in the system log.
3. Print out all the REQUEST SENSE data bytes and check bytes 15 through 17 to identify the location
of the offending bits or bytes.
4. Refer to the table of Drive Error Codes in the Host Interface Guide, Volume 3 of the HP LTO Ultrium
Technical Reference Manual to understand why the current values were rejected.
5. This is likely to be an application fault. Send a message to the console “Illegal SCSI request to
tape drive”.

Code Meaning Comments

1A 00 Parameter list length error The amount of data (such as mode page or log page) sent by the
initiator may not match the length specified in the CDB (or too much
or not enough data was sent).

20 00 Invalid command opcode The drive does not recognize the opcode of the command it has
received.

24 00 Invalid field in Command The drive has detected an invalid field in a Command Descriptor
Descriptor Block Block.

25 00 LUN not supported The command was addressed to a logical unit number that does not
exist.

26 00 Invalid field in parameter list The drive detected an invalid field in the command parameter data
sent by the initiator.

26 04 Invalid release of persistent The Persistent Reservation holder has tried to release the persistent
reservation reservation using the PERSISTENT RESERVE OUT command, but the
Scope or Type supplied was invalid.

2C 00 Command sequence invalid The sequence of SCSI commands is invalid.

Example 1: The use of the echo buffer was invalid. A WRITE BUFFER
command is necessary before a READ BUFFER command.
Example 2: Another initiator has already started a firmware
download process.

2C 0B Not reserved If the “Only If Reserved” bit is set in the Device Configuration Mode
page, and the drive does not hold a reservation or persistent
reservation, some commands will not be allowed to execute. In other
words, some commands can only be executed if the drive is reserved.

30 06 Cannot format, incompatible A format operation was requested, but the tape inserted in the drive
medium does not support this operation.

50 Sense keys and codes

 Code Meaning Comments

3B 0C Position past BOM A SET CAPACITY command was received when the logical position
was not BOT, a necessary condition for this command.

53 02 Medium removal prevented An unload command failed to eject the tape because medium
removal has been prevented.

55 03 Insufficient resources The drive is unable to hold any more information specific to the
command sent by the initiator. This may be because an internal
memory buffer has reached its full capacity.

55 04 Insufficient registration resources FC interface only: Up to 32 initiators may register using the
PERSISTENT RESERVE OUT command. A 33rd attempt to register is
rejected.

55 06 Media Auxiliary Memory full There is insufficient space in the Host Attribute area in MAM to fit
the attributes to be written.

Action: Check MAM attribute 0004h (MAM Space Remaining) to identify

how much space there is still available in the MAM area.

74 21 Data encryption configuration Encryption settings are controlled by an external device, such as a
prevented tape library, so encryption parameters cannot currently be changed.

6h—UNIT ATTENTION

Code Meaning Comments

28 00 Not ready to ready A tape has been loaded successfully into the drive and is now ready to
transition, medium may have be accessed.
changed

Action: 1. The host should be polling, receiving a CHECK CONDITION with

sense key 2h (NOT READY) and additional sense of 04 01h (LUN
in process of becoming ready), and expecting this transition.
2. Send the console message: “Tape drive in process of becoming
ready”.
3. After the transition, send the console message “Tape loaded - media
may have changed”.

29 01 Power-on reset The drive has powered on since the host last accessed it.

Action: 1. The action of the calling application depends on the current I/O and
what the operating system is expecting.
2. For parallel SCSI, the host should renegotiate transfer parameters,
and reconfigure the drive with any host-specific operating parameters
(burst size, bus activity limit, fixed or variable mode, and so on).
3. The host should then report to the console that the drive has been
reset.
4. The I/O can be retried if desired.

29 02 SCSI bus reset The drive will set the interface data transfer parameters to default, so
renegotiation may be needed. Commands in progress may be also
aborted. The initiator can choose to reset the drive on a per LUN basis.

Action: As for 29 01h

29 03 Bus device reset The drive will set the interface data transfer parameters to default, so
renegotiation may be needed. Commands in progress may be also
aborted. The initiator can choose to reset the drive on a per LUN basis.

Action: As for 29 01h

29 04 Internal firmware reboot The drive has reset itself.

Action: The host may renegotiate transfer parameters.

Additional sense codes—actions to take 51

 Code Meaning Comments

29 07 I_T nexus loss occurred The drive has lost the connection with the initiator (host server).

Action: The host may renegotiate transfer parameters.

2A 01 Mode parameters changed The Mode parameters for the drive have been changed by a host other
than the one issuing the command. UNIT ATTENTION is set for all hosts
following a MODE SELECT command, apart from the host that issued
the command. This code will only be returned in a multi-host environment.

Action: When operating the drive in this type of environment, the following
actions should occur:
1. The calling application receiving this code should issue a MODE
SENSE command requesting the drive to return all parameters.
2. The application should check those parameters over which it has
configuration control, to ensure that the current configuration of the
drive does not conflict with what the application expects.
3. If it finds discrepancies, the application can either reconfigure the
drive to the original values, or halt and report an error.
4. If an error is reported, a console message must be displayed, and
information logged to the system log.

2A 02 Log parameters changed The Log parameters for the drive have been changed by an initiator
other than the one issuing the command.

2A 03 Reservations pre-empted A PERSISTENT RESERVE OUT command with the Clear service action
removed all reservations and the persistent reservation.

2A 04 Reservations released After a PERSISTENT RESERVE OUT command was executed, the original
persistent reservation has been replaced with another of a different type,
or has been removed completely.

2A 05 Registrations pre-empted After a PERSISTENT RESERVE OUT command was executed all
registrations were removed.

2A 0D Data encryption capabilities There is a new external entity controlling when the encryption parameter
changed may be changed (for example, a tape library may have given up the
control of encryption parameters).

2A 10 Timestamp changed A SET TIMESTAMP command has been successful.

2A 11 Data encryption parameters The encryption parameters that this initiator was using have been
changed by another initiator modified or removed by another initiator.

2A 12 Data encryption parameters The encryption parameters that this initiator was using have been
changed by a modified or deleted because of a vendor-specific event (such as tape
vendor-specific event unload, or reservation released).

2A 15 Medium removal prevention The prevention of medium removal condition has been preempted. All
pre-empted. initiators affected except the one that sent the command will be notified
by means of this UNIT ATTENTION condition.

3F 01 Microcode has been The firmware in the drive has just been changed by a WRITE BUFFER
changed or MAINTENANCE OUT command, or a Firmware Upgrade cartridge.

