Sun Managers;
Received many answers, thanks to all that replied. None provided a way to
stop the running process.
Some provided other ways to erase the tape though. I have not tried them yet.
---------------
Original Question:
We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a
tape erase process.
When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt
the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the
process does not die.
We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and
this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive
reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the
header on the tape and stop.
Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this
persistent process?
-------------------
=================
===Following are the replies received.
=================
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 16:09:14 -0500
From: Igor Schein <igor@txc.com>
To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net>
Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
Reply-To: igor@txc.com
X-Mailer: Mutt 0.95.1us
On Thu, Jan 28, 1999 at 10:23:57AM -1000, Angel Ortiz wrote:
> Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this
> persistent process?
>
> tnx, Angel
>
>From my experience - no.
Igor
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 15:12:28 -0600 (EST)
From: "Eric D. Pancer" <eric@outlook.net>
To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net>
Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
please summarize, i have the same problem.
On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Angel Ortiz wrote:
; We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a
; tape erase process.
;
; When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt
; the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the
; process does not die.
;
; We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and
; this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive
; reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the
; header on the tape and stop.
;
; Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this
; persistent process?
;
; tnx, Angel
;
-- Eric D. Pancer \ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, Outlook Technologies, Inc. \ but if you want to test a man's eric@outlook.net \ character, give him power." http://www.outlook.net/~eric \ -- Abraham LincolnDate: Thu, 28 Jan 99 16:13:00 EST To: <cherub@lava.net> From: <dharringt@deq.state.va.us> (David B. Harrington) Subject: re: How to kill a persistent process
Angel:
Thoughts:
Rather than erase the whole thing, just tar a small file on top of it. That would blow the old header.
If you want a clean tape for security, pass a good magnet over it.
David Harrington VA Dept of Environmental Quality Ph: 804-698-4558 FAX: 804-698-4561 ------------- Original Text >From Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net>, on 1/28/99 10:23 AM: We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a tape erase process.
When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the process does not die.
We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the header on the tape and stop.
Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this persistent process?
tnx, Angel
David B. Harrington Sr Programmer Analyst VA Dept of Environmental Quality Voice (804) 698-4558; Fax (804) 698-4561
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 16:18:53 -0500 (EST) From: Todd Herr <herrt@hankhill.iisd.sra.com> Sender: herrt@hankhill.iisd.sra.com Reply-To: todd_herr@hermes.sra.com To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Angel Ortiz wrote:
> We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a > tape erase process. > > When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt > the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the > process does not die. > > We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and > this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive > reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the > header on the tape and stop. > > Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process? >
mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase is working as designed.
tar cvf /dev/rmt/0 /dev/null
or something innocuous such as that might accomplish your goal of erasing the header on the tape and stopping.
-- Todd Herr todd_herr@sra.com Unix Systems Administrator, SRA International. http://www.sra.com
Statistics show that 40% of absenteeism occurs on Mondays or Fridays.
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 14:42:45 -0700 (MST) From: "Brooke King (6532)" <jbking@sandia.gov> Reply-To: "Brooke King (6532)" <jbking@sandia.gov> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process To: cherub@lava.net X-Mailer: dtmail 1.2.1 CDE Version 1.2.1 SunOS 5.6 sun4u sparc
> X-Authentication-Warning: sass165.sandia.gov: majordom set sender to owner-sun-managers@sandia.gov using -f > X-Sender: cherub@lava.net > Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 10:23:57 -1000 > To: sun-managers@sunmanagers.ececs.uc.edu > From: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> > Subject: How to kill a persistent process > Mime-Version: 1.0 > X-UIDL: 6fa81d3faf54c898e7083a2f9e1b85a9 > X-Mozilla-Status: 0000 > > We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a > tape erase process. > > When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt > the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the > process does not die. > > We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and > this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive > reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the > header on the tape and stop. > > Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process? > > tnx, Angel
Probably not. For a process to be killed, I believe it must wake up at some point. Your process most linkely won't wake up until the hardware interrupt for which it is waiting it signaled.
