John,
"insmod tape390 tape=xxx,xxx" - only list the tapes you want to use are
specified. Obviously, putting them in the zipl.conf would lock them for the
duration of the IPL - not good for shared tapes.
However you look at it, the solution requires the person using the machine
to take overt acton to obtain the drive and it must be locked until he is
ready to release it. And it needs to take into account the fact that other
OS (non-linux) may also use the same drive.
In this case, I think it behooves Linux to comply with the rules already in
place for shared tapes in an installation and follow the rules for the
device as defined in the hardware specs.
Regards, Jim
Linux S/390-zSeries Support, SEEL, IBM Silicon Valley Labs
t/l 543-4021, 408-463-4021, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*** Grace Happens ***
John Summerfield
<[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
afe.com.au> cc:
Sent by: Linux on 390 Subject: Re: Linux390 + VM + Tape
3490
Port
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]
EDU>
06/12/2003 03:57 PM
Please respond to
Linux on 390 Port
On Thu, 12 Jun 2003, Jim Sibley wrote:
> Dave wrote:
>
> >Methinks the Right Thing To Do would be to add function to "mt" to allow
> it
> >to reserve a drive (eg, "mt reserve /dev/st0") when a application wants
> on,
> >and provide a release function when you're done with it (eg "mt release
> >/dev/st0"). That would be generic enough to handle most of the Intel
cases
> >as well, but would suit us nicely(*).
>
> Since its really a zSeries notion, it seems to me putting the
> assign/unassign in "insmod/delmod tape390" initialization somehow would
be
> more appropriate. Also, the way the tapes have been implemented (by dev
> node), there is no mount involved. Mounts in linux don't really mount
> devices - they mount file systems.
It's not at all clear to me that the fact you have tape390 loaded means
you want to lock _all_ your tape drives.
What if you decide on a custom kernel with tape390 builtin?
--
Cheers
John.
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