Schily's USER COMMANDS                                     SMT(1)


NAME

     smt - magnetic tape control


SYNOPSIS

     smt [ -f tapename ] command [ count ]


DESCRIPTION

     The smt program sends commands to a local or a  remote  mag-
     netic tape drive.

     The  count  operand  specifies  the  number  of  times   the
     requested  command  is to be performed. If count is omitted,
     the value of count defaults to one.


OPTIONS

     -help
          Prints a summary of the options for smt(1) and exits.

     -version
          Prints the smt version number string and exists.

     -debug
          print additional debug messages.

     -f tapename

     -t tapename
          Set the raw tape device to use, otherwise  smt  uses  a
          system  specific  default for the rtape device.  If smt
          is installed suid root or if  it  has  been  called  by
          root,    tapename    may    be    in   remote   syntax:
          user@host:filename as in rcp(1) even if invoked by  non
          root users.  See SUID NOTES for more information.

          To make a file local although it includes a colon  (:),
          the filename must start with:  '/', './' or '../'

          Note that if smt talks to an old rmt remote tape server
          that  does not support symbolic open modes, it does not
          open a remote tape with the O_CREAT open  flag  because
          this  would  be extremely dangerous.  If the rmt server
          on the other side is the rmt  server  that  comes  with
          star  or  the  GNU rmt server, smt may use the symbolic
          mode for the open flags.  Only the symbolic open  modes
          allow to send all possible open modes in a portable way
          to remote tape servers.

          It is recommended to use the rmt server that comes with
          star.   It  is  the only rmt server that gives platform
          independent compatibility with BSD,  Sun  and  GNU  rmt
          clients  and  it includes security features that may be
          set up in /etc/default/rmt.

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Schily's USER COMMANDS                                     SMT(1)

          See ENVIRONMENT section for information on how  to  use
          ssh(1) to create a remote tape server connection.

     -wready
          Wait for the tape drive to become ready before  execut-
          ing the command.


COMMANDS

     The following commands are supported:

     eof

     weof        Write count EOF  (FILE)  marks  at  the  current
                 position on the tape.

                 This command may be run remotely  with  any  BSD
                 compliant old rmt server.

     fsf         Forward skip over count FILE marks.  The tape is
                 positioned on the first block of the file.

                 This command may be run remotely  with  any  BSD
                 compliant old rmt server.

     bsf         Backward skip count FILE  marks.   The  tape  is
                 positioned  on  side  of  the  FILE mark that is
                 closer to the beginning of the tape.

                 This command may be run remotely  with  any  BSD
                 compliant old rmt server.

     asf         Absolute FILE mark positioning  to  file  number
                 count.   This is equivalent to a rewind followed
                 by a fsf count.

                 A RMT version 1 server is  needed  to  run  this
                 command on a remote tape drive.

     fsr         Forward skip count tape records.

                 This command may be run remotely  with  any  BSD
                 compliant old rmt server.

     bsr         Backward skip count tape records.

                 This command may be run remotely  with  any  BSD
                 compliant old rmt server.

     rewind      Rewind the tape.

                 This command may be run remotely  with  any  BSD
                 compliant old rmt server.

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Schily's USER COMMANDS                                     SMT(1)

     offline

     rewoffl     Rewind the tape.  If the  specified  tape  drive
                 allows  to  take the drive off-line or to unload
                 the tape, a off-line or unload operation is per-
                 formed in addition.

                 This command may be run remotely  with  any  BSD
                 compliant old rmt server.

     status      Retrieve and print status  information  for  the
                 tape drive.

                 A RMT version 1 server is needed to get  correct
                 status information on a remote tape drive.

     nop         No operation.  If you only like to wait for  the
                 tape  drive  to  become  ready, call smt -wready
                 nop.

                 This command may be run remotely  with  any  BSD
                 compliant old rmt server.

     retension   Retension the tape. This only makes  sende  with
                 cartridge tape drives.

                 A RMT version 1 server is  needed  to  run  this
                 command on a remote tape drive.

     erase       Erase the entire tape. This may take a long time
                 (up  to  several  hours)  depending  on the tape
                 drive and the medium.

                 A RMT version 1 server is  needed  to  run  this
                 command on a remote tape drive.

     eom         Position the tape to the  end  of  the  recorded
                 media.  This allows to append data to previously
                 written tapes.

                 A RMT version 1 server is  needed  to  run  this
                 command on a remote tape drive.

     nbsf        Backward skip count FILE  marks.   The  tape  is
                 positioned  on  side  of  the  FILE mark that is
                 closer to the end of the tape.  This  is  before
                 the  first  block of the file.  The nbsf command
                 is equivalent to count+1 bsf's followed  by  one
                 fsf.

                 A RMT version 1 server is  needed  to  run  this
                 command on a remote tape drive.

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Schily's USER COMMANDS                                     SMT(1)

     load        If the specified tape drive allows to  take  the
                 drive  on-line or to load the tape, a on-line or
                 load operation is performed.  in addition.   For
                 remote  tape  drives, this command only works if
                 the remote tape server  supports  symbolic  open
                 modes  as the command needs the O_NDELAY flag to
                 succeed.

                 A RMT version 1 server is  needed  to  run  this
                 command on a remote tape drive.


EXAMPLES


ENVIRONMENT

     RSH  If the RSH environment is present, the  remote  connec-
          tion will not be created via rcmd(3) but by calling the
          program pointed to by RSH.  Use  e.g.  RSH=/usr/bin/ssh
          to create a secure shell connection.

          Note that this forces smt  to  create  a  pipe  to  the
          rsh(1) program and disallows smt to directly access the
          network socket to the remote  server.   This  makes  it
          impossible  to  set up performance parameters and slows
          down  the  connection  compared  to  a  root  initiated
          rcmd(3) connection.

     RMT  If the RMT environment  is  present,  the  remote  tape
          server will not be the program /etc/rmt but the program
          pointed to by RMT.  Note that the  remote  tape  server
          program  name  will  be  ignored if you log in using an
          account that has been created with a remote tape server
          program as login shell.

     TAPE In case no -f option pas been  specified,  the  default
          tape name is taken from the TAPE environment.


FILES


SEE ALSO

     spax(1),  suntar(1),  scpio(1),  tar(1),  cpio(1),   pax(1),
     rcp(1),  mt(1),  rmt(1),  match(1),  dd(1),  sdd(1), rsh(1),
     ssh(1), star(1), star(4/5), rcmd(3),


DIAGNOSTICS


NOTES

     If the remote tape server is running Linux  and  the  remote
     tape  server  on  such  a  system is not the rmt server that
     comes  with  star(1),  then  completely  unexpected  results
     (including  unexpectedly  erased  tapes)  may occur. This is
     because Linux ignores the numbering values for the  magnetic
     tape  op  codes and only the rmt server from star(1) maps to
     standard values.  The standard rmt server on Linux for  this
     reason may not be called BSD compliant.

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Schily's USER COMMANDS                                     SMT(1)


BUGS


AUTHOR

     Joerg Schilling
     D-13353 Berlin
     Germany

     Mail bugs and suggestions to:

     joerg@schily.net

Joerg Schilling      Last change: 2020/09/04                    5


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