--
Brooke King jbking@sandia.gov +1.505.844.5936 both voice and fax
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 13:44:30 -0800 From: Charlie Mengler <charliem@anchorchips.com> Organization: anchorchips X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
In some cases I've had success by holding in the eject botton for a minute or two.
HTH & MYYV!
Angel Ortiz wrote: > > We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a > tape erase process. > > When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt > the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the > process does not die. > > We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and > this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive > reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the > header on the tape and stop. > > Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process? > > tnx, Angel
-- Charlie Mengler charliem@anchorchips.com Fight SPAM! Join CAUCE Anchor Chips unixwzrd@hotmail.com http://www.cauce.org 619-613-7916(V) 12396 World Trade Dr. #212 Fight SPAM! Use IMRSS 619-676-6896(F) San Diego, CA 92128-3788 http://www.imrss.org
From: u-kevin@megami.veritas.com (Kevin Sheehan - Uniq) Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 14:06:00 -0800 reply-to: u-kevin@veritas.com X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.2.5 10/14/92) To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
[ Regarding "How to kill a persistent process", cherub@lava.net writes on Jan 28: ]
> Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process?
not really - if kill -9 doesn't do it, it means that it is sleeping in the kernel (in the driver most likely) and not taking signals.
l & h, kev
From: marka@drives.rta.nsw.gov.au (Mark Ashley) Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process To: cherub@lava.net (Angel Ortiz) Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 09:10:20 +1100 (EST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23]
>When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt >the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the >process does not die.
I did this on a DLT 7000 drives.. it took 5 hours :). Next time I suggest dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rmt/0cb.
There wasn't a way of killing the process that I found.
Best, Mark Ashley marka@drives.rta.nsw.gov.au
Sender: frank@hoov59.hoovers.com Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 16:12:41 -0600 From: Frank Smith <fsmith@hoovers.com> Organization: Hoover's Inc. X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.1.125 i686) X-Accept-Language: en To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
Why not just tar or dd a file onto the tape to overwrite the header?
Angel Ortiz wrote: > > We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a > tape erase process. > > When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt > the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the > process does not die. > > We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and > this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive > reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the > header on the tape and stop. > > Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process? > > tnx, Angel
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 16:01:25 -0700 From: "Robert L. Harris" <Robert.Harris@gwl.com> To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net>, sun-managers@sunmanagers.ececs.uc.edu Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process X-Mailer: Mutt 0.93i
Why not just overwrite the header? Create a 20k file of trash then:
cat <filename> > /dev/rmt/0
?
Thus spake Angel Ortiz (cherub@lava.net):
> We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a > tape erase process. > > When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt > the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the > process does not die. > > We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and > this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive > reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the > header on the tape and stop. > > Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process? > > tnx, Angel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert L. Harris | Windows is to Unix Senior System Administrator II | what 'hooked on phonics' at Great West Life. \_ is to Shakespeare
DISCLAIMER: These are MY OPINIONS ALONE. I speak for no-one else.
FYI: perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 18:09:41 -0500 From: "Acacio Cruz [@Dynamac]" <acruz@acacio.com> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
Angel Ortiz wrote: > > We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a > tape erase process. > > When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt > the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the > process does not die. > > We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and > this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive > reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the > header on the tape and stop. > > Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process?
You have 1 solution: write a small file over the header of the tape.
-- Acacio Cruz acruz@acacio.com IT Consultant Personal WWW site: http://www.acacio.com Dynamac Corp.
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Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 16:24:56 -0700 (MST) From: Jason Marshall <jasonm@vsl.com> X-Sender: jasonm@sys2 To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
> Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process?
You might find that turning the drive off and on will do it... The process is in an uninterruptible device wait while it's performing the erase, which is why you can't stop it. Turning off the drive SHOULD abort the erase, and therefore the process... Good luck...
