If you are experiencing communication problems between FlashNet and any devices attached to the FlashNet Sun Solaris server there may be a number of possible causes. It is first necessary to establish that a good communication via the SCSI bus is in place. This is achieved by using the Solaris OS to query the SCSI bus(es) to see if the relevant devices are detected. Users should use the probe-scsi-all utility from the boot prompt on the Solaris machine to establish if a solid communication is in place. It is strongly recommended that users who are not familiar or comfortable with using system-level Solaris commands enlist the aid of their Solaris reseller before proceeding with this.

If the probe-scsi-all utility does not detect all of the scsi devices (there should be a listing for each drive and each autochanger 'arm') then it will not be possible to configure FlashNet to use the device(s). Users should seek assistance from a party familiar with the Sun Solaris OS and with SCSI hardware devices to diagnose and remedy the problem.

If the probe-scsi-all utility detects the devices a solid SCSI communication is in place, and the source of the communication error lies elsewhere.

If the problem has arisen after an upgrade to the FlashNet software, it is possible that the user has attempted to re-configure attached devices. This may sometimes result in the required device drivers being incorrectly rebuilt; in order to re-establish communication the device files should be rebuilt by editing the ds.conf and st.conf files and rebuilding the device files, as outlined below.

ds.conf, st.conf and /dev/rmt
FlashNet communicates with attached devices using device drivers that are built as part of the installation process. On Solaris, this communication is achieved using the dev/rmt drivers for drives, and the SGL device driver ds for autochangers.

The drivers that are built are dependent upon the settings in the two files /kernel/drv/st.conf and /kernel/drv/ds.conf. These files contain the SCSI ids of the attached devices, and when the device file are built it is these ids that are used. It is important therefore that when configuring attached devices the entries in these files are correct.

As part of the standard FlashNet installation these files are edited to contain the SCSI ids that are input by the user during the installation script. The rest of the installation then builds the correct drivers based on these ids.

However it may sometimes be necessary (in particular if upgrading FlashNet and the device files have inadvertently been rebuilt incorrectly) to manually edit the .conf files and to rebuild the drivers using the Solaris commands rem_drv and add_drv.

FlashNet on Solaris works with two basic driver types, the st driver and the ds driver. These drivers build the device files for drives and autochangers on solaris. The ds driver builds device files for the robot arm, and the st driver builds device files for the drives. When the rem_drv and add_drv commands are executed to build the relevant device files, the files /kernel/drv/ds.conf and /kernel/drv/st.conf are examined to determine the scsi ids for which device files are to be built. It is first necessary to ensure that the correct scsi ids for each attached drive appear in the file st.conf, and that the correct scsi id of the robot arm appears in the file ds.conf.
The entries in each .conf file should appear similar to that below (the relevant scsi ids of the devices requiring configuration should appear somewhere in this file; other scsi ids may also appear, these can be disregarded):

name="st" class="scsi"
       target=1 lun=0;

name="st" class="scsi"
       target=2 lun=0;

The entries above will build device files for devices on scsi ids 1 and 2.

If necessary edit the st.conf and ds.conf files so that they include the correct scsi ids.

To build the ds driver for the autochanger arm, remove the existing drivers by typing

# rem_drv ds

Then rebuild the new device drivers by typing

# add_drv ds

The new ds drivers should now be built and available in the Add Autochanger window in FlashNet.

To build the dev/rmt/ drivers for the drives, first remove the driver by typing

# rem_drv st

cd to the dev/rmt directory and delete all existing drives therein. Then build the new device files by typing

# add_drv st

This builds new device files for each attached drive in the dev/rmt directory, and these are now available for selection in the add drive window in FlashNet.

 ==END==

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