3F 05 Device identifier changed A SET DEVICE IDENTIFIER command has been successful.

3F 0E Reported LUNs data has Reported LUNs data has changed

change

52 Sense keys and codes

7h—DATA PROTECTION

Code Meaning Comments

26 10 Data decryption key fail limit A SECURITY PROTOCOL OUT command has failed because an incorrect
reached key was sent to the drive followed by a READ command, and this cycle
has been repeated ten consecutive times.

Action: Further SECURITY PROTOCOL OUT commands will not succeed until
one of the following actions has been taken:
• Unload and reload the current tape.
• Power-cycle the drive.
Advise the user that they are using the wrong key, or that there is a
possible security attack.

27 00 Write-protected This is set if a write operation (such as a WRITE, WRITE FILEMARKS,

ERASE or SET CAPACITY command) is requested for a write-protected
cartridge.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Send a message to the console indicating that the drive has been
trying to write to a write-protected tape.
3. Subsequent action depends on the application.

27 08 Too many logical objects on At least one field in the command data is not large enough to represent
partition to support its full value (for example, the current logical position may be larger that
operation the maximum value of a 32-bit field).

2A 13 Data encryption Key The drive received a WRITE command from an initiator that had locked
Instance Counter has its encryption parameters to a specific Key Instance Counter, whose
changed value has now changed.

Action: 1. Issue a SECURITY PROTOCOL IN command (Data Encryption Status

page) to find out what the current encryption parameters are.
2. Issue a SECURITY PROTOCOL OUT command (Set Data Encryption
page) in order to set the correct security parameters.
3. Notify the user of a possible system configuration issue, since several
initiators are trying to control encryption parameters.

30 00 Incompatible medium A write-type operation could not be executed because it is not supported
installed on the tape type that is loaded.

Action: 1. Terminate the I/O and return the appropriate error.

2. Send a message to the console indicating that writing is not allowed
on the type of tape that is currently loaded.
3. Prompt the user to insert a different tape type.
4. Log the incident in the system log.
5. The calling application can retry the operation.

30 05 Cannot write medium, For example, a WRITE command was received but the currently loaded
incompatible format LTO tape generation cannot be written to.

30 0C WORM medium—overwrite A write operation could not be executed because an overwrite has been
attempted attempted on a WORM cartridge. This may be because an overwrite
backup was specified instead of an appended backup.

Action: 1. Terminate the I/O and return the appropriate error.

2. Send a message to the console indicating that an attempt has been
made to overwrite on a WORM cartridge.
3. Prompt the user to either use a new cartridge or change the operation
to an appended backup.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

Additional sense codes—actions to take 53

 Code Meaning Comments

30 0D WORM medium—integrity The drive has detected an inconsistency when performing an integrity
check failed check on a WORM cartridge. The cartridge may have been tampered
with.

Action: 1. Terminate the I/O and return the appropriate error.

2. Send a message to the console indicating that the drive has detected
an inconsistency with the WORM cartridge that indicates that it may
have been tampered with.
3. Advise the user that the tape may have been tampered with and they
should use a different cartridge.
4. Log the incident in the system log for audit purposes.

3B 1C Too many logical objects on First Block Location field on READ POSITION Short Form Block ID is not
partition to support large enough to be able to represent the current logical position.
operation

74 00 Security error Generic security (encryption/decryption) error. For example, the

Decryption mode is set to RAW and the drive has been asked to read,
but this Decryption mode is not allowed on the current block (as was
specified when it was written to tape).

74 01 Unable to decrypt data The drive encountered encrypted data while reading, but decryption
mode is not enabled.

Action: Send a SECURITY PROTOCOL OUT command (Set Data Encryption

page) with Decryption Mode set to DECRYPT or MIXED, and the Key
field specifying the correct decryption key.

74 02 Unencrypted data The decryption mode is enabled but the drive encountered non-encrypted
encountered while data while reading.
decrypting

Action: Send a SECURITY PROTOCOL OUT command (Set Data Encryption

page) with Decryption Mode set to DISABLE.

74 03 Incorrect data encryption The drive read into a block of data which could not be decrypted with
key the current decryption key.

Action: 1. Send a SECURITY PROTOCOL IN with the page set to Next Block
Encryption Status to obtain encryption information about the next
block on tape.
2. Send a SECURITY PROTOCOL OUT command (Set Data Encryption
page) with Decryption Mode set to DECRYPT or MIXED, and the Key
field specifying the correct decryption key.

74 04 Cryptographic integrity The next block failed the integrity validation process while the drive was
validation failed attempting to read it.

Action: Data may have been compromised, so the data in the cartridge should
not be trusted. Log the incident in the system log and notify the user.

74 05 Key-associated data The key-associated data descriptor values have changed compared with
descriptors changed. the values in the last recorded read.

Action: None. The application may continue reading but it is advisable to send
a SECURITY PROTOCOL IN command with the page set to Next Block
Encryption Status to find out information about the next block on tape.
The application may decide to change its security parameters.

74 09 Encryption mode mismatch The drive tried to read a block written in EXTERNAL encryption mode,
on read but the drive is set only to read blocks written in ENCRYPT encryption
mode, or vice versa.

74 0A Encrypted block not RAW The decryption mode is set to RAW but the block on tape is marked as
read-enabled disabled for reads in RAW mode.

54 Sense keys and codes

 Code Meaning Comments

74 0B Incorrect encryption Incorrect KAD descriptors were supplied (decryption mode set to RAW
parameters only).

Action: 1. Send a SECURITY PROTOCOL IN with the page set to Next Block
Encryption Status to obtain KAD descriptor information about the
next block on tape.
2. Send a SECURITY PROTOCOL OUT (Set Data Encryption page)
command with Decryption Mode set to RAW and the correct KAD
descriptors.

74 61 External data encryption Key The external Key Manager experienced an unrecoverable error and
Manager access error could not provide the encryption key requested by the drive.

74 62 External data encryption Key The external Key Manager experienced an error whilst trying to retrieve
Manager returned error an encryption key after a request from the drive.

74 63 External data encryption The external Key Manager did not find the encryption key in the
management—key not found database after a request from the drive.

74 64 External data encryption The external Key Manager did not provide the requested encryption
management—request not key because authorization failed.
authorized

74 6E External data encryption The external Key Manager did not provide the encryption key requested
control time-out by the drive within the specified time limit.

