SAP Note 11040 - FM: No CLOSE operations performed due to OFFLINE.

Symptom

After a successful backup, the UNIX mt program reports the following when trying to set a tape in the tape drive to offline:
mt lu 0: No CLOSE operations performed due to OFFLINE.

Cause and prerequisites

Tape drive hardware error which is confirmed be the following UNIX command sequence:
mt -t /dev/rmt/0hnc offline
mt lu 0: No CLOSE operations performed due to OFFLINE.
mt -t /dev/rmt/0hnc rewind
/dev/rmt/0hnc: I/O error

Solution
Check the tape drive hardware.
Temporary workaround: mark the rewind_offline parameter in the init.sap profile as a comment (add a "#" sign at the start of the line). In this case tapes remain in the tape drive after a backup.

Keyword: BRBACKUP