SCSI tape error

Error Message

taper: fatal changer error: slot 4: mtx: Request Sense: Long Report=yes
taper: changer problem: no slots available

Error Description

This type of error occurs due to some tape SCSI errors

Solution

1. Power off your backup-server and tape device.
2. Make sure all connections are secure including scsi cables, scsi cards, and scsi terminators.
3. Power on tape device and give it a few minutes to initalize completely.
4. Once the tape device has initialized, please turn on the backup server, and let it power up normally.
5. Type the command dmesg | grep -i scsi (you can also grep for nst0) and look for any error messages.

At this time if you do see any scsi tape errors in the /var/log/messages or in the dmesg output, then please go ahead and address these.

This will eliminate the possibility of hardware errors.