Ubuntu Manpage: sg_write_buffer - send SCSI WRITE BUFFER commands

Provided by: sg3-utils_1.40-0ubuntu1_amd64

NAME

       sg_write_buffer - send SCSI WRITE BUFFER commands

SYNOPSIS

       sg_write_buffer  [--bpw=CS]  [--help]  [--id=ID]  [--in=FILE]  [--length=LEN]  [--mode=MO]
       [--offset=OFF] [--raw] [--skip=SKIP] [--specific=MS] [--verbose] [--version] DEVICE

DESCRIPTION

       Sends one or more SCSI WRITE BUFFER commands to DEVICE, along with data  provided  by  the
       user.  In  some  cases no data is required, or data can be read from the file given in the
       --in=FILE option, or data is read from stdin when either --raw or --in=- is given.

       Some WRITE BUFFER command variants do not have associated data to send to the device.  For
       example  "activate_mc"  activates  deferred microcode that was sent via prior WRITE BUFFER
       commands. There is a different method used to download microcode to SES devices,  see  the
       sg_ses_microcode utility.

OPTIONS

Arguments to long options are mandatory for short options as well.

-b, --bpw=CS
where CS is the chunk size in bytes. This will be the maximum number of bytes sent
per WRITE BUFFER command. So if CS is less than the effective length then multiple
WRITE BUFFER commands are sent, each taking the next chunk from the read data and
increasing the buffer offset field in the WRITE BUFFER command by the appropriate
amount. The default is a chunk size of 0 which is interpreted as a very large
number hence only one WRITE BUFFER command will be sent. This option should only be
used with modes that "download microcode, with offsets ..."; namely either mode
0x6, 0x7, 0xd or 0xe.
The number in CS can optionally be followed by ",act" or ",activate". In this case
after WRITE BUFFER commands have been sent until the effective length is exhausted
another WRITE BUFFER command with its mode set to "Activate deferred microcode
mode" [mode 0xf] is sent.

-h, --help
output the usage message then exit. If used multiple times also prints the mode
names and their acronyms.

-i, --id=ID
this option sets the buffer id field in the cdb. ID is a value between 0 (default)
and 255 inclusive.

-I, --in=FILE
read data from file FILE that will be sent with the WRITE BUFFER command. If FILE
is '-' then stdin is read until an EOF is detected (this is the same action as
--raw). Data is read from the beginning of FILE except in the case when it is a
regular file and the --skip=SKIP option is given.

-l, --length=LEN
where LEN is the length, in bytes, of data to be written to the device. If not
given (and the length cannot be deduced from --in=FILE or --raw) then defaults to
zero. If the option is given and the length deduced from --in=FILE or --raw is less
(or no data is provided), then bytes of 0xff are used as fill bytes.

-m, --mode=MO
this option sets the MODE field in the cdb. MO is a value between 0 (default) and
31 inclusive. Alternatively an abbreviation can be given. See the MODES section
below. To list the available mode abbreviations at run time give an invalid one
(e.g. '--mode=xxx') or use the '-hh' option.

-o, --offset=OFF
this option sets the BUFFER OFFSET field in the cdb. OFF is a value between 0
(default) and 2**24-1 . It is a byte offset.

-r, --raw
read data from stdin until an EOF is detected. This data is sent with the WRITE
BUFFER command to DEVICE. The action of this option is the same as using '--in=-'.

-s, --skip=SKIP
this option is only active when --in=FILE is given and FILE is a regular file,
rather than stdin. Data is read starting at byte offset SKIP to the end of file (or
the amount given by --length=LEN). If not given the byte offset defaults to 0
(i.e. the start of the file).

-S, --specific=MS
MS is the MODE SPECIFIC field in the cdb. This is a 3-bit field so the values 0 to
7 are accepted. This field was introduced in SPC-4 revision 32 and can be used to
specify additional events that activate deferred microcode (when MO is 0xD).

-v, --verbose
increase the level of verbosity, (i.e. debug output).

-V, --version
print the version string and then exit.

