ISO/IEC 9318-4:2002

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD
9318-4
Second edition
2002-12
Information technology –
Intelligent peripheral interface –
Part 4: Device generic command set for
magnetic tape drives (IPI-3 tape)
Reference number
INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD
9318-4
Second edition
2002-12
Information technology –
Intelligent peripheral interface –
Part 4: Device generic command set for
magnetic tape drives (IPI-3 tape)
 ISO/IEC 2002
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CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 8
INTRODUCTION .9
1 Scope .10
2 Normative references.11
3 Definitions and conventions .11
3.1 Definitions .11
3.2 Conventions .13
4 Logical interface characteristics of the tape .13
4.1 PhysicalBlocks .13
4.2 DataBlocks .14
4.3 Extents .14
4.4 Partitions .14
4.5 Alternate data areas .15
4.6 Partition parameters .15
4.7 Block numbering.15
4.8 Data buffer operation.15
4.9 Positioning.16
4.9.0 General.16
4.9.1 Mount or rewind .16
4.9.2 Partition transition.16
4.9.3 Normal data operation completion.16
4.9.4 Abnormal data operation completion .17
4.9.5 Normal position operation completion .17
4.9.6 Abnormal position operation completion.17
4.9.7 Tape mark detected .17
4.9.8 BOM detected (reverse operations).17
4.9.9 EMW detected .17
4.9.10 PEOM detected.17
4.10 Attributes usage .17
4.11 Command usage.18
5 Message packet structure .18
6 Control commands.18
6.0 General .18
6.1 NOP .18
6.2 FACILITY OPERATION.18
6.3 ATTRIBUTES .18
6.3.1 Command packet .18
6.3.2 Response packet .19
6.3.3 Description .19
6.3.4 Parameters .21
6.4 REPORT ADDRESSEE STATUS .32
6.4.1 Command packet .32
6.4.2 Response packet .32
6.4.3 Description .32

9318-4 © ISO/IEC:2002(E) – 3 –
6.4.4 Parameters 50 to 53 .32
6.5 PORT ADDRESS.33
6.6 PATH CONTROL .33
6.7 ATTENTION CONTROL.33
6.8 OPERATING MODE .34
6.8.1 Command packet .34
6.8.2 Response packet .34
6.8.3 Description .34
6.8.4 Parameters 3E, 50, 53, 54 .34
6.9 ABORT .37
6.10 ACCESS PERMITS.37
6.11 RESUME .37
6.12 PORT RESPONSE .38
6.13 ANTICIPATED ACTION .38
6.14 OPERATOR DISPLAY .38
7 Position commands.38
7.0 General .38
7.1 SPACE BLOCK/FILE MARK.38
7.1.1 Command packet .38
7.1.2 Response packet .38
7.1.3 Description .38
7.1.4 Parameters 31, 32, 35 .40
7.2 POSITION CONTROL.40
7.2.1 Command packet .40
7.2.2 Response packet .40
7.2.3 Description .41
7.2.4 Parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3E, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55.41
7.3 REPORT POSITION .46
7.3.1 Command packet .46
7.3.2 Response packet .46
7.3.3 Description .46
7.3.4 Parameters 32, 35, 3A, 3E, 51-52 .47
7.4 RECORD POSITION.48
7.4.1 Command packet .48
7.4.2 Response packet .48
7.4.3 Description .48
7.4.4 Parameters 31, 32, 35, 51.49
7.5 Reserved .50
8 Transfer commands .50
8.0 General .50
8.1 READ .50
8.1.1 Command packet .50
8.1.2 Response packet .50
8.1.3 Description .50
8.1.4 Parameters 31 to 32, 3A, 35, 3E, 51, 52 .51
8.2 READ RAW DATA .53
8.2.1 Command packet .53
8.2.2 Response packet .53
8.2.3 Description .53