74 6F External data encryption The external Key Manager experienced an unspecified error and could
control unknown error not provide the encryption key requested by the drive.

74 80 KAD changed An Encryption AAD, an Encryption UAD, or an Encryption Key Signature

mismatch was detected while in RAW read mode.

8h—BLANK CHECK

Code Meaning Comments

00 05 End of Data (EOD) detected A READ or SPACE command terminated early because it encountered
EOD.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error to the
calling application indicating that EOD has been encountered.
2. Send a console message saying that EOD has been encountered.
3. Recovery depends on the calling application and what was expected.

14 03 End of Data not found A read-type operation failed because a format violation related to a
missing EOD data set, or there was an attempt to read a brand new
tape.

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Send a message to the console indicating that EOD could not be
found because the tape has corrupt format.
3. Prompt the user to back up the data to another tape and discard the
current one.
4. Log the incident in the system log.

Bh—ABORTED COMMAND
The following action applies to all codes in this group:

Action: 1. Terminate the current I/O and return the appropriate error.
2. Log the incident in the system log.
3. Send the console message “SCSI command aborted - low-level failure on SCSI bus” or for a
Fibre Channel drive, “SCSI command aborted - low-level failure on Fibre Channel link”.

Additional sense codes—actions to take 55

 Code Meaning Comments

08 00 Logical unit communication The ADT interface aborted a command due to a communication
failure failure.

2F 00 Commands cleared by another Another initiator has already started a firmware download
initiator sequence.

3F 0F Echo buffer overwritten A READ BUFFER command has been received with Echo Buffer
mode set, but the echo buffer has been overwritten by a different
host.

47 00 SCSI parity error The drive has detected a parity error, for example, during the
Message phase or Data phase.

48 00 Initiator Detected Error message An Initiator Detected Error primitive has been received from the
received host. This may indicate there was a CRC error on the data
transmitted through the link.

4B 00 Data phase error The ACI received more raw data than expected.

4B 02 Too much write data The ADT interface received more SCSI data than permitted within
a burst.

4B 05 Data offset error The ADT interface received data unexpectedly or with an offset
outside the current burst.

4B 06 Initiator response timeout SAS only: The host has not responded to the request within the
established time limit. Any SCSI command currently being
executed will be aborted.

4D 00 Tagged overlapped command A host has selected and sent a new command to the drive even
though the drive is already processing a command with the same
tag from this host to the same LUN.

4E 00 Overlapped commands A host has selected and sent a new command to the drive even
though the drive is already processing a command from this host
to the same LUN.

74 08 Digital signature validation failure An attempt to download a new firmware image has failed
because the image contains an incorrect digital signature.
Consequently the firmware image could not be authenticated.

Dh—VOLUME OVERFLOW

Code Meaning Comments

00 02 End of Tape detected A media-access command (such as READ, SPACE, WRITE, WRITE
FILEMARKS, and so on) found EOT unexpectedly, or the drive could
not locate to the specified position on tape because it does not exist
or the block count is too great.
The EOM flag in the sense data will be set.

NOTE: When the sense, additional sense and qualifying sense keys are listed, the software may
look at all three keys to determine action. The drive should use that exact combination to report
that particular error. No other combination of additional/qualifying sense keys may be used to
report that particular condition.

56 Sense keys and codes

7 Exception handling
These pages cover methods of dealing with certain error conditions and exceptional circumstances.
They include the following:
• A suggested Escalation Procedure to follow when exceptions occur
• How to make the most of the TapeAlert facility, see “Supporting TapeAlert” (page 58)
• How to respond to the ‘Clean’ LED (lit on the front panel when there are an excessive number
of retries or error corrections)
• The need for a pass-through mode, which can return information or commands specific to a
vendor’s product
• How drives recover from read and write errors
• How to use the drive’s ability to read through media errors, so that as much data can be
retrieved from a badly damaged tape as possible

Typical escalation procedure

For exception handling, there needs to be a well defined escalation path, through which the calling
application, user, operator or System Supervisor may take increasingly drastic action to clear any
product-related faults.
An escalation procedure is important to allow local recovery where possible, and to avoid the
unnecessary replacement of peripheral devices.
A typical escalation procedure is as follows:
1. Retrieve fault information.
You can run HP’s Library and Tape Tools (L&TT) and obtain a ticket, or you can retrieve specific
fault information from the following sources:
• INQUIRY data, such as firmware revisions
• REQUEST SENSE data, such as Additional Sense Codes and Drive Error Codes
• MODE SENSE data, such as data on the current configuration
• LOG SENSE data, stored in the drive’s logs
2. Inform the user.
The system gives the user helpful advice by attempting to decode the returned information,
and also allows the user access to the raw data.
3. Allow the user to try recovery.
For any fault, the system allows the user to use simple recovery commands such as REWIND
or LOAD/UNLOAD.
4. Allow the user to reset devices.
If these actions fail, including repeated attempts to retry the operation, the user should be able
to reset devices on the SCSI bus selectively, through the use of a LOGICAL UNIT RESET Task
Management function. This function is specific only to the device to which it is addressed and
will not disturb other devices on the SCSI bus.

Monitoring the condition of the drive and media

Through TapeAlert, an HP LTO Ultrium tape drive constantly monitors the condition of the mechanism
and media, and presents the results in a form that host software can readily use and users can
easily understand.
You can find a general description of TapeAlert in the diagnostics section of the User’s Guide.

Typical escalation procedure 57

Supporting TapeAlert
HP has refined the TapeAlert standard to include the Predictive Failure flag. If the drive sets this
flag, the host should display a message that the drive is “about to fail and should be replaced”.
There should be no impact on ISV software if the TapeAlert standard is already fully supported.

NOTE: Reading the TapeAlert log clears all the flags, as defined in the TapeAlert specification.
The TapeAlert Log page consists of 64 flags that indicate potential problems with the drive, and
that allow host software to suggest appropriate corrective action to the user. For example, if Flag
20 (“Clean Now”) is set, the software should advise the user to clean the tape heads.
The drive maintains both SSC and ADC TapeAlert flags because the two standards state different
clearing conditions.
• The drive maintains separate copies of the SSC TapeAlert flags for each port. These are only
cleared when a port retrieves its TapeAlert flags with a LOG SENSE command with page
code 2Eh, provided the TAPLSD (TapeAlert Prevent LOG SENSE Deactivation) mode parameter
is zero in the Device Configuration Extension mode page.
• The drive also maintains a set of ADC TapeAlert flags, which are shared by each port. The
ADC TapeAlert flags are not cleared when a port retrieves them with a LOG SENSE command
with page code 12h.
See Chapter 4 of the Host Interface Guide, Volume 3 of the HP Ultrium Technical Reference Guide
for details of the TapeAlert log page.

