SMC-3 Read Element Status - Incomplete descriptors

Kevin D Butt kdbutt at us.ibm.com
Tue Sep 26 11:59:27 PDT 2006


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SMC-3r02, 6.10.1 READ ELEMENT STATUS introduction, 2nd paragraph on page 
321, reads:
<<
The NUMBER OF ELEMENTS field specifies the maximum number of element 
descriptors to be created by the device server for this command. The value 
specified by this field is not the range of element addresses to be 
considered for reporting but rather the number of defined elements to 
report. If the ALLOCATION LENGTH field is not sufficient to transfer all 
the element descriptors, the device server shall transfer all those 
descriptors whose complete contents fit within the allocation field and 
this shall not be considered an error.
>>
There has been confusion by at least one vendor about the meaning of 
<<
If the ALLOCATION LENGTH field is not sufficient to transfer all the 
element descriptors, the device server shall transfer all those 
descriptors whose complete contents fit within the allocation field and 
this shall not be considered an error.
>>
It seems obvious that the intent is that only complete descriptors shall 
be returned.  If the data is truncated due to an incomplete descriptor 
this shall not be considered an error.	I propose that this text be 
modified to:
If the ALLOCATION LENGTH field is not sufficient to transfer all the 
element descriptors, the device server shall transfer all those 
descriptors that completely fit within the allocation field and shall not 
transfer any partial descriptors. This shall not be considered an error.
Thanks,
Kevin D. Butt
SCSI & Fibre Channel Architect, Tape Firmware
MS 6TYA, 9000 S. Rita Rd., Tucson, AZ 85744
Tel: 520-799-2869 / 520-799-5280
Fax: 520-799-2723 (T/L:321)
Email address: kdbutt at us.ibm.com



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