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8.2.4 Parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3C, 3E.53
8.3 Reserved .54
8.4 SEARCH.54
8.5 WRITE.54
8.5.1 Command packet .54
8.5.2 Response packet .55
8.5.3 Description .55
8.5.4 Parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3C, 3E, 51, 52.55
8.6 WRITE PATTERN.56
8.7 Reserved .56
9 Combination commands.56
9.1 COPY .56
9.2 COMPARE SLAVE DATA .56
9.3 COMPARE DATA .56
9.4 Reserved .56
9.5 Reserved .57
9.6 SHADOW READ .57
9.7 SHADOW WRITE .57
9.8 SHADOW RESTORE .57
10 Other transfer commands .57
10.0 General .57
10.1 READ VERIFY.57
10.1.1 Command packet .57
10.1.2 Response packet .57
10.1.3 Description .57
10.1.4 Parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3C, 3E.58
10.2 Reserved .59
10.3 READ FROM BUFFER.59
10.3.1 Command packet .59
10.3.2 Response packet .59
10.3.3 Description .59
10.3.4 Parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3E, 50 .61
10.4 READ FACILITY DATA TO BUFFER.61
10.5 READ PHYSICAL DATA AND ECC .61
10.6 READ PHYSICAL HEADER .62
10.7 READ IPL .62
10.7.1 Command packet .62
10.7.2 Response packet .62
10.7.3 Description .62
10.8 READ PHYSICAL HEADER AND ECC.62
10.9 WRITE TO BUFFER .62
10.10 WRITE BUFFER TO FACILITY .62
10.11 WRITE PHYSICAL DATA AND ECC .62
10.12 WRITE PHYSICAL HEADER.63
10.13 LOAD SLAVE IML.63
10.14 ERASE .63
10.14.1Command packet .63
10.14.2Response packet .63
10.14.3Description .63

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10.14.4Parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3E .64
10.15 WRITE PHYSICAL HEADER AND ECC .64
11 Diagnostic commands.64
11.0 General .64
11.1 PERFORM SLAVE DIAGNOSTICS .64
11.2 PERFORM FACILITY DIAGNOSTICS .65
11.3 Reserved .65
11.4 Reserved .65
11.5 READ ERROR LOG.65
11.5.1 Command packet .65
11.5.2 Response packet .65
11.5.3 Description .65
11.6 WRITE ERROR LOG .65
11.7 DIAGNOSTIC CONTROL.65
12 Command summary .66
12.1 Control commands.66
12.2 Position commands.67
12.3 Transfer commands .67
12.4 Combination commands.67
12.5 Other transfer commands .68
12.6 Diagnostic commands.69
Annex A (normative) Overview: interface levels, concepts and application
environments .70
A.1 Interface levels .70
A.2 Concepts .70
A.2.0 General .70
A.2.1 Relationship of master, slave and facility .70
A.2.2 Relationship of facilities and partitions.71
A.2.3 Command structure .71
A.3 Application environments .71
A.3.0 General .71
A.3.1 Control of facilities by the master.72
A.3.2 Shared control of facilities .72
A.3.3 Control of facilities by the slave .72
Figure 1 – Command packet for ATTRIBUTES .18
Figure 2 – Response packet for ATTRIBUTES .19
Figure 3 – Command packet for REPORT ADDRESSEE STATUS.32
Figure 4 – Response packet for REPORT ADDRESSEE STATUS .32
Figure 5 – Command packet for OPERATING MODE .34
Figure 6 – Response packet for OPERATING MODE .34
Figure 7 – Command packet for SPACE BLOCK/FILE MARK .38
Figure 8 – Response packet for SPACE BLOCK/FILE MARK .38
Figure 9 – Command packet for POSITION CONTROL .40
Figure 10 – Response packet for POSITION CONTROL.40
Figure 11 – Command packet for REPORT POSITION .46
Figure 12 – Response packet for REPORT POSITION .46

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Figure 13 – Command packet for RECORD POSITION .48
Figure 14 – Response packet for RECORD POSITION.48
Figure 15 – Command packet for READ .50
Figure 16 – Response packet for READ .50
Figure 17 – Command packet for READ RAW DATA .53
Figure 18 – Response packet for READ RAW DATA .53
Figure 19 – Command packet for WRITE .54
Figure 20 – Response packet for WRITE.55
Figure 21 – Command packet for READ VERIFY.57
Figure 22 – Response packet for READ VERIFY.57
Figure 23 – Command packet for READ FROM BUFFER .59
Figure 24 – Response packet for READ FROM BUFFER.59
Figure 25 – Command packet for READ IPL.62
Figure 26 – Response packet for READ IPL .62
Figure 27 – Command packet for ERASE.63
Figure 28 – Response packet for ERASE .63
Figure 29 – Command packet for READ ERROR LOG.65
Figure 30 – Response packet for READ ERROR LOG.65
Table 1 – Attributes parameters 3A, 3E, 50 .21
Table 2 – Attributes parameters 51 to 58.22
Table 3 – Attributes parameters 59, 5A .23
Table 4 – Attributes parameters 5B to 5D.23
Table 5 – Attributes parameters 5E to 65 .23
Table 6 – Attributes parameters 66, 67.24
Table 7 – Attributes parameter 68 .24
Table 8 – Attributes parameters 69, 6A .24
Table 9 – Attributes parameters 6B to 6F .25
Table 10 – Attributes parameters 70, 71.25
Table 11 – Attributes parameter 72 .27
Table 12 – Attributes parameter 73 .28
Table 13 – Attributes parameters 74, 75.30
Table 14 – Attributes parameters 76 to 79.31
Table 15 – Report addressee status parameters 50 to 53.33
Table 16 – Operating mode parameters 3E, 50, 52 .35
Table 17 – Operating mode parameter 53 .36
Table 18 – Operating mode parameter 54 .37
Table 19 – Space block/file mark parameters 31, 32, 35 .40
Table 20 – Position control parameters 31 to 32, 35, 3A, 3E, 51 to 53.42
Table 21 – Position control parameters 54, 55 .43
Table 22 – Report position parameters 32, 35, 3A, 3E, 51, 52.47
Table 23 – Record position parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 51 .49