--- Jason Marshall Veritas GeoServices, Ltd. Calgary, AB, Canada
vivivi -- Editor of the Beast
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 15:25:08 -0800 To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> From: Mike Youngberg <mikey@synacom.com> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
>We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a >tape erase process. > >When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt >the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the >process does not die. > >We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and >this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive >reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the >header on the tape and stop. > >Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this >persistent process? > >tnx, Angel
Why don't you copy a file to the tape using tar? Just make sure the file is big enough to terminate the header :-)
-mike --------------------------------------------------------------- mailto:mikey@synacom.com (408) 296-0303 Fax: (408) 296-0982 Mike Youngberg +--------------------+ Synacom Technology, Inc | | 3031 Tisch Way, 4th Floor +--------------------+ San Jose, CA 95128 http://www.synacom.com
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 18:15:10 -0600 (CST) From: David Staggs <dstaggs@vumclib.mc.vanderbilt.edu> X-Sender: dstaggs@vumclib To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, Angel Ortiz wrote:
> We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a > tape erase process. > > When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt > the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the > process does not die. > > We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and > this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive > reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the > header on the tape and stop.
You might try just tar'ing a bunch of junk on the tape to overwrite the header. It works well for Solstice Backup.
Good luck! > > Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process? > > tnx, Angel > >
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= David Staggs Systems Software Specialist Vanderbilt University Medical Center http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/users/dstaggs -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 19:50:01 -0500 From: mwang@tech.cicg.ml.com (Michael Wang) To: cherub@lava.net Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
> Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this > persistent process?
no.
Sender: robt@sauron.net Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 01:10:23 +0000 From: Robert Owen Thomas <robt@cymru.com> Organization: http://www.cymru.com/~robt X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (X11; I; Linux 2.0.36 i586) X-Accept-Language: en To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process
Hi, Angel.
Unfortunately, there are two kinds of processes you can never kill: 1) zombies, and 2) processes that are blocked on I/O procedures. In this case, your mt command is blocked in the kernel as the kernel awaits the completion of the I/O request mt has made.
So no, short of a reboot, there is likely no way to kill this process.
Hope this helps, Rob. -- Robert Owen Thomas . Liaison Member of FIRST . http://www.first.org
From: "Bruce R. Zimmer" <bzimmer@all-phase.com> To: "Angel Ortiz" <cherub@lava.net> Subject: RE: How to kill a persistent process Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 21:32:26 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2173.0 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Importance: Normal
The problem is really that of waiting on I/O. A process issues an I/O request then puts itself to sleep and instructs the Operating system to wake it upon completion of I/O. When you do a kill, you are sending a signal to the process that you want the process to die. The process only sees the signal when it has been woken up. Since the process is sleeping and will only wake up when the I/O completes, you are seeing what you refer to as a persistant process. It appears that the erase function on a tape drive is like the format function on a disk. A single command is sent to the drive, and the drive handles the function from start to finish.
If the only thing that you want to do is erase the headers and make the tape appear blank try this
mt -f <tape name> rewind mt -f <tape name> weof 2 mt -f <tape name> offline
This will write 2 EOF marks on the tape at the beginning causing it to appear that the tape is empty, although reading past the EOF's will allow the remainder of the tape to be read. If you want to actually erase the header you can do this.
mt -f <tape name> rewind dd if=/dev/zero of=<tape name> bs=20b count=50 mt -f <tape name> offline This will write a file of zeroes that is 500KB (50 - 10KB blocks)in size. If you want more or less data erased adjust the bs and count parameters in the dd statement.
Hope this helps Bruce Zimmer All-Phase Electric Supply Co. bzimmer@all-phase.com
-----Original Message----- From: owner-sun-managers@sunmanagers.ececs.uc.edu [mailto:owner-sun-managers@sunmanagers.ececs.uc.edu]On Behalf Of Angel Ortiz Sent: Thursday, January 28, 1999 3:24 PM To: sun-managers@sunmanagers.ececs.uc.edu Subject: How to kill a persistent process
We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a tape erase process.
