/dev/rmt devices are missing

UNIX AIX
1

Hello,

I attached a tape drive to one of my partitions but i cannot find the device.
I run the command

lsdev|grep rmt

but i dont get anything in return.
When i run

lsslot -c slot

i can see the slot number and the device that belongs to the tape drive but i cannot find any rmt files in /dev.
Why /dev/rmt files are gone and how can i bring them back?

I tried to re-create the files simply by touch but it doesnt work.
My partition is running on UNIX 5.3 environment.

Thank you for your attention

2

This is not UNIX 5.3 but AIX 5.3 :wink: . Moving it to the AIX sub forum.
Did you run cfgmgr after you assigned that drive to the LPAR?

3

yes you are right :slight_smile: AIX 5.3.
yes i already run

cfgmgr

but i get the same situation

4

Just a thought, did you define it via the HMC, and assign it to the appropriate LPAR...???

5

Did cfgmgr complain when being run? Did that DLPAR-action ie. assigning the controller with the attached tape drive to the LPAR show any complaints either?

Can you identify the SCSI controller with the tape drive using lsdev ? Is lsdev showing any other type of tape drive but rmt that can be brought into relation to the SCSI controller (that you might have identified)?

Example:

root@bla1:/root> lsdev -Ccadapter -l *scsi*
sisscsia0 Available 04-08 PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Adapter
root@bla1:/root> lsdev -Cctape
rmt0 Available 04-08-00-0,0 LVD SCSI 4mm Tape Drive

You can only assign it, if it is on a separate SCSI controller which is not assigned to other LPARs. But if that was not the case, I assumed the HMC might have complained about it.

6

Yes i did a DLPAR operation through HMC and it assigned it without any complaints.
Also

cfgmgr

didnt complain at all.
When i run

lsdev -Cc tape

i dont get anything in return.
On the other hand when i run

lsdev -Cc adapter -l *scsi*

i can see the PCI-X adapter but i see that the status is defined and not available.
Shall i try to remove them and do

cfgmgr

again?

7

You can check in the HMC which controller it is where the tape drive is attached to, just to make things clear. You can also check if there are other devices attached to it which could bring a problem - though I would say that the DLPAR operation would complain and abort it.
The defined one can be deleted.