9318-4 © ISO/IEC:2002(E) – 7 –
Table 24 – Read parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3C, 3E, 51, 52.52
Table 25 – Read raw data parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3C, 3E .54
Table 26 – Write parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3C, 3E, 51, 52 .55
Table 27 – Read verify parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3C, 3E .58
Table 28 – Read from buffer parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3E, 50 .61
Table 29 – Erase parameters 31, 32, 35, 3A, 3E .64

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY –
INTELLIGENT PERIPHERAL INTERFACE –
Part 4: Device generic command set for
magnetic tape drives (IPI-3 tape)
FOREWORD
1) ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) form the
specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC participate in
the development of International Standards through technical committees established by the respective
organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in
fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with
ISO and IEC, also take part in the work.
2) In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
Draft International Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting.
Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
3) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this International Standard may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard ISO/IEC 9318-4 was prepared by subcommittee 25: Interconnection of
information technology equipment, of ISO/IEC joint technical committee 1: Information
technology.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 1990, and constitutes a
technical revision. The following items have been added or changed since the first edition:
- revised scope;
- attribute usage was added (subclause 4.10, subsequent clauses were renumbered);
- addition of new parameters for position control command (subclause 7.2).
ISO/IEC 9318-4 complements other Intelligent Peripheral Interface standards.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

9318-4 © ISO/IEC:2002(E) – 9 –
INTRODUCTION
This standard provides a definition of the device-generic command set portion of a series of
standards called the Intelligent Peripheral Interface (IPI), a high performance, general-
purpose parallel peripheral interface. This standard responds to an industry market need
(expressed both by users and manufacturers) to limit the increasing costs in hosts associated
with changes in peripherals.
The first five clauses of this standard contain material that is useful across all classes of
device that the device-generic command sets can support. Clauses 6 to 12 are oriented to
particular device classes and in this document these clauses are intended for use with
Magnetic Tape Drives.
Clause 1 describes the scope.
Clause 2 lists the normative references.
Clause 3 provides descriptions of conventions.
Clause 4 describes the Environment of Use and projected application areas.
Clause 5 describes the Message Packet structure used for commands and responses.
Clause 6 describes Control commands.
Clause 7 describes Position commands.
Clause 8 describes the most generic Transfer commands.
Clause 9 describes the Combination Transfer commands, which require a minimum of two
sets of extents.
Clause 10 describes the other Transfer commands, which are more device specific than
those in clause 8.
Clause 11 describes the Diagnostic commands.
Clause 12 summarizes the commands defined in the document.
Annex A gives an overview of interface levels and concepts.

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY –
INTELLIGENT PERIPHERAL INTERFACE –
Part 4: Device generic command set for
magnetic tape drives (IPI-3 tape)
1 Scope
This part of ISO/IEC 9318 describes the logical level (generic level) interface for tape drives
and it provides a definition of the device-generic portion of a family of standards called the
Intelligent Peripheral Interface (IPI).
The purpose of this standard is to facilitate the development and utilization of an intelligent
interface which permits the interconnection of multiple peripheral types such as disk, tape and
communications to a controller.
The intent of the IPI is to isolate the host (CPU), both hardware and software, from changes in
peripherals by providing a "function-generic" command set to allow the connection of multiple
types of peripherals (disks, printers, tapes, communications). To smooth the transition from
the current methods to the generic approach, the IPI supports device-specific command sets
to aid in bridging the gap between the two approaches.
To accomplish this set of goals, the design of the IPI includes device-specific and device-
generic command sets. The device-specific command set provides:
– device-oriented control;
– physical data addressing;
– timing critical operations;
– lower device cost.
The device-generic command set provides a higher level of functionality and portability. It
includes:
– host/device independence;
– logical data addressing;
– timing independence;
– command queuing capability.
A system is not restricted to the use of one level of command set or the other. It is possible
that both levels of command sets will be utilized with a given system's architecture to balance
such parameters as system performance, cost and peripheral availability. It is also possible
for the host to provide for the migration from device-specific to device-generic levels while still
retaining the same physical interface.
The IPI standards family includes the definition of a high performance, general-purpose
parallel peripheral interface. However, the device-generic command set may also be
transported over other non-IPI physical interfaces. ANSI X3.291:1997 contains "mappings" to
the High-Performance Parallel Interface (HIPPI) and Fibre Channel (FC) as well as to the IPI
Enhanced Physical Interface. The "mappings" are not contained in this document.

