IBM Support

ANR8418E error when defining a path to an IBM tape library

Troubleshooting


Problem

Attempts to define a path to an IBM tape library managed by the lin_tape device driver fail.

Symptom

An error will be generated on any attempt to define a path to the library or to a drive:

tsm: TSMSERV1>define path TSMSERV1 3584LIBRARY srctype=server desttype=library device=/dev/IBMchanger0

ANR8418E DEFINE PATH: An I/O error occurred while accessing library 3584.
ANS8001I Return code 15.

Cause

Tivoli Storage Manager V6 and V7 servers are typically run as a non-root user. The IBM device driver for Linux, lin_tape, does not grant permission to non-root users by default which can result in failed attempts to define a path to the tape library changer and drives.

Resolving The Problem

The permission attributes for the /dev/IBM* devices must be changed to allow the non-root Tivoli Storage Manager instance user to have access to them.

The /etc/udev/udev.permissions file may be modified to contain the following entries (will require a system reboot for these changes to be reflected):


IBMtape*:root:root:666
IBMchanger*:root:root:666


Alternatively, the chmod command may be used on the /dev/IBM* devices to give them read/write permission to all users, ie: 666.

For example, the system's RC initialization scripts may be modified so that the following command is run at system boot:

chmod 666 /dev/IBM*

If security considerations are in place on the server then permission to only the Tivoli Storage Manger 6.x server instance owner/user may be granted instead:

chmod 600 /dev/IBM*
chown tsminst1 /dev/IBM*

Once the appropriate permission changes have been made, the attempt to define the path will succeed on the Tivoli Storage Manager server instance:

tsm: TSMSERV1>define path TSMSERV1 3584LIBRARY srctype=server desttype=library device=/dev/IBMchanger0


ANR1720I A path from TSMSERV1 to 3584LIBRARY has been defined.

[{"Product":{"code":"SSGSG7","label":"Tivoli Storage Manager"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Component":"Server","Platform":[{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"}],"Version":"6.3;7.1","Edition":"All Editions","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB26","label":"Storage"}}]

Product Synonym

TSM

Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

swg21609931