Standard Edition scripting commands: known limitations and deviations

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The scripting commands idp, sdp, fdp, and qrypart are currently only supported by LTO 5, TS1140, and later drives.

When scripting, one must be aware of the following general deviations to the legacy tapeutil scripting command set.

The Verbose Mode parameter is ignored for the ITDT-SE implementation; instead always the full information is printed.

For some operations, the sense data length is limited to 32 bytes - this length is required by the ITDT test sequences.

The list command does not work on Linux® variants where the reported maximum SCSI transfer size is larger than the size the system can actually transfer.

Because ITDT-SE opens the device read/write by default in scripting mode, the WORM mode cannot be deactivated in scripting mode. Use the Tapeutil interactive mode instead to deactivate the WORM mode.

Scripting mode command deviations to legacy tapeutil (tapeutil is not changed):
  1. The erg (Erase Gap) command is not supported.
  2. The mtdevice command is not supported.
  3. The tell command is not supported.
  4. The seek command is not supported.
  5. The format command is not supported.
  6. The -o qsn command is not supported.
  7. path/querypath/path / qrypath / checkpath / - o phs - output: always show all paths.

    The command is valid only in combination with an IBM® device driver.

  8. devinfo - different output (decoded on all platforms)
  9. inquiry - different output on Linux (like AIX® in hex)
  10. vpd - different behavior on Solaris (like AIX)
  11. modepage - HP-UX and Solaris output deviations (like AIX)
  12. inventory - additional parameters on AIX available on all platforms
  13. cartridgelocation - AIX parameter deviation available on all platforms
  14. mediainfo - different output --> decode on all platforms

    The command is valid only in combination with an IBM device driver.

  15. setpos - logical versus physical position, only set logical position as on AIX
  16. HPUX: -o gpo -t 1|2 --> parameter -t1|2 (logical, physical) is not supported.
  17. density - output all information on all platforms
  18. setparm (new) - work around the inability to set all parameters on all platforms except the undocumented HP-UX release
  19. getparms (new) - retrieve all parameters on all platforms, independent of flag set
  20. qryinquiry - output the same as on AIX
  21. logsense - does not output header with device/serial/volid, example:
    05/12/09 15:10:44 Device: ULT3580- S/N: 1300000206 Volid: UNKNOWN
  22. erase - does not work on i5/OS because of operating system limitation.
  23. Using -w x parameter without the necessary open leads to a core at least on Solaris.