9318-4 © ISO/IEC:2002(E) – 11 –
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
ISO/IEC 9661:1994, Information technology – Data interchange on 12,7 mm magnetic tape
cartridges – 18 tracks, 1491 data bytes per millimetre
ISO/IEC 11559:1993, Information technology – Data interchange on 12,7 mm wide 18-track
magnetic tape cartridges – Extended format
ISO/IEC 14251:1995, Information technology – Data interchange on 12,7 mm wide 36-track
magnetic tape cartridges
ISO/IEC 14417:1999, Information technology – Data recording format DD-1 for magnetic tape
casette conforming to ISO/IEC 1016
ISO/IEC 14840:1996, Information technology – 12,65 mm wide magnetic tape cartridge for
information interchange – Helical scan recording – Data D3-1 format
ANSI X3.291:1997, Intelligent Peripheral Interface – Device Generic Command Set for
Magnetic and Optical Disk Drives
3 Definitions and conventions
3.1 Definitions
For the purpose of this standard the definitions in ANSI X3.291:1997 and the following
definitions apply:
3.1.1
beginning of file
recorded mark on the medium that marks the beginning of a file
3.1.2
beginning of media (BOM)
beginning of the default data partition
NOTE 1 This media position is usually marked by some physical (not recorded) marker on the medium. The
marker is detectable by a facility and allows the tape to be automatically and properly positioned at the beginning
of the default data partition when rewound. The implementation of the BOM marker is defined in the vendor
specification.
NOTE 2 Certain Information Processing Systems standards contain physical requirements for the position of the
BOM marker in the default data partition (Beginning-of-Tape (BOT) marker on reel-to-reel tape).
3.1.3
end-of-media warning (EMW)
usually a physical marker on the medium that indicates the end of the normal recording area
of a partition
NOTE Certain Information Processing Systems standards contain physical requirements for the position of the
EMW marker in the default data partition (End-of-Tape (EOT) marker on reel-to-reel tape).
3.1.4
end of file
a mark recorded on the medium to mark the end of a file detectable by a facility

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3.1.5
erase gap
physical sections of the medium that contain no recognizable data
NOTE An Erase Gap may be used to overcome media defects by extending an interblock gap such that the next
recorded element occurs past the defect on the medium.
3.1.6
file mark
see tape mark
3.1.7
forward motion
tape motion logically proceeding from BOM toward Physical End of Media (PEOM)
3.1.8
ID burst
burst of special recorded data that may be used by the facility to identify the recording format
or density of data written on the medium
NOTE This burst usually occurs as the first recorded element on a volume. The ID burst content is an attribute of
a volume and not considered part of any partition.
3.1.9
interblock gap
physical section of the medium that contains no recognizable data and separates adjacent
recorded elements (i.e. PhysicalBlocks and file marks)
NOTE Interblock gaps are automatically introduced by a facility between adjacent recorded elements without
explicit action by a master.
3.1.10
partition
recording area that may be logically addressed
NOTE A partition may be slave defined (e.g. data area, CE area, IML area) or may be master defined (e.g. an
addressable set of contiguous blocks within the data area).
A partition may be defined to exist within a tape volume by the slave, the master, or both. Since tape volumes are
removable, such a partition will be removed with the volume. A slave or facility may define other partitions that are
not associated with a volume and that may or may not be removable. Typically, such partitions may be used for
Maintenance partitions as defined in ANSI X3.291:1997, but are not limited to such use.
3.1.11
PhysicalBlock
physical representation of data on the media (e.g. sectors or records on disk and blocks or
records on tape)
NOTE 1 This definition applies uniquely to this document. It is given to prevent confusion between industry usage
of terms.
NOTE 2 A facility may record any two adjacent blocks with different physical lengths, depending upon the
capability of the facility and the selection of a master. Tape volumes typically are not preformatted, as disks are, so
that references to DataBlocks or PhysicalBlocks within a partition that has not been previously written usually fail.
NOTE 3 A tape volume having preformatted PhysicalBlocks is very similar to a fixed-block disk volume and may
be used in a similar fashion.
3.1.12
physical end of media (PEOM)
position on the medium beyond which normal tape operation is impossible (i.e., data cannot
be written or the medium cannot be positioned)
3.1.13
reverse motion
tape motion contrary to forward motion (i.e., logical motion from PEOM toward BOM)