Flags
The following table lists the flags that could potentially be supported in tape drives. Of these, flags
3, 4, 5, 6, 20, 22 and 31 are mandatory for drives such as Ultrium drives that support cleaning
cartridges.
The flags are grouped into the following sections:
• Flags 1 to 19: For tape drive write/read management
• Flags 20 to 25: For cleaning management
• Flags 26 to 39: For tape drive hardware errors
• Flags 50 to 60: For additional tape drive errors
For each flag, the message that the host software should display to the user is given, together with
the cause of the flag being set. The Type column classifies the flags by seriousness into the following
three groups:

I Information A suggestion to the user.

W Warning The user is advised to take action. Performance or data may be at risk otherwise.

C Critical! Take action immediately.

The Set column indicates that the flag may be set by LTO-6 drives. The flags that are not marked
in the Set column are still reported (for example, through the LOG SENSE command) but will never
be set by the drive.

Flag Type Set Recommended Host Message Cause

Flags for Tape Drive Write/Read Management

1 Read warning W ✓ The tape drive is having problems reading The drive is having severe trouble
data. No data has been lost, but there has reading.
been a reduction in the capacity of the tape.

58 Exception handling
 Flag Type Set Recommended Host Message Cause

2 Write warning W ✓ The tape drive is having problems writing The drive is having severe trouble writing.
data. No data has been lost, but there has
been a reduction in the capacity of the tape.

3 Hard error W ✓ The operation has stopped because an error This flag is set for any unrecoverable
has occurred while reading or writing data read/write/positioning error, and is
which the drive cannot correct. cleared internally when the tape is
ejected. The flag is set as an explanation
of the error in conjunction with one of the
recovery action flags 4, 5, or 6.

4 Media C ✓ Your data is at risk: Media performance is severely degraded

1. Copy any data you require from this or the tape can no longer be written or
tape. read.This flag is set for any unrecoverable
2. Restart the operation with a different read/write/positioning error caused by
tape. faulty media. It is cleared internally when
the media is ejected.

5 Read failure C ✓ The tape is damaged or the drive is faulty. The drive can no longer read data from
Call the tape supplier’s helpline. the tape.The flag is set for any
unrecoverable read error where the
diagnosis is uncertain and could either
be a faulty tape or faulty drive hardware.
It is cleared internally when the tape is
ejected.

6 Write failure C ✓ The tape is from a faulty batch or the tape The drive can no longer write data to the
drive is faulty: tape.The flag is set for any unrecoverable
1. Use a good tape to test the drive. write/positioning error where the
2. If the problem persists, call the tape drive diagnosis is uncertain and could either
supplier’s helpline. be a faulty tape or faulty drive hardware.
It is cleared internally when the tape is
ejected.

7 Media life W ✓ The tape cartridge has reached the end of The media has exceeded its specified life.
its calculated useful life:
1. Copy any data you need to another tape.
2. Discard the old tape.

Flag 8 is not used for LTO-6 drives.

9 Write-protect C ✓ You are trying to write to a write-protected A write command was attempted to a
cartridge.Remove the write-protection or use write-protected tape.
another tape.

10 Volume removal I ✓ You cannot eject the cartridge because the A manual or software unload was
prevented tape drive is in use.Wait until the operation attempted when Prevent Medium Removal
is complete before ejecting the cartridge. was in force.

11 Cleaning volume I ✓ The tape in the drive is a cleaning cartridge. A cleaning cartridge is loaded in the
drive.

12 Unsupported I ✓ You have tried to load a cartridge of a type Attempted load of an unsupported tape
format that is not supported by this drive. format.

13 Recoverable C ✓ The operation has failed because the tape The tape has snapped or suffered some
mechanical in the drive has experienced a mechanical other mechanical failure in the drive, but
cartridge failure failure: the tape can still be ejected.
1. Discard the old tape.
2. Restart the operation with a different
tape.

Monitoring the condition of the drive and media 59

 Flag Type Set Recommended Host Message Cause

14 Unrecoverable C ✓ The operation has failed because the tape The tape has snapped or suffered some
mechanical in the drive has experienced a mechanical other mechanical failure in the drive and
cartridge failure failure: the tape cannot be ejected.
1. Do not attempt to extract the tape
cartridge.
2. Call the tape drive supplier’s helpline.

15 Memory chip in W ✓ The memory in the tape cartridge has failed, The LTO-CM chip has failed in cartridge.
cartridge failure which reduces performance. Do not use the
cartridge for further write operations.

16 Forced eject C ✓ The operation has failed because the tape A manual or forced eject occurred while
cartridge was manually de-mounted while the drive was writing or reading.
the tape drive was actively writing or
reading.

17 Read-only format C ✓ You have loaded a cartridge of a type that A write command has been attempted to
is read-only in this drive. The cartridge will a tape whose format is read-only in this
appear as write-protected. drive.

18 Tape directory W ✓ The tape directory on the cartridge has been The drive was powered down with a tape
corrupted on load corrupted. File search performance will be loaded, or a permanent error prevented
degraded. The tape directory can be rebuilt the tape directory being updated.
by reading all the data on the cartridge.

19 Nearing medium I ✓ The tape cartridge is nearing the end of its The tape may have exceeded its specified
life calculated life. It is recommended that you: number of passes.
1. Use another tape cartridge for your next
backup.
2. Store this tape cartridge in a safe place
in case you need to restore data from it.

Flags for Cleaning Management

20 Cleaning required C ✓ The tape drive needs cleaning:If the The tape drive has detected that it needs
operation has stopped, eject the tape and cleaning. The flag is cleared internally
clean the drive. when the drive is cleaned successfully.
• If the operation has not stopped, wait for
it to finish and then clean the drive.
• Check the tape drive user’s manual for
cleaning instructions.

21 Cleaning requested W ✓ The tape drive is due for routine cleaning: The drive is ready for a periodic cleaning.
1. Wait for the current operation to finish.
2. Use a cleaning cartridge.
3. Check the tape drive user’s manual for
cleaning instructions.

