SG3UTILS                                     SGWRITEBUFER(1M)



NAME
     sgwritebuffer - send a SCSI WRITE BUFER command

SYNOPSIS
     sgwritebuffer     [--help]      [--id=ID]      [--in=FILE]
     [--length=LEN]     [--mode=MO]     [--offset=OF]    [--raw]
     [--skip=SKIP] [--verbose] [--version] DEVICE

DESCRIPTION
     Sends a SCSI WRITE BUFER command 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 BUFER command variants do  not  have  associated
     data  to  send  to  the  device,  for  example "activatemc"
     ("activate deferred microcode").

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

     -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  BUFER  command.   If  FILE is '-' then stdin is
          read until an EOF is detected (this is the same  action
          as --raw).

     -l, --length=LEN
          where LEN is the length, in bytes, of data to be  writ-
          ten  to the device.  If not given (and 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. Alterna-
          tively an abbreviation  can  be  given.   To  list  the
          available  mode abbreviations give an invalid one (e.g.
          '--mode=xxx') or use the '-hh' option.




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SG3UTILS                                     SGWRITEBUFER(1M)



     -o, --offset=OF
          this option sets the buffer offset field  in  the  cdb.
          OF  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 BUFER 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).

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

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

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 operat-
     ing 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  SGIO  or  the  sg
     driver)  and  various  setting  in sysfs in the linux lk 2.6
     series (e.g. /sys/block/sda/queue/maxsectorskb).

     Downloading incorrect microcode into a device has the  abil-
     ity  to  render  that device inoperable. One would hope that
     the device vendor verifies the data before activating it. If
     the  SCSI  WRITE  BUFER  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 ILEGAL REQUEST
     and an additional sense code of INVALID FIELD in CDB.  If  a
     WRITE  BUFER  command  (or a sequence of them) fails due to
     device vendor verification checks  then  it  should  respond
     with  a sense key of ILEGAL REQUEST and an additional sense
     code of COMAND SEQUENCE EROR.

     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").




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SG3UTILS                                     SGWRITEBUFER(1M)



EXIT STATUS
     The exit status of sgwritebuffer is 0 when it is  success-
     ful. Otherwise see the sg3utils(1M) man page.

AUTHORS
     Written by Luben Tuikov and Douglas Gilbert.

REPORTING BUGS
     Report bugs to .

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright O 2006-2007 Luben Tuikov and Douglas Gilbert
     This software is distributed under a FreeBSD license.  There
     is  NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNES FOR
     A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO
     sgreadbuffer(sg3utils)

ATRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     
       ATRIBUTE TYPE     ATRIBUTE VALUE
    
     Availability         SUNWsg3utilsu  
    
     Interface Stability  Committed      
    

NOTES
     Source for sg3utils is available on http:/opensolaris.org.






















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