When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the process does not die.
We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the header on the tape and stop.
Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this persistent process?
tnx, Angel
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 08:43:13 +0100 (MET) From: Frode Stromsvag <stroemf@readgroup.com> Reply-To: Frode Stromsvag <stroemf@readgroup.com> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process To: cherub@lava.net X-Mailer: dtmail 1.2.1 CDE Version 1.2.1 SunOS 5.6 sun4m sparc
Hi.
If you don't want to eras the complete content of the tape, just make it sort of unreadable, you could just write 1 or 2 EndOfFile marks to the beginning of the tape. But be aware that data will still be present behind those EOF marks.
mt -f /dev/rmt/0 weof
Frode Stroemsvaag mailto:Frode.Stroemsvaag@readgroup.com READ Well Services a.s. Ravnsborgveien 56 P.O. Box 193 1360 Nesbru Phone number: +47-66982240 NORWAY FAX number: +47-66982022
To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> X-Orig-cc: sun-managers@sunmanagers.ececs.uc.edu Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 09:08:57 +0100 From: Casper Dik <casper@holland.Sun.COM>
>We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a >tape erase process. > >When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt >the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the >process does not die. > >We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and >this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive >reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the >header on the tape and stop. > >Is there a command (other than reboot) that would allow me to kill this >persistent process?
No. The process hangs in driver wait until the system call is completed.
Why don't you use "dd" if all you need to do is erase the header of the tape?
Casper
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 10:08:43 +0000 Original-Encoded-Information-Types: IA5-Text Priority: normal X-Mailer: OfficePower/Xtra V3 [1.4] From: "Nick Hindley" <Nick.Hindley@itsd.lbhf.gov.uk> To: cherub@lava.net Importance: normal Subject: RE: How to kill a persistent process
Unfortunately I've never managed this. I'm told its because the device driver is sleeping on an uninterruptable priority and ignores everything that you try and poke it with.
From: mrs@cadem.mc.xerox.com ("Michael Salehi x22725") Reply-To: <mrs@cadem.mc.xerox.com> Sender: "mrs" <mrs@cadem.mc.xerox.com> To: "'Angel Ortiz'" <cherub@lava.net> Subject: RE: How to kill a persistent process Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 08:56:08 -0500 X-Msmail-Priority: High X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2377.0 X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3155.0 Importance: High
No command but a bulk tape eraser which is a big magnet at radio shack will do it.
Mike
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 08:54:27 -0800 From: Jay Lessert <jayl@lscpdx.latticesemi.com> To: Angel Ortiz <cherub@lava.net> Subject: Re: How to kill a persistent process X-Mailer: Mutt 0.95i
On Thu, Jan 28, 1999 at 10:23:57AM -1000, Angel Ortiz wrote: > We have an Ultra with an internal 8mm tape drive. We cannot interrupt a > tape erase process. > > When we try to erase a tape "mt -f /dev/rmt/0 erase" we cannot interrupt > the process. We try to "kill -9 <pid>" and we try "kill <pid>" but the > process does not die. > > We try to interrupt the process by trying to eject the tape manually and > this does not work either. The process remains active until the tape drive > reaches the end of the tape (about 2+ hrs). We just need to erase the > header on the tape and stop.
Then just overwrite the beginning of the tape with a chunk of garbage data big enough to guarantee clobbering your "header" (whatever that is). That's all that 'mt erase' is doing, anyway (there isn't a separate erase head on an 8mm drive).
Your problem is that 'mt erase' is a single SCSI command. mt isn't sitting there generating "erase" data, it just issues the single command and waits for the tape drive to come back.
-- Jay Lessert jay_lessert@latticesemi.com Lattice Semiconductor Corp. (voice)1.503.681.0118 Hillsboro, OR, USA (fax)1.503.693.0540
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