22 Expired cleaning C ✓ The last cleaning cartridge used in the tape The cleaning tape has expired.The flag is
volume drive has worn out: set when the tape drive detects a cleaning
1. Discard the worn-out cleaning cartridge. cycle was attempted but was not
2. Wait for the current operation to finish. successful. It is cleared internally when
the next cleaning cycle is attempted.
3. Use a new cleaning cartridge.

23 Invalid cleaning C ✓ The last cleaning cartridge used in the tape An invalid cleaning tape type was used.
volume drive was an invalid type:
1. Do not use this cleaning cartridge in this
drive.
2. Wait for the current operation to finish.
3. Use a valid cleaning cartridge.

Flags 24–25 are not used for LTO-6 drives.

60 Exception handling
 Flag Type Set Recommended Host Message Cause

Flags for Tape Drive Hardware Errors

26 Cooling fan failure W A tape drive cooling fan has failed. A fan inside the drive mechanism or
enclosure has failed.

Flags 27–28 are not used for LTO-6 drives.

29 Drive preventative W Preventive maintenance of the tape drive is The drive requires preventive maintenance
maintenance required.Check the tape drive user’s manual (not cleaning).
required for preventive maintenance tasks or call the
tape drive supplier’s helpline.

30 Hardware A C ✓ The tape drive has a hardware fault: The drive has a hardware fault from which
1. Eject the tape or magazine. it can recover through a reset.
2. Reset the drive.
3. Restart the operation.

31 Hardware B C ✓ The tape drive has a hardware fault: The drive has a hardware fault that is not
1. Turn the tape drive off and then on again. read/write related or that it can recover
2. Restart the operation. from through a power cycle.The flag is
set when the tape drive fails its internal
3. If the problem persists, call the tape drive power-on self-tests. It is not cleared
supplier’s helpline. internally until the drive is powered off.

32 Primary interface W ✓ The tape drive has a problem with the The drive has identified an interface fault.
application client interface:
1. Check the cables and cable connections.
2. Restart the operation.

33 Eject volume C ✓ The operation has failed: Error recovery action.

1. Eject the tape or magazine.
2. Insert the tape or magazine again.
3. Restart the operation.

34 Microcode update W ✓ The firmware download has failed because Firmware download failed.
fail you have tried to use the incorrect firmware
for this tape drive.Obtain the correct
firmware and try again.

35 Drive humidity W Not relevant to LTO-6 drives.

36 Drive temperature W ✓ Environmental conditions inside the tape The drive is experiencing a cooling
drive are outside the specified temperature problem.
range.

37 Drive voltage W ✓ The voltage supply to the tape drive is Drive voltage limits have been exceeded.
outside the specified range.

38 Predictive failure C ✓ A hardware failure of the drive is predicted. Failure of the drive’s hardware is
Call the tape drive supplier ‘s helpline. predicted.

39 Diagnostics W The tape drive may have a hardware fault. The drive may have a hardware fault that
required Run extended diagnostics to verify and may be identified by extended diagnostics
diagnose the problem.Check the tape drive (using a SEND DIAGNOSTIC command).
user’s manual for instructions on running
extended diagnostic tests.

Flags for Additional Tape Drive Errors

Flags 40–49 are not currently used.

49 Diminished native I ✓
capacity

50 Lost statistics W ✓ Media statistics have been lost at some time The drive or library has been powered on
in the past. with a tape loaded.

Monitoring the condition of the drive and media 61

 Flag Type Set Recommended Host Message Cause

51 Tape directory W ✓ The tape directory on the tape cartridge just An error has occurred preventing the tape
invalid at unload unloaded has been corrupted. File search directory being updated on unload.
performance will be degraded. The tape
directory can be rebuilt by reading all the
data.

Flags 52–54 are not used for LTO-6 drives.

55 Loading or C ✓ The operation has failed because the media The drive is unable to load the cassette
threading failure cannot be loaded and threaded. and thread the tape.
1. Remove the cartridge, inspect it as
specified in the product manual, and retry
the operation.
2. If the problem persists, call the tape drive
supplier’s help line.

56 Unrecoverable C ✓ The operation has failed because the tape The drive is unable to unload the tape.
unload failure cannot be unloaded:
1. Do not attempt to extract the tape
cartridge.
2. Call the tape driver supplier’s help line.

Flag 57 is not used for LTO-6 drives..

58 Microcode failure W ✓ The tape drive has reset itself due to a There is a firmware bug.
detected firmware fault. If the problem
persists, call the supplier’s helpline.

59 WORM W ✓ The tape drive has detected an inconsistency Someone has tampered with the WORM
medium—integrity while checking the WORM tape for integrity. tape.
check failed Someone may have tampered with the
cartridge.

60 WORM medium— W ✓ An attempt has been made to overwrite user The application software does not
overwrite data on a WORM tape: recognize the tape as WORM.
attempted 1. If you used a WORM tape inadvertently,
replace it with a normal data tape.
2. If you used a WORM tape intentionally,
check that:
• the software application is compatible
with the WORM tape format you are
using.
• the cartridge is bar-coded correctly
for WORM.

Flags 61–64 are not currently used

Note that often messages will not appear in isolation. For example, message 01h (“The tape
drive is having problems reading data.”) is likely to appear with a message suggesting
remedial action, such as message 04h (“You are advised to copy any data...”) or
message 14h (Clean Now).
Each flag is cleared to zero in the following circumstances:
• At power-on.
• When specified corrective action has been taken, such as using a cleaning cartridge.
• When the TapeAlert Log page is read.

NOTE: Once cleared, a flag cannot be set again until the specified clearing conditions are
met. So, for example, if the cartridge in the drive is not of data grade, once flag 8 has been
cleared, it cannot be set again until the cartridge has been removed.

62 Exception handling
Designing software to use the TapeAlert log
When writing software to take advantage of the ability of a drive to predict problems and actions
that a user should take, it is important not to exclude drives that do not support this feature. For
this reason, the application should first check whether the TapeAlert Log page is supported by the
drive and then use one of two methods to access the information:
• Use the MODE SELECT Informational Exceptions mode page to enable “Check Condition”
mode. This means that the tape drive reports CHECK CONDITION on the next SCSI command
after one or more TapeAlert flags are set. When CHECK CONDITION is received, the host
software should behave as follows:
1. It issues a REQUEST SENSE command. Additional sense of 5D00h indicates that the
CHECK CONDITION was caused by TapeAlert. This enables the software to distinguish
CHECK CONDITIONs caused by actual errors and those resulting from a TapeAlert flag
being set.
2. The software reads the TapeAlert log page to discover which flags are set (even for
CHECK CONDITIONs caused by actual errors).
Note that when CHECK CONDITION results from TapeAlert, the command that reported the
CHECK CONDITION is not in error and will have completed successfully. It follows that the
software should not repeat the command.
• Read the TapeAlert log page using LOG SENSE at the following times:
◦ Immediately after a SCSI CHECK CONDITION/REQUEST SENSE cycle.

