In RHEL 5.4 we added support in the kernel for the SILI bit in st driver: "Add new option MT_ST_SILI to enable setting the SILI bit in reads in variable block mode. If SILI is set, reading a block shorter than the byte count does not result in CHECK CONDITION. The length of the block is determined using the residual count from the HBA. Avoiding the REQUEST SENSE command for every block speeds up some real applications considerably." The current version of mt-st does not have a keyword for the sili bit. Instead, it must be enabled explicitly with: mt -f /dev/nst0 stsetoptions 0x4000 There is a new version of mt-st (mt-st-1.1) that adds a keyword for setting the SILI bit: ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/system/backup/ This would be much easier to use and less error-prone. The new version also has the ability to display the current setting of all the option bits. (An additional kernel patch will be needed to enable this.) This would be helpful in general for our support folks. Please investigate updating the mt-st package, or backporting these specific features.
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion, but this component is not scheduled to be updated in the current Red Hat Enterprise Linux release. If you would like this request to be reviewed for the next minor release, ask your support representative to set the next rhel-x.y flag to "?".
(In reply to comment #0) > The new version also has the ability to display the current setting of all the > option bits. (An additional kernel patch will be needed to enable this.) Bug 501030 - Need to display the current settings of the options bits in st driver.
Since the problem described in this bug report should be resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated files, follow the link below. If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2012-1167.html