MODES

       Following  is  a  list  of  WRITE BUFFER command settings for the MODE field.  First is an
       acronym accepted by the MO argument of this utility.   Following  the  acronym  in  square
       brackets  are  the corresponding decimal and hex values that may also be given for MO. The
       following are listed in numerical order.

       hd  [0, 0x0]
              Combined header and data (obsolete in SPC-4).

       vendor  [1, 0x1]
              Vendor specific.

       data  [2, 0x2]
              Data (was called "Write Data" in SPC-3).

       dmc  [4, 0x4]
              Download microcode and activate (was called "Download microcode" in SPC-3).

       dmc_save  [5, 0x5]
              Download microcode, save, and activate (was called "Download microcode and save" in
              SPC-3).

       dmc_offs  [6, 0x6]
              Download  microcode  with offsets and activate (was called "Download microcode with
              offsets" in SPC-3).

       dmc_offs_save  [7, 0x7]
              Download microcode with offsets, save, and activate (was called "Download microcode
              with offsets and save" in SPC-3).

       echo  [10, 0xa]
              Write data to echo buffer (was called "Echo buffer" in SPC-3).

       dmc_offs_ev_defer  [13, 0xd]
              Download microcode with offsets, select activation events, save, and defer activate
              (introduced in SPC-4).

       dmc_offs_defer  [14, 0xe]
              Download microcode with offsets, save, and defer activate (introduced in SPC-4).

       activate_mc  [15, 0xf]
              Activate deferred microcode (introduced in SPC-4).

       en_ex  [26, 0x1A]
              Enable expander communications protocol and Echo buffer (obsolete in SPC-4).

       dis_ex  [27, 0x1B]
              Disable expander communications protocol (obsolete in SPC-4).

       deh  [28, 0x1C]
              Download application client error history (was called "Download application log" in
              SPC-3).

NOTES

If no --length=LEN is given this utility reads up to 8 MiB of data from the given file
FILE (or stdin). If a larger amount of data is required then the --length=LEN option
should be given.

The user should be aware that most operating systems have limits on the amount of data
that can be sent with one SCSI command. In Linux this depends on the pass through
mechanism used (e.g. block SG_IO or the sg driver) and various setting in sysfs in the
Linux lk 2.6/3 series (e.g. /sys/block/sda/queue/max_sectors_kb). Devices (i.e. logical
units) also typically have limits on the maximum amount of data they can handle in one
command. These two limitations suggest that modes containing the word "offset" together
with the --bpw=CS option are required as firmware files get larger and larger. And CS can
be quite small, for example 4096 bytes, resulting in many WRITE BUFFER commands being
sent.

Attempting to download a microcode/firmware file that is too large may cause an error to
occur in the pass-through layer (i.e. before the SCSI command is issued). In Linux such
error reports can be obscure as in "pass through os error invalid argument". FreeBSD
reports such errors well to the machine's console but returns a cryptic error message to
this utility.

Downloading incorrect microcode into a device has the ability to render that device
inoperable. One would hope that the device vendor verifies the data before activating it.
If the SCSI WRITE BUFFER command is given values in its cdb (e.g. LEN) that are
inappropriate (e.g. too large) then the device should respond with a sense key of ILLEGAL
REQUEST and an additional sense code of INVALID FIELD in CDB. If a WRITE BUFFER command
(or a sequence of them) fails due to device vendor verification checks then it should
respond with a sense key of ILLEGAL REQUEST and an additional sense code of COMMAND
SEQUENCE ERROR.

Each WRITE BUFFER command is assigned a timeout of 120 seconds.

All numbers given with options are assumed to be decimal. Alternatively numerical values
can be given in hexadecimal preceded by either "0x" or "0X" (or has a trailing "h" or
"H").

EXAMPLES

       The following sends new firmware to an enclosure. Sending a  1.5  MB  file  in  one  WRITE
       BUFFER  command  caused  the  enclosure  to  lock  up  temporarily  and did not update the
       firmware. Breaking the firmware file into  4  KB  chunks  (an  educated  guess)  was  more
       successful:

         sg_write_buffer -b 4k -m dmc_offs_save -I firmware.bin /dev/sg4

       The  firmware  update  occurred  in  the  following  enclosure  power cycle. With a modern
       enclosure the Extended Inquiry VPD page gives indications in which situations  a  firmware
       upgrade will take place.

EXIT STATUS

       The  exit  status  of  sg_write_buffer  is  0  when  it  is  successful. Otherwise see the
       sg3_utils(8) man page.

AUTHORS

       Written by Luben Tuikov and Douglas Gilbert.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2006-2014 Luben Tuikov and Douglas Gilbert
       This software is distributed under a FreeBSD license. There is NO warranty; not  even  for
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.