◦ At the end of each tape where a backup or restore spans multiple tapes. The host must
read the TapeAlert log page before a tape is ejected.
◦ At the end of a backup or restore.
It is also advisable to poll the TapeAlert log page every 60 seconds while the tape drive
is idle.
Using “Check Condition” mode is recommended over polling because it guarantees that the
software will be aware of any TapeAlert flag being set. It is theoretically possible that TapeAlert
information could be missed when polling, though the higher the frequency of polling, the
smaller the chance is.

TapeAlert Models
The SSC SCSI standard specifies optional methods for an application to monitor activation of
TapeAlert flags:
• Polling the TapeAlert log page (2Eh) or the TapeAlert Response log page (12h).
• Configuring the device server to establish an Informational Exception condition (via mode
page 1Ch) upon activation of one or more TapeAlert flags.
These are described in more detail below.
In addition, the application can determine which TapeAlert flags are supported by the device
server through the TapeAlert supported flags VPD page (B2h).

TapeAlert polling usage model

The application configures the device server for this model by setting the TASER bit in the Device
Configuration Extension mode page (10h) to one.

Designing software to use the TapeAlert log 63

 In this model, the device server does not notify the application that a TapeAlert flag has changed.
The application may read the TapeAlert log page or the TapeAlert Response log page at any time
(for example, by polling every x seconds) or upon certain relevant operations:
• Before loading a tape.
• Immediately after detecting an unrecoverable error.
• Before unloading a tape.
• At the end of a data transfer.

TapeAlert informational exception usage model

The application configures the device server for this model by setting the TASER bit in the Device
Configuration Extension mode page (10h) to zero; and in the Informational Exceptions mode page,
by setting the DExcpt bit to zero and the TEST bit to zero.
In this model, the device server notifies the application that a TapeAlert flag has been activated
by reporting an informational exception condition on the next SCSI command. Additional sense
is 5D00h (failure prediction threshold exceeded). If the device server has been configured to return
descriptor format sense data, the current state of all TapeAlert flags appears in the Information
sense data descriptor. If not, the device returns fixed format sense data and the application should
read one of the TapeAlert log pages to retrieve the state of the TapeAlert flags.

Reading the TapeAlert log

Each time the TapeAlert log page is read, the application should follow this procedure:
1. Read all 64 flags to discover which are set (there may be more than one).
There may also be data associated with a set flag in the remainder of the flag byte, which
should also be read.
2. For each flag that is set, log the associated error message.
3. Notify the user through the normal methods (such as broadcast, E-Mail, SNMP) by displaying
the error message suggested in the table. Include the following:
• Details to identify which drive the message refers to.
• The software label of the tape cartridge when relevant.
• The severity of the message (Information, Warning or Critical, with Critical the most
severe). Where there are several flags set, list the messages in ascending order of severity.
4. Apply any error message filters in the software to the TapeAlert errors. If several TapeAlert
flags are set, they should if possible be presented to the user as a single event. For example,
the error messages could be displayed together in a single message box.
5. Optionally, automate the recommended recovery actions if there are multiple tape drives or
autoloaders present.
For example, the application could perform a cleaning cycle in response to flags 20 (Clean
Now) and 21 (Clean Periodic). It could perform a tape copy for flags 4 (Media performance
degraded) and 7 (Media life expired), and then retire the suspect tape cartridge.
This provides an opportunity for applications to add value to the TapeAlert capability of the
drives.

NOTE: An application must not fail a backup job as a result of TapeAlert information. It
should use the information as a preventative measure, taking action to avoid failure, or
encouraging the user to take action. It should also retain the log information to help in diagnosis
if a job does eventually fail.

64 Exception handling
One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR)
NOTE: FC drives and drives in libraries do not support OBDR.
HP’s One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR) technology provides the fastest possible, one-step
approach to regenerating a single server without using additional floppy disks or CD-ROMs.
For details of the SCSI implementation, see “CD-ROM Emulation” in Chapter 1, “Interface
Implementation”, of the Host Interface Guide, Volume 3 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference
Manual.
For details of how to use OBDR see the appropriate User’s Guide.
To identify whether the firmware supports OBDR, look for the string “$DR-10” in bytes 43–48 of
the Inquiry data.

Supporting OBDR
The OBDR implementation in HP Ultrium drives is functionally identical to that in DAT/DDS, so no
additional design or coding should be required in order to support it. The only effort needed should
be in software testing.

Responding to the ‘Clean’ LED

NOTE: HP recommends that software applications use the TapeAlert log, which should mean
that potential tape or cleaning problems are flagged and corrected before the drive ever reaches
the point of displaying the ‘Clean’ LED.
If during normal operation, the drive detects an excessive number of RWW (Read While Write)
retries, the ‘Clean’ LED is lit. If this happens, a user should follow this procedure:
1. Clean the heads and try the operation again.
2. If the ‘Clean’ LED is lit again, repeat the operation with another tape cartridge. If this clears
the ‘Clean’ LED, it indicates that the original cartridge is at fault. Copy the data from the
cartridge onto a new one and discard the old cartridge.
The ‘Clean’ LED is cleared by a cleaning cycle.

Providing pass-through mode

It is important for Drivers and Logical Device Managers to provide a pass-through mode that can
return information or commands specific to a vendor’s product. The need for this is two-fold:
• Systems must support a great variety of new devices.
• All tape drives are similar to a degree; Drivers and Logical Device Managers tend to provide
connectivity based on the assumption that 80% of all SCSI tape drives behave identically.
Pass-through mode offers the following advantages:
• Peripheral manufacturer can provide value-added diagnostics and support applications over
and above those that may be shipped with a system or application.
• System supervisors and operators can take advantage of specific product features otherwise
excluded because the driver or manager only caters for 80% of SCSI drives.
• Technical support people have access to low-level device-specific information likely to be
unavailable otherwise.

Requirements for drivers and logical device managers

Drivers and Logical Device Managers must allow the user to do the following:
1. Create either a 6-byte, 10-byte, 12-byte or 16-byte SCSI Command Descriptor Block.