9318-4 © ISO/IEC:2002(E) – 13 –
3.1.14
tape mark
recorded element on the medium, not containing data, that is used to separate or otherwise
identify groups of DataBlocks on the medium
NOTE The most common tape mark is known as a file mark.
3.1.15
volume
a removable entity of tape media
3.1.16
write protect
an attribute of a tape volume
NOTE A write protect usually requires some physical sensing by a facility, indicating whether the facility is
allowed to write data on the medium. When a volume is write protected, the facility is prevented from writing on the
medium.
3.2 Conventions
In this standard, certain terms that are proper names of commands are printed in uppercase
to avoid possible confusion with other uses of the same words (e.g. ATTRIBUTES). Any
lowercase uses of these words have the normal English meaning.
A number of conditions, status indications or similar terms are printed with the first letter of
each word in uppercase and the rest lowercase (e.g. Partition, Erase Gap). Any lowercase
uses of these words have the normal English meaning.
4 Logical interface characteristics of the tape
4.0 General
The descriptions in ANSI X3.291:1997 shall apply to this standard, plus the information
provided in the following subclauses. Only the subclauses which have complementary
information are included here.
4.1 PhysicalBlocks
Tape PhysicalBlocks may be fixed or variable. In the case of fixed PhysicalBlocks, the block
size may be preset in manufacture or may be specified by the master using the OPERATING
MODE command. A tape recording fixed blocks shall pad to the end of the block if the master
does not supply enough information in a transfer command to fill the block. Once recorded,
the size of fixed PhysicalBlocks shall become an attribute of the volume (or partition, if
applicable).
A slave/facility that adds padding octets shall be capable of removing such padding when the
PhysicalBlocks are subsequently read and thus may require some control information to be
added to the PhysicalBlock contents.
Tapes that record variable PhysicalBlocks shall record blocks of any size within the bounds
reported in ATTRIBUTES. The master may record multiple equal length blocks by setting the
block size with the OPERATING MODE command and transferring data. However, it is then
the responsibility of the master to pad any blocks that do not contain enough data to fill the
block. Variable PhysicalBlock Size is not an attribute of the volume (or the partition, if
applicable). If the master does not transfer enough information to fill a variable PhysicalBlock,
the addressee shall record a short PhysicalBlock.

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Facilities may be implemented to record PhysicalBlocks of the exact size specified by the
master or may record the PhysicalBlock size plus some control information (e.g., data plus a
block numbering field).
The relationship between PhysicalBlock and DataBlock size is not fixed, the DataBlock being
the master-defined unit of preference. Depending on addressee implementation, DataBlock
size may be the same as PhysicalBlock size, an integer multiple of the PhysicalBlock size, or
a non-integer multiple.
4.2 DataBlocks
DataBlock size is not an attribute of a volume or a partition. It specifies the master-to-slave
transfer unit size (not to be confused with Burst Size) until changed by the ATTRIBUTES or
OPERATING MODE command or overridden in a data transfer Command Extent parameter
(when transferring in Octet mode).
4.3 Extents
The general definition of an extent applies to tape. However, a slave/facility may have no
method for knowing in advance, when reading, that all blocks defined for an extent are
present. When writing, the slave/facility may not be able to determine in advance of beginning
data transfer whether all blocks can be transferred to the medium. Thus, Command
Exceptions resulting from detection of an invalid data extent are infrequent.
The Incomplete Major Status is used in most instances instead of Command Exception with
indications such as File Mark, End of Media Warning and the like, indicated in the Incomplete
parameter.
4.4 Partitions
Historically, tape volumes have been considered as having only one data partition (the default
data partition), starting at BOM at one end of the medium and continuing until EMW at the
other end of the medium. The size of this default data partition varied with the density and
recording format of the slave/facility.
With the advent of track-addressable tape devices and serpentine recording, it may be
possible to define and manage partitions that subdivide the total recording area of a volume.
Such partitions may be slave defined or master defined. Partitions may hold usage and error
information, selected data from Disk volumes, independent application data files and other
data.
Since tape volumes are removable, the part
...