One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR) 65

 2. Allocate a write buffer or file for any data associated with the SCSI command that will be sent
to the drive. or Allocate a read buffer or file for any data associated with the SCSI command
that will be returned by the drive.
3. Link the command and data buffers.
4. Launch the command.
5. The driver should use its standard CHECK CONDITION and REQUEST SENSE routines to
report whether the command completed successfully or not. The caller must have access to
the raw REQUEST SENSE data.
6. View any returned data.

66 Exception handling
8 Support and other resources
Related documents
The following documents provide additional information:

Documents specific to HP LTO Ultrium drives

• Hardware Integration Guide, volume 1 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual
• Host Interface Guide, volume 3 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual
• Specifications, volume 4 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical Reference Manual
• UNIX, Linux and OpenVMS Configuration Guide, volume 5 of the HP LTO Ultrium Technical
Reference Manual
Please contact your HP supplier for copies.
• The features and benefits of HP LTO Ultrium drives are discussed in the HP LTO Ultrium
Technology White Paper.
• For a general background to LTO technology and licensing, go to http://
www.lto-technology.com.

Documentation map
The following will help you locate information in the Technical Reference Manual. A reference like
“1 HW Integration: ch. 7” means Volume 1, Hardware Integration Guide, of the HP LTO Ultrium
Technical Reference Manual, chapter 7.

Drives—general

Connectors 1 HW Integration: ch. 4

Front panel LEDs 1 HW Integration: ch. 3

Specifications 4 Specifications

Installation and configuration

Connectors 1 HW Integration: ch. 4

Determining the configuration 2 SW Integration: ch. 2

Installation 1 HW Integration: ch. 7

Linux configuration 5 UNIX, Linux, OpenVMS Configuration

Modes of usage n/a

OpenVMS configuration 5 UNIX, Linux, OpenVMS Configuration

Optimizing performance 1 HW Integration: ch. 6

2 SW Integration: ch. 4

UNIX configuration 5 UNIX, Linux, OpenVMS Configuration

Operation

Operation 1 HW Integration: ch. 8

Related documents 67
Cartridges

Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM) 2 SW Integration: ch. 5

Cartridges 1 HW Integration: ch. 5

Managing the use of cartridges 2 SW Integration: ch. 1

Use of cartridges 2 SW Integration: ch. 3

Interface

FC and SAS host interface guide 3 Host Interface

Commands 3 Host Interface: ch. 5

Error codes 1 HW Integration: ch. 11

Implementation 3 Host Interface: ch. 1

Interpreting sense data 2 SW Integration: ch. 6

Messages 3 Host Interface: ch. 2

Mode pages —see the MODE SENSE command 3 Host Interface: ch. 5

Pre-execution checks 3 Host Interface: ch. 4

Responding to sense keys and ASC/Q 2 SW Integration: ch. 6

Response frames 3 Host Interface: ch. 3

Sense keys and ASC/Q —see REQUEST SENSE 3 Host Interface: ch. 5
command

Task management functions 3 Host Interface: ch. 3

Maintenance and troubleshooting

Cleaning 2 SW Integration: ch. 1

nl

2 SW Integration: ch. 5

Troubleshooting 1 HW Integration: ch. 9

Monitoring drive and tape condition 2 SW Integration: ch. 7

Software troubleshooting techniques 2 SW Integration: ch. 1

Dealing with errors

Error codes 1 HW Integration: ch. 11

Exception handling 2 SW Integration: ch. 7

Logs—see the LOG SENSE command 3 Host Interface: ch. 5

TapeAlert log 2 SW Integration: ch. 7

LTO Ultrium features

Autoload 1 HW Integration: ch. 10

Automation Control Interface (ACI) 1 HW Integration: ch. 10

Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM) 1 HW Integration: ch. 5

nl

68 Support and other resources

 2 SW Integration: ch. 5

Data compression, managing 2 SW Integration: ch. 5

OBDR and CD-ROM emulation 2 SW Integration: ch. 7

Performance optimization 1 HW Integration: ch. 6

2 SW Integration: ch. 1

Performance, factors affecting 2 SW Integration: ch. 4

Software design 2 SW Integration: ch. 1

Supporting LTO Ultrium features 2 SW Integration: ch. 5

General documents and standardization

See http://www.t10.org/t10_main.htm for INCITS SCSI Primary Commands—3 (SPC-3), SCSI
Streaming Commands (SSC-3) and other specifications
Copies of documents of other standards bodies can be obtained from:

INCITS 11 West 42nd Street New York, NY

10036-8002 USA
ISO CP 56
nl

CH-1211 Geneva 20
nl

Switzerland
ECMA 114 Rue du Rhône
nl
Tel: +41 22 849 6000
nl

CH-1204 Geneva
nl
Web URL: http://www.ecma.ch
Switzerland
Global Engineering 2805 McGaw
nl
Tel: 800 854 7179 or 714 261 1455
Documents Irvine, CA 92714
nl

USA

Related documents 69
Glossary
ANSI American National Standards Institute, which sets standards for, amongst other things, SCSI and
the safety of electrical devices.
BOM Beginning Of Media. The first point on the tape that can be accessed by the drive.
buffered mode A mode of data transfer in write operations that facilitates tape streaming. It is selected by setting
the Buffered Mode Field to 1 or 2 in the SCSI MODE SELECT Parameter List header.
compression ratio A measure of how much compression has occurred, defined as the ratio of the amount of
uncompressed data to the amount of compressed data into which it is transformed. The LTO-DC
algorithm can typically achieve a compression ratio of between 2:1 and 4:1 depending on the
nature of the data.
compression A procedure in which data is transformed by the removal of redundant information in order to
reduce the number of bits required to represent the data.
decompression A procedure in which the original data is generated from compressed data.
ECMA European Computer Manufacturers Association. The European equivalent of ANSI.
EOD End Of Data. An area that signifies the end of the valid data. If new data is written over a larger
quantity of old data, it is possible for data to exist after EOD, but because it is after EOD, this
old data is no longer valid.
EOM End Of Media format. The last usable point on the tape.
EW-EOM Early Warning End Of Media. A physical mark or a device-computed position on the tape that
tells the drive that it is approaching EOM.
filemark A mark written by the host. It does not necessarily separate files; it is up to the host to assign a
meaning to the mark.
FRU Field Replaceable Unit, an assembly or group of components that is replaced in its entirety by
Service Engineers when it contains a fault.
hard error An uncorrectable data error.
host The host computer system acting as controller for the drive.
load The process in which the drive takes in an inserted cartridge and goes online.
LUN Logical Unit Number, by which different devices at a particular SCSI ID can be addressed
individually. The drive has a fixed LUN of 0.
offline The drive is offline if the tape is currently unloaded or not in the drive. The host has limited access,
and cannot perform any commands that would cause tape motion. The host can, however, load
a tape, if one is inserted, and can execute any diagnostic tests that do not require tape motion.
online The drive is online when a tape is loaded. The host has access to all command operations,
including those that access the tape, set configurations and run diagnostic tests.
read-while-write RWW improves data integrity by reading data immediately after it is written and writing the data
again if an error is found.
RWW see read-while-write
TapeAlert A set of 64 flags is held in the TapeAlert log that indicate faults or predicted faults with the drive
or the media. By reading this log, host software can inform the user of existing or impending
conditions, and can, for example, advise the user to change the tape.
WORM Write Once, Read Many

70 Glossary
Index
compression, 70
A controlling, 39
ACI, 25, 26 ratio, 70
cleaning, 38 configuration, 10
command set, 27
commands that affect streaming, 27 D
compatibility, 28 data compression, 70
firmware upgrade, 34 controlling, 7, 39
protocol communications retry, 33 data transfer size, 7
reserved fields, 32 decompression, 70
resetting drives, 38 design goals, 9
supporting, 31 Diagnostic logs, 8
additional sense codes, 43 diagnostics, failure, 49
ADI, 25 displaying drive information, 9
ADT-2, 25 documents, related, 67
ANSI, 67, 69, 70 drive
Automation Control Interface see ACI checking integrity, 9
Automation/Device Interface see ADI detecting speed, 20
displaying information, 9
B initialization, 10
backup applications, 7 monitoring condition, 58
barcode support, WORM, 18 drive technology family, 11
block mode drivers, 10
fixed-length, 7
variable-length, 7 E
block size, maximum, 21 ECMA, 69, 70
BOM, 70 eject, failed, 49
bridging, 11 EOD, 70
buffer detected, 55
maximizing use, 7 not found, 47, 55
size at EW-EOM, 40 EOM, 44, 46, 70
buffered mode, 70 EOPD, 15
EOT, 56
C errors
capacity hard, 70
of tape, 13 parity, 56
remaining, 14 read, 47
using SET CAPACITY, 14 write, 47, 49
Cartridge Memory, 8, 13 escalation procedure, 57
responding to tape data, 18 EW-EOM, 70
cartridge memory, 13, 25 exception handling, 57
unreadable, 37
using instead of headers, 21 F
cartridges, 58 faults, predicting, 8, 57
see also tapes filemarks, 70
identifying types, 13 detected, 44
irregular, 36 use of, 24
unreadable, 36 firmware revision, 9
WORM, 15 firmware upgrade, 33, 37
Clean LED, 65 loading an invalid cartridge, 37
cleaning, 38, 44, 65 fixed-length block mode, 7
cleaning cartridges, 36, 46 flags, TapeAlert, 58
cleaning tape heads, 8 format, corrupt, 48
commands front panel LEDs, 65
ACI, 27 FRU, 70
non-immediate, 7

71
G non-immediate commands, 7
generation, finding, 11
O
H OBDR, 65
hard error, 70 offline, 70
host, 70 one-button disaster recovery, 65
online, 70
I operating system drivers, 10
iADT, 25 optimizing performance, 7, 20
identifying tape cartridge types, 13
INCITS, 69 P
initialization, 10 parity error, 56
INQUIRY command, 9 partition size, 40
inquiry string recovery, 10 pass-through mode, 27, 65
integrity of WORM media, 17 performance factors, 20
irregular cartridges, 36 drive-related, 23
ISO, 69 format-related, 24
host-related, 22
L performance log, 21
LEDs, 65 polling frequency, Get Drive Status, 33
libraries, 38 power-up sequence, 32
library controller, slave, 27 problems, predicting, 8, 57
load product
count, 19 ID, 10
failed, 49 revision level, 10
load-unload configuration, 33 product revision level, 11
loading, 70
LOG SENSE data, 14 R
logs read errors, 47
Diagnostic, 8 reading the TapeAlert log, 64
performance, 21 remaining capacity, 14
supporting, 22 reserved fields, 32
Tape Capacity, 13 reset, 38
TapeAlert, 8, 18, 58, 70 revision level, 10, 11
LTO-CM, 13, 25 RWW, 70
using instead of headers, 21 retries, 65
LUNs, 70 retry counts, 19
enabling additional, 11
not ready, 45 S
support for additional, 11 SCSI pass-through mode, 27
sense keys
M ABORTED COMMAND, 43, 55
MAM BLANK CHECK, 43, 55
full, 51 DATA PROTECTION, 42, 53
write error, 47 HW ERROR, 42, 49
media labels, 17 ILLEGAL REQUEST, 42, 50
media, see tapes, 58 MEDIUM ERROR, 41, 46
memory, cartridge, 13 NO SENSE, 41, 44
mode NOT READY, 41, 45
fixed-length block, 7 RECOVERED ERROR, 41, 44
parameters, 52 UNIT ATTENTION, 42, 51
pass-through, 65 VOLUME OVERFLOW, 43, 56
variable-length block, 7 SET CAPACITY command, 14
monitoring slave to a library controller, 27
condition, 8, 57 speed, detecting, 20
tape use, 8 status of tape, 13
support for additional LUNs, 11
N
NetWare drivers, 10

72 Index
T
Tape Capacity log, 13
tape heads, cleaning, 8
tape integrity, 17
TapeAlert log, 8, 18, 58, 70
reading, 64
using, 63
tapemarks, use of, 24
tapes
capacity, 13
cleaning cartridge, 46
faulty, 49
identifying, 21
identifying types, 13
monitoring condition, 58
monitoring use, 8
status, 13
use of, 8
using, 13
WORM, 15
tests, read/write, 9
time-out values, 21
transfer size, 7, 20
effect on performance, 23
troubleshooting, 8

U
Ultrium
finding the format generation, 11
supporting features, 25
UNIX drivers, 10
upgrading firmware, 33
Use Cleaning Tape LED, 65

V
variable-length block mode, 7
vendor ID, 10

W
Windows drivers, 10
WORM, 70
media, 15
write errors, 47, 49